After starting my career at This Old House I've come full-circle as I'm now a featured columnist on Bob Vila's blog.
I'll be covering a variety of topics and I've already reviewed Husqvarna's hovering mower and the latest tools from Milwaukee.
Bob Vila and his team recently redesigned his website and I've found the HowTo's and Quick Tips to be especially useful.
I'm honored to be working with such a great team and the original home improvement reality TV star.
We were all puzzled when Domino magazine closed three years ago. They kept the online archives available through Brides.com but that was just awkward and we were stuck with the loss of another beloved shelter title.
We just got word from Susan Portnoy, VP of Digital Strategy at Conde Nast, that Domino will be back as a special edition called Quick Fixes. Looks like it will be available in the Spring and then another issue will hit newsstands in the Fall. Just two issues this year.
According to Conde Nast
Quick Fixes will be full of Domino's best home decorating stories, focusing on easy, often inexpensive changes that make a big difference - from quick spruce-ups of dowdy furniture to more involved DIY projects like painting stairs or reorganizing a home office. Domino Quick Fixes will be available on national newsstands from April 17 through July 16, 2012, for $10.99.
Are you excited about this? Think Conde Nast is finally getting smart and just cashing in on a great brand name with a special issue of repurposed content? Will it have the same look and feel of the Domino we all loved? Any of the previous staff working on it?
So many questions but we do wish they would just get serious about digital and really build up the website. Everyone would love that!
A couple months ago we shared the news on a new contest sponsored by IKEA called Rescue Remodel. You can nominate your favorite fire house and the winner gets a $25,000 kitchen remodel from IKEA. Well the nominations are closed and the finalists have been announced.
You can visit RescueRemodel.com and vote for your favorite fire house. You can vote once per day and voting ends February 28th, 2012 so make sure you get counted. You know these firemen need to stay healthy and strong and a new IKEA kitchen would definitely help.
Unless you've been hiding under a rock you have heard the news that this is the year that the government has mandated we begin changing over to the new energy efficient lightbulbs such as CFL's and LED's.
The cost of CFL's has gone down considerably but LED's are still on the high side but these will soon be your only option as the sale of incandescent lightbulbs is being phased out. You probably can't find a 100W lightbulb anywhere and the 75W are most likely extinct near you. 60W bulbs are probably the highest wattage you'll find at your local home center and unless you find a store selling overstock you're more likely to find more CFL's available.
We were waiting until our bulbs all burnt out before switching over and finally have the office on CFL's. We received a selection of bulbs from Ace Hardware including the incandescents they still sell and its clear they want you to consider them for your bulb buying needs as they offer about 90% of the bulbs that you'd need for your home.
Where do you stand on converting your lightbulbs? Are you hoarding incandescents? What concerns do you have about using CFLs?
