From the category archives:

Bathroom

Tweet Do you want the ambiance of a fireplace but don’t have an existing fireplace or chimney? One option favored by green builders is an electric fireplace. They are pre-fabricated units sufficiently insulated to be installed safely within close range of walls or wood framework without requiring a masonry foundation. They also don’t require a […]

Tweet Simply ‘Forget-About-It’, You’ll See Why… Here’s the next in our 12 part series to get home holiday breaks: As kids, we used to drive my dad wild by leaving a room without flicking off the lights. Not surprisingly, my kids adopted the same unfortunate habit which produced a similar effect upon me. We were […]

Tweet What IS true green vs. greenwashing? This label in a duct cleaning company ad caught my eye last week. Got any idea what the image means? I do and now, you’ll know….

Tweet By Joanne H. Shawcross I once  had some friends get married and they combined two apartments full of stuff into one house. What a design ‘train wreck’  that was – A maroon sofa with a turquoise coffee table… Don’t feel bad if you’re a person who has difficulty with coordinating colors in a room. […]

Tweet The other day I saw gaps in my wood floor and that was my indicator to stop using our bathroom exhaust fan. In winter, low moisture content in the air (relative humidity) affects not only our home interiors and furniture but our comfort and energy bills. As doors open, cooking, showering and even people […]

Tweet On Saturday, September 25 2010 there’s going to be National Drug Take-Back Day at a location near you. Can’t happen soon enough, if you ask me. Today, seven students at a North Carolina middle school face criminal charges after trading prescription narcotics at school. These 11 to 13 year-old kids were raiding their home […]

Tweet The calendar says it’s the first day of autumn, but it sure doesn’t feel like it. Stifling heat has stubbornly plagued our Carolina Sandhills area all summer.  And if the forecast for highs in the 90′s continues, this week will mark 100 days of 90-degree plus weather in 2010. Now That’s what I call […]

Tweet Until his death in January 2010, recluse J.D. Salinger was known for shunning his fans for peace and privacy.  Today, he’d be mortified to learn his toilet of all things, has become a literary-giant collectible. A memorabilia dealer is hawking the 1962-vintage throne for $1 million on eBay. (Not exactly the next unpublished manuscript […]

Tweet Your Turn: I’m interested in using a solar tube to light a half bathroom. It sounds like a smart way to capture free sunlight. We are building a one-story addition onto the north side of the house where there’s no sunshine in any season. Is it still possible to get enough natural daylight? I […]

Tweet By Joanne H. Shawcross I love old-fashioned hardware stores. Unfortunately, they are becoming rare, so you may never have shopped there. I was lucky enough to grow up when every town had one. Ours was named “Durfee’s,” in a building not so wide as it was deep and dark, zig-zagged with long shelves jammed […]