Boston Home Improvement Blog

When you want to DIY

Now, HomeStars is about reading, writing, and sharing reviews of home improvement contractors and retailers, and benefiting from the collective experiences of your neighbors when making a decision to hire.

But sometimes you want to do it yourself, or DIY. And sometimes you don't know what you're doing. Take my recent kitchen sink story.

My family had just moved from western Massachusetts to metroWest Boston. We sold our house in this crazy market, and the run-up to the closing meant fixing all those little problems we’d just lived with for years. The day before our house closing, we realized we needed to replace the kitchen faucet. Eighteen hours before the 10am closing, my husband climbed under the sink for a “routine” faucet removal. Five tools, four sets of knuckle skin, two trips to hardware stores, one call to my dad in Colorado, and two stripped restraining nuts later, we realized we couldn’t DIY and needed a plumber—fast!

We used HomeStars (of course!) to find a good plumber. Perhaps if I'd known about The Handy Guys and their podcast series, I'd have been better equipped to handle our plumbing issues, or other DIY crises.

The Handy Guys, Brian and Paul, join forces every week for a half-hour podcast that addresses topics ranging from lawn mower maintenance to Toilets 101. Each podcast is easy to download and comes with a long, descriptive post about the podcast itself, if you're looking for a detailed synopsis of the program before downloading.

When you're looking for DIY advice, check them out. When you're looking for a professional contractor, go to HomeStars.com

Posted by Melanie Zoltan
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Boston Blogs Worth Reading

This Damn House

You've heard of This Old House, of course, but what about This Damn House? Read the long, slow story of a metroWest mother working to renovate her Natick house in preparation to sell it and move into Mosaic Commons Cohousing. Not only does Mrs. TDH nail the experience of home renovation beautifully (no pun intended), she chronicles those unexpected home renos-within-the-expected-reno that are "fun" to discover, like drywall rot in the bathroom that turns a simple project into a complete bathroom overhaul.

She even shows real before pictures, the kind that make me sigh with relief that other people with kids have houses that look like mine. Well, "before" anyway.

This is Framingham

Even if you don't live in Framingham, or view it as one long, sad stretch of mini-mall on Route 9, This is Framingham is worth a read. Written by a Framingham native with deep roots and interest in the town, she highlights little-known restaurants, local shops, local arts and culture events, and writes in a way that is compelling and makes you want to venture into downtown Framingham for a reason other than the library, and makes Framingham worth considering when househunting.

Boston Gal's Open Wallet

She's single. She owns a home in Boston and rents out a basement. She bought a condo for $25K and rents it out. She just passed $500K in net worth. She writes about Boston. She grows tomatoes indoors upside down. She just bought solar panels for her house. What more could you want? Read her.

Boston Herald's Green World

Yeah, yeah, it's an "establishment" blog run by the mainstream media. Doesn't make it any less compelling or interesting. Read up on everything green, from recycling to CO2 widgets and more.

Anyone have suggestions for other interesting blogs? Cool neighborhoods someone is chronicling? A renovation project underway that is blogged and deserves some more readership? Leave your link in the comments.

Posted by Melanie Zoltan
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