It seems that the beginning of the New Year is a great time to make an adjustment or two to our site.  We have had several people suggest that we expand our information beyond the storage and do-it-yourself and do some product reviews as well as more yard and gardening information.

After much thought we have decided to add more and more to the site throughout the 2009 year and hope to make this site a great place for you to find information in regard to many fun and interesting things.  We hope you like it and look forward to hearing more from you throughout the year.

Have a very safe and wonderful New Year’s Eve and join us for a great 2009!

With the economy floundering and more people forced to stay in the home they are currently in, there are more looking to make improvements than ever before.  Consider this with the fact that the average home is a little over 25 years old and you will quickly conclude that there are a lot of homes that need improving.  But how do you know who to choose to do the needed or wanted repairs?

Well, the Associated General Contractors of America, AGC of America, is the largest and oldest national construction trade association in the United States and offers the following advice:

• Verify the contractor has a license and insurance

• Make sure the contractor has at least 5 years experience and is an expert doing the work you need done

• Get 10 references from past or current clients from the contractor for work similar to yours. Most business comes to a good contractor from referrals, so make sure you call and talk to at least three of these references.

We are always talking about storage and pet projects around the house and we hope that thios week you take the time to build greater understanding and love between the ones you love and the ones you don’t.  Only by looking at what we all have in common will we find common ground to tackle some of the pressing issues our nation and world are currently facing.

May this find you enjoying your family and celebrating the wonder of Christmas or Hannaka.  We thank you for joining us and hope that you are building yourself and your family a Very Merry Christmas!

As more and more areas are affected by drought and water restrictions in the U. S. people are turning to an old traditional practice of collecting rain water.  We have traded in the simple clay pots that have been used in many places around the world for the last 2000 years to gather water, for plastic barrels that we can hook up to our gutter system.  The practice of rainwater harvesting will only increase as water becomes more and scarce as predicted.  When you start to think of water as the most important natural resource we must have to survive, you start to understand why so many peoples through the years have taken so much care to preserve the water they have.

Up until the recent challenges, the U. S. has been insulated from many of the consequences from the lack of this crucial resource.  However, as more and more municipalities struggle with keeping pace with the population’s use of the available water, it has become extremely clear that we should do whatever we can to gather and promote water conservation that most of us can participate in with harvesting rain water.

According to the North American Deck & Railing Association, there has been an increase in the number of decks that have collapsed, fallen apart or just failed in some form or fashion over the last few years.  It’s the rain and snow combined with the freezing and unfreezing that can exacerbate damage to your deck though you may not be able to see it until the spring thaw.

It is highly advised that you do an annual deck check up to make sure you don’t have an unfortunate accident with a group of parting friends this summer.  In most cases, in regard to deck accidents, they could have been prevented by doing some simple upkeep.  By the way, most of the accidents occurred when the decks were packed with people.  You can find out a ton of information about deck safety and what and how to inspect your deck from the North American Deck & Railing Association.

Here are a few tips and tricks to help you find the hidden storage in your home.  We hope this helps you find some additional room for those holiday gifts and treasures.

• Some cabinets are deep and hard to reach anything that has been pushed back to the back so many people keep items near the front.  You can use those deep parts of your cabinets for other things that you don’t frequently use, but want to keep.
• Under beds, benches and chairs is a great way to store movies, CD’s, DVD’s and other small items that can be neatly stacked in a decorative bin or basket and placed under a chair or bench.
• Nooks and crannies can be found all over a house if you take the time to see them.  Places where a basket of games or a throw blanket can stay until you are ready to use them or an opening for a computer bag or briefcase where they can be slide in and out with ease yet out of the way when not in use.
• The space in the garage between the studs.  There are some great holders and hangers that are wonderful space savers for utilizing this unused space.

Just start looking to see where things can be easily stored and collect decorative bins and baskets to use.  Make it a game with everyone in the house and see who can find the most creative storage area.  You never know what someone will come up with and who knows, it just may be the next big thing in storage!

Who says that a garden shed has to be boring?  Someone shared this book site with us, and we thought it exemplified exactly what an outdoor shed can be.

First of all, it is not a shanty where you throw and store junk.  It a thoughtful peice of architecture, treasured and kept.  In a backyard space, it would not be an eyesore, rather it would be afocal point, and a backdrop for a flowerbed or garden plot.  We just want to see more of this kind of outdoor storage building.  Thanks for sharing it with us!

I like to make sure that the creatures who called my flower beds home all season get to continue overwintering there until Spring.  I guess you could say I run a four seasons resort for bugs and butterflies.

To ensure that these cold-sensitive friends have what they need to make winter nests, I like to pile up leaves from my yard, and just let them hang out all over my beds.  Of course I use a little help to keep the leaves in place, so that strong gusts of sub-zero winds don’t undo all my hard work.  Simple metal fencing staked around the perimiter of my beds helps to keep things contained, and in the Spring, they really set off my early beds with a finished, expectant look.

So why so much bother for the critters?  Well, first of all, it’s not a bother.  Butterflies enrich the beauty of my garden spaces, and anything I can do to make sure they are there again the following year, well, it’s a small thing.  The eggs and larvae use the leaf cover to stay warm, and even some adult butterflies will use the structure to hibernate.

But your plants will love you for it, too.  Nothing like having my fragile yearlings overwinter and spring back to life when everyone else on my block is digging up the frozen dead come March.

At this time of year it is so easy to get busy and forget to do a few of the little things that could save you big time!  You never think fire will happen to you but it can happen to anyone.  During the month of December, here are just a few things that should make the top of your list.

Make sure your tree is fresh and do not place a tree within five feet of a heat source, such as a heat vent or fireplace.

Inspect your holiday lights each year for frayed wires and burned out bulbs and don’t string more than three strands of lights together.  Also make sure you don’t overload the electrical outlets and do not leave lights on unattended.

It makes since to use only nonflammable decorations and watch that you don’t put any decorations near a heats source including candles, which brings me to the last tip;

Avoid using lit candles if at all possible.  If you choose to use them, make sure the holders are stable and not prone to fall over or easily knocked over.  Don’t leave an unattended candle in any room or house.  It is also best to keep candles as well as all open flames away from your Christmas tree.

As elementary as this sounds, at a party last weekend one of the guests got a phone call about a friend who had lost their house in a fire due to an overloaded circuit.  Nobody was hurt but the family lost everything.  It can happen, so please be careful!

I go into garages and sheds all the time that have a lot more space available in them than is being currently utilized yet they look like they are packed full.  Most people do not take the time to really “see” the space they are working with in order to properly use every inch to their benefit.  I apply this methodology to outdoor spaces but it can be used for office space and in the home as well.

The first thing I look for is dead space.  This is space that is there but not being used.  One of the best examples is space between the studs or the corners and small wall space between the garage door and the wall.  In order to use this space as well as get things off the floor and onto the walls you can use a wall mounted track system.  You want to open up the needed floor space and make use of all the wall space that you have available.  Once this is accomplished try to systemize or make your storage area make since and store things that are either related by task, i.e. lawn equipment or by season, i. e. snow skiing equipment together.  This allows you quick access and a lot more space.