After a good year of work, wear, and weather on your outdoor surfaces, it’s time to get things clean and sparkling again. If your wood deck is looking worn or your driveway or patio are stained, and a good scrubbing won’t do the trick, then your next option is power washing.

Power washing, or pressure washing, will work for common outdoor surfaces such as concrete, wood, aluminum, or vinyl. It can eliminate stains, grit, dirt, mildew, moss, or peeling paint. Power washers are great tools for preparing surfaces for repainting or staining. For wood, they do an excellent job of returning grey, weathered decks or fences to their natural appearance. …continue reading Power Washing: Get Outdoor Surfaces Gleaming

Most of the time our closets are too small. Even if they seem big the first time we see them, empty of course, over time they accumulate more and more things and often become less and less organized. Closet renovation can be a great way to maximize space or make more space.

For starters clean it out. If your closet has accumulated a bunch of unnecessary items, get rid of them or move them to the garage or attic and out of the way. Now, before removing a portion of any wall, you will need to make sure there are no bearing points involved. It is often a good idea to hire a contractor to come in and assess the situation.

Shelves, and lots of them, are a great idea. They are essential for neatly storing shoes, sweaters, bags, boxes, whatever. Keeping things out of a pile on the floor will help beautifully. Building upper and lower rods that are not long will help too. Use the extra space for shelving or even drawers. …continue reading Tools & Tips for Closet Makeovers

If you’re tired of loose, faded, obnoxious doorknobs, then your car keys are probably in one hand and your mind is already at the store. Before you run out, here are some tips on doorknobs so that you’ll know what you’re looking at and to help you decide what you’re looking for.

Doorknobs come in four main types: entrance, privacy, passage, and dummy knobs. Entrance knobs, as you might guess, are usually used on exterior doors and have keyed cylinders. Privacy doorknobs are used in bedrooms and bathrooms and are lockable, but do not have keyed cylinders. Passage knobs do not lock and are used in linen closets, clothes closets, etc. Dummy doorknobs are aptly named because they are not really a doorknob at all. They consist of a single knob which is mounted through the back of the door (usually a cabinet or closet where a latch is unnecessary). Dummy knobs, for example, are often used with ball catch hardware on bifold closet doors. …continue reading Tools and Tips: Replacement Doorknobs