The Charlotte Observer Home & Garden News

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CharlotteObserver.com: Home and Garden
Why this shopper isn't a homebuyer yet	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
Real estate agents routinely lecture sellers about preparing homes: Pick up, clean up, touch up. For goodness' sake, wash the windows, open the curtains and get all those kids' toys out of the living room. Here's another pointed reminder that the advice is sound. It comes not from an agent - but from a frustrated buyer.
I'M SO Cheap	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
From shoe box to showcase
Bachelor pad redone	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
(By Julie Scelfo, New York Times) Colin Kelly, a 2008 Columbia law school graduate, had furnished the living room in his apartment in the financial district much the same way he did his student housing. "I don't get anything until I need it," Kelly, 27, told a reporter visiting his apartment not long ago. "And when I get it, I get the cheapest thing." The result - a mostly bare space with a motley assortment of brown furniture - left Kelly, who had paid $572,000 for his apartment on the ninth floor of a high-rise, feeling as if it wasn't living up to its potential. On several occasions, the young lawyer had set out to buy a new sofa or pick new paint colors, but the effort had left him overwhelmed.
Fixing things little by little	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
I cannot fix the world's problems. But I can fix a battered nightstand. That's what I had to focus on when I toured a battered women's shelter last week, a 30-room residence that is always full. Although the gravity of these women's problems threatened to pull me under like a riptide, I instead focused on what I could do: improve the décor.
Invest daylight in garden	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
Starting Sunday, we'll be blessed with one delicious extra hour of daylight every evening to use outside. I can hardy wait. We're all behind on things. For weeks, the ground was too wet to dig up, even when it wasn't covered with slowly melting snow. The air was too cold or too wet for even the most diehard winter gardener.
Early butterflies a sure sign of spring	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
(Lenny Lampel) While a warm, sunny day in late winter might feel like spring, depending on where you are, it might look like it as well. The sight of a butterfly gently gliding over an open field or flitting through the trees at the edge of a woodland can certainly appear as a harbinger of spring. Some butterfly species are able to make such an early appearance by having overwintered as adults.
10 steps to a successful first vegetable garden	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
(By Lee Reich, Associated Press) How about going to a place where you can relax, enjoy some sun, and get a little exercise and gourmet food? A place even your kids could find interesting? This "spa" need not cost much; in fact, it will save you money. It's a home vegetable garden, and don't be intimidated if you've never planted one before. Vegetables are easy to grow, especially if you follow these 10 steps for first-timers: 1. Choose a location in full sun, which means six or more hours of direct sun in summer. Producing succulent, savory vegetables takes energy - the sun's energy - especially for fruiting vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes. If you don't have this much sunlight, either get out your pruning saw or grow only leafy vegetables such as lettuce and spinach.
Clean up your laundry routine	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
Washing clothes is more than just a chore; it also takes quite a toll on the environment. The good news is that there are easy and effective ways to Do Your Part to conserve water and create less pollution even while you do the laundry. Laura F. e-mailed me about a good bleach alternative for laundry. She's already using a green detergent but needed a "good whitener."
The IRS, homeowners, mortgage write-downs	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
With the Obama administration and private lenders actively considering mortgage principal-reduction programs to help financially distressed homeowners, the Internal Revenue Service has issued a new advisory to taxpayers who receive - or seek to receive - such assistance if it's offered. The IRS gets involved in mortgage principal write-downs because the federal tax code generally treats any forgiveness of debt by a creditor in excess of $600 as ordinary taxable income to the recipient. However, under legislation that took effect in 2007, certain home mortgage debt cancellations - such as through loan modifications, short sales or foreclosures - may be exempted from tax treatment as income.
Tankless water heaters can be worth the cost	3/15/2010 12:21 PM
Q. I thought about replacing my old gas water heater with a tankless one to save money. I heard there is limited hot water from a tankless one and the hot water temperature varies. What is your opinion? I'd recommend a gas tankless water heater for almost every home because of the significant energy and utility bills savings compared with a traditional tank-type model. The EF's (energy factor) on the most efficient tankless models are as high as 0.95 compared with only about 0.65 for a new tank-type gas model. They are small and hang on the wall.