Design | Remodeling

One of our KnowledgeBase writers, Robert Klar, otherwise known as Cowboy Bob, is a holidays enthusiast who would like to share some of his ideas about how to make the holidays an enjoyably green experience. He shares with us a few tips about LED lights that tie into the At Home article Christmas Light Safety. As for me, I greatly enjoyed walking through the Columbus Zoo's new LED Wildlights Display, sponsored this year by AEP with over 3 million brightly shining bulbs.

While we hope to inspire families to change out their traditional Christmas stings of lights with LED's this year, like Prince Charles has done for Buckingham Palace, the greater goal is to invoke a stronger, more broad use of the new LED technology in all light sources. After all, 6% of all electricity use in the U.S. comes from lighting sources. LED's are more than twice as efficient as compact fluorescents. So, look forward to watching how LED technology progresses in the coming years.

Happy Holidays!

Whether you are a do-it-yourself pro or beginner, wouldn’t it be nice to have a little help when estimating the quantity of material that is required for your project? Preventing over- and under-ordering material and eliminating additional trips to the home improvement store will save you both time and money. Below are a few helpful online calculators and estimators that we have found.

I have always enjoyed working with wood and tools, especially tools that cut, hammer and pry.  My interest was instilled by my grandfather, who was a carpenter by trade.  As a child, I'd spend time in the garage with him, watching and learning.  While he worked productively on any given project, I'd be joining two varying length pieces of awkwardly hand sawn 2x4's with half driven 8 and 16d common nails, in no real pattern.