Australian-American Houses

Solutions For Householders From America And Australia

Archive for the 'House Improvement Info' Category

16 May
0Comments

5 Quick and Easy Christmas Ornaments You Can Make

Whether for gift tags, place markers, or for your own tree, homemade ornaments help make the holiday special. Want to make some of your own? Here are some ideas to inspire you.

1. Seashell Ornaments Hang beautiful shells with ribbon to remind you of summer. Seashells make beautiful ornaments, naturally!

2. Recycled Christmas Cards Last year’s cards make this year’s ornaments and gift tags! Glue images from your favorite cards onto wooden disks and add a ribbon tie.

3. Ornaments Made From Recycled Materials Be creative and reuse interesting materials! These festive ornaments are made with juice can lids, straws, old Christmas cards, burnt out Christmas bulbs, and bits of ribbon.

Read more…

04 May
0Comments

The SecondShelters Story: Why I am so Darn Tootin’ Obsessed with Real Estate and Vacation Homes

Real estate rules. But have I ever told you my story, why I am so obsessed with real estate and why I blog? It goes like this: I was a journalist, a magazine journalist, who covered real estate as a journalistic beat, then got hooked. I realized that blogging about homes and featuring them on the web is really the only and best way to market homes.  If you disagree, I want to know. And I may challenge you to an ad dual. Agents in Silicon Valley dont even bother with print any more: 89% of buyers search for homes on line, and internet buyers incomes are 25% higher than traditional print buyers.

Read more…

14 April
0Comments

Prepping for test success

It takes nearly four hours of one Saturday morning that you will never get back as a high-schooler. You may even use up two Saturdays of your fast-fleeting weekends slaving over it twice. Yet the fact is, for the vast majority of students heading off to college, the SAT seems to be unavoidable.

For some, studying hard in preparation will involve weeks if not months. For others, just a few No. 2 pencils and a decent night’s sleep suffice.

Students taking the SAT are given 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete 170 questions plus a section of additional questions, which are not graded (known as the experimental section, but the student will not know which section this is).

Read more…

02 April
0Comments

Lead Paint Opt-Out Bill May Soften Tough New Lead Law

Back in April of 2010 the EPA started enforcing the new . Since then home owners and contractors have been in an uproar about insanely steep fines and harsh restrictions. One of the biggest complaints from homeowners that we have received is the in-ability to Opt-Out of the new law. The new are so high that the construction company I currently work for wont take remodeling jobs on pre-1978 homes because they are just too risky.

Well some relief may be in sight thanks to Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe  who this week introduced a bill that would reinstate the opt-out provision.

Read more…

01 April
0Comments

5 Top Thrift Store Saves

On a budget? You can find almost anything you need in a thrift store, but that almost-perfect item may be in serious need of a makeover. Here are some creative, inexpensive ways of making ugly thrift store finds into beautiful one-of-a-kind items.

1. Jewelry Box Re-do Matchbook covers make this plain jane jewelry box into a functional work of art.

2. Decoupaged Coffee Table Here’s an amazing transformation: this once boring pine coffee table is now a conversation piece, thanks to some patience and several old maps.

3. Re-built Side Table This side table, with its beautiful legs, started its life as a large top heavy secretary.

Read more…