Visit the Shaks

My dream is to have a historic house someday, restored or unrestored, it doesn't matter to me. But for now, all I can do is look at them and dream they were mine.

I'll be going on some Christmas house tours this year in order to get some decorating inspiration. Another neat thing about these tours is finding out the details of how other people celebrated Christmas years and years ago.

What about you? Will you hit some Christmas historic house tours?

The old joke about buying a Christmas tree that's too tall for your house is one that has been played out in my own family. How do you know how big a Christmas tree you need? CasaSugar has the answer.

According to the website that sells the black Christmas tree:

The Black Christmas Tree is a hot tree trend in 2007! The high gloss needles on the downswept branches add elegance and drama to your holiday decor. This tree was seen in the USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and many more. Availability is limited.

Now, I've seen some white Christmas trees that I thought were well done, and I've even seen some pink Christmas trees that I thought were kitschy enough to be fun, but black? Christmas is supposed to be a season of joy, not "I'm so cool even my Christmas tree is black." And I say this from a perspective of a person whose wardrobe is at least half black. I love the color black. Just not for Christmas trees.

I don't know why, but I find this nearly offensive. What say you?

HT: CasaSugar

Whenever I need home decor inspiration I head to the Saucy Dwellings community on Livejournal. There's been an especially awesome bunch of posts lately where people are showing off their Christmas decor.

I especially love this post. I'm a big fan of mid-century to begin with, but this mid-century Christmas decor really takes the cake! Love! Love! Love!

Finding a good contractor for your remodeling project can be a dicey proposition. A friend of mine recently interviewed a contractor who got into a screaming match with his ex-wife on his cell phone while she was interviewing him. My parents hired contractors who left the state, leaving their job unfinished and with their money long gone. We've all heard the contractor horror stories before.

If only you knew who to call, to avoid getting ripped off. Well, now you do; our friends over at CALFINDER has started a network that has taken the worry out of the process. CALFINDER was developed by homeowners for homeowners.They do the screening of contractors for you as well as conduct ongoing monitoring and customer satisfaction surveys. All CALFINDER's contractors are carefully pre-screened and monitored. Here's just a few of the services you get when you partner with CALFINDER to find your next contractor;

"Before we certify a contractor we perform a variety of checks. Below are just a few of those checks:In-depth check of current license and insurance coverage   

• Personal interview with at least 10 previous clients ensuring customer satisfaction and business reliability
• Ongoing monitoring and customer satisfaction surveys
• Follow up with each homeowner we work with to ensure that our contractors are providing a great service

CALFINDER’s founders, who have a diverse background in construction, computer technology and business management, realized that planning and executing home improvement projects are incredibly time-consuming and expensive and believed they could fill a void by developing a reliable source to help local homeowners find high-quality contractors. CALFINDER was established in 2005 covering main home improvement projects including home remodeling, painting and window installation. Working with a vast network of 200 top-notch, professional contractors, CALFINDER handles more than 600 homeowner service requests per month."

We at Shakhammer think this is a great solution to taking the worry out of finding a good general contractor who is good enough to work on one of your most valuable assets- your home. Check out their home improvement and remodeling blog too for the most up-to-date information on home rejuvenation trends and remodeling projects.

It's been awhile since I have played in a blog meme, so I was glad to see Kathylynn had tagged me. Here are the rules to the game:

"Post these rules on your blog.
List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag seven random [?] people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting on comment on their blog."

Alrighty, let's play. Since this is ShakHAMMER, the home improvement blog, I'll make these marginally related to home improvement:

1. Both of my grandfathers were carpenters. One was a general contractor who built quite a few houses in Muncie, Indiana. The other was a Navy SeaBee, and he built a bunch of stuff during World War II.

2. I despise power tools. When I was a kid, I'd be playing outside and then randomly a saw or drill would start buzzing and it always scared me. I still hate the way most power tools sound.

3. But I am in love with those power nail thingies. My grandpa would have died and gone to heaven if he wasn't already dead and presumably in heaven, if he had gotten the chance to use those power nailer thingies.

4. Number of months since we started laying the laminate flooring in my house: 8. Number of months the flooring has been laid, but has been unfinished: 8. Number of months it's been since I baked a tasty pie for my husband: 8. This is not a coincidence.

5. I enjoy plumbing type tasks. Soon, I am going to learn how to replace an outside water faucet. That is, if I can ever get my dad over here to teach me how. Otherwise, I'll go learn it from the internet.

6. I am absolutely insane about Christmas decorations staying up past January 12th. Originally my final date for the general populace to be able to keep their Christmas decorations up without me complaining about it was January 1st. But my uncle informed me that the (insert very esoteric group of people here) celebrate Christmas until January 12th because of (insert some very esoteric religious practice here). Far be it from me to hate on random groups of people and their random religious practices, so everyone has until January 12th to remove their Christmas decorations. Then I'll start sending anonymous letters.

7. The other thing that makes me ABSOLUTELY CRAZY is bad grammar. And while that has very little to do with home improvement, it certainly keeps my home improved if I don't have to hear bad grammar. Except I have to hear bad grammar all the time. Is there some good-grammar-land I can move to where everyone speaks the English language beautifully?

Tagging time:

Kat Coble
Heather
Newscoma
Ginger
John H
Rachel
Kathy T

Design*Sponge is singing my song today- they say yellow is back in style, which is a good thing since my living room is yellow. (pictured)

Depending on the shade of yellow, I think it's a great color for any living area. It brightens up a room while giving it a depth of color that not many other colors can match. When paired with an equally deep shade for accents (like red, in my picture), it can make a stunning impression.

Let's hear it for yellow!

I don't know whether to thank CasaSugar immensely for bringing this jewel of a website to my attention, or kick them for causing me to spend more time on this website than I really have to give today.

Vintage vacations takes vintage trailers and restores them. They keep original details while adding modern conveniences (such as bathrooms- 95% of pre-1960 trailers didn't have bathrooms). They keep the original feel without sacrificing anything. Fabulous. When I get rich, I totally know where I'll be looking to buy a trailer. Go waste some time at Vintage Vacations. You'll be glad you did.

[Photo Credit: Vintage-Vacations.com]

My kids love to make "forts", either by using the sofa as a prop, or the dining room table as a prop. The only problem with that is they use dang near every extra blanket we have and then I end up having to put the blankets in the laundry because kids and cats are messy.

Maybe I wouldn't have to do this, if I had a nifty table cover like this! This is good stuff, I need to think about making something like this.

HT: Craftzine
Photo: Melissa Goodsell

Someone asked CasaSugar about having a home security system in an rental. They have great tips for anyone, homeowner or renter alike. I do have a security system in my home, but I probably would not have one again, unless I was seriously concerned about the neighborhood or if I had a lot of priceless items that would be hard or impossible to replace.

Why wouldn't I have a security system? Here's why we wouldn't have a security system again:

1. We don't use it. Half the time we forget to turn it on, other times we don't have time to turn it on because we're dashing out the door.

2. It slows us down. See above. With 3 kids, I'm almost always dashing out the door at the last minute.

3. False alarms. Now, we don't have much problem with this, but one of our neighbors does. Every single time the power goes out, their alarm goes off. We've had a few times where we've accidentally set the alarm to "away" when we really meant to set it to "stay" and walking around in the house set off the alarm. That's heart-attack inducing for sure.

4. It doesn't really increase police response time. When your alarm goes off, the security company calls first to make sure it isn't a false alarm. Eventually, they call the police, but it's a lot faster just to skip the middle man and call the police ourselves.

Alarms have their place, but in our family, it doesn't fit into our lifestyle. What say you?

Click on over to Animal Shak, the newest addition to the Shak family.

The more I think about this rug, the more I like it and would like to try to DIY a version for myself. I have tons and tons of baby blankets left over from when my 3 kids were babies and I need a rug. The only thing I'm wondering about is what to use to hold it together. What do you think? DIYable?

HT: Craftzine

What a great way to bring the outside in! Do It Yourself has a great idea for taking a tree branch and making it into a rod for your curtains. With the right themed room, this would look perfect!

HT: CasaSugar

[image credit: do it yourself]

Some days I feel like Mommie Dearest. No, I don't beat my children with wire hangers, but I hate the suckers and I am constantly overrun with them. My husband's work shirts have to be dry cleaned, so there are usually about 3 billion wire hangers in my house at any given time.

Usually, I get tired of it, collect as many as I can find (does anyone else's husband tend to hide things like this? oy!) and then take them back to the dry cleaners we use so they can reuse the hangers. While that's pretty eco-friendly, Wise Bread has a post today about reusing wire hangers in different ways. And it's a good one, go check it out.

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Laminate Flooring Guide by JonitasKalimpo

Laminate Flooring, Make a Dream Home

Unlike hardwood, laminate floors will not stain, fade, dent and are far more scratch and water resistant. Warranties range from 10 years to lifetime and cover such factors as mentioned above. Entry level laminate wood flooring is designed for light traffic areas and come with warranties ranging from 10 to 15 years. Most people set their expectations too high and expect that entry level floors will perform under heavy traffic conditions and still look good for the duration of the warranty. This is however not the case, as an entry level floor subject to high traffic will start to show wear and tear within three to five years.

We hope this guide will help to understand better what laminate flooring is and how can improve your home, ALOT!

Everything You Need To Know on Laminate Flooring

Laminate Flooring mimics the look of traditional woods while offering easy installation and lasting durability. At first glance, it can be difficult to spot the difference between hardwoods and laminate flooring. What appears to be a natural wood grain pattern is really a thin layer of decor paper (a photographic image) under a tough-as-nails protective film that is glued and pressed to a high-density backing board. Laminate Flooring comes in an array of wood effects as well as stone and ceramic effects.

Laminate floorings main advantages are that it is easy to install, is very hardwearing and relatively inexpensive compared to real hardwood flooring.

Laminate flooring is a floating floor, which means it does not fasten directly to the sub-floor. Instead the planks are clicked together. This enables the floor to be fitted fast and with no real mess.

Most laminate floors today fit together with a click system with the most common being the UNICLIC system as used by Quick-Step. This is extremely easy and fast to fit. The ingenious UNICLIC-system has a special shape of tongue and groove. You simply place the tongue of one plank into the grove of another at an angle and press down. Their sophisticated and very accurate milled shape makes it possible to create a very tight connection during the installation. The floor can be walked on straight away.

If you are laying laminate flooring over a concrete sub-floor then you will fist need to lay down a damp proof membrane (DPM). This is basically a sheet of plastic usually around 5mm which helps protect the Laminate from moisture. On top of this goes the foam underlay this acts as sound absorption and also helps even out minor irregularities in the sub-floor.

Most manufactories now offer a combined DPM and underlay along with several underlay's that have better sound absorbing qualities
Most of the leading laminate floor manufactories now also have ranges of flooring that also include built in underlay. This underlay is pre-fitted to the bottom of the flooring and is usually of sound absorbing quality. You do not need to install this type of floor a secondary but if you are laying over a concrete sub-floor you still have to lay down a D.P.M. (Damp Proof Membrane) first.

Laminate flooring has been around in Europe for around 15 years and has seen massive growth in the past few years read the rest....... 

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about laminate flooring, visit the entire lens by clicking: Laminate Flooring Guide

Maybe you need a swell new way to organize your spices, or perhaps you have decided to make your Christmas gifts this year and want to give something useful but still cool. Here are two ways to make spice containers.

First, we have Mookie Moo's spice boxes. (pictured) This is a great way to store the bulk spices you've picked up in various places. The cork keeps them fresh yet easily accessible.

Second, we have magnetic spice containers from My Aim Is True- she used watchmaker's tins and super strong magnets to make them. You could hang them on the refrigerator if it's close, or on the wall as shown here.

Both are innovative and cool ways to store spices, or they could make great Christmas gifts. Melinda at Mookie Moo suggested giving "theme spices" as a gift, chili spices, for example.

[photo credit: Mookie Moo]

Create You Squidoo Lens On A Shak Subject And You Could Be Featured On Shakadoo! Once you have built your lens, submit it to the group HERE.

Hiring Contractors For Service Work by SemperFidelis

Hiring Contractors for Service Work

A lens devoted to hiring contractors to do work in your home or business.  Avoiding the pitfalls of hiring the wrong contractor.

Lies From Contractors

If you have dealt with contractors, you have probably heard the same lies I have. They erupt from their mouths as rationale for their questionable behavior and unreasonable demands. They are often accompanied by "righteous indignation" that anyone would question this contractor's forthrightness.

Here, in no particular order of deceitfulness, are four of them.

It's a standard agreement

Sure it is.  It's your standard agreement that requires the property owner to give away the store and that doesn't require the contractor to complete the job in a workmanlike manner or, for that matter, even complete it at all.  The "standard agreement" does require you to pay, though.

One electrician who did work on a property of a landlord I know had a "standard agreement" that didn't even require him to clean up his mess or repair the wall he put holes in for the wiring.

Everybody does it that way

I certainly hope they don't, because if everybody did it that way, buildings would be falling down all over the country.  Those are the words you hear when you ask about the corners the contractor cut to get the job done cheaper. Because contractors always "did it that way" we have building codes.  Those building codes were not instituted because every contractor was meticulous in his work.  They were instituted because of the work that goes along with "everybody does it that way."

I need the money up front

Then you don't need to work on my property.  You get paid when you are finished and the work is done properly.  Not getting paid should not be a problem for a contractor because of contractors' lien laws, which can result in a lien on the property they worked on if the owner doesn't pay.  If the contractor doesn't have the money or credit to buy the necessary equipment to do the job, that should raise a crimson flag.

To learn everything you ever wanted to know about hiring the right contractor, visit the entire lens by clicking: Hiring Contractors For Service Work

I posted on Love Shak, Baby earlier this week about doing a massive bunch of laundry. I posted that Monday, and here it is Friday and I am still doing laundry. I wrote in that post that I thought we had too much clothing. I didn't know the half of it.

Since Monday I have gotten rid of 6 kitchen sized trash bags full of clothing. While doing the laundry, I hung a bag on the laundry room door for getting rid of clothing that looked bad, didn't fit, or otherwise needed to exit my house.

Today, I'm nearly finished with the laundry, so I went into all our closets and got rid of tons of stuff. I looked at the clothes and thought, "Do I feel good when I wear this?" If I didn't, in the bag it went. Also, I got rid of a great deal of items that I have several of. for example, I had 7 white button up shirts. Why? Who really needs seven white button up shirts? Not me, so in the bag it went.

I also got rid of every single pair of overalls I own, except one pair. I got rid of many, many pairs of jeans. I don't know why, but I have a problem with hoarding bluejeans. Out they went. Once I had all the clothing I no longer wanted out of the closet, I pulled all the unused hangers out. I was surprised- I have a ton of hangers. Hangers have always been a scarce commodity in our house, but they won't be anymore. I have enough hangers to hang up half the clothing in the state of Rhode Island, I'm convinced.

Now that I have the clothing pared down to a minimum, I have new rules. If I get a new item of clothing, one item of old clothing must go. If I try something on and hate it, it goes in the "I don't like this" box. I think if I keep to these rules, I will be able to keep the clothing clutter down. That's one less thing to have to worry about!

My mother decorates for Thanksgiving, but I do not. I like having a nice period of neutral decorating before the long, long Christmas decorating season, personally.

On the other hand, after seeing Jennifer's Thanksgiving decorating over at her blog, The Felt Mouse, I may have just changed my mind. After looking at Jennifer's pictures, I am inspired. That's just another great thing about blogging, it opens your decorating horizons!

[Photo Credit: Jennifer at The Felt Mouse]

I seriously needed this product the other day. I managed to spill a truckload of Flintstones Sour Gummies vitamins crumbs all over my desk. Yeah, I know I should keep the vitamins somewhere other than my desk, but it's the place I always remember to hand the kids vitamins every morning, so there ya go.

So I used my giant hand vac to vacuum up the crumbs and managed to also vacuum up a paperclip in the deal. Dang. I needed that paperclip. But if I had had this handy-dandy USB desk vacuum, would I have vacuumed up that paperclip? I think not.

I found something that is invaluable or at least to me it would be. When you are in need of contractor all you have to do is head on over to ConstructionDeal.com Contractor Directory...

"The Contractor Directory acts as a yellow pages book or a phone book where homeowners and business owners can look up contractors in their area, review their listing and company details, and call them directly."

I can not tell you how many times I would like something around my house done but have no idea who to call. Problem solved!

As part of the ongoing effort to get the house clean for all the company that is coming to my house over the next several weeks, I have been cleaning out closets. Today, I am tackling the coat closet.

I actually didn't think this would be as big of an effort as it has turned out to be. In my mind, I was going to look at the coats, get rid of any coats that were outdated or too small, and go on with my day. I quickly realized that my coat closet was divided into three parts, all of which are stuffed with way more stuff than we really need.

First, there was the bottom of the closet. The picture above is maybe a third of the shoes I threw out of there, most of them mine and my daughter's. I got rid of any shoes that were too ratty or too small. Then I boxed up all the sandals and put them away for winter. Finally, I left one pair of dress shoes and one pair of tennis shoes in the closet for everyone. All other shoes went back in the closet of the shoes' owners.

Once that was out of the way, I went to the easy part- cleaning the coats out. I got rid of all coats that were too small or outdated and/or ratty. Everything else stayed. We don't seem to have such a coat fetish as we do shoes, thank goodness.

The top part of the closet was the hardest part. It had become a mish-mash of whatever crap we randomly threw up there. There was an empty box, a truckload of hats, scarves, and gloves, some yoga equipment, and an odd assortment of diaper bags. I haven't carried a diaper bag in over a year. I tossed all the diaper bags, neatened up the yoga equipment, and used the box to put hats, scarves, and gloves in. I ditched any hats, scarves or gloves that were too small or ratty. Life is too short to wear an ugly, ratty scarf!

Finally, I added in a few hangers for the guests that come visiting. Now my coat closet is ready for both guests and winter!

From my own remodeling experience, I can totally relate to everything Redneck Mommy's saying in her post. Here's a tiny bit:

This is what happens when I have a dream. Or a delusion. A vision of a perfect kitchen. All it took was fifteen hundred smackers on a few pieces of cabinet trim, a henpecked husband, some patience and an iron will.

Sure, the hubs and I will probably murder each other before he goes back to work. Sure, we have neglected the kids and fed them cereal while we farted around with measurements and tools and argued with one another while our kids rotted their brains out playing video games.

Oh, I can relate. How I can relate. Several months ago, I decided I couldn't handle the funky builder-grade carpet in our living room anymore and I bought laminate flooring. 3 weeks later, all the laminate flooring was laid down. Six MONTHS later, it's still not finished. Mr. Ivy has totally failed to install the edging and floor transitions. And can I get him to do it? No, of course not. Not reminders that friends from high school were coming to visit this past weekend. Not reminders that my best friend is coming next weekend. Not even the spectre of his mother coming to visit the weekend after that can get him to finish this project.

Alas, I guess if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. I tremble at the thought of using the circular saw. We shall see.

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Who Is Mike Holmes by dougeby

Holmes on Homes - Hero to Home Owners

He's a modern day hero.  He's every shoddy contractor's worst nightmare.  He's the star of Holmes on Homes.  He's Mike Holmes.

Once a week we get to watch Mike Holmes rescue home owners from the clutches of despair and often times, financial ruin.

Mike apprenticed under his dad who frequently told Mike "If you're going to do something, do it right the first time" and has continued to use this as his motto.  Mike is a craftsman with integrity, who knows the importance of resourcefulness and craftsmanship.

"I've been fixing a lot of sloppy, lazy and dangerous work for the past two decades" says Holmes. "I think it's time to expose the work of these so-called contractors and help some homeowners make informed decisions. I want to take the word 'minimum' out of the construction industry and stop the slow death of craftsmanship".

In 2006 the Holmes Foundation was launched by Mike Holmes.  The foundations main goals are to assist Canadians who need help or resources to get their homes and lives back after botched renovations; and to support the training of youth in the skilled trades, through apprenticeships, scholarships and bursaries.

A True Hero.To learn everything you ever wanted to know about Mike Holmes, visit the entire lens by clicking: Who Is Mike Holmes

Mike Holmes - Holmes on Homes Seasons 1-4

Get the first four seasons of Holmes on Homes.

Holmes on Homes: Season 1

Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 11/01/2007)
List Price: $29.98

Holmes on Homes: Season 2

Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 11/01/2007)
List Price: $29.98

Holmes on Homes - The Complete Third Season