Really? Free? In the spirit of freecycle and freesales, here’s another national trend that’s easy on your wallet: Really Really Free Markets. They’re events held in cities across the country where folks can show up with their excess belongings, and other folks can browse and take what they want—no bartering, payment, or haggling necessary. We […]

Color cups Need some indestructible cups, for kids or clumsy guests? Want to make sure your style’s equally unassailable? ’50s-vintage melmac cups and saucers from Antics bring cheery hues and retro flair to your kitchen, all mid-century-like.       Smart reductions Little books for little spaces: Mimi Zeiger’s Tiny Houses is seven square inches […]

Remember the olden days when people used to drive around neighborhoods with their real estate agent in tow looking at properties? So 1992. These days, the only real way to search for homes (as with everything else in life) is online. And real estate blogs and search engines are making it easier than ever. Following […]

Now we’re rolling   Plenty of projects are more important than a toilet-paper holder, but we still gave it a place on our big list of things to do. (This is notwithstanding my husband’s claim that the back of the toilet made a fine toilet-paper holder.) Of course you can buy these things in all […]

A hammer for every task When it’s hammer time, choose wisely. If you think the concept of using a hammer is pretty easy, well, you’re pretty right. Depending on the task, though, there are specialized hammers on the market that can make your job-at-hand an error-proof breeze. When you just need a household hammer for […]

Bring your own bag The way things are going, the question “paper or plastic?” is really on its way out. We’ve all heard the stats (Americans use 380 billion plastic bags every year; each ton of paper thrown away represents 17 trees) and we all know the solution: reusable bags. Still need a reason to […]

Connect four Here, the cheese factor’s a good thing: A set of four serving plates from The Happy Cook brings vintage labels from European cheeses to your table. Are you daring enough to serve Gruyere on the Emmenthaler plate?               Hyper-local food When times get tough, get foraging. Edible: […]

In today’s buyers’ market, you hear stories of $500,000 homes selling for as little as $250,000—a buyer’s jackpot by any standard. Price reductions are everywhere—so how can a savvy homebuyer make the most of them?   Searching for discounted properties is easy enough. Log on to realcentralva.com for an up-to-date list of price-reduced or foreclosure […]

Moving day One of the more ridiculous projects we’ve ever done at our house: moving an old wooden shed to a new spot, 30 feet or so uphill. Why? you ask. Well, we were supposed to tear it down altogether for insurance reasons—its stone foundation was beyond precarious—but we liked the building, knew we’d make […]

The space in between Looking to rev up that patio? Inside meets out in Stephen Crafti’s Courtyards for Modern Living, a tribute highlighting the potential of courtyards to connect yard and home in creative, personal ways. It’s all about functionality, baby: Crafti shows us how it’s done with pages of inspirational outdoor living set off […]