Whether you’re thinking of freshening up the home you adore and plan to remain in, or want to spruce it up in advance of selling it, you can get results you’ll love without spending a fortune.

Houses show their age most dramatically in kitchens and bathrooms, and they’re obviously the places where you might need or want to spend the most money, especially if you’re replacing fixtures and appliances. But if a few bright and shiny rooms are going to make the rest of the place look left-behind, there are ways to make over the other rooms, too, without breaking the bank. [Read more…]

While it can be exciting to go through a major renovation in your home, often you just won’t have the time or the money to do so. Happily though, there are many ways that you can update the look of your house without having to undertake major work.

From painting a feature wall, buying some new bed linen, adding a striking modern area rug, or retiling kitchen splashbacks, there are plenty of things that will add pizzazz yet not break the bank. Read on for some quick and easy decorating ideas you can implement over a weekend this summer. [Read more…]

Driving through any neighborhood, you can probably tell quite a bit about a house’s inhabitants based on what they feature in their front yards. Those with tire swings and tree houses must have young, adventurous children, while those with lush gardens brimming with bright blooms must care greatly for the environment.

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Air conditioners, like any other machine, need some basic maintenance to run smoothly and maximize their efficiency. One of the simplest things that you, as the consumer, can do to keep your air conditioner chugging along is change or clean the air filter on a regular basis. But if you’re like many homeowners, it never occurs to you to perform this simple maintenance chore.

The air filter in your air conditioning unit traps dust, pet fur, and other pollutants in the air, so that they don’t travel into your machine and clog up its inner workings. Air filters may simply protect your air conditioner, or they may even improve the air quality inside your home. Some units have reusable air filters that just need to be washed off. Others use disposable filters that need to be entirely replaced. [Read more…]