Best Home Improvement

We’re renting a house, and I want to fixup the bathroom and the kitchen, but all the home improvement and makeover sites I’ve been to only have stuff that I know I can’t and don’t want to do, so if anyone knows of any sites, or if anyone has any ideas of their own, I would appreciate it! I’m looking for things I can do myself.

How extensive a “fixup” were you going to do? Check your lease first to see what you’re allowed to do without prior written consent from the landlord. Most residential leases, at least in my market, limit tenant alterations to reasonable changes that can be easily restored to their original condition when the tenant leaves (e.g. painting, hanging shelving and pictures).

Major renovations, such as replacing cabinets, tile, appliances, must only be done with the landlord’s consent. He’ll be living with your choices long after you move out, so HE has the right to say no, or, if he says yes, to approve styles and materials. Also, all improvements belong to the landlord, so unless he’s cut you a deal where you fix the place up in exchange for much lower rent, you’re losing money on the deal.

That being said, there are plenty of things you can do to fix the place up. Paint is the easiest way to liven up the kitchen and bath. Even if you’re not up to decorative painting, a good fresh coat of paint will brighten any room. For kitchen and bath, make sure to use a semi-gloss paint (there are some that are specifically for kitchens and baths)–this will hold up to the moisture, dirt and grease and be easier to clean.

Use baskets or boxes covered with cloth or contact paper to corral small or oddly-shaped items in kitchen and bathroom cabinets or shelves. Cheap and decorative way to increase storage space and keep the place looking neat.

If you need more cabinet space in the kitchen or bath, try to find old dressers, china hutches, bookcases or cabinets on Craigslist or your local freecycle–these can be cleaned, painted, and moved around to suit your space. I used an old 1940’s metal dresser for years as a kitchen island/storage for pots and pans. Dressers with missing drawers make good deep shelving for large pots and baking sheets: just cut plywood to fit where the drawer bottoms would sit.

With your landlord’s permission, you can paint or reface existing cabinets. If not, you can usually cover objectionable cabinets with contact paper or starched fabric without permanent harm to the surface. (Contact paper has gotten a lot cooler–it now comes in all sorts of styles, including faux leather, faux granite, real cork, brushed aluminum and copper, etc.).

Also, you simply must check out Craftster! It’s not a home improvement site, as such, but it has every sort of craft and DIY project you can imagine, from what to do with old light bulbs to decorative painting, furniture design and complete room makeovers, in every style from classic to gothic and back again. And if you ask nicely, the members will often give you a free tutorial. Camouflage Crib Beddingmetal bunk bedsbunkbedsbunkbedshenckels four starfaux wood blindspink bean bagpink bean bagwood gun cabinethenckels four starCarriage Clockspool filter cartridgehawaiian weddingToronto Vending Serviceamazing weddingsVending Service Company In Toronto

Which software do you like to use when doing major home renovations?
I would like it to do virtual tours, easy to use, print a material list and printing a time line showing rough work, electrical and plumbing would be cool.

Try Punch, its worked pretty good for me.

We are moving into a new place this year and are working on one floor at a time. The top floor is almost finished, the walk out basement needs a lot of work. My husband is only home for 2 wks out of the month so he can’t do it all himself. Here comes the questions!

How hard is it to install laminate flooring? I’d like to do it at the very least in the master bedroom and maybe in the kids rooms too. I’ve been told its super easy. If I remember right it interlocks and I need a foam underlayment. What else is needed? How hard is this for a newbie to do? It’s a totally square or rectangular room with nothing to cut around.

We need to put the walls up inside of the basement still and my husband wanted to do paneling because it’s faster. I hate paneling! I want to sheetrock the whole thing. He doesn’t want to take the time to tape and texture the whole thing (it’s just not his favorite thing to do). So again, as a newbie, how hard can this be?? Just the tape and texture part of things. Time isn’t an issue for me.

All good advice is greatly appreciated!!

Please and thank you!

Laminate is easy once you get an idea on how to do it. All you ll need is a table saw, hammer,possible jig saw.. Read up on it a bit and get a gf who also wants to try it and you ll learn together.. Make it a girls day or two.. 1st 2/3 rows are the most challenging but once you have it started it s a breeze.If it s like you say and a basic room snap all the short ends together for a row including the end cuts and w/ 2 people you can snap a whole row in at once.Pick up a tapping block which comes w/ a tapping bar , it ll come in handy to tap the row in place.. You ll know when it goes together..Tapping block kit 15/20$ and it ll last for years, I ve had mine for years and easily install 100 000 s/f w/ it ..GL

The business does renovations on homes – kitchen/bathroom updates, adding dormers, etc. But some people aren’t able to afford the full price of the renovation up front. How can I find a financing company that would be willing to partner with our business to get loans for the customers?

you nedd a business with an option, try
http://www.orbitbusinessloans.com/
http://www.orbitmerchantsolutions.com/
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Recently, I just replaced the door handles and locks on our house. The locks were still in great condition, but since we recently bought the house, it was necessary to change the locks. Although I no longer have use for the locks, I don’t want to simply throw them in the trash, given that together they are several pounds of good metal. And as I do more home improvements in the future, I imagine I’ll be replacing a fair amount of items that are obsolete yet contain good material. But as far as I know, the weekly recycling bin is just for aluminum cans, newspaper, glass bottles, etc., not for doorknobs and that sort of thing. How can I get rid of this sort of stuff so that it can be recycled somehow rather than just thrown into a landfill?

Some cities (I know mine does) have home restoration warehouses that take donations of old materials for people to buy at a low cost. It helps people on low incomes and bargain hunters. Ours is called "Restore York". Check your phone book or online for something similar. A big box store such as Home Depot or Lowes may be able to answer the question or offer a recycling service of their own. Hope that helps!

i eventually want to do all three of these things. in what order should i do them in order to maximize my return on investment in the event i had to move and sell before i completed all three things? there is currently a fireplace now but it is ugly painted white brick and want to replace it with a floor to 5 foot high mantle with granite worked in and a gas fireplace log set. the whole cost of that job would be 5k. i have read that fireplaces add more value as far as home improvements go than any other improvement.

the current kitchen was from the 1960s and redoing that with granite countertops and new cabinets and tile and a new fridge and oven would probably be 10k-15k for the quality we wanted.

adding a bathroom to the basement would change the house from 1 to 2 baths and would probably cost about 5k for the level of quality we wanted.

how should i order these projects?

(1) Kitchen more visible, more use
(2) Bathroom (needed especially if there are more than two in your household
(3) maybe rethink fireplace, little known fact sometimes your house insurance will go up cause of a fireplace, or you might not find an insurance that will insure a house with a fireplace

My parents and I own 2 homes on the same lot. We havent had home owners insurance for over 10 years. I want to get a home improvement loan, so I can qualify for home owners insurance and improve my living situation. What can I do? I need the electric, plumbing, and the outside of my house done. No, I don’t qualify for hud.

Why don’t you qualify for homeowner’s insurance?

While a lender would usually require insurance, having insurance doesn’t imply that you can get a home improvement loan.

I am looking at putting down flooring thoughout my home.I am curious to know which is the best the laminated flooring or the snap together flooring.I have carpet down now in most of the rooms with the exception of the bathrooms kithchen and utilitie rooms.

I favor Mannington, Armstrong, or Quick Step laminates, they are the easiest to install, I would use any for all the rooms, except bath, kitchen and utility because of possible exposure to excessive water. In those rooms, if you need something easy to put in cork is a possibility, Adura Tiles(see Mannington website), or their is a vinyl product by Armstrong called cushion step that you can actually just free float on the floor (see Armstrong site for more info. If you really wanted to go all out, some engineered wood floors can also be floated(snap type install). Mannington has some really nice looks in this also. Hope this helps you!!

There is nothing wrong with the first two answers, they are right. But, why do we need to see the same material over and over again. Island in the kitchen, granite top, stainless sink….OK, I get it already!

I figure….there are only so many things these sorts of shows can show and about only so many ways to do them, because their audience base is your average Joe, by and large.

I think George Lopez is the best character in Home Improvement.

George wasn’t on Home Improvement..it was Tim Allen.

Anyway, I like the middle kid Randy because I’m the middle kid too and we are similar in other ways too