Category: HOME

If Walls Could Dream

With the right decor, a room can be an experience, breathtaking and transportive. The master artisans at de Gournay, the world-famous British luxury interiors company, delight in curating these experiences. Delivering exquisitely hand-painted, custom-made wallpapers that fit a room like a couture dress, they’re reviving a pre-industrial Chinese art form—the laborious process that produces the…


Remove a Tree Stump

If you have a tree stump you want to take out, you can remove it by hand, digging down to the root ball of the tree and cutting out the roots supporting it. This is a difficult physical job that’s time consuming, but it’s an option for anyone with a strong back and shovel. Another…


Install a Curved Shower Rod

Whoever thought of the curved shower rod is a genius, because it expands the space in a typical 5-foot bathtub for taking a shower. We first noticed these space-expanding rods used in the small bathrooms of old motels. If you want to stretch the space in a bathtub for a more comfortable shower, this ingenious…


Install a Pocket Door

A door that disappears into the cavity of a wall is called a pocket door because it slides away and doesn’t require room to open. A pocket door has long been the solution for a small room or tight space, because it takes up virtually no wall space and requires no room to swing out…


Plant an Herb Garden

Ask anyone with an herb garden who enjoys cooking, and they’ll tell you that freshly picked basil, rosemary – or most any herb – can make an ordinary dish extraordinary. You’ll hear them predict that once you plant a few herbs and use them, you’ll get carried away because it’s so enjoyable, not to mention…


Replace a Sliding Closet Mirror Door

The Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University reports “red hot remodeling growth expected to ease into 2023.” So, if you’re considering an upgrade, you won’t be alone. One of the best improvements we made to a basic bedroom was replacing an old sliding closet door with a new sliding mirror door. The new…


Add a Sloped Ceiling for More Openness

Dear James: I think our small living room would seem larger and more open with a sloped ceiling and a skylight. Can I change the flat ceiling to high sloped one? — Kathy J. Dear Kathy: Increasing the height of your ceiling by sloping it and adding a skylight will certainly make your living room…


Boxing Legend Sugar Ray Leonard’s Home Listed for $46.5 Million

The home of boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, one of the immortals of sports, is now on the market for $46.5 million. One of the most significant properties in Pacific Palisades, the Leonard Estate is grand in every way and served the Leonard family well as their home for more than two decades. The estate…


How Amateur Sleuths Solved the Mystery of 100-Year-Old South Minneapolis Toilet Cover

By Richard Chin From Star Tribune (Minneapolis) Minneapolis—Nearly a century ago, a plumber installed a toilet in a bungalow in south Minneapolis. When the job was done, the workman took a pencil and signed his work on the inside of the toilet tank lid in a flowing cursive hand: “Otto Johnson plumber May 6, 1924.”…


A Brave Grandfather Branches Out

By Jerry Zezima From Tribune News Service I used to think the high point of grandparenthood was doing incredibly silly things with my grandchildren. Now I realize I am not the top grandfather anymore. That’s because I recently met one who climbs trees for a living. Rene Funez is a happily married man with four…