Posts in category 'Home Improvement'

Ouch! As I sit and type this today, my legs are begging for some ice. While visiting a friend in Boulder, CO over the weekend we ventured up to just over 13,000 feet to the summit of James Peak. 14 miles later and my body is wondering what it did to deserve that sort of abuse. The weather was perfect and the views over towards Winter Park resort, sprinkled with the vibrant yellows of the Aspen trees changing their colors for fall, were breathtaking. This time of year I tend to start shifting gears (pun intended) from cycling to hiking. The parking lots at the trailheads start to thin out, as do the swarms of bugs around your head as you make your way up the trail. I also simply love being in the woods in the late fall and winter, so the change in activity suits me just fine.

One thing I "learn...

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Unless you are painting an entire house (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, kitchen and living room) it really is one of the best, fastest and most cost-effective ways to do a refresh in your home. Painting provides a way to give a room a whole new look, allows your teenager to express themselves within their personal domain and it can even liven up a tired feeling home before a showing. With all that said, the one thing I've learned over the years is that preparation is super important when it comes to painting. How you prepare can literally determine the success of your project. The unfortunate message that you are going to get from today's article is that grabbing your brushes and the left over paint from the basement right after finishing your coffee this morning is likely not going to be the best cours...

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While it is not exactly "cold" yet, if you're up early like me you know that Fall is most certainly right around the corner. Our longing for those "cool nights that are so good for sleeping" has been satiated. I even had to reach for a light blanket a few times overnight this past week. Another sure sign is the apples on our tree in the back yard have started to drop in earnest. It might be time to invest in a cider press!

This is a great time of year for some of those home projects as well. The ones that you wanted to do over the summer but the simple act of walking to the garage induced a puddle of sweat. This is the perfect time to enjoy the cooler temps and prepare your home for the impending doom that is winter! If you have been reading all along, you know that winter is my favorite tim...

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I snuck out of work a couple hours early last Monday. It was just a beautiful day and let's be honest; The writing is on the walls. The mornings are getting cooler and the apples on the trees in our yard are starting to leave their fall droppings for me to hit with the lawn mower. (At least it smells nice!). On my bike ride, I noticed that there were a higher percentage of busses running around through town. That could only mean one thing: The roads are going to be even quieter between 8am and 2pm. And the kids are back in school.

When we were in school, especially during the first half of the year, it was a bit of a crazy time. Soccer, concert band, marching band, jazz band (Yes, I was a band geek!), part-time jobs, friends, skateboarding and generally being a persnickety teenager all seemed to fill my...

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Growing up, my brother and I rarely "gathered any moss" as the saying goes. Between soccer, after-school jobs, marching band, jazz band and, of course, skateboarding till the cows came home, we were very busy and always on the go. From my parents' perspective it was simply a matter of throwing some food our way between trips out the door and trying to maintain their sanity. It wasn't always that hectic, but convenience was certainly at the top of the priority list when it came to feeding time. Enter the eat-in kitchen.

We had a simple Cape Cod style home in a friendly neighborhood in southern Maine. As you walked off the porch and through the side-door (our main entrance) you landed right in the kitchen and at the 4-person bar where we ate nearly every meal. Like many homes today, the "formal" dining roo...

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