Christmas Recycling
By taking a few precautions now, you can easily make this Christmas your most eco-friendly holiday ever. We all love our Christmas trees. Sometimes we escape into nature to trudge up hills through rain or snow and cut the tree down ourselves—a hands-on approach that’s both invigorating and rewarding. Other times, we settle for a converted tree lot next to...
Continue Reading
4 Trendsetting Home Improvement Products
Kohler's kitchen sink from its Ashland collection features cast iron construction, one of the most durable and versatile materials. As 2011 winds to a close, let’s take a look a what’s new at Build.com in plumbing, lighting, and door hardware—and what’s likely to set trends for 2012. Cast iron Kohler has built its reputation around innovating and...
Continue Reading
The Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doling out $42 million in an attempt to find a university that can give the modern flush toilet a much-needed overhaul. The idea is to devise a new and efficient throne that can be used safely in poor and under-developed countries. Did you know that an estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide lack access to a flush toilet?...
Continue Reading
Stained Glass at Home
Stained glass is truly art for your home. This piece was designed by Needham Studios in Chico, Callf., for a residential setting. It portrays a scene from Lower Bidwell Park, the crown jewel of the Northern California town. The ways to improve the look of a home are practically infinite. From lighting and painting to door hardware and wall art, the sheer number...
Continue Reading
Dark Sky Lighting Battling Light Pollution
Even though nighttime lighting is essential for some of our after-dark activities, light pollution is beginning to affect the eating habits of nocturnal animals as well as the migratory patterns of birds. We humans like our nights, and we sure love to light them up, don’t we? But is there a tipping point for too much night lighting? Indeed there might be,...
Continue Reading
Homework Centers For the Kids
Putting together a quality homework center for your kids can possibly help them become more efficient in their homework efforts. We adults tend to love our home offices. So what about an area where our littlest busybodies, our children, can do their homework? Creating the optimal homework center is an on-going process (speaking from first-hand experience), and,...
Continue Reading
Cold Weather Precautions, Outdoors
After preparing the inside of your home for the impending cold of winter, fall is the PERFECT time to prepare your home’s exterior and the areas around it. It’s not yet too cold and the fall weather is ideal for working outdoors in many parts of the country. Lawn and garden prep: The catch phrase “winterize your lawn” is more than just a few fancy words...
Continue Reading




