On the Wire - Home for the Holidays
Preparing your home for holiday entertaining doesn't have to require an entire season or, for that matter, a big budget. Here is advice from the pros for prioritizing tasks and working with what you have to deck the halls in style.
First things first Going room to room, clear away clutter and stow any items not needed during holiday festivities, including kids' toys, paperwork and extra furniture. Then, get some help with the next round of cleaning. Consider hiring a cleaning service during the holidays. It will really free up your time, and you'll be amazed at what a difference it makes. The service is surprisingly affordable, and a professional will clean things you didn't even realize were dirty!
From there, keep every room tidy, and work in easy touch-ups as needed. Keep a small arsenal of surface-specific cleaning wipes and a lightweight carpet sweeper on hand, and use an eraser sponge to remove marks from walls.
Furnish for holiday fun Using the furnishings you have and a few strategic additions, you can easily create a welcoming and functional setting for your guests. The folks at Furniture.com recommend rearranging existing furniture to increase floor space and allow for freer movement. You can also build cozy conversation areas around space-saving nesting tables, and bring a new look to a room by updating the lighting scheme with lamps placed at equal heights and sharing the same shade color.
When it comes to dining, don't crowd your guests and all the holiday goodies with a table that's too small. Upgrade to a larger dining table, or spread out with a more casual buffet. Another popular party option is a bistro-style dining set, with a taller-than-standard table height that makes it easy for guests to serve themselves drinks, buffet dinner, or even assemble their own desserts.
Add a dash of seasonal color Use accessories like pillows and throws as the "decorative icing" in a room, and a key way to highlight the colors of the season. Choose colors that speak of the holidays and your family's traditions - rich jewel tones, silvers and grays for an icy, wintry look, or a palette of browns, coppers and bronzes. For extra impact, try colors that are a departure from those in your usual year-round decor.
Simple arrangements of decorative objects are another means of highlighting your holiday palette. For example, fill a large glass hurricane with glass ornaments of different sizes from the same color family; also try grouping arrangements of filled hurricanes in varied heights, shapes and opacities.
Don'ts for your big to-do Keep excess holiday stress at bay by avoiding projects that eat up time, resources and energy. Don't choose this season to attempt a home project you haven't tried before, stay away from tempting touch-ups that take an excessive amount of time to dry, and don't do anything that involves a busy contractor... In all cases, you could find yourself in the middle of a half-done mess as company arrives at your door.
Above all, forget perfection and remember that anything "out of place" makes a home more cozy and charming. It's your house, so go for what feels right and enjoy the party!
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Ask Tom & Leslie - A Fungus Among Us
This week's question is from V. Dough who says, "I have noticed little mushroom-type looking things growing in my attic where the water is seeping in. Is it a fungus? Part of the mold family? Are they harmful? I have cleaned up the area with an antibacterial spray but what is the proper thing to do to clean up mold?"
Fungus? Yes! Part of the mold family? Well, it is sort of the other way around (mold is actually part of the fungus family). But you have bigger things to worry about than whether the chicken came before the egg! Those mushrooms are a sign that Mother Nature's army of wood destroying organisms is hard at work attacking your roof structure. Not good! The solution is a two-fold approach:
- Fix the Leak. Wood destroying organisms can only survive when the moisture content goes about 25%. You need to fix the leaks first. If you do, these organisms will "switch off" and go dormant.
- Ventilate, Ventilate, Ventilate. Most attics don't have enough attic ventilation. To get yours up to speed, read our column Drafty Attics Are A Good Thing.
You can clean up small areas of mold or fungus yourself. A diluted bleach solution can work as well as some over-the-counter mold removal products. There is one called MoldWash that comes in wipes and aerosol spray bottles. It uses no bleach, and kills mold and odors on application. It can be used on any surface and prevents the re-growth of mold. The product is also EPA approved.
For more information on dealing with fungus and other members of the mold family, check out our Mold Resource Guide.
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Got A Question About Your Money Pit?
You can do-it-yourself but you don't have to do-it-alone. Getting in touch with us is as easy as 1 - 2 or 3!
- The toll-free studio hot line is 1-888-MONEY PIT. Find out when we broadcast in your area by checking out our website at www.moneypit.com. Each week we take dozens of calls, give great advice and offer callers a chance to win a terrific prize awarded to one random caller to every show.
- Call when it's convenient for you, 24 hours a day, same number: 1-888-MONEY PIT. A live person takes your call 24/7! So -- WHENEVER you have a home improvement question -- phone it in. Simply tell our phone screener your first name, and where you're calling from...and ask your question. We’ll get back to you with the answer – or even call you back during the show!
- Click here to email your question to us. We may read your email on the air and we also respond personally to many of the email questions we get.
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On the Air - Shocking News
This might shock you... but one out of every four homes needs an electrical upgrade. If your next home improvement project will include electrical work, don't make another move until you hear what Fine Homebuilding magazine's editor Kevin Ireton has to say. On the very next Money Pit radio show, we learn the nine most common wiring mistakes and how to fix them. To find out where to tune us in or download our Podcast, click here.
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Dot Common Sense - Save Money Around YOUR Neighborhood
It never ceases to amaze us just how fast money slips away just from day to day errands around town. That's why we here at The Money Pit love the Local Discounts benefit available through the Money Pit American Homeowners Association membership. It helps save money at the stores and restaurants you already frequent.
To create our new membership program we partnered with the American Homeowners Association ¨the nations #1 homeowners organization". AHA pulls together the purchasing power of hundreds of thousands of members to drive deals no one could get on their own.
So how does this save you money? Easy. You just logon to the members-only website, click on "Local Discounts" and enter your zipcode. You'll be able to print out and use coupons and discount vouchers from businesses in your own neighborhood - carpet cleaners, dry cleaners, your favorite pizza joint, auto repair, dentists, florists, jewelers. And yes, even your local hardware store.
A couple of more clicks on the website and you'll access the Grocery Coupon benefit. For thouse of you who think coupons are more bother than they are worth, we want to set you straight. No more getting coupons for stuff you don't want or need. Our membership benefit allows you to log on and browse online for only and exactly the coupons you want. Order up a whole bunch and watch your savings add up.
These discounts alone would be reason to join the Money Pit/AHA Membership, but they're just two out of hundreds of time and money saving benefits and privileges that you get with this program.
And we're about to add two more great reasons: Free tools. That's right... you'll get two awesome electronic tools from Zircon just for trying the Money Pit/AHA Membership. The LaserBall 360 laser level and StudSensor i60 OneStep from Zircon sell for $50.00 in home improvement stores from coast to coast. For all the details on how you can claim them free, along with a free trial membership, click here.
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Fun Fact - Winter Yardwork
If it's getting cooler where you are, you may have thought you were off the hook you're your yard work. Not so! Winter is the perfect time to prune your fruit trees and rose bushes, before they start to bud. Remove any crossing canes, thin the branches, and finish by spraying the plants with dormant oil. It will save you some extra work come spring.
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Short Cuts - How Light Affects Paint
Why does the paint color look totally different on the paint chip, in the can and then on your wall? It's because light affects how colors look - and we're talking about the difference between seeing it in a store under artificial light and in your own home, on the walls that get light from many different sources, during different times of the day.
Windows can make a huge difference depending on what direction they face. Light coming from the east in a room that's a warm color will look warmer in the morning, and then "cool off" as the light fades. On the other hand, the opposite is true for a room facing west.
You also need to take into consideration where you live. For example, a north or south facing room that gets sun all day will get very hot, very quickly if it's painted a dark color. That's great if you like in a cold climate, not so great if you live in the south. If you live in a warm climate - light, cool colors work best in rooms that are exposed to large amounts of sun through the day.
If the room doesn't get a lot of natural light, and you are using artificial lighting, remember that incandescent bulbs will produce a yellowish cast. Fluorescent lights give off a green tinge that can dull warm colors. Some newer fluorescents can give off a pinkish glow that will be more color friendly and bring even more warmth to warmer colors. For best results with YOUR paint color choices, get enough of a sample to cover a big section of a wall in the room you want to paint and see how it looks in different light for a couple of days before making a final decision.
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Copyright 2007 Squeaky Door Productions, Inc.
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