Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (AERT) is the manufacturer of ChoiceDek and MoistureShield composite decking materials. I’ve spoken with ChoiceDek and MoistureShield reps several times now. Here’s what I’ve learned about these composite decks. Good stuff!
Decor & Accessories
Important Tips Before Placing Rugs On Hardwood Floors
Thinking about putting rugs on hardwood floors? Wondering what type of rugs and pads should be used on wood floors? Here’s what I’ve learned firsthand and from experts.
Cleaning Leather Rugs: How To Care For And Clean Cowhide Rugs & Other Animal Skin Rugs
If you have cowhide rugs or other animal skin rugs, you’ll find these DO’s & DON’ts for cleaning leather rugs helpful! Plus tips for using rugs as wall art.
Rug Tips: A Rug Buying Guide To Help You Make The Best Choice
Need some rug buying advice? A rug expert shares some helpful rug tips to guide you in choosing the best rug for your needs. These rug buying tips will help you pick the right rug patterns, rug shapes, rug materials, and rug types for your individual needs.
DIY Driftwood Hearts That You Can Make (…Or Buy)
Driftwood hearts are random pieces of tree branches that happen to form the shape of a heart. Add some string, and you have a creative piece of art or a gift for a loved one. Here are some driftwood hearts that you can make yourself, or buy them on Etsy!
Cork Floors: The Pros & Cons Of Natural Cork Flooring
Cork floors are very popular right now. Here are the pros & cons of using natural cork flooring in your home.
Pros & Cons Of Gas, Electric, And Wood Burning Fireplaces
Wood burning fireplaces, gas fireplaces, and electric fireplaces all have one thing in common: they each bring unique qualities into your home! Here are the basic differences between gas, electric, and wood burning fireplaces.
Awesome Collection Of Rustic Drawer Pulls & Door Knobs For Log Homes, Cabins & Lodges
The type of drawer pulls you choose for the different rooms in your home says a lot about your style and personality. Rustic drawer pulls, give a room a very unique feel and charm. Here are some rustic drawer pulls that would look great in a log home, log cabin, or a lodge.
How To Find Fun Christmas Decorations For Your Log Home
Log homes make a perfect setting for rustic Christmas decorations. Be sure you follow some of these tips when deciding which types of Christmas decorations may look best in a log home.
How To Choose Kitchen Cabinets For Your Log Home
When building or remodeling a log home kitchen, one of the most important decisions you will make is which cabinets to buy. Style, cost, and overall theme are all considerations when choosing kitchen cabinets for your log home.
Copper Sinks: Beautiful Home Accents That Can Kill Germs!
Do you have a copper sink in your log home? Are you thinking about getting one? Copper sinks make a beautiful and practical addition to any home’s bathroom, kitchen, or washroom. Here are a few of the great things about copper sinks.
Are Skylight Windows A Good Investment? Don’t They All Leak At Some Point?
Allowing extra light into your home is an aesthetically pleasing thing. But at what cost? Is there a downside to installing skylights on your roof? Here are the pros and cons of installing skylights on your roof.
How To Feng Shui Your Home… Room By Room
Here’s how to incorporate feng shui in the rooms of your home.
Travertine Tile: The Pros & Cons Of Travertine Flooring, Countertops, And Backsplashes
Compared to porcelain tile, Travertine tile is easier to cut and shape. Because of this, it has become a favorite for many people, including home builders. Following are some of the pros and cons of using Travertine tile for the flooring, countertops and backsplashes inside your home.
Lessons Learned: How To Buy Furniture At Retail Stores AND Get The Best Deal
There will come a time when you have to purchase new furniture. Sofas wear out beyond repair, slipcovers cannot hold together a failing frame, chairs will give way, and tables will be damaged beyond repair. You could buy used furniture on consignment or at thrift stores, but sometimes, you just want new. Here are some furniture buying tips that I recently learned firsthand.
How To Clean & Care For A Copper Sink
Copper sinks have become very popular in households these days. Today’s homes are all about the upgrades like granite countertops, stainless appliances, natural tile floors, and custom cabinetry. With this level of investment, the addition of a copper sink just makes sense.
Here’s what to look for and how to care for a copper sink.
Color Options: Tips For Painting Or Staining Interior Log Walls Or The Exterior Of Your Log Home
I love idea of painting log walls. I really like color and am not afraid of putting it anywhere — including interior log walls. I have also seen several log home companies displaying homes that have a painted exterior color. Here are some things to consider BEFORE painting your log home.
Dustless Hardwood Floor Refinishing – Pros & Cons
Dustless floor refinishing is a low-cost alternative to refinishing your hardwood floors. Here are the pros and cons of dustless floor refinishing for hardwood floors…
New Toilet Guide: Today’s Choices In Modern Toilets
Aside from price and style, when you’re buying a new toilet, you also need to consider things like water conservation, function, size, shape, cleanliness, and maybe even color. Following is a guide that will help you determine which toilet is the best toilet for your home. Plus, discussion of some of the most modern features in today’s toilets.
The Best Way To Store Leftover Paint
After 6 years our leftover interior house paint is dried up and has to be thrown out. The guy at the paint store seemed to think, if stored properly, it could have been re-used after 6 years in storage. Here’s how he recommends storing leftover paint.
Building Or Remodeling A Kitchen: What Does It Cost?
According to The National Kitchen and Bath Association and The Home Improvement Research Institute, here’s what people spend for things when they’re remodeling their kitchen… …
Photos & Ideas For Creating Unique Window Art Inside Your Home
Try to find creative ways to display everyday items in unusual ways along the windowsills of your home. Here are dozens of other ideas for creating fun window art inside your home.
Window Art: Fun Ways To Display Interesting Items On Your Windowsills
In my new log home, I plan to create fun (yet simple) displays on many different windowsills throughout the house — as a form of art and casual home decor. Here’s how to turn a windowsill into a work of art.
How To Stay Organized & On Top Of Things When Your Log Cabin Is Your Second Home
Here are some tips for staying organized and saving time when your log cabin is your home away from home.
The Latest Kitchen And Bathroom Trends
There is so much variety in the products available to us today, that it is difficult to stay abreast of all the latest changes in bathroom and kitchen design, as well as the trends that are shaping the future of kitchens and baths. Here, I’ve summarized a number of kitchen and bath trends that I’ve noticed while reading through home magazines, newspapers, and online reports in recent months.
Rustic Log Home Lighting Bargains
Your log walls will absorb 50% of the light in your log home, so you will need to be especially diligent in selecting and placing the lighting in your log home. Here are some great lighting ideas that won’t break the bank but will light up and showcase the beauty of your log home!
Outdoor Dog Furniture For Your Log Dog
Log home owners with dogs may be interested in incorporating some “log” features into your dog’s lifestyle too. For example, outdoor dog houses, porches, barns, and beds for dogs. Check ’em out…
Indoor Furniture & Accessories For Your Log Dog
If you’ve got a log home and a dog, then you might be interested in some fun furniture and accessories that both you and your dog will enjoy. Here are some indoor pieces…
Fun Decorating Ideas For You AND Your Dog In Your New Home
We’re always looking for more fun gadgets and features that can be incorporated into our log home that will appeal to our dog — and us. Here are some fun ways to incorporate dog-friendly things into your own log home.
How To Make Basement Columns, Support Poles And Pillars In Your House Look Like Real Trees
The look of exposed trees brings a bit of nature indoors. And who doesn’t want to bring a little outdoors in, right? Especially in a log home! Here’s how you can create the look of real trees inside your home — particular around pillars, columns, and poles located in the basement, near stairways, and around kitchen islands & bars.
Pictures Of Rustic Columns & Poles Inside Log Homes …Some Are Real Trees!
If log homes are your thing and ‘rustic’ is your game, then you’re going to love these pictures of REAL tree accents and the use of rustic looking logs — or heavy timber — inside a log home. You’ll also see photos of fun ways to incorporate trees and heavy timber logs into the EXTERIOR characteristics of your log home.
Rug Shopping: The Best Online Sites For Area Rugs and Throw Rugs
I recently started looking for fun rugs for our new log home. Here are my favorite places to browse for area rugs online… for a home or log cabin.
Log Home Pedestal Sink Shaped Like A Log
If you’re looking for a wooden or log sink for your log home, here are some pictures of unique bathroom sinks — including pedestal sinks — for log cabins.
How To Decorate With Simple, Rustic Christmas Decorations Inside Your Log Home
Jim and I are both eager to decorate our new log home with very simple — and very rustic — holiday decorations next year. The plan is to start simple. Keep it rustic. Not ‘country’ just rustic… lots of rusted metal… rough edges… wrought iron… tin… you get the idea.
Why We Decided Against Composite Decking For Our Log Home
After a lot of research and homework, we’ve actually decided AGAINST using composite decking at this time. It wasn’t an easy decision. Far from it. In fact, we were honestly looking forward to trying it. But the cons outweighed the pros at this point in time. Here’s why…
Log Cabin Homes Adorned With Holiday Lights & Christmas Decorations
There’s just something about the warm glow of lights — like candles & holiday lights — as they shine against the backdrop of a log home that gives me the warm fuzzies. It takes me back to the day of Ma & Pa Ingalls — when life was different.Plus, I’ve always been more fond of natural light than harsh bright lights inside the home. Enjoy these simple photos of log homes decorated for the holidays…
GE, GE Profile & Kenmore Microwave Oven Recall
Yesterday’s recall of 92,000 wall microwave oven units includes GE, GE Profile, and Kenmore microwave ovens. Anyone who has one of these microwave ovens should stop using it immediately. GE and Sears are offering either a free repair or a significant rebate on a new microwave oven. Here’s the scoop…
Tips When Shopping For A Dishwasher (Psst… Kenmore Rocks!)
Tips for dishwasher shopping. Plus, the top 5 dishwashers that did best in tests and reviews…
See What Different Tile Choices Would Look Like On Your Bathroom Or Kitchen Floors
This free online program lets you see what various tile floors would look like — BEFORE you go to pick out your tile in the stores!
The Exterior Doors We Chose For Our Log Home
We recently picked out 7 exterior doors for our new log home. Here are the ones we selected…
Exterior Doors: Should You Buy Paint Grade Or Stain Grade Doors?
It didn’t make sense to me why our decision to paint vs stain the exterior doors couldn’t be made after-the-fact — after we had installed the doors — and why it would affect the price of the doors anyway. But after a conversation with a contractor about this, I learned that we should always say we want a stain-grade door, rather than a paint-grade door. Here’s why…
Picture Frames Made From Sticks And Twigs
There are actually LOTS of different ways that you can make your own rustic photo frame… using twigs. Here are a few examples, to give you some ideas…
Should You Buy A Direct Buy Membership? Is There A Catch?
We’ve thought about joining the Direct Buy membership club for some time now. But I recently heard from a reputable source a whole ‘nother take on DirectBuy. I found this QUITE interesting…
Washer & Dryer Details And Reviews
Of all the washers & dryers that I reviewed, including LG’s and Bosch, I would seriously consider buying an LG washer and dryer, but I just like the Maytag washer & dryer combo better overall.
Non-Traditional Christmas Decorating Ideas
The holiday decorations inside our log home are pretty ‘neutral’ in color. For that reason, I may be displaying some colorful ornaments in bowls (like fruit!) this Christmas!
I’ve Finally Found It… Adorable Doggie Yard Art!
I’ve had my eye out for that perfect one-of-a-kind figurine or statue to grace the front porch of our new log home for awhile now. Since I don’t want anything too ‘tacky’, I honestly didn’t think I’d ever be able to find something cute, fun, AND classy. But I think I may have finally found it. Check out these life-size dog welcome statues!
Some Notes About The GE Stoves, Cooktops & Microwaves That We Like Best
I mostly concentrated on the products that stood out to me as the best from the get-go. In my mind, we’ll probably be buying one of these microwave/convection ovens, and one of these cooktop/stoves…
French Door Refrigerators vs Side-By-Side Refrigerators
Some of the pros and cons of side by side refrigerators vs french door refrigerators…
Rustic Christmas Ornaments That Would Look Great In A Log Cabin Or A Log Home
Here are my favorite rustic ornaments for Christmas trees…
Should We Get A Freezerless Refrigerator AND A Standalone Freezer Instead Of A Side-By-Side?
Since freezerless models don’t appear to have the built-in ice & water dispenser, the plan now is to buy regular refrigerator — with or without a freezer attached, but DEFINITELY with lots of fresh food storage capacity — for the kitchen and also buy a standalone full-size freezer for the pantry, for all our frozen food needs. In my mind, that’s the best of both worlds. Yay… I think I’ve finally found the answer to our cold food storage needs!
