Guest post by Lou Manfredini
Hello all! Lou Manfredini here, Ace’s “Helpful Hardware Man.” I’m excited to share some easy tips on adding curb appeal to your home this summer. Keeping the outside of your home looking great has two purposes: you’re able to see a home you’re proud of every day and it increases your home’s overall value.

One of the most important things you’ll want to do is to keep your home’s exterior paint and caulking in tip-top shape. If you have a painted home and there are areas that could use some TLC, follow this advice:

Scrape off any loose …read more

Are you looking to add some color to your bedroom?  Do you like to have a lot of matching and coordinating fabric in your room?  Do you need a new headboard?  If so, then you might be interested in this project from Better Homes & Gardens. 

Better Homes & Gardens always has great do-it-yourself projects and home improvement ideas.  BHG has step by step instructions on how to upholster a headboard.
To make this headboard you’ll need plywood, foam, and about 7 yards of fabric.  Check out BHG’s step by step instructions.
image from Better Homes & Gardens

Michael Moloney is one of the members of the design team that worked on the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house for the Nickless family in Holt, Michigan last week.
Michael started out in the fashion industry. In 1990, he started to apply his unique and luxurious design concepts to homes. He combines a modern style with practicality and vintage charm. Michael has opened two home design stores in the Los Angeles area. He has worked with various celebrities, as well as the Walt Disney Company and the NFL.

Here are some photos of the big reveal today at the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Holt, Michigan.

Today was the day! At the site of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Holt, the crowd was huge, excitement filled the air, shouts of “Move that bus!” rang periodically. And then the Nickless family got to see their new home for the first time!
Arlene Nickless and her young sons Aaron, 11, Noah, 9, and Andrew, 7, returned from their show-sponsored vacation at Walt Disney World to a 3,300 square-foot, 4-bedroom house where their crumbling 1860s home once stood. Builder Mayberry Homes, area contractors and suppliers, Michigan State University and hundreds of volunteers came together for 1 week …read more

The crew of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition have got house building down to a science. Yesterday, there was nothing but rubble at the site.
Today, this was what I saw:
 
24 hours after demolition, there’s an actual house standing on the site!
It was a hive of frenetic activity; there were people doing something or other everywhere. There were more volunteers, more spectators, more trucks and buses coming and going.
(10-01-08 Update) Schedules: Spectators are welcome to visit the site. Shuttles will be available on Thursday, from 7:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., from the K-Mart parking lot on South Cedar …read more

Today, at the site for the Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in Mid-Michigan, the main task was to prepare the house for demolition tomorrow.
Volunteers, coordinated by Mayberry Homes, arrived to help with packing up the family’s belongings. Boxes and boxes were taken out of the house. Part of being on this show is that the entire house is emptied. Some of the items may be retained and integrated with the new things that the crew will bring in. They are even having all the family’s clothes taken out and professionally cleaned!
It was a pretty quiet day at the site today. As …read more

One of the exciting aspects of ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is seeing how radical the change is from the family’s old house to the brand-spanking-new one.
No makeover is complete without before and after photos, right?
Take a good look at how the Nickless family stood today. These would all be gone tomorrow as work begins on the new house.
From the street, the view of 1860s house is partly hidden by a couple of trees:

Extreme. That word describes the experience of being chosen to get a brand new home with all the bells and whistles.
Imagine opening the door and seeing Ty Pennington there with a camera crew, a design team and the promise of giving you the home of your dreams! That was what happened to a family in mid-Michigan this week.
On Friday, September 26, 2008, Arlene Nickless, of Holt, Michigan, and her family got the wake-up call to become the next family to be on ABC’s hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition!
The house, which was built around the 1860s, was supposed …read more