Al Heavens RISMedia Q: I know you’ve written many times about cleaning decks, but mine is looking kind of dingy and, because it sits on the north side of our house, is coated in mildew. The deck is gray, but the color is more greenish-black. Can you dig into your files and ...

"Lighting is often the last thing considered in a (kitchen) design and the first thing cut from a budget," says Randall Whitehead, a nationally known designer and author on the subject of residential lighting. But to look its best and function well, a kitchen must be properly lighted — and that ...

Larry Greene Indianapolis Star Question: I want to remodel my outdated kitchen. Where should I start? Answer: Kitchen remodeling can be a complicated and intimidating process. The number of choices and decisions often is overwhelming. A successful kitchen remodeling starts with planning and ideas and an organized design process. Consider taking the following steps: Determine ...

Julie Young Richmond Times-Dispatch A silver anniversary is not a happy occasion for a wood deck. Twenty-five years of exposure to sun, rain, snow, temperature fluctuations, foot traffic and Chesterfield County's notoriously shifty soils had left Mike and Raylene Harton's deck in need of serious renovation or replacement. "Since we rarely used the deck ...

Enjoy the best of summer from the comfort of a screen porch. Here are some smart ideas. Stifling summer heat and pesky bugs persuaded Kim Hitchcock to morph her Decatur, Ga., deck into a covered screen porch. Her deck was only a few years old, so she made plans to bolster ...

Alan J. Heavens Philadelphia Inquirer Q:My daughter moved into a house that has aluminum siding. The siding is in good condition, but it is ugly -- it's white and chalky-looking and faded, if white can look faded. A handyman/painter has told her it could be painted. My son says it can be painted, ...

Adrianne Stone Mother Nature Network Adding paint color inside your home can provide vibrancy, enhance your mood and create a sense of personality in an otherwise drab room. It can also give you cancer. Yes, those wonderful color palettes that have you swooning over the warm gold in your new living room, ...

Gene Austin Hartford Courant Q: I recently moved into an older home with hardwood floors that squeak badly. How can I stop the noise? A: The squeaks, of course, are caused by wood rubbing against wood or nails when the floor is walked on. You have the best chance of fixing the ...

Dr. William Johnson Galveston County Daily News Other than the obligatory one or two oaks trees in the front yard at time of signing off on the financial package leading to homeownership, most homeowners are on their own when it comes to completing the home landscape. Many landscapes ravaged by Hurricane Ike ...

Exterior home painting is often the job of a contractor. Here are some tips on hiring one: Be certain that the contractor is insured. Get more than one estimate. Ask the painting contractor to walk you through the entire process from start to finish. And ask questions. Will they power wash the house ...

Ellen Gabler Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Kurt Hildebrand needed a new garage door for his Milwaukee home. He found what seemed like a suitable contractor on Craigslist, a free Web site for local classified ads. David R. Barrett, of Ideal Home Improvements, came to Hildebrand's home and gave him an estimate - $660 for a ...

Tanya Manus Rapid City Journal Be creative, take the labels off your rooms and make your home work for you. That’s the advice of Kara White of Kara White Interiors in Rapid City, who encourages homeowners to find new ways to make their homes fit their family’s unique needs. Many people have a hard ...

The work triangle, created to save money on building materials and to make cooks more efficient, has inspired kitchen design since the 1940s. It standardized kitchens by placing the sink, stove and refrigerator at opposite points, allowing cooks to move from storage and cleaning to cooking with a simple step-and-turn. But ...

Dave Murnan and Pat Beaty The Daily World Q. How do I know my deck is safe? I read about the horrible accident in Westport recently and want to make sure the same couldn’t happen at our house. A. Unfortunately, this question is all too rarely asked and ongoing deck safety issues mostly ...

Chris Matey Andover Townsman Here in Andover, we are seeing an increased interest in green home remodeling. Specifically, green kitchen remodeling is a growing area of interest. There are many ways to go green in your kitchen - floors, countertops, appliances, cabinets and finishes, including paints. Let's focus on green cabinetry. There ...

Patt Johnson Gannett Bamboo is not just for tiki torches anymore. It's also for flooring, laptops and sinks. Eco-friendly homeowners are finding a growing number of bamboo products to use in remodeling and decorating their homes. Bamboo bowls, picture frames and other decorating items have been common items for years, but now the lightweight-but-durable ...

Dorene Weinstein Argus Leader Brown by any other name is mahogany, russet, bronze, henna or chestnut, and Midwesterners love it. Chocolate brown has been popular for nearly a decade, says Ruthanne Hanlon, national color and design manager for Pittsburg Paints of Columbus, Ohio, who visited Sioux Falls to conduct two seminars on color ...

Emilie Rusch Rapid City Journal The economy may be in a slump, but many homeowners at the Black Hills Home Builders Home Show on Saturday weren’t abandoning their plans for a new deck or kitchen just yet. With rock-bottom interest rates and contractors eager for work, they agree, now might be the perfect ...