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Webwatch 2006-09: Do it Yourself Home Repair
 Webwatch is a column published in the Covenant Companion Magazine
every month. It is written by Heidi Griepp, manager of Covenant
Internet Services and an avid web wanderer. This month, Webwatch Do It Yourself...with a Little Help. This month, Webwatch looks at home repair websites.
I rent—I do not own a home. Still, I’m fascinated by home improvement websites, even though I have nothing to fix. (Maybe it’s because so many of my friends are fixing their homes, or because of my friends Jed the house painter, Corey the carpenter, and Chad the carpet layer.) Does the space you live in affect your mood? Does having a back room that seems about to fall off fill your life with anxiety? Or would you like to make your home a little more “homey.” Then this webwatch may be for you. www.houseblogs.net
Houseblogs.net is a community website
for hundreds of people who are fixing up
their homes, with featured entries and links to over 300 house blogs. If you’re fixing up your home, this is an amazing resource and a good read. I enjoy reading these blogs in spite of my lack of things to fix. Learn about everything from how to choose a kitchen counter to re-roofing a house. There are posts about working on your home when you have kids, funny posts about how much time, money, and energy it takes to fix your house, and the ever fun posts about the curious things that happen when you do it yourself (DIY). Possible Uses: About to start a home improvement project? Might as well learn from people who have already done it. Rating: Use the search to find specific topics or to find a couple of sites that post often. It’s an easy education on your fix-it-upper. ★★★★★ www.rentaldecorating.com
Even if you rent, there are still fun home improvement and decorating resources for you. This site is focused on renters who are wanting to spruce up their rental space inexpensively without doing something rash like tearing out a wall. (Although I thought about tearing out my entryway ceiling.) Home improvement websites often feature major projects like rewiring your house or putting in hardwood floors. Rental websites like this one feature articles on storage, organization, paint color, and changing the look of your space with art and furniture. Possible Uses: Imagine your apartment with new color and new ways of laying out your furniture. Rating: Good articles but the advertising was frustrating and obtrusive. ★★★ thisoldhouse.typepad.com/shelterlife
This is one of multiple blogs from the television show, This Old House. You can find other blogs related to the show. This one, called “the shelter life” details “one woman’s obsession with the architecture, design, and renovation of houses.” I like blogs about home repair and do it yourself projects because they are generally more accessible and done by everyday people. And this one has some fun ideas for anyone—renters or owners. Categories she writes about thus far have been: architecture, colorfully fearless, gardening, great houses, process in picture form, renovation, small fixes, small space solutions, tools we love, trend watch, and “What I learned today.” Possible Uses: This writer finds a lot of her ideas from other blogs and websites so it’s like having a webwatch on home repair every day. Rating: A worthwhile resource. ★★★★ www.paintquality.com/diy/content/design_2.htm
Here’s another website that can be useful whether you rent or own. Painting is a cheap way to change the feel of the space you live in. Color choices for your home that affect your mood. This site is helpful tool for brainstorming what color to paint your walls in your home. There is also content on how to paint, prep, and prime your walls, as well as a project planner and problem solver area. Possible Uses: This is a fun site to explore before you start that paint job whether it’s inside or outside. Want to learn a decorative paint technique? Here you can find many. Rating: I don’t think I’ve ever found so much information on painting walls before. A well-filled out website. ★★★★ www.houseinprogress.net
This is my favorite blog. It’s one of the most prolific and it’s often funny. Particularly useful sections are their tools section (in the archive) and the reviews. This blog was started by a young couple as a searchable resource of their ideas, and to track progress as they worked on their home. But it’s become a great resource for others as well—attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors. In particular I find a couple ideas in their ideas section wonderful—like a really great looking storage area in a stairway and windows at the top of the wall near the ceiling that let light into long hallways. Possible Uses: Fixing anything? It’s likely these bloggers have a post on it. Rating: A creative and packed resource. ★★★★★ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIY
del.icio.us/tag/diy
ma.gnolia.com/tags/diy
www.diysearch.com Instead of reviewing each of these I am just going to give you all four of them. These are four good places to start if you want to find anything that is DIY—from fixing your house to your car.
All Webwatch reviews are for informational and resource purposes
only. The Evangelical Covenant Church does not endorse any
website, organization, or content. From time to time some of these
links will go dead or they will be sold. When we learn about this we
will take the link off. If you see a dead link please let us know. Copyright The Covenant Companion.
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