I really can't describe this adequately. You'll have to check it out for yourself. New invention crosses an incinerator with...a toilet? No, seriously. This is for real. A real throne of fire. via Metafilter

As we are reporting over on HouseinProgress, the Renovation Source of Chicago is closing its doors...they are having a HUGE, ENORMOUS sale this Saturday and Sunday. If you want amazing salvage for your old house, get it now. Everything from reclaimed flooring, trim, banisters, built-in's, windows, doors, furniture, lighting, hardware, bathroom fixtures, tile...everything. Everything you can think of and some more that you can't.

I've seen the warehouse. I've drooled over the goods. Now go forth and get them.

Renovation Source
3512 N Southport Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 327-1250

Saturday, Sept. 16th : 10 am - 4 pmSunday, Sept. 17th: 11 am - 4 pm
They'll take cash, VISA or Mastercard.

Oh how I love looking through Guild.com, a real treasure of MODERN DAY arts & crafts beauty. (Not A&C style or Craftsman-style, but the real deal.)

They've begun a few new blogs and Trade Secrets is especially fun. The Artful Life is inspirational and Toni Sikes' (founder of Guild.com) own blog is all about eye candy and beautiful things.

Useful, everyday beautiful...buy less, but buy quality. Less clutter, more satisfaction. It is the philosophy of an artful life.

To check out potential up-and-comers on the modern day arts & crafts scene, browse through Etsy for possible treats.

We're not the only one to have launched a recent beta project! WiredDeals is a new site which aggregates some of the great deals to be had on, well, ANYTHING! I looked up the most recent deals on tools and was pleasantly surprised... $25 off of my next power tool purchase from Amazon? Yes, please. (via MeFi Projects)

Well, today we're finally ready to introduce the latest enhancements to this site...and we've got lots to share!

Continue reading "Houseblogs.net Version 4.0"

Editor-in-Chief, Gordon Bock, wrote an interesting column about houseblogging in the July/August issue of Old House Journal which kicked up some dust in the houseblogging world. (grin)

In this month's issue, Bill from Enon Hall wrote an extremely thoughtful letter to the editor and it was published! You can read Bill's take on Mr. Bock's column in the Enon Hall forum...

Bungalow Basics going out of business sale.

Laura Wilder handmade prints on sale, now through Sept. 30th.

Craftsman home on 1 1/2 acres on the coast of Maine.

20th Century Design Auction from the Treadway-Toomey Galleries on September 10th.

Fascinating article about what is REALLY happening behind the front door of those neighbors who are driving a BMW.

Oh man. This is my DREAM! To find a secret room in this house or ANY house. 1901 House found a secret room behind a closet. That's too cool...

ADDED: A few of us mentioned in the comments that we've dreamt about such a find in our own houses. Fixer-Upper did some research back in 2005 to decode the meaning of dreams where you discover new rooms in your house.

Enter the words "crazy" and "house" into Flickr...this is what you'll find.

So we don't often get in to politics here on this site (we're united by home improvement, why ruin a good thing ) but sometimes the US government does things so silly we just have to say something.

According to an act passed today by the US House of Representatives, it could become illegal to access Houseblogs.net at your local library.

Huh? American tax dollars at work.

Continue reading "Breakin' the Law!"

Still using Stylehive for my visual bookmarks...still addicted. Whenever I find ideas or products or just pictures on other blogs that I think are cool, I pull them into Stylehive and credit the blog so that I can keep track of what I like.

Along with Hewn & Hammered (a blog where I get Arts & Crafts inspiration) and Prairie Mod, I'm really enjoying Mod Cottage (from the housebloggers at House Made), yvestown, design*sponge, Secret Sources and Shelterrific.

Here are some things that have caught my eye:

Make Your Photos Into Art

Arts & Crafts lives on...online

Tree of Life rug...very A&C

Continue reading "This Week in Stylehive...and Elsewhere"

Today we're proud to point out that two new blogs have joined houseblogs.net, both from Domino magazine.

Continue reading "Two New Houseblogs...from Domino Magazine!"

Today this site and several of our members were featured in the Chicago Tribune. If this is your first visit to Houseblogs.net, read on for an orientation to our little community of renovators...

Continue reading "Welcome Chicago Tribune Readers!"

Some very nice prefab house zen, home decorating zen, and lighting zen from the folks at ChaosKitty.

The latest two blogs to join Houseblogs.net come from a very special source - This Old House!

Continue reading "Welcome Our Two Latest Houseblogs...from This Old House!"

With it's latest free tool, Google has the potential to (yet again) revolutionize the way DIYers work and collaborate.

Continue reading "SketchUp: The Newest Tool for DIY Home Improvement?"

You really can find everything on Craigslist.

Want to live in NYC for $150/month and NOT have to share a basement apartment with mice?

Consider a tree house.

This reporter did. Though the mosquitos and the squirrels? Not so fun.

Okay, for someone who is so forgetful and so visually-oriented? This Stylehive thing is ridiculously addictive. Man.

Found in Stylehive this month:

Inspiration! Ways to design light into a small space. DIY...wide trim that only LOOKS expensive. Very cool, clutter-busting shallow shelving.

Creation! Make a pattern paint-roller. Make your mark with words. Or just make marks.

Innovation! Wooden deck tiles (thanks to Charles & Hudson for the tip) MiYO Temporary Flooring Tiles (for the never ending renovation) Environmentally-concious Eco Star Roofing Slate Curve-maker Arch System

Tradition! Old House Interiors Design Center Candace Wheeler Designs Retro Redheads House Signs

Scandanavian :) Antik Swedish Design Lotta Jansdotter Nature-inspired ceramics Alvine Fabric Scandanavian Living

While more traffic on Houseblogs.net is obviously a good thing, we've had a few recent problem with our hosting service. Access to the site may be sporatic over the next day several days as we conduct a server upgrade.

Continue reading "Growing Pains - Server Upgrade in Progress is Done!"

The June issue of Money Magazine includes Houseblogs.net on it's list of the 16 best real estate sites on the web.

Continue reading "Welcome Money Magazine Readers"

We've got the scoop on several new blogs coming from the producers of This Old House... including their first houseblog!

Continue reading "This Old House Expands into Blogging"

We're covering the best from this week's National Hardware Show over on our sister site Toolspotting.

Continue reading "Houseblogs.net Covers the 2006 National Hardware Show"

Tired of your current space? But hesitant about committing to a drastic change?

Why not consider hiring a home staging expert...even though you have no intention of moving?

When Aaron and I were selling our condo in Evanston, we got lucky. Our agent, Ed Watts, had a good eye. He was able to give us staging advice along with home selling help. We moved some clutter out, moved some furniture around, freshened up some things. After he was done with our guest room/home office, I fell in love with the place all over again. By moving the bed and desk into positions that had originally seemed counter-intuitive to me, we had so much more space!

I wish we had set up everything that way while we were still living there. Our condo had never looked better.

So, I'm thinking...why do we wait to do these things? Why do we wait until we want to SELL a house to pull out the stops and create the little changes that could make a big difference? Do home stagers work with folks who actually want to stay in their house? I have no idea. Just a thought.

A warm welcome to our newest houseblogger-- Atticus Nicholas Hodapp of Pigeon Point Project!

Proud papa, Nick Hodapp, writes:

Atticus Nicholas Hodapp was born yesterday afternoon and weighed in at 9 pounds 12 ounces. He and mother are are healthy; we'll be headed home from the hospital tomorrow!

Atticus is 22.5" tall, has a 14.5" head, with red hair. He scored 9.9 out of 10 on his baby health score, and already broke one of the hospital's tools (the suction cup they were using to help pull him out broke - first time this ever happened said our doctor). So it will be a few more weeks before I let him into the shop.

CONGRATS!

Contributors to Houseblogs.net were at the annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (K/BIS) this past weekend to blog the latest in trends and products.

Continue reading "Houseblogs.net Covers K/BIS"

If you're visiting Houseblogs.net for the first time via the Saturday edition of the Washington Post, welcome to this community of DIYers. Read on for ways you can become familiar with this site.

Continue reading "Welcome Washington Post Readers!"

After a long wait, we're finally adding an often requested feature for this site: the discussion forum.

Continue reading "Introducing the Houseblogs Forum"

We are already fans of Hewn & Hammered, the blog dedicated to the Arts & Crafts movement. So, we were delighted when they pointed the way to this new blog which also showcases a design movement...PrairieMod. Check it out!

If you're a DIYer, here are some tips and suggestions to increase your homes value--both when your planning improvements and when you finally prep for the sale.

Continue reading "Make More When Selling Your House"

In case you missed it, here's a recap of several mentions of housebloggers in the press recently.

Continue reading "Houseblogs in the Media"

Continue reading "Another Experiment: Toolspotting"

Continue reading "One Year, Two Hundred Houseblogs"

Continue reading "Bob Vila & Sears: Domestic Dispute"

Continue reading "Get Smart (Homes)"

Continue reading "Um, Where's the Cat?"

Continue reading "A Credit Card with Home Improvement Rewards"

As our first houseblog member site to put out a regular video podcast, we thought it would be interesting to ask Mark at Hammered TV a few questions about himself, his home, and where the idea for the show came from.

Continue reading "The Houseblogs Interview: Hammered TV"

Continue reading "It's a Toilet! It's a Sink! It's, its..."

Nominations are open from now until 1/10 for the 2006 Bloggies.  Anyone have suggestions for best community weblog?  Or maybe best kept secret?  

Just wondering...  

Continue reading "Seen Any Good Blogs Lately?"

Continue reading "Hot or Not? Home Improvement Trends in 2006"

Thanks and good cheer to everyone involved in Houseblogs.net.

Continue reading "Thanks, and Happy New Year"

Continue reading "Fun with Flickr: December"

Continue reading "The Onion Uncovers the Real Victims of Rising Home Heating Costs"

Anyone want to read the blog about restoring a camping trailer? No, seriously...

Continue reading "A Mobile Houseblog!"

Continue reading "Tools-day: Milwaukee Orbital Jig Saw"

People obsessed about decorating their house with holiday lights now have a name...and a website!

Continue reading "Housebloggers... Meet Houseblingers!"

Continue reading "HGTV Drinking Games"

I don't know the story behind the house that is giving up these windows and, knowing my attachment to old houses, I probably don't want to know.  But, if you are looking for up to 19 historic bungalow stained glass windows...

Continue reading "Historic Bungalow Windows for Sale"

Facing a problem? Looking for ideas? Our latest addition to houseblogs.net can help.

Continue reading "Introducing 'Ask Houseblogs.net'"

Love the post-Thanksgiving sales? Hate running from store to store?

BF Ads is just one of the online sites with a round-up on what is on sale where for the day after Turkey Day (called Black Friday) for housebloggers in the United States. So get our your wallet and your jogging shoes if you are waiting to make that house item purchase.

What's on the block that day?

Continue reading "Turkey Day & Black Friday Deals"

Some people are trading in high mortgages for new communities or longer commutes.

Continue reading "How far would you travel for an affordable home?"

What's they payback of remodeling when you sell? The just-released 2005 edition of the Cost vs. Value Report has the answers.

Continue reading "The ROI of Remodeling in 2005"

Makita has released their newest coordless series, featuring high performing 18 volt batteries...

Continue reading "Tools-day: Makita's New LXT Coordless Tools"

Someone on MetaFilter's Q&A site recently posted a question of interest to DIYers: "What features would you design in to your dream home?" It's a fun question...

Continue reading "What's in Your Ultimate Home?"

A hearty welcome to readers of the Twin Cities Bungalow Club
newsletter, which featured this site among several 'bungalow bloggers' in their latest issue.

Continue reading "Welcome Twin Cities Bungalow Club Members!"

Just to confirm, we're aware that our houseblogs member feed is listing some member entries twice. At this point I'm not exactly sure why that's happening (it has something to do with the script we use to check each site for new entries), but hope to figure it out some time soon...

Some of the better DIY photos posted on Flickr this month...

Continue reading "Fun with Flickr: October Favorites"

Marketing it as "the newest tool innovation," Craftsman has introduced laser engraving for some of their tools. Is it worth it?

Continue reading "Tools-day: Engraved Tools...Great or Gimmick?"

For our inagural houseblogs interview we chat with Terry Meany, author of the recently revised book Working Windows.

Continue reading "The HouseBlogs Interview: Terry Meany"

Regular reader Megan wrote to us with an excellent question we all should be asking ourselves...

Continue reading "What to do About Rising Energy Costs...?"

A simple tool that capitalizes on the ubiquitous popularity of Milwaukee's recriprocating saw.

Continue reading "Tools-day: Milwaukee Job Saw"

Regular visitors will recognize some changes to this site over the next few days.

Continue reading "Houseblogs.net, Version 3.0"

I'll confess that I'm actually extremely excited about the latest This Old House Project: Cambridge House. As their first 50s Modern project, it shoud be a very different show with different architectural and renovation challenges. The proposed design looks pretty cool, too.

My Tivo is all set! :-)

You know you have a full blown trend when even the New York Times is saying it's possible that McMansions are going out of style. (No password? Try bugmenot.com) God bless 'em!

(via Treehugger)

Lots of unusual and modern house designs have been floating around the net recently, but today was the first time I'd seen these Dutch floating houses.

The Dutch are gearing up for climate change with amphibious houses. If rivers rise above their banks, the houses rise upwards as well.

(via BoingBoing)

I love my DeWalt chop saw, so I was intrigued to hear that they're updating their entire line of 12" miter saws. In addition to some feature tweaks, they're also compatible with DeWalt's new Miter Saw Laser System (a separate $70 add-on).

Details on the full line are after the jump...

Continue reading "Tools-day: New DeWalt 12 inch Miter Saws"

You know, it's common knowledge that DIY projects involving chemicals can be dangerous, but it still catches me off guard when something bad actually happens. Good wake up call for all of us to be careful, I'd guess...

KUTV: Home Improvement Project Ignites Explosion

If the foolish man built his house upon the sand, I'm not sure what to think of the guy who built his house out of cardboard.

(via Inhabitat)

Here's a pretty cool photo of an interior demo. Actually, though, it isn't a single photo but rather a montage of several pictures spliced together. Fancy!

So with the latest season of This Old House set to premiere next week, they're already scouting for the next one. If you happen to have a fixer-upper in the Washington, D.C., area you may be interested to know that they're currently taking submissions. This Old House could be your old house!

Selection criteria and application instructions are after the jump...

Continue reading "Attention DC: Want Your Old House to be This Old House?"

It certainly isn't photographed every time, but I'm betting that there area literally thoughts of people who look like this at some point if they ever restore a clawfoot tub...

Tim over at Jarrett House North recaps his recent experience meeting Norm and Tom. The cool thing? He told Norm about housebloggers!

Probably not a surprise Norm didn't know much about us...or 'blogs' for that matter. Think he's aware there's a TOH blog? :-)

If you remember hypercolor t-shirts, you'll get the idea behind Alsa Corp's Eclipse paints. Touch 'em and they change color. Wait a while and they change back. It's a heat-based thing.

Your kids will love it...just make sure they wash their hands before putting fingerprints all over their walls.

(via Marvomatic)

Bill from Enon Hall has posted about great song for old home fans--House to Defend--over in their message boards.

He's even gone so far as to contact the song's author and get permission to post the MP3, so download away!

Looking for an entry level table saw? Sears is offering a rather hefty $130 discount on their Craftsman 10 in. Table Saw. Don't wait long, though, because the deal ends Saturday.

Update: Woops, just noticed it's for Craftsman Club members only...

This photoset has a great array of post-renovation photos of a really nice modern home. The photos were apparently posted by the folks at Raimist Architecture, who appear do have done the design...

This is a pretty cool idea. Given that many people's work doesn't involve physical activity anymore, it may be worth checking out the new book High Fit Homes...a book featuring examples on how to incorporate physical fitness in to architectural design.

(via Inhabitat)

The comment hypes the crome hinges and pulls, but I gotta say that for me this photo is all about the pink!

I hope I never find this guy in my pipes.

Round-up alert! This Old House has published a list of Best New Products and Technologies. Translation: high end stuff most of us couldn't afford but people like to look at it anyway so what the heck...

My favorite? The LED-illuminated floor tiles.

Already have a miter saw and feeling left out of the laser revolution? Fear not! Irwin has introduced a stand-alone miter saw laser kit to "laser-fy" just about any existing chop saw.

This is a georgeous little Craftsman bungalow profiled yesterday in The Seattle Times. Fun recap of the family's lessons learned and a great photo galery.

A great read...

Well this is interesting. Tucked in the NYT business section, in an article focused on blogs no less, is this revelation that Katrina may in fact not substantially impact the cost of building materials. Turns out that the initial estimates that the press ran with were put out by the (biased) National Association of Realtors. Real Estate bloggers have sinced debunked their calculations.

Interesting.

This WSJ article focuses on considerations for homeowners insurance when Katrina-like disasters strike, but it has considereations relevant for everyone to think about regaradless of where you live.

"People are not especially aware of the limitations of their insurance, and they're not knowledgeable about the product," said Mari McQueen, a senior editor at Consumer Reports, which is published by Consumers Union, an independent nonprofit testing and information organization. "There's been a remodeling boom, and people have made some lavish improvements to their homes," she said. But not everyone has notified their insurance companies about these improvements.

I wonder how many people who do home improvement projects actually do think of informing their insurance company?

This AP story covers one family's experience living in a straw bale house. An increasingly popular trend in design, straw bale homes offer environemental advantages and lower heating costs than normal construction.

In case your not aware, there's actually a straw bale houseblog. Check out The Straw House Blog for a good example of the form.

The WSJ recently profiled three American castles available on the market in case you're shopping around. I'll chip in $10 if someone buys it and is willing to blog about it...

Just earlier this week we blogged about how Ikea was moving in to prefab flat-pack homes, and now comes word about a whole series of prefab homes from Dwell Magazine. Dwell's been a pretty active champion of the high-design prefab movement, so these are probably pretty good.

Personally I'd really like to see one up close some day.

(via Inhabitat)

According to their Flickr account, this couple has been working on their apartment. What's great about that is they've not only been taking photos...they've been doing them up comic book style to document their progress.

Sweet!

Tucked in their latest TOH email newsletter was this blurb about their new blog This Old House News and Trends...

We’ve Launched Our Blog
Yes, we are the last ones in the world to have a blog, but at least ours is useful. TOH staff are posting tips, requests, and analysis. You can reply or just read them.

Welcome to the party! :-)

Here's something else that's 'gadgety' and seems like it could be pretty useful. Run concealed speaker wire in a room without opening walls or passing under carpet. Taperwire applies directly to the will and is flat enough that you can spackle and paint over it and it will never be seen. You can get similar flat cables for video and data, too.

(via Boing Boing and Red Ferret)

This week's Tools-day is actually kinda a tools-free thing...it's Monkey Hook! What is Monkey Hook, you ask? From the manufacturer's website...

"The Amazing Monkey Hook® is a US Patent-Pending lightweight, super-strong spring steel product that enables anyone to hang a picture, mirror, or wall accessory of up to 50 lbs. securely and in just seconds, with No Tools Needed!!"

Again, kinda a stretch for 'tools-day' but we've almost finished our second floor so I guess we've got hanging pictures on our mind. ;-)

(via BuildingOnline)

Looks like Ikea is taking the economies of their "flat-pack" retail strategies to a whole new level--houses. Their BoKlok houses are low-cost starter homes, and they've secured a deal with the Glasgow city council to build an entire neighborhood of 'em.

(via Boing Boing)

Kim, author of the houseblog One Woman's Home Journal, has taken the initiative to launch a discussion forum for houseblogs. She's trying to build up the initial membership, so check it out!

This idea was floated earlier by Jason, and we personally enjoy the idea that other folks can build additional tools beyond this site to benefit the houseblogs community.

In that spirit, we've added a houseblog member services section here at houseblogs.net. We hope to add more resources ourselves over time (stay tuned!) and will include links to other sites like the forums if people come up with them.

This photo makes clever use of panorama photo stiching and the ever-helpful Flickr hotspot feature.

Amazon is offering a variety of discounts and rebates on tools as part of their Deals by the Dozen promo.

According to this article in the Chicago Tribune (access via bugmenot.com), two bungalows designed and owned by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan were virtually destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

(via The Frank Lloyd Wright Newsblog)

I don't see a lot of remodeling photos on Flickr that really impress me, but this is one of them. The frameless shower is gorgeous (if you like modern design). Even more impressive when you look at the full photo set and how awful things were originally.

In the midst of all the tragedy, I'm sure this isn't a surprise to anyone.

Hurricane Katrina Affecting Home Prices

Katrina to Squeeze Building Supplies

In case you missed it when we covered it back in May, HGTV is finally getting around to broadcasting their own recap of the 2005 National Hardware Show. It premiered this past weekend, but you can catch it again the next two Sundays at 5pm ET/PT.