Chase-Pitkin 

A beautiful garden, like a fine painting, needs a frame to set it off. Edgings and borders, natural and manmade, provide contrast in your garden, keep wandering blooms in their place and give flower beds that finishing touch. Here’s a look at some of your edging options. Quick Borders One of the quickest and easiest of borders are the ready-made borders available in wood, plastic, and wire. The wood borders come in picket and lattice styles as well as decorative and even whimsical designs. Pressure-treated cedar edging are durable and decorative and the natural color and preservatives resist moisture and …

Read more🌳 Edging – The Finishing Touch

Imagine a spectacular show of colorful blooms announcing the arrival of spring in your garden next year. It takes only a little planning and a minimum of effort. Choosing the right bulbs and planting properly are the keys to a colorful spring show. Planning for color To keep your garden interesting all season, you want bulbs that flower, in the early, middle and late spring. So you need to plant a variety of bulbs in order to have a continuous showing of color. For example, crocus, snowdrops and hyacinths are early bloomers ready to greet you with their green-tipped shoots …

Read more🌳 Plant Spring Bulbs in Fall!

Like it or not colder weather is coming and you need to think about getting your home ready for the winter. There are a number of “winterizing” projects you can do around your home to make it more comfortable and more energy efficient. Some of them cost very little. For example, most of the following projects should cost you less than $50. Replace Door Stops Check at the bottom of your exterior doors. If you can see light underneath, you need a new door stop. Don’t forget about your garage door. Most garages are unheated and uninsulated, so trying to …

Read more🏠 Winterize Your Home

Curling up in front a warm glowing wood burning fire is a pleasant thought on a cold winter evening. However, when you light your fireplace for the first time, you could get more than you bargained for. Every time you build a fire, a substance called creosote forms that coats the inside of your chimney. Repeated fires cause it to build up and the buildup can cause a chimney fire. It’s essential to make cleaning your chimney a regular part of preparing your home each winter. Do-it-yourself If you want to tackle the cleaning yourself, the first step is to …

Read more🏠 Staying Safe, Staying Warm

No single element of your home gets quite as much use as the floor. Take the kitchen floor for example; everyone walks on it, the kids play on it, the dog tracks dirt on it, and liquids spill on it. What are your choices for these high-traffic areas? Price consideration alone used to make vinyl the number one choice. It’s still a popular flooring today; but it’s not only price that makes vinyl flooring attractive, it’s the almost limitless range of colors, styles, and textures that are now available. Selecting your choices of patterns could be your biggest problem as …

Read more🏠 Vinyl Flooring — Good Looks and Great Value

If your windows are letting in the cold air, your energy costs may be the only thing heating up. It’s time to replace those old windows. Replacing the windows in your home is a major home improvement, but one that will add beauty and value to your home for years to come. The sturdy weather resistant vinyl replacement windows of today are custom built to fit your existing openings and are energy efficient, good looking and maintenance free. High-performance options Today’s windows offer a host of great built-in features. Double or triple pane glass gives superior insulation and deadens sound. …

Read more🏠 Replace Those Old Windows!

Insulate — you know you should do it; but how much insulation do you really need? You can check the building codes in your area to find out how much insulation is being put in new construction. Here in the Northeast, new homes are insulated to R-19 and attics to R-38. What does the R-factor mean? It’s the insulation’s resistance to heat flow. In another words, how much heat it prevents from escaping. The higher the R-value, the greater the insulating power. How much do you need? If you’re insulating an area of your home that has no insulation, you …

Read more🏠 Insulating Your Home

Few home appliances get more daily use and attention than your faucets. The contemporary and traditional designer looks of today’s kitchen and bathroom faucets offer eye-pleasing styles and decorative finishes. They are engineered to be high tech and low maintenance. Features and benefits include long lasting finishes such as triple-plated to resist chipping, washerless designs to reduce leaking and durable baked-on finishes to last a lifetime. Here are a few commonly asked questions and answers about faucets: Q. Can I replace a two-handle kitchen faucet with a single handle model?A. In most cases, yes. Standard-size sink openings and faucet dimensions are …

Read more💦 Faucet Facts

Did you know that three million homes are burglarized each year in the U.S. – which is one every 10 seconds? Safety and security is something we all want for our families, our homes, and ourselves. Exterior lighting can help make your home more secure. You can improve your level of home security with a range of exterior lighting products: Security lighting There are energy efficient and attractive home security lights that have lower light output for smaller yards or concentrated areas. The beam of light is more focused so there is less light pollution or stray light to disturb …

Read more🏠 Playing It Safe

Bird watching is a hobby enjoyed by millions of people. You can be a casual observer, watching an occasional bird from your window, or you can actively create an environment to attract them. Why not spend the upcoming winter months putting together a plan to turn your backyard into a haven for songbirds? Plan To encourage birds, you need to provide food, a source of water, and suitable shelter. Decide first which species of bird you want to encourage, then offer the food that particular bird prefers. Provide food directly in feeders, or add plants to your garden to create …

Read more🐦 Creating Habitat for Birds