It's been a go-to resource for me.

As long as the tap turns on, you don’t really think about your water. But you may have a problem that shows up in other ways, and hard water is one you should definitely pay attention to.

File the tip under “just because you see it on Pinterest doesn't mean it's a good idea.”

Sometimes painting something can be just as quick a route to “I love it!” as “I wish I hadn't done that.”

While painter's tape promises clean lines, it can come with issues. And, of course, there’s the time requirement: It takes forever to apply.

Sometimes you see something you just need in your space, no matter what. You know there will be a downside, but it’s just too perfect. For me, it was the window-style fixed shower panels. I started seeing this look last summer when we were renovating the bizarre and so-ugly bathroom in our Victorian home. Honestly, anything was an upgrade from the teeny, low-ceilinged, stained-beyond-all-hope stall shower that came with the house that I might have just gone with the first shower I saw.

What’s cooler than an exposed brick wall? An exposed, weathered, white brick wall!If you’ve been pining for that distressed, vintage look, read on—and don’t fret. It’s totally DIY-able and costs next to nothing… as long as you’ve got plenty of time. When my husband and I uncovered the original brick in the apartment over the former stable behind our Victorian, I knew I wanted to go with a random, weathered white look for our newest Airbnb.

If I admire one home design advancement, it just might be the advent of soft-close. You never realize how annoying slamming toilet lids and cabinet doors are until you experience the calm relief of closing those things quietly. This invention is so ubiquitous now that you can even get refrigerators with soft-close drawers—which, frankly, is a little gimmicky… but I still like mine.What if you have cabinets that date back to the time before this common upgrade?

It’s hard to resist the siren call of exposing hidden brick. When you know it’s tucked away under drywall or plaster, just begging to make a big statement, you’ve just got to do it… right?It sounds so easy when you tell friends your plans: “Yeah, we’ll just tear out the plaster and expose the brick. It’ll be amazing.” And if it were a TV show and you could fast forward to the finished product, it would totally be amazing.

Thrift stores aren’t just for scoring super-cheap clothing and decor. What if I told you there is a place to stock up on renovation supplies (and great furniture) without paying home improvement store prices? And shopping there contributes to a great cause? Some smart shoppers may know just what I’m talking about: Habitat for Humanity ReStore. With nearly 900 shops around the country, these stores are the ultimate win-win.

Ever find a skeleton key? How quaint they look—what a throwback to another time! But if you’ve looked in the locks aisle at a big-box hardware store lately, that may be the way modern keys are headed, too.Smart locks are crowding out traditional locks, and they just keep getting smarter.

File under Who Knew?!: That plunger you probably have sitting by your toilet isn’t the only kind of plunger out there. It’s probably not even meant for what you think it’s meant for. The plunger and brush combo kit hanging out in everyone’s bathroom is a move-in staple bought on auto-pilot. Plungers are one of the most common tools for dealing with life’s little emergencies, but they are not a one-size-fits-all-toilets tool.

Oops. That’s the last word you want to hear coming out of your mouth when you’re painting. But things happen. Painting may seem straightforward, but a surprising number of things can go wrong. Blame it on bad luck, poor planning, or Mercury in retrograde—whatever. Sometimes things just get royally screwed up and you need to fix them, now. Almost anything paint-related is fixable, if you know what to do and act in the appropriate timeframe.

For some, the image of fresh, clean clothes whipping in the breeze conjures up the happy feels, but to me it just means lugging around a heavy basket of wet clothes, fiddling with clothespins, and dealing with unwieldy drying racks. No thanks. I love having a dryer and when it breaks, laundry is an unwelcome and tedious chore. Here are a few simple things I do to keep my dryer working properly, and how to troubleshoot when yours isn’t.

When my husband and I bought our first fixer upper home, it was a rude awakening. My parents rented during my whole childhood, so I had no experience with homeownership. My dad also worked in new home construction, so neither did I soak up valuable old house wisdom at his knee. Still, I am drawn to houses in need of serious TLC, and have learned a lot over the years about what it takes to own one—stuff that I didn’t learn on TV.

Rest easy in your new home.

A cautionary tale.

Consider these drawbacks.

Filed under things I didn’t know I had to worry about: the fact that the pretty finish on my new kitchen fixtures might not last. When you’re dreaming about a new kitchen, it’s often the jewelry—those gleaming brass fixtures—that imprint on your mind. They certainly did mine. Pinning my little heart out, I began to see patterns in what I liked, and that included modern brass fixtures.

If you only own one household tool, it’s probably a cordless drill. They’re pretty essential for even the most basic home improvement projects. But it’s not just a matter of grabbing one and getting to work. Drills may seem straightforward, but there are actually a lot of ways to mess up. Here are some common mistakes to watch out for.

Painting is one of the easiest home improvements out there, and most people—whether renters or homeowners—have picked up a brush at some point in their lives. It’s also an easy project to jump into without asking questions first or thinking about the right ways to do things. Instead of wasting your time and money, here are five things you should positively, never, ever do with your interior paint. But what does one DO with all that paint? We’ll save that for another day.