Living in a 100-year-old fixer upper means we never run out of home improvement projects. Some have that HGTV wow factor, while others simply keep the house from looking like it's inhabited by busy people without a budget for the fun stuff. And when our projects veer away from brag-worthy to meh . . ....
Living in a house for an extended period often means that your decor efforts are less the spectacular before-an-afters and are more simply maintaining the projects you did awhile back. Example? The paint in our master bedroom. We had used up every last drip of paint when we last painted our bedroom. Unfortunately, a number...
My husband and I bought our house in 1996 when every teeny purchase was a painful decision, which is how I concretely remember that our shower curtain rod was from that era. Unfortunately, time has taken its toll on poor ol' Rusty Rod. Mind you, it was still functional, so it only truly bothered me...
I donned mask and gloves to pop into my local Goodwill and picked up a couple of items that at first glance appear boring. • A $3.50 golf bag. • A 99¢ Star Trek Discovery mug. • A $4.99 Settlers of Catan board game. • A $1.99 plastic milk crate. The golf bag was bought...
It's Monday, which means it's time for Goal of The Week! A new weekly segment where Non-Consumer Advocate readers set and then reach small attainable goals. "Not a soccer goal, but a personal goal. A single do-able, not overwhelming goal. A concrete goal. A reachable goal. A realistic goal." So no huge vague goals like "organize the house" or...
With a 1914 fixer-upper, my remodeling and and decorating to-do list never ends. Paint this, rebuild that and more than anything try to not let it take over my life. It's expensive, time consuming and often mentally draining. However, there are those occasional home improvement projects that take an hour or so and cost the...
I laundered my living room curtains and washed the windows to brighten everything up a bit. These curtains aren't really my favorite, but they're neutrally acceptable and I already own them. I picked them up in 1999 from a friend's garage sale for $1.50 per panel, which was my budget for anything not absolutely necessary...