22 Little Tips That Will Make a Large Difference

Getting your house to be the "Green" dwelling you would like it to be can seem extremely daunting. The new and expensive appliances, changes to the insulation, and time and effort it takes is enough to make someone think twice about helping out the environment. Instead, the folks over at This Old House have provided some excellent inexpensive tips for creating a more eco-friendly home while saving you lots of time. Such drastic changes aren't as necessary when you can make this small ones that will still have a large impact. Click here to read the article or begin below.

"22 Little Ways to Go Green"
By THIS OLD HOUSE


It seems everybody knows you can help the planet—and save yourself some cash—with big changes: adding spray-foam insulation to open walls, say, or installing a tankless water heater. But there are lots of simpler, lower-cost ways to improve your eco-scorecard, too. Here are some low-stress steps to take around the house to reduce your carbon footprint, create a healthier home, and lower your monthly bills to boot.

WORKSHOP
1. Unplug your power tools. Figure out which cordless tools (like drill/drivers) get the most use, then unplug the chargers on all the rest. Most cordless tools have nickel cadmium (NiCad) batteries, which will hold some charge for up to a year. They lose 15 to 20 percent of their juice each month, but only take a couple of hours to power up again. Newer tools with lithium ion batteries lose just 2 to 5 percent of their charge each month, so they'll be ready to go even if you haven't charged them in ages.

2. Spread sawdust on your floor. Take the superfine shavings captured by your dust collection system, wet them down, then push them around with a stiff broom to sweep your concrete garage or workshop floor. The mix is as good as a power-guzzling shop vac at picking up dust but doesn't swirl it into the air. 

Click here to read the rest of the tips.

Take Your Kitchen Outside

Although summer is in full swing most of us find ourselves stuck inside all day. Why not take advantage of the weather when you get off and cook outside? The team at the DIY Network have provided some great tips of things to think about before building an outdoor kitchen. Click here to read the article or begin below.

"Tips for an Outdoor Kitchen"
By DIY NETWORK

Outdoor kitchens have certainly become one of the hottest items in home building in the last few years. You can get the same options from your indoor kitchen and you can put those things in your outdoor kitchen. For example, you can get cabinets, grills, refrigerators, but there's one thing that's totally different — everything has to be waterproofed.

The most basic item for your outdoor kitchen is a barbecue grill — don't forget that what makes it a kitchen is that you have a place to cook. You have a few options when it comes to an outdoor grill, you can get something that is prefab, something semi-custom or something that is customized.

You can get something as extravagant as a drop-in stove that's got six burners and a gas kit. You might hire a kitchen designer for your indoor kitchen, but for a more casual outdoor kitchen you might want to do it yourself.

Click here to read the entire article.

How to Redesign a Room

What do you think of first when redesigning a room? Color, shades, possible furniture, or light fixtures? Instead, you should hold off on the décor and first focus on the form of the room and its function. Here we have a short clip from Better Homes and Gardens suggesting a better approach of how to attack the redesign of room.

 See how to Arrange a Room here. 

Easy Grilling Clean-Up tips

It would be fair to assume that Barbecues were a popular occurrence over the 4th of July holiday weekend. It would also be fair to assume that these Barbeques may not have left your deck looking like it's usual clean self. The folks over at the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) have provided some excellent tips for a post Barbecue clean up. Click here to read the article or begin below.

"Easy Grilling Clean-Up Tips"
By HPBA



Americans say an easy clean up is one of the most pleasurable parts of grilling food outdoors. In fact, in a recent survey by the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association (HPBA) a majority (70 percent) responded that they find "a lot" of pleasure in having few or no pots or pans to clean up when grilling as opposed to indoor cooking.

To ensure that outdoor grilling clean-up is even easier, HPBA offers the following tips:

- BEFORE lighting the grill, apply non-stick spray on the grates. The protective spray cuts down the clean-up time afterwards.

Click here to read the entire article.