Month: August 2020

Creating an outdoor living space has never been more popular. But if your home lacks the basics and you have a limited budget, you can always go the do-it-yourself route. In this case, start with a DIY patio.

Many homeowners pour a concrete slab or install a paver patio. While both projects produce beautiful results, they may be too advanced for novice DIYers.

Here’s an easier alternative: build a small concrete patio using manufactured forms! Anyone can pour concrete mix into plastic forms and, little by little, create a space for recreation.  

Read on to learn just how simple it is!

About Quikrete WalkMaker

Quikrete’s WalkMaker forms help homeowners easily create pathways. Each plastic form creates an approximately 2-square-foot section using one 80-pound bag of premixed concrete.

Shoveling concrete mix into forms is a simple, DIY-friendly project — anybody can do it! You can create customized walkways that look like brick or natural stone, with the

Over nine-and-a-half years, Chelsea made major interior and exterior improvements to her first home. Some, such as creating a nursery, were out of necessity. Others, like adding trim, were purely decorative.

Here are Chelsea’s nine favorite projects that she tackled and featured on her blog, Checking In With Chelsea.

1. Lucy’s Nursery

When Chelsea learned she was having another girl, Lucy, she decided to paint the nursery soft pink — something she didn’t do for her first girl, Mary Helen. Pink is Chelsea’s favorite color, though, so now was the time!

She also considered the room’s small size and realized that wasn’t the only thing she wanted to do differently this go ’round. She purchased multifunctional furniture from Facebook Marketplace to eliminate unnecessary furniture she placed in her boy Gus’ nursery.  

Along with an accent wall and new window treatments, this room was fit for her princess.

Read more about Chelsea’s girl nursery >>

2. Workshop

When you don’t use your garage to park a car, and you often tackle home improvements, it’s time to consider alternative uses for that valuable space.

For Chelsea, the answer was a dream workshop where she could store all her tools and get

Home warranties provide peace of mind when an appliance or system breaks down. Instead of facing a costly bill, homeowners pay the service fee and a monthly premium to a contract provider. 

It’s a low-cost, high-reward scenario — as long as you find the right company. There are many home warranty providers across the country, but they’re not all equal in terms of offerings and quality of service. We’ve evaluated the best home warranty companies on metrics like plan options, coverage, cost, customer ratings and other factors to provide an unbiased recommendation.

Below, we’ll provide a 2-10 Home Buyers Warranty review. We’ll also explain an alternative option that might be a better fit for most homeowners. In general, we think it’s a smart approach to get quotes from several providers and compare. 

In This Article:

Today’s Homeowner works with an independent reviews team to create evidence-based research that helps our readers make informed decisions. The reviews are always independent. For transparency, we may be compensated if you purchase through a

Interior design has always evolved to meet homeowners’ needs and preferences. Sometimes, those changes have been rapid, with drastic shifts happening each decade.

This has been the case for the evolution of home interiors from 1950 to 2020, in particular, as reflected in an article from RentCafe.

Here are some of the trends, from past to present:

Introducing the Family Room

The modern living room in single-family homes has resulted from shifting preferences toward having dedicated spaces for various activities.

While in the 1950s, most homes had a central living room, more and more families wanted “an alternative gathering space, commonly called a ‘family room’ or a ‘den’ (or even a ‘rumpus room’),” according to Kristina Wilson, a professor of Art History at Clark University.

The post-World War II era brought futuristic designs that featured Scandinavian color schemes inspired by nature, particularly earth tones such as brown, cream, green and gray. Low-profile sofas with clean lines and curved furniture were especially popular.