Every house has its story. What's yours?

Seven years ago, when we renovated the entire bottom floor of the house, we put in a new kitchen. Being located in Sweden we made the nearly automatic choice of IKEA for all of our cabinets, shelves, doors and counters. We went with solid wood counters made of beech. We like the look and feel of having natural countertops. When I put them in, however, I didn't truly appreciate how much love and care would be required over the years in order for us to maintain their fresh look. I have now completed my fifth total sanding and oiling of the beech counters and while I see it as a labor of love, I can partially appreciated why people tend to go with laminate countertops or marble.    » read more »

If you have ever read any of my previous blog posts you'll be familiar with the large backyard deck I built a couple of years ago. I completed it pretty swiftly, but it took me a couple of years to decide how I wanted to build a place for a cozy fire. Sweden can have some chilly evenings in the summer (not even going to mention spring and fall) and it's also a handy way to keep these damned mosquitoes at bay. Anyway, I'd left an open corner in the deck for just this purpose and my neighbor had lovingly welded a metal container for a fire pit for my birthday a couple years back, so I finally decided what I would do with my fire space.

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We have a 10 month old poodle that has decided she likes to explore more than we would like her to explore and we have now had to build a fence with a gate to keep her in the backyard. Actually, we have been wanting to do something like this since we moved into the house, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. As luck would have it, I had just enough leftover pressure-treated lumber from my backyard deck project to cover the materials I would need for this project. I also had enough screws, cement, nails, oil, paint and hinges along with nearly enough brackets for the entire gate and fence. I had to buy 2 metal brackets, so the entire new cost for this project came out to be a tad over 2 dollars. Not bad, me thinks!    » read more »

Now that our children have grown-up some (8 and 11) and we're certainly not expecting any grandchildren in the near future, the sandbox I built so lovingly built 8 years ago had become a clunky eyesore in our backyard. We didn't want to drag it away and leave a square patch of soil in the yard and I didn't have anywhere to store for the next +15 years; as I cannot let go of things I have over-engineered.

Luckily, the wife came up with a brilliant idea of planting a little olive tree in the center and surrounding it with a few Mediterranean-type plants and flowers like lavender.    » read more »

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA, August 13, 2009 -- Mike Jude, Ph.D., Program Manager in the Consumer Communications Services group at Stratecast, a division of Frost & Sullivan, offers advice on how consumers can manage the rising cost of personal communications.    » read more »

Have you ever called a plumber to fix a basic plumbing problem and he fixes the problem in five minutes? Your problem is he still has to charge you for the service call even though with a little knowledge you could have fixed it yourself? Want to save the cost of that service call ranging from $60 to $120? Download: The Handyman's Secrets Handbook.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/mrlzlc

New online application enables consumers to better understand home energy usage    » read more »

Applied Materials Dispels Solar Technology Myths and Sets Path for More Renewable Energy Use    » read more »

Earthtronics, an energy efficiency and technology company, is offering a rooftop wind turbine for sale to homeowners. The turbine, produced by Honeywell, is said to operate across a wider range of wind speed than traditional wind turbines, making it suitable for home rooftop installation.
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A very interesting release from SAP regarding smart electric grids and energy efficiency:

- Advanced Metering Infrastructure Solution from SAP Reaches General Availability

- Utilities Dashboard Provides Insight to Carbon Emissions    » read more »