Residential Real EstateHome Improvement For The Rest of Us
You"ve resigned yourself to living with your original cabinetry in your
kitchen, but you want to touch it up yourself, hoping to bring your decor
into the 20th century without breaking the bank. Whom do you consult for
advice on how to tackle this project when your plans hardly match the
budgets of a Martha Stewart or Bob Vila? Once again, the Internet comes to
your rescue with Home Arts" Handy Home
Adviser, a get-down-to-basics site designed to address your
home-related questions and solve your household problems in layman"s terms.
Handy Home Adviser is an online clearinghouse of sorts that allows users to
enter their home-related topics of choice. The site then searches through
its database of archived articles from a dozen Hearst publications,
including House Beautiful and Popular Mechanics, and produces
the most relevant and timely advice related to those topics. Consumers may
conduct their searches either by selecting a category from a long list of
topics (appliances, cleaning, plumbing and heating, energy efficiency, and
roofing, to name just a few) or by entering key words into a search bar. A
search under the category "appliances" produced 91 articles -- an
impressive total. The articles were not only timely, but diverse, as well.
The site highlights several feature articles, currently about such topics
as worn wallpaper (easy solutions); a guide to sources of hard-to-find
hardware; advice on how to avoid the top 10 home improvement scams; the top
10 construction-cost overruns and how to avoid them; and even an online
invitation into the newly remodeled kitchen of Bob Vila.
Vila also has made his own editorial contribution to the Handy Home
Adviser, demonstrating two entirely different "recipes" for country
kitchens, one traditional and one contemporary.
Particularly handy is the site"s "Estimator," which helps consumers
determine how much paint, drywall, tile, wallpaper and other household
materials they will need for their next home improvement project. The home
improvement encyclopedia, another feature, passes along easy-to-follow
solutions to everyday household dilemmas (courtesy of software company
Books that Work). From gas leaks to relighting pilot lights to frozen pipes
to jammed garbage disposals, you"ll find the answers you"re looking for
here. And most important, the Handy Home Adviser takes you through the
recommended procedures step by step, assuming you don"t necessarily have an
advanced degree in home repairs.
Another feature called "Bloom!" (for the "cultivated gardener in us all,"
the Handy Home Adviser says) is a unique opportunity for gardeners of every
skill level from across the globe to communicate with one another and
exchange helpful tips. A Gardener"s Library enables consumers to search
through reference material related to gardening. A "Seed Swap" invites
consumers to engage in a little trading of their own. Web-saavy gardeners
may post a listing; browse listings; initiate searches for plants by name,
location or zone; or peruse an online plant encyclopedia. You"ll find links
to Rebecca"s Garden (the TV personality) and Country Living
Gardener, as well as an interactive window box, seasonal reminders, and
more.
Handy Home Adviser is a helpful, consumer-friendly and money-saving resource for those of us who aren"t quite ready to call the contractor. The
solutions you"ll find here have been translated for those of us who are
occasionally stumped by the lingo the home-improvement gurus often use. If
the likes of Bob Vila and Martha Stewart intimidate you, this is your site.