Home Improvement Blog Improving Your Home And Your Life

We just "rescued" a puppy from a family member who could no longer care for her and even though she's a handful and we can no longer sleep in, we love her and are ready to start considering outside shelter for her in the form of a dog house.

We'd like to build a custom dog house that will allow us to add our own flourishes, so we looked to the web and came across the following dog house plans. Some are better than others and there are many here we wouldn't consider because of their style or size, you may find the perfect home for your pet.

How to Build a Dog House
K-9 Dog Houses
Luxury Dog House
Dog House Construction

One of the more popular sources for tools of any type is Harbor Freight. Many of their products are unbelievably inexpensive and some are name brand while others are not. Toolcrib recently wrote up an extensive review of how to shop at Harbor Freight, including "what not to buy" as well as tips for finding the best quality products.

Change the atmosphere of your living or bedroom by adding a dimmer switch for the lights. Dimmers can help save electricity and prolong the life of your light bulbs. First decide what type of dimmer will work best. Your options include a dial, a touch pad, a slide and more.

Winter after winter can wreak havoc on your driveway. Whether it's potholes or just cracks, you can fill them in yourself with EZ Street. This site offers all the information you'll need to prepare and then fill in your holes with their product.

With all the talk of rising costs and a new found emphasis on green living, small spaces are the new penthouses. Don't be put off by what may seem like a cramped interior--instead, check out these floorplans for some decorative inspiration and clever placement that makes a modest interior seem downright spacious.

If you're an avid gardener, you know how tough gardening can be on your back and your knees. If a potting bench isn't already part of your outdoor furniture, take a look at these plans for some designs that will keep you busy for a weekend or two. This plan is a little more involved and serves as a cold frame, a propagating shed and as a raised planter, while this potting bench isn't as complex.

There's no rule that says your tools can't be functional and stylish. Granted, MoMA doesn't have a full line of tools for your shed--but if you're looking on a smaller scale, MoMA is a good starting point.

One of the most important parts of a home renovation process--and a practice that is sometimes overlooked--is the organizing and safekeeping of relevant financial documents that create a detailed file of your house, big-ticket purchases, etc.

Sometimes the best accent pieces for your home are the items you use on a daily basis. Pull those plates you spent a fortune on out of the cabinet and display them on this DIY wooden plate rack.

A reader recently submitted the following question regarding their refrigerator seal not functioning properly. We've encountered this issue a lot and in times of saving energy, making sure our appliances are as efficient as possible is paramount. We've tackled this issue before in this post, Refrigerator Gasket Replacement, but hopefully our other readers can help him out.

My refrigerator has two visible places where the old, dry, rubberish seal is not firmly, flushly, sealed... the rubber seems bent and warped at one place near the bottom opening corner, and one on the top, oddly it seems somehow lower than it should be - leading directly into the inside of the 'frige - so it's not just that the seal is'nt flush against the outer perimeter, the holes lead directly inside to where it's cold.

If you've never built a house and would like to follow along with someone else who is just as inexperienced as you, then check out this house blog. They are at the point of building their roof and have gone with a gable design.

The concrete that makes up your driveway, sidewalk, garage floor, and pathways needs periodical cleaning to remove any excess oils, dirt, debris, and moss that can build up quickly over a short period of time.

We've pulled together a list of some great decor and furnishing ideas from some of our favorite online resources for home design. Enjoy!

Best Folding Chairs 2008
Unique Side Tables
Dining Chairs Under $160
Pretty Home Office Accessories
Amazing Bookcases

Duct tape is one of our all-time favorite tools but there are certain applications where it just won't work as effectively such as with rough surfaces. This is where Gorilla Tape takes over. Toolsnob is a fan and if the tape works as well as their Gorilla Glue then so are we.

Lord of the Rings fans may have to look elsewhere to find authentic homes modeled after the Shire found in the J.R.R. Tolkien books. The developer of this unique community, Ron Meyers, is now in financial ruin and he's placed blame on the current real estate crisis.