I really hate those metal, industrial-looking air vent covers the builder installed everywhere in my house. Working on a crown molding installation recently, I had one of those ugly heating and air conditioning vent covers dead in the way. I decided to completely ignore it and add a large crown molding anyway (which is what […]
Improvements
Fire Pit Patio Rehab & Tree Demolition
Rehabbing my crappy fire pit patio area took 3 seasons: fall, winter, and spring. A LONG time. The main reason? I wanted the backyard soil frozen solid to support the tree demolition equipment. A dead ~70-foot sweet gum tree, after all, is not something you cut down without a LOT of exceptionally-qualified professional tree removal […]
Master Bath Renovation – DIY for Half the Cost
This guest post is by Home Improvement and DIY buff, Jim Steven After getting bids from local contractors to renovate our Master Bathroom that ranged from $35-$45K, my wife and I decided to take it on ourselves. Since I would only have time to work the project on weekends, my initial project plan worked out […]
Refreshing a Pool Landscape: Dead Hinoki Cypress & Solar Tiki Torches
Our pool landscape, now at 11 years old, needed some tuning. We’ve maintained it continuously, but the two Hinoki Cypress right up front (circled in the original landscape photo below) – died together. This particular area of our backyard, under the heaviest of rains, would sometimes pond a bit. And the last 2 years, we […]
Tree Planting 101
2021 Update… Spring is upon us in New Jersey, the ‘Garden state,’ and signs of life are exploding outside. I’ve done quite a lot of tree planting over the years, and while everyone has their own techniques, I find there are a few basic rules & principles that always seem to apply. Best Season for […]
Creating a Natural Stone Landscape Border
This flagstone landscape border is a one-day project that’s simple in concept, but really added a lot of character to an Arborvitae line in the front of my house and also set us up to add softer flower bed plantings as well. What I love about landscaping projects is that they’re hard work, they’re outside […]
Installing a Marble Threshold
2021 [Pi Day] Update, Originally Published August 2020… Marble thresholds (sometimes called marble saddles) are very common in many homes, often found at bathroom entries. They look really nice, they’re cool and smooth to the touch – and they’re not terribly expensive. Having recently installed a marble threshold as part of a more comprehensive home […]
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