Experts Ideas, Tips & Guides

I'm not doing major goals or wild resolutions this year. Come February, they'll just be a laughable distant memory. Instead, my focus for the next 365 days and beyond is creating a sense of peace and serenity in my home.

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While painting a room isn’t necessarily a difficult DIY job, it’s not always easy—how many coats does one wall need again?

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Warmth on the skin feels good physically, but a warmly decorated home? A treat for the eyes and soul. 

Do you know how long you should keep bedding before replacing it? While it depends on the bedding type, it’s common knowledge that a mattress typically lasts a decade, and you might be shocked to learn that your bedsheets and pillows have an even shorter shelf life. Experts say that both should be replaced after about two years, and since high-quality bedding isn’t exactly cheap, you might want to stock up on bedding whenever there’s a sale. Luckily, some of the best bedding deals are happening right now.

The record existed until 1976 when Bob Ford of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, USA exhibited a 451 pound specimen at the U.S. Pumpkin Contest in Churchville, PA. Yearly International Competition was revived again in 1979 when Canadian Howard Dill of Windsor, Nova Scotia won his first of four consecutive international pumpkinship titles at the Cornell Contest in Pennsylvania. Mr. Dill’s first world record of 459 pounds came in 1980 which he supassed in 1981 by harvesting a 493.5 pound pumpkin.

After all the fun and festivities of the holidays, your kitchen cabinets are likely due for a major refresh. If you have pots and pans tumbling out every time you open them, chances are, they need some serious organization.

In theory, laundry should be one of the easiest household chores—after you’ve decoded all those laundry care symbols on the labels, of course. Then it’s just sort, wash with your detergent of choice, and dry accordingly.

In theory, the start of a new year is a fabulous time to tackle a major declutter. But in practice, it can be a bit more complicated.

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Though it's a new year, you might still feel bogged down by the clutter of yesteryear. Between overflowing dresser drawers, entryways with mounds of muddy, left shoes (where did the right ones go?), and the nightmare that is your junk drawer, it’s easy for any home to become overwhelmed with clutter.  Disorganized, no more! 2024 can be your year to get organized for good. With a few easy-to-implement organizing habits, a cleaner, clutter-free home is within reach.

If your Pilea plant looks messy and stretched out, it's called «Leggy.» To fix it, give it 2-3 hours of morning sunlight and bright indirect light during the day. If it's extremely leggy, you can cut it in half, and the bottom part will grow new leaves. Rotate the plant every time you water it to keep it balanced and symmetrical.

When you think of the best ways to revamp your bedroom, your mind probably goes to the softer elements—lush bedding, crisp sheets, and maybe even a muted, calming tone on your walls.

The New Year is officially upon us, and while most of us don’t focus on sprucing up our patios and porches until the early spring, interior designers already have their thumb on the pulse of this year’s biggest outdoor decor trends. Here are eight patio and porch trends to watch out for in 2024, according to design experts. 

Ann VanderWiel Wilde

Patrick Harbron/Hulu

At the start of 2023, the U.S. housing market was still in a state of upheaval, but experts were optimistic that the tides were turning. While interest rates remained high following a competitive seller’s market post pandemic, bidding wars were expected to cool and inventory was expected to climb. 

Adam Albright

Hello, new year, hello, newly organized home. The start of a fresh year is the ideal time to revamp your organizing ways, creating a clutter-free home that feels like you. Where should you start, though? We asked three professional organizers what organizing trends they see on the 2024 horizon. From what materials to use to areas to declutter to technologies to take advantage of, they were full of practical home organizing advice. Read on for their seven recommendations.

Close all of your open tabs and stop your search for a plumber. Even if you're a beginner DIYer, you can likely handle many basic home issues yourself, no handyperson necessary. 

It’s Sunday morning, and you’ve just made a full spread for the whole family. The fruit is chopped, the bacon is sizzling, and the omelettes are piping hot. There’s just one more step to completing the meal: the toast. But when you go to put the bread in the toaster, you discover something unsightly—white, fuzzy mold has grown across the last slice of the loaf.

Micro-decluttering, or the art of sorting through clutter in your home in 10 or 15 minute increments, has become quite popular in recent years, and for good reason.

Ever wonder what an interior designer may be thinking when they set foot into someone's living room?

Better Homes & Gardens

These days, home renovation projects are often discussed in terms of your return on investment or how quickly a project can speed up the selling process. It’s widely agreed upon that renovating a kitchen or bathroom is typically a financially responsible choice if you plan to sell because these projects typically see a great return in the form of a higher sale price—or a quicker sale.

If you’re tackling a renovation in the new year, you might have big goals and even bigger dreams. But even if your contractor won’t say it, you might want to rein it in. 

How do you know exactly when it's time to clean your home or take on an organizing project? It turns out that many common signs indicate that your home has seen better days and needs a little care, experts say.

Sometimes, the latest interior design trend is the best way to solve a decor dilemma—smart home appliances, updated materials, and popular color schemes can really elevate a space. But other times, looking to the past provides the answers you need to update your home and truly make it shine. If you’re looking to give your bathroom a refresh this season, you might be better off opting for traditional over trendy. Enter tadelakt.

If you’re sick of being blindsided by inflated price tags at the grocery store, you’re not alone—volatile prices and frequent shortages made 2023 a tough year for food shoppers. Though pandemic-era inflation eased slowly this year, certain products still spiked in price, leaving families to improvise their weekly shops. Plus, global conflicts and extreme weather events made certain foods more expensive or increasingly sparse throughout the year.

Protecting your plants from frost is an important step to take before winters start to knock on your garden’s door. We’ll share some expert strategies and easy-to-implement ideas to keep your plants cozy and safe.

If you've ever wondered how professional interior designers tackle rental homes—whether designing their own space or working on a client project—we're here to provide you with the inside scoop.

Dylan Chandler

fcafotodigital / Getty Images

Before you list your home for sale, you must be aware of all its potential problems. Major and minor issues inevitably crop up on inspection reports, and fixing the big ones (and some of the small ones) will help you get your money’s worth on a home. 

Having a dishwasher is great, but it can lead to some questions. From wondering what items are dishwasher-safe to asking whether dish soap and dish detergent are interchangeable, we’ve all been there.