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Spend Your Gift Card on These Home Improvement Tools

January 17, 2020

If you still have a gift card from the holidays burning a hole in your wallet, we’re here to give you some ideas to spend it on. Here are some of the best home improvement tools you wouldn’t think to buy for yourself, but won’t know how you lived without. Bosch Laser Distance MeasurerMiles ahead of your traditional tape measure, we love this pocket-sized tool for its accuracy and 165-foot range. It’s especially useful for contractors who bid by the square foot, or anyone who needs to quickly and accurately determine (to 1/16th inch) the size of a room. You can also sync it with a variety of Bosch measuring apps via Bluetooth, which makes this a must-have for us. WORX Universal Gutter Cleaning KitThinking ahead to warmer weather, why not spring for a tool that makes the most odious household chore, gutter cleaning, just a little easier? This gutter cleaning kit is designed to keep you on the ground, with a tube system that extends up to 11 feet. It fits most standard gas or electric leaf blowers so you can blast that gutter-clogging debris into next week. It works best on dry leaves but depending on the power

What Does a Home Inspector Do?

January 7, 2020

The process of buying or selling your home is a complex process. From the moment you put your house on the market to the closing paperwork, there are a lot of moving pieces all working in sequence to make sure things go smoothly. One of the most important steps that’s often overlooked is your home inspection. You may be familiar with the concept, but what does a home inspector actually do? What a Home Inspector DoesA home inspector is trained to make a complete assessment of a home and its many components. This assessment, which is comprehensively documented in a report given to the home buyer or seller, is designed to provide useful information about the current condition of the home. This most often includes information about the age and condition of a home’s most costly structures like the roof, HVAC and electrical systems. Home inspections give peace of mind to home buyers that they’re making the best decision possible with their investment, and home sellers can benefit from knowing what repairs should be completed before starting negotiations with buyers. A Visual, Non-Invasive InspectionWhen you hire a home inspector, you’ll see that they describe their services as a “visual and

10 Last-Minute Hostess Gifts to Give This Holiday Season

December 23, 2019

If you’re not hosting a holiday gathering this year, you’re in the lucky position of being somewhat flexible. With the extra time on your hands, consider showing your hostess how much you appreciate them with a small token. A bottle of wine or champagne is a classic option, of course, but why not think outside the box? Here are 10 inexpensive options that will show your hostess you see all her hard work and you’re thankful for her. Not to mention, earn you a repeat invite. 1. Cozy Blanket Simply put, you can never have too many throw blankets. Depending on your climate, you can choose a lightweight knit or an ultra-warm fleece. Just remember, a neutral color like beige or gray, is always the safest bet so it’ll go with any décor and be appropriate to display all year round. 2. No-fuss Succulent Add a little green to your hostess’s home by gifting them a plant that requires almost no work at all to keep healthy, like a succulent. Even better if you pick a stylish planter to put it in! Be sure to include a little thank you note with care instructions so your hostess doesn’t have to

How to Prepare Your Home for Holiday Guests

November 13, 2019

With the holidays fast approaching, you’re busy juggling what feels like 100 tasks. Your guests are still days from arriving, but you’re already overwhelmed. And when they do show up on your doorstep . . . well, then what? While the thought of attending to one more to-do list might be enough to tear your hair out, we have the perfect cheat sheet for preparing your home for holiday guests. Here’s how to keep them happy and avoid host regret, even while at your busiest. Set Out All-in-One Welcome KitsWhen you’re at the height of dinner prep mania, the last thing you need is a barrage of questions and requests. Head off distractions and pamper your guests at the same time with welcome kits. These can be totally customizable and they don’t need to cost more than a few dollars each. Consider filling storage cubes with items like travel-size toiletries, books, magazines, towels, and small gifts like holiday-themed chocolates or a $5 gift card to a local coffee shop. You can also include a sheet with the holiday “schedule,” the household Wi-Fi password and any other relevant info. Create a Quick Tour Guide to Your Area A little peace and

Haunted Places: The Deane House

October 30, 2019

Location: Calgary, AlbertaArchitectural Style: Foursquare, aka Cornbelt CubeBuilt: 1906 In our latest installment of NPI’s Haunted Places Series, we’ll take a closer look at the Deane House, one’s of Calgary’s most intriguing haunted places. With a history marred by tragedy from its earliest construction, the Deane House has earned its reputation as a hub of ghostly activity for over a century. Fort Calgary and the Deane HouseEstablished at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in 1875, Fort Calgary became the region’s command post of the North-West Mounted Police. Keeping order in this time period was a tough prospect, with the area populated with whiskey traders, outlaws and other colorful characters. As rail lines were laid, trade increased and the city of Calgary grew around the fort. In 1906, the fort’s superintendent, Captain Richard Deane, had a home built for his wife, Martha, on the grounds of the fort, as he believed that the existing accommodations were unfit for family living. The home was constructed by prisoners of Fort Calgary. Martha, however, wouldn’t live to see the home completed—she died of an undisclosed illness shortly before construction of the house was completed. The Deane House MovesAfter Fort Calgary closed

Haunted Places: McPike Mansion

October 29, 2019

Location: Alton, IllinoisArchitectural Style: Italianate-VictorianBuilt: 1869-1871 McPike Mansion in Alton, Illinois is one of the most notorious purportedly haunted houses in the Midwest. With 150 years of history within its walls, McPike Mansion boasts countless tales of intrigue and good old-fashioned spookiness. Read on to learn more about the alleged hauntings of this infamous home. McPike MansionMcPike Mansion was completed in 1871 by Henry Guest McPike, a local businessman, real estate developer and horticulturist. McPike became famous for cultivating the mammoth, prize-winning McPike grape, an important species for wine-making. McPike was involved with local politics, serving as Alton’s mayor for three years. Quick fun fact: he was also close friends with Abraham Lincoln, and was by his side when he received the telegram informing him of his election to the presidency. Built on a 15-acre plot of land, McPike’s three-story, Italianate-Victorian-style home featured 16 rooms and a vaulted wine cellar—extravagant even by today’s standards. The house featured 11 marble fireplaces and intricately carved banisters and trim. In their prime, the grounds were adorned with lush gardens and orchards, home to rare trees, plants and shrubs. McPike passed away in 1910, but his family lived on at McPike Mansion until 1936.

Haunted Places: The Vaile Mansion

October 15, 2019

Location: Independence, MissouriArchitectural Style: Second EmpireBuilt: 1871-1881 The Vaile Mansion has stood for nearly 140 years at 1500 North Liberty Street in Independence, Missouri. Its history has been fraught with scandal, tragedy and more than a few reported hauntings. This makes the beautiful yet foreboding Vaile Mansion perfect for our Haunted Places series! Read on as we uncover the fascinating history of this haunted home-turned-sanitarium. Meet the VailesColonel Harvey Merrick Vaile was born in 1831 in Bennington, Vermont. After building his fortune carefully for years as a lawyer, journalist and business investor, he became part owner of Star Mail Routes, a U.S. postal contractor that would run mail from St. Louis to points west in the frontier. As budding socialites in Independence, Missouri, he and his wife, Cecilia Sophia Vaile, set out to build a home reflective of their wealth and status in the community. The Vaile MansionThe Vailes’ new home was designed by renowned Kansas City architect Asa Beebe Cross in the Second Empire style, borrowing popular stylistic embellishments from French Baroque Revival architecture. Breaking ground in 1871, the Vaile Mansion was constructed over the course of 10 years and cost an astounding $150,000 ($4,000,000 in today’s dollars). The

Home Accessibility: Finding the Right Home and Making It Perfect for Your Needs

October 10, 2019

By Patrick Young of the blog AbleUSA.info Living with a disability or mobility issue is never easy, but you can make it much more manageable by prioritizing home accessibility. If your home isn’t tailored to suit your specific needs, you’re making things much harder on yourself. Any focus on home accessibility will consist of both finding a home that, structurally, suits your needs as well as taking steps to modify that home even further. Here are some things to consider. Finding the Right Home for YouLet’s get this out of the way — you’re never going to find a home that perfectly suits your needs. You can, however, get pretty close. As long as you find a home that doesn’t complicate your mobility issues/disabilities, then you should be able to modify it to near perfection. Here are a few things that you may want to look for in any potential home: Some things, like the home’s floor plan, are hard to alter. If you use a wheelchair, you may want to avoid multi-floor homes, for example. If you can find a home that checks off 75 percent or so of your accessibility requirements, then you’re off to a good start.

How to Tell If You Have Hard Water

September 17, 2019

Hard water. Soft water. If you’re not sure what the difference is, or what that difference means for your home, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll explain everything you need to know about hard water and how to tell if it’s an issue in your home. Is Hard Water Safe?We’re getting this out of the way first thing. Yes, hard water is completely safe to drink, cook with, wash clothes in, and anything else you’d use water for in your home. Hard water is simply tap water that has a higher than ideal content of minerals, namely calcium and magnesium. While hard water isn’t dangerous in any way, it can be a hassle to deal with. As we’ll see, if your home has hard water, you’ll see the effects every time you cook, clean or bathe. Sure Signs of Hard WaterIt can be hard to tell whether your water is hard—since you can’t determine the mineral content of your water by sight, you have to rely on the signs hard water leaves behind. Here are some of the ways to tell: What to Do About Hard WaterThe simple answer is investing in a water-softening system. Water softeners treat your

Removing Wallpaper Made Easy

September 10, 2019

If your home is plastered with outdated wall coverings, you might hesitate to make the upgrades that you want. After all, wallpaper is notoriously difficult to remove (picture hours and hours of steaming, scraping, peeling, grunting, etc.), life’s too short, and you’ve got better things to do. There’s good news though—removing that ugly wallpaper is easier than you think with the right tools, so you can get your project done without breaking a sweat. Here’s what you need to do. First, start with the right tools.Depending on the type of wallpaper you’re dealing with, how long it’s been on the wall and how it was originally applied, the tools you’ll need to remove wallpaper fast and easy will vary. Here’s a breakdown of everything you might need: Follow with the right technique.Before you know which technique will work for your situation, you’ll have to do a little test. If you’re using a steamer, saturate one panel of wallpaper, wait 10 minutes or so and lift an edge with your razor scraper. If it comes up easily, that means the last guy prepped the surface correctly when he applied the wallpaper—lucky you! Continue with soaking the wallpaper and lifting with your