New York Renovator

Money doesn’t make you happy. And apparently, money doesn’t build you a better house. I happened across this website, showing the garish and extravagant houses of celebrities. Here’s the Top Ten Ridiculous, Obnoxious, And Just Plain Ugly Celebrity Houses. And I think that statement is an understatement.

There’s something gratifying about knowing that just because a person makes billions of dollars, that doesn’t necessarily mean their houses are pretty or nice. Makes me feel a LOT better, lol!

I am on my knees, thanking God I had the foresight to wire the living room with Cat5 ethernet cabling WHILE I gutted the room. Oh my goodness, it has been such a blessing. No more strewn cables across the floor and behind the desks! Hurray! I wasn’t always such a believer in foresight like this, nay!

I’d always read in those home improvement articles to wire everything while the walls are open– even if you don’t have the fancy capacity for it yet. I used to scoff (the eternal penny pincher am I). But I have seen the light. I am doing this from now on. The Cat5 wiring has been such a great thing. It cost me a little extra at the time, and it was tough because my budget was pinched already, but I did it. Yippee! I love it when thngs work out like that.

I just HATE fishing wiring through interior walls of lathe and plaster. I won’t do it anymore. Actually, I still have half a house without electricity because I am waiting until I can gut and restore the walls. It is insane to fish the wiring. If I had the money to invest, maybe I’d just hire a guy to do it… but then again, I’d really rather do it myself, save the money, and gut the room and get new walls.

Of course, not everyone can install wiring and components for audio, video, and Internet. It’s rather complicated. It took me a lot of studying to figure out how to do it. So if you are in need of some nice wiring and just don’t want to do it yourself, hey check out Home Theater San Diego. They are consultants, design experts, and installation experts who can add everything from home audio wiring to home theatre wiring– whether your home is new or already built. Sometimes it’s so good to know someone will handle all the planning and installation, you know what I mean? And these guys can rig everything up with remotes (which is the latest luxury feature becoming more mainstream) to, for example, pipe music throughout the house, and more. Very nice. They work with very high-quality equipment, too. Check out their website or give them a call at 858-324-1704. And check out the FAQ page if you want to learn a thing or two about what’s new in technology and installation.

My 1855 house is badly designed, I think. It has a great center hall style, but after that, the floorplan falls apart. For one, the living room is off to the side in a separate wing, all by itself. The room was cold (until I gutted it and insulated it). And to be in that room, you are separated from the rest of the house. NOT a good idea when you have a bunch of boisterous brandishing toy swords and having “lightsaber duels” in front of your glass-windowed china cabinet in the dining room, lol. And the upstairs bedrooms have a very poor floorplan– three of the bedrooms are small and awkward sizes– 10 x 12, and two 8 x 14. Veyr hard to fit 6-foot-long beds in those rooms, believe me. But the only other bedroom is huge– 15 x 17. That’s too big.

Well, anyway, I;m going on and on because I saw this amazing video about a HUGE underground ant colony. It is WEIRD. Scientists filled the ant holes with tons of concrete, waited for the concrete to dry, and then started digging. What they found was pretty amazing.

Isn’t it wild?!

I have long considered (and tossed around at great length) whether to finance our home improvements and renovations with a bank loan or with a credit card loan. My own personal credit is very good, which has given me great options for credit card loans; but bank interest rates and home equity loan rates really haven’t changed much for me. I know one family that financed their entire tens-of-thousands renovation with credit cards, and they had everything paid off within six years and paid very minimal interest. This is extremely appealing to me. Credit cards have extreme flexibility. But you have to be disciplined to control your spending and pay it off in time for it to work.  How have you financed your improvements, and how did it go? With the banking industry crisis, I haven’t seen banks willing to budge their rates very much. Yet with credit card loans, my good credit can get me a very low APR.

Financing is hard work– harder work than renovating, I think! Know your options and scout around for the best deals. I’m hoping that this year is MY year to finally finance and get that new kitchen! And as always, do your homework before leaping into a financing plan!

Woooohooooo! Can you believe it?!

What is it with getting older? I used to actually like the colder temperatures; not since I hit my late 30s. And for about two weeks (the same two weeks we have all been sick, coincidentally), the temperatures have held with what our weathermen like to call an “ARCTIC BLAST.” Hoh hoh, I could wipe those smirks right off their faces when they say that!

Anyway, I’m tired of winter early this year. I’m tired of frozen feet and tired of packing on layer upon layer of outdoor clothing (not to mention indoor clothing), and I’m tired of the animals’ complaints (we had to bring them all inside because it was so cold, and they just hate it– they get stir-crazy. So do I!). I’m tired of the bland, colorless trees and yard. Boo hoo, poor me, huh? lol

Well, I think we’ve now had enough snow and more than enough frigid temperatures to kill off the insect eggs nesting under our lawns (I hope, anyway). That’s the only silver lining about these freezing spells, it kills the bugs. The lowest temperatures so far this winter were -15 Fahrenheit, without factoring in the wind chill. The air was is so dry that our head hair stands up on end (literally). I electrocute everything I touch, especially my furry kitten, poor baby. And I have an aluminum Apple keyboard for my computer, and so, well, that isn’t pretty. But the cold drafts are the real killers. I have a 150-year old house, remember. When we open the kitchen drawers and cabinets, polar air blasts in, from all the old holes in the plaster behind the cabinets. We have to remember NOT to have wet hands when we reach for the metal silverware, I’ll tell you that much! lol

So the winter blahs came early this year. I am looking forward to plunging my warm and not-chapped hands into the soft brown earth again, coaxing my little flowers from the soil. I’m looking forward to bright, warm sunshine, to cookouts, to campfires, to laying on the dewy grass at night and seeing the brilliant stars. Ahhh. Winter does have its own beauty, yes. But winter has a wart on its nose this year. I am ready for sunshine and GREEN STUFF again!!

We’ve had our Tempurpedic mattress for several months now. I thought I’d now give the promised update. You can read my first review that has my first impressions of the mattress and box spring set.

We bought the mattress AND the box spring AND a new queen-size frame for this bed. Because I have a herniated disk in my spine that sometimes flares up, the regular old spring-coil mattress was causing more problems than helping them. We bought the Tempurpedic with the hopes that it would improve my back (or, at the very least, not strain it as the spring-coil was straining it).

I’ll shoot straight and clear, first thing: I love the Tempurpedic mattress.

The mattress itself has softened a lot since we purchased it five months ago. It’s still extremely comfortable. It’s also warm and cozy. I’d read online reviews that said the mattress was uncomfortably hot, but I have not found that the case so far. Of course, we haven’t been through a summer with the Tempurpedic yet, and New York winters are MIGHTY chilly. I’m finding that I look forward to going to bed every night, cuddling up in the mattress. It’s so soft and comfortable! Where I used to get sore spots at the pressure points with the spring-coil, I have nothing but comfort with the Tempurpedic.

The bad side of the Temperpedic mattress is the box spring. It’s a DISASTER. We had to get the split box springs, because my stair case ceiling is so low that a regular box spring could never fit through and up to the bedrooms (these old houses, you know). When we first moved to this house, we had to break apart the bedroom window and hoist our spring-coil mattress and box spring up a rope and through the window. No fun. So we got the split box spring, with the saleman’s assurances that this was just as comfortable.

Lie!

This box spring is awful. You can’t roll over without the box spring squeaking and groaning in protest. It is durn-tootin’ NOISY! I mean– if the windows were open, the neighbors standing outside could hear me getting in and out of the bed. It’s a horrid sound, like the sound of very dry wood scratching over each other, very LOUDLY. I just dread moving on the bed. It wakes the kids!

So I am 100% DISSATISFIED with the box spring. It STINKS. We paid a good chunk of change for the set (we could have gone to las vegas for a weekend, it cost that much!). I’m considering using my old box spring from the old spring-coil set (it’s still in our upstairs hallway because we have to either bust it up or break open our window again to get rid of it). The Temperpedic box spring is a rip-off.

So there ya have it. I expect the Tempurpedic mattress to continue to soften a little, with time. That doesn’t bother me, as I like the cushy feel (especially after enduring the hard-as-concrete spring coil mattress for so long). But I’ll never get another box spring like this. It’s awful.

I grew up in small towns, but they were only minutes away from the “big cities.” Remember the days way back when, when all we had to do for home security was close the curtains at night?? We never had to lock our doors or windows; we knew our neighbors and they knew us, and we all looked out for each other. Theft or home intrusions? That was the stuff of movies and in the worst of the big cities.

Those days are OVER, aren’t they? Nowadays, it’s risky to leave your home unlocked. It’s really even too risky to merely rely on locks to keep out the criminals– nowadays, beefy home security is becoming a necessity. By far, the most popular and most successful company in home security is ADT. I see the ADT sticker on house doors everywhere. ADT provides monitored burglar, fire, and video surveillance systems round the clock; and ADT serves more than six million people in the United States alone!

The best thing about ADT besides it’s superb security monitoring system, is that it is very affordable for the average American. Security systems used to be the stuff of the rich and famous, right? Not so anymore. At a time whem crime is rising and the average American’s possessions are more valuable than ever, ADT has risen to the occasion to offer very good and affordable packages to meet any budget. I know that when I finally get my own house renovated, we’re installing an ADT security system. The basic burglary security package is on special right now– $99 installation after rebate, and just $42.99 a month for continous monitoring. That’s the cost of a pizza dinner for a family of 6! I think the deal is amazing. ADT can monitor your home for burglary, fire, home health for seniors, home video surveillance, and even identity theft. 24/7, your home is monitored!

Check out the ADT website for more information, or call 1-866-746-7238. ADT can schedule you for a free home security evaluation. And if you have a business with security needs, ADT can handle it with their extensive business packages. ADT is contracted to handle federal government security services– there’s no doubt they can manage everything for your home and business! Check them out. Security systems are rapidly becoming a necessary fixture for homes and businesses. You don’t want to be the only house on the block with just a lock between you and a criminal.

I really like my header to this blog (and it took me SO LONG to make it), but I’ve been wanting a new overall design for a few months now. It’s kind of embarrassing to have a Home IMPROVEMENT blog and my actual blog looks, well, kinda cluttered! I love the bright colors, but the load time for this blog is long and I guess I’d like something more streamlined. I’ve been scouting the web for WordPress themes for a few months now (I found some good ones for my other blogs) but for some reason, this blog just needs a little extra pizzazz. I’ve given up looking for the cheapo freebie themes (so many of them have xml errrors and copious footer links, ugh!) and am starting to turn toward a premium WordPress theme. I found a very, very cool WordPress theme site! I thought I’d share this great site, because sharing is nice.

This is the WPRemix.com website. Whoa! It’s very cool! It has a ton of options to make your blog look very classy. I don’t know about you, but I am out-and-out bored with that Kubrick WP theme, aren’t you?! Blogs and blog readers are so much more sophisticated now. I want a blog that is a little more interactive, where readers can navigate to my past posts and see the electrical work or the landscaping work we’ve done, with a click of the mouse. As it is, my best posts are buried somewhere in the archives here.

So the WPRemix theme looks exceptional. It’s very customizable (you can even easily customize blog pages with their own special sidebars), they have video tutorials, a support forum, special color schemes, everything! I think it is so cool! What do you think? Have any of you tried a premium WordPress theme? If so, how did it go? Would you say it was worth it? I think if I can customize it myself easily, and make it so that my best archived posts are able to be found easily, it would be worth it. Check out the site yourself if you are looking for a little “home page” improvement. WPRemix also has a generous affiliate program, paying out 50% of each sale generated by your link!

I love how the red and black color scheme looks at the WPRemix site. Isn’t that classy?! What do you think?

I got a little comparison cleaning kit a few weeks ago. The kids and I finally decided to try it out. I love these kinds of comparison reviews! I feel just like those ladies on TV with the taste tests!

OK, so we got a box of the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They have “powerful foaming cleanser” and come with the Febreze Meadows & Rain fresh scent. I actually didn’t realize why the sponges smelled so good until I re-read the box and saw the Febreze label. The smell is very nice. I hate the stench of bleach, so I have to say I was immediately turned off by the “leading brand” stuff. (It’s a Clorox tub & tile cleaner, if you really want to know). I have a fiberglass bathtub (a very old one) and it is a PAIN to clean. The soap scum really builds up. I have tried a lot of various tub cleaners, but none ever really worked. We relegated ourselves to scratching off the soap scum with a plastic spatula. YES, believe it or not, that’s how we cleaned it. Back breaking! *sigh* My daughter got the bright idea to use Cascade dishwashing detergent, and that worked better than any tub cleaner, but she still had to scrub the surface somewhat. So we have been eager for something that cleans our tub and doesn’t send us to the hospital.

So this kit came with two pre-dirtied tiles. lol. You can see my little fingernail scratches on the tiles. My son, Sniffy, assisted me with our experiment.

A checklist had some recommendations for us.

The first thing we did was squirt the “Leading Brand” (gosh, I feel so professional when I say it that way) on a dirty tile and scrub it off with a paper towel.

Hm. Nope. Not very good. Kinda reminds me of those painful tub-scratching days. We tried the Mr. Clean foamy erasers.

Wow! I was surprised at how quickly it scrubbed off. And my young son was unusually exuberant about it, too. Hm, I think I may have another poor, unsuspecting slave handy helper to wash the tub!

The next thing we tried was crayon markings and marker scribbles. THANK GOD my kids are too old for scribbling on walls with crayons (I think so, anyway). Both cleaning products performed the same. They wiped off the crayon and the marker very easily.

The next thing on the list was to make chili and use the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser to clean up the baked disaster. I didn’t do that part (didn’t feel like cooking, lol), but I probably would just stick to tub cleaning for the Magic Erasers. I was very impressed with the tile scum removal.

My daughter decided to test out the eraser in the scummy tub. Not too bad! She said the foaming stuff inside the sponge was very effective; and scrubbing was “like washing a blackboard with an eraser, just a little bit harder.” So I think we’ve finally found our tub cleaner! This means we can finally throw out all those old plastic spatulas! Hurray! I didn’t have to worry about her breathing in chlorine fumes, either!

For your information, the Mr. Clean Magic Erasers come in packs of two. I saw them at Walgreens for $3.99. The sponges can really be used only once for a big job, maybe twice for smaller jobs. The Clorox cleaner is also at Walgreens for $3.99, but it doesn’t smell as nice as the Mr. Clean, and the liquid tub cleaner is just not effective on my tub. You can read more about Mr. Clean products here. I hope this little review helps to eliminate evil scum from all the recesses of the world!

P.S. This is not a paid post! Consider it my service to mankind and the quest for the perfect tub cleanser.

All the fancy schmancy rigamarole about vitamins, supplements, organic foods, non-organic foods and etc got you baffled? Yeah, me too. Here’s a really neat site to help us out of our bafflements (and I love the title, too): The Whole Story.

It’s a website dedicated to educating everyone how to eat healthier. They have a special supplements podcast right now, called “The ABC’s of Supplements,” detailing the in’s and out’s of everything supplements. It’s done by a nutritionist, Malia Curran. She unravels some of the mystery of the terminology and regulation of supplements, answers questions, and more. This is a good one– if you’re into heavy-duty nutrition, you’ll want to check it out.

I’ve frequented this site several times in the past, for their recipes and information on various nutritional foods. It’s a very good site! If you are interested in anything food (and we all are, at least as far as eating is concerned!), then you will like the site. I’ve never heard any of the podcasts, though. They do sound interesting. It’s the online cooking show that I like! The site is an extention of Whole Foods Market, one of the leading organic and natural foods supermarket. At the site, you can check for store locations, find tips and facts, recipes, products, and loads more stuff! It’s a great place to send homeschooled kids to for their home economics lessons, too.