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There’s a basic rule of thumb to follow when choosing paint sheens: The higher the sheen, the higher the shine — and the higher the shine, the more durable it will be. Flat paint has no shine; high-gloss is all shine. In between are eggshell, satin, and semi-gloss, each with its own practical and decorative job to do.  Here’s how to choose the right paint sheen for your painting job: High Gloss The most durable and easiest to clean of all paint sheens, high-gloss paint is hard, ultra-shiny, and light-reflecting. Think appliance-paint tough. High gloss is a good choice for area that sticky fingers touch — cabinets, trim, and doors. High-gloss, however, is too much shine for interior walls. And like a Spandex dress, high gloss shows every bump and roll, so don’t skimp on prep work. Practical application:  kitchens, door, and window trim Durability:  very high Semi-Gloss Good for rooms where moisture, drips, and grease stains challenge walls. Also great for trim work that takes a lot of a

The kitchen tends to be the home’s gathering place, so it’s only natural you want it to look and feel  welcoming. But as the hub of your home, your kitchen needs durable countertops, especially if you have little ones helping with the cooking. Quartz countertops are a trendy choice for kitchens, but before you get in touch with your contractor, it’s important to assess the pros and cons and review some alternatives.  What Are the Pros and Cons of Quartz Countertops? Pros of Quartz Kitchen Countertops Durable : Quartz countertops are highly durable, made from a mix of stones and stone-like materials bound together with resins. Makers of quartz countertops press the materials and resin into slabs that are solid and nonporous. That means the counters won’t chip or crack with everyday use (like when your little ones are helping you cook).  Stain-resistant : Quartz is highly stain-resistant, thanks to its nonporous surface. But it can be stained by certain substances — like red wine, coffe

This weekend temperatures plunged far below zero in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont as residents hunkered down and tried to stay warm. Mount Washington set a record for coldest wind chill ever recorded at minus 108 degrees!  As a landlord, my phone was non-stop yesterday.  Unfortunately, these record low temps resulted in some frozen pipes at my apartments buildings.     The best way to deal with freezing pipes is to prevent them in the first place.  But if the unthinkable does happen, you’ll have to act fast to minimize the damage and cost of repairs. Why Freezing Pipes Burst Not all freezing pipes burst. But when one does, it’s because water expands when it freezes, adding considerable pressure on unyielding plumbing pipes. That pressure can cause a tiny leak at a joint or crack on a length of pipe, unleashing the full flow of water inside your home. How to Identify Freezing Pipes A water line coated in frost (or bulging like a well-fed python) is a good sign that it’s frozen, but

If you’re a homeowner in a snowy climate, chances are good that you dread shoveling snow in the winter.  B arring a move to a snow-free state or barricading your family inside all winter, there’s no way to avoid the endless task of shoveling snow.  There are, however, ways to make the process much easier. Here are four simple hacks to make the morning after a snowfall much less stressful. #1 Spray Your Shovel with Cooking Oil Snow sticking to your shovel makes an already arduous task even more obnoxious. Avoid it with this hack: Lightly coat your shovel with nonstick cooking oil to make the snow slide right off. No more time wasted removing snow from your snow remover. (You can substitute a spray lubricant like WD-40, but the downside is it’s toxic.) #2 Lay Out a Tarp Before the Snow If you like shortcuts, this technique has your name on it!  The day before an expected snowfall, lay a tarp on your walkway. When the snow finishes falling, just pull out the tarp, and voilà: an instantly

Homeowners spend more money on kitchen remodeling than on any other home improvement project, and with good reason. Kitchens are the hub of home life and a source of pride. You can recover a significant portion of kitchen remodeling costs through the value the project brings to your home. A complete kitchen renovation typically recovers about 75% of the initial project cost at the home’s resale.   To help ensure you get a good return on your kitchen remodel, follow these six tips: Plan, Plan, Plan Planning your kitchen remodel should take more time than the actual construction. If you plan well, you can minimize the amount of time you’re inconvenienced by construction mayhem. Plus, you’re more likely to stay on budget. How much time should you spend planning? The National Kitchen and Bath Association recommends at least six months. That way, you won’t be tempted to change your mind during construction and create change orders, which will inflate construction costs and hurt your return

Stand in your kitchen and take a deep breath. Smell that? From last night’s fish to your son’s nasty lacrosse pads that he left on the table.  If you can’t detect any of your home’s rankest odors... you’ve got nose blindness. You actually adapt to the smells around you.  On a sensory level, your processing mechanism becomes less sensitive to the continuous stimuli. On a cognitive level, you can become habituated to the smells and basically learn to ignore them.  Here are some of the most common nose blindness culprits and how to ban them from your home. #1 Pet Funk There’s one easy way to tell if your home smells like pets: Do you have them? Then, yeah, unless you’re an obsessive cleaner and groomer, your abode has at least some Fido funk.  It could be pee, but more likely it’s just hair, gunky ears, and weeks-old slobber.  The first step to cleaning up pet smells is — sorry, pets — cleaning the pets themselves. Bathe and groom them regularly.  Then, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum. If they hav