Category Archives: HOMEmakers Moment

A Year’s Worth of Sales

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Another great article from the January/February issue of HGTV Magazine details what household items are marked down throughout the year.

Although we’ve missed January (fitness equipment, linens, and paint), here are the sales to watch out for during 2014 according to author Kelly Tagore:

February: cameras; televisions

March: garden and lawn care; luggage

April: vacuum cleaners; home accessories

May: outdoor grills; annual flowers and vegetables; refrigerators

June: dishware, flatware, and stemware; tools

July: paint; mattresses

August: computers; perennials and shrubs

September: furniture; outdoor furnishings

October: cookware; camping and outdoor gear

November: new cars; appliances

December: air conditioners; wall-to-wall carpeting

Some items have multiple discount periods during the year (e.g., tools are marked down for both Father’s Day and the winter holidays), but the rule of thumb is to shop at the beginning of a peak season, when retailers are competing for business and everything is in stock, and again well after the peak when retailers are clearing inventory or are preparing for new models.

Heating Bill Diet

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morguefile-thermostatColleen Sullivan has written an HGTV Magazine piece full of handy tips for reducing your heating costs. You can see the full article, “Slim Down You Big Fat Heating Bill,” in the January/February issue (p. 35), but here are the suggestions she offers:

  • Buy a programmable thermostat — “every degree you lower your thermostat cuts your energy bill by 3%”
  • Re-seal windows
  • Change your filters
  • Install door sweeps — sweeps on exterior doors “can help you save as much as 5% on your heating bill”
  • Insulate your attic — “an attic needs at least 12 inches of blown-in insulation… sealed with a vapor barrier and ventilated so moisture can escape”
  • Seal your ducts
  • Go tankless*
  • Turn off your exhaust fans
  • Retire your boiler — especially if your boiler is more than 20 years old, “a high-efficiency model could save your 40%”
  • Heat one room — a portable oil radiator is not a fire hazard and lets you lower your home’s overall temperature

* Note that changing to a tankless water heater is a complicated project, with lots of pros and cons.

Helpful Details

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Last summer, one of our monthly letters included information about a favorite new discovery: electrical wall sockets with built-in USB charging ports. So many things come with USB cords these days, particularly the types of gadgets that show up during the holidays — smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, you name it. We discovered these combination receptacles at Platt Electric, but they are also available from other retailers.

Now, Remodelista shines a spotlight on these ‘hardworking’ switch plates from Walhub. The plates feature integrated key hooks and/or storage pockets. They have models for single and double switches (whether toggle or rocker) and can be oriented to the right or the left.

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Electrical sockets and switch plates may not immediately spring to mind when you’re imagining home improvements, but, as you can see, sometimes a small detail can make a huge difference.

Image: walhub / Upwell Products

Spa Cabinet

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Here’s a quick project idea to kick off 2014…

As we noted in our very first Moment, Black & Decker has some great information in its recently-published guide to casework. This ‘spa’ cabinet definitely caught our eye. Can you see something like this in your home? If you wanted to implement it, would you make any changes?

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Black & Decker. The Complete Guide to Cabinets & Countertops: How to Customize your Home with Cabinetry. Minneapolis, Minn.: Cool Springs Press, 2013. p. 15.

Color Forecasts

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COY2014Each year, we see more and more hype around Pantone’s selection of a color to characterize the upcoming year. If you managed to miss the coverage this time around, 2014 is supposed to be all about Radiant Orchid.

It can be hard to know how to use this sort of fashion-forward hue when making decoration choices for your home, though design magazines certainly have suggestions — see, for example, Pantone’s spring 2014 palette as styled by Elle Decor contributors.

Paint manufacturers also preview color trends; these can be somewhat less driven by runway fashion and therefore more user-friendly:

  • Benjamin Moore is talking up a New Neutral palette for 2014. Compare their lovely and very livable selection for Color of the Year, Breath of Fresh Air.
  • Sherwin-Williams highlights a four color families with evocative names like Diaphanous and Curiosity.
  • Behr’s also has four bold sets in their 2014 Color Trends. Perhaps you will be intrigued by their Seaside Harmony or Natural Avocation palettes?
  • Dunn-Edwards goes a step further, investigating colors that are trending for the holidays (!).

When all is said and done, however, you want the colors in your home to make you happy and comfortable. For most of us, these trend reports are simply fun ways to think about the possibilities.

December Checklist

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We love these monthly checklists from Houzz contributor Laura Gaskill. She mixes in pleasant tasks (adding plush and warm decor items) with the necessary ones (updating  — or, for some, creating! — an emergency kit). Click on her byline to find past checklists, like the one from November.

Stay or Go

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Our most recent letter was about a question a lot of homeowners ask themselves whenever the real estate market is good: should I remodel or move? An Oregonian article from earlier in the year made it into our scrapbook because it asks that exact question.

A sidebar lists some key considerations when making the decision to stay or go.

It’s great to see how some creative thinking resolves an awkward layout — shown here in the architect’s plan of the first floor — giving the owners the home they want while letting them stay put in a neighborhood they love.

Otto, B. (2013, March 22). When it pays to stay: couple finds it makes better sense to remodel than to move. The Oregonian, Homes & Gardens pp. 8-12.

Image: Emerick Architects

HOMEmakers Moment #1

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Welcome to our inaugural HOMEmakers Moment! These ‘moments’ are informative tidbits that we can’t wait until our next letter to share.

We recently discovered Black & Decker’s Complete Guide to Cabinets & Countertops at the library, and it has so many great suggestions. Here’s one we can’t stop thinking about: the full-height medicine cabinet.

It snugs right into the standard space between wall studs, so it takes up no floor space. Shallow, adjustable shelves would keep everything in view and easy to reach. You can mount a full-length mirror to the outside and trim the whole thing to match the room. Who wouldn’t want one of these?!

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURESBlack & Decker. The Complete Guide to Cabinets & Countertops: How to Customize your Home with Cabinetry. Minneapolis, Minn.: Cool Springs Press, 2013. p. 134.