With Valentine's just a few days away, one of the best gifts a husband/significant other can give to his wife/partner is to do some home improvement projects. Believe me, giving the house a little sprucing up is worth much more than a fancy dinner. So, why not try some of these home projects suggested by The Washington Post article below? Nothing says true love than finally fixing the cupboard she has been complaining for the longest time.
The February home improvement checklist
By Jeanne Huber
Give the gift of doing
It’s the month of roses and chocolate. But
instead of forking out money for a predictable symbol of love, consider
accomplishing a long-delayed honey-do project. Skip downer chores such as
unclogging drains and go for something that puts you both in a cheerful mood.
For example, do you need a better solution for winter coats close to your main
entry? Clean out a nearby closet, install a shelf (for hats and mittens) with
coat hooks underneath or get a coat tree. Is the garage workshop a mess? Invest
in a cabinet to store all those little parts. To bring order to hand tools, buy
a pegboard and hooks and use a marker to outline where each piece goes, as
Julia Childs used to do with her kitchen tools.
Add
some romance
Nothing affects the ambiance of a room like
lighting. Candlelight sets a romantic mood, but so can the modern equivalent: a
dimmer switch. If you’ve held off installing one because you wanted to use
compact fluorescent bulbs, most of which aren’t safe on circuits with dimmers,
check out the growing array of dimmable LED bulbs, including ones with narrow
bases that fit candelabrum fixtures. You can also add romance to a room with
strings of miniature lights or with rope lights.
Not just for Christmas anymore, they’re
great for highlighting an arch or a doorway or stringing around the top corners
of a room as sparkly crown molding. Or maybe you just need a new or spruced-up
lamp or ceiling fixture. Artisan Lamp in Washington’s Cleveland Park
neighborhood (202-244-8900) and the Brass
Knob in Adams Morgan (202-332-3370) specialize in antique fixtures.
Artisan Lamp also carries a wide assortment of replacement shades, stocks
hardware to modify existing lamps to support different kinds of shades and
employs repair people who can install the parts. If modern design is more your
style, there are plenty of other options, including Illuminations
(202-783-4888 for the downtown showroom or 202-965-4888 for the one in
Georgetown) and Vastu
(202-234-8344).
Paint
February, the last month before the majority
of gardening chores beckon, is a great time to tackle an indoor painting
project. Not sure where to begin? Monarch Home Decorating Center has designers
on staff at its Chevy Chase location (202-686-5550; www.monarchpaintdc.com)
and will even send someone to your home to help you select colors — a useful
feature because you’ll probably want to factor in the colors of existing
furniture and flooring, as well as the kind of light in your space. Home Depot
stores frequently offer free workshops about tools and techniques. The
Northeast Washington store, at 901 Rhode Island Ave., has one scheduled for Saturday at 10 a.m. Find others at www.homedepot.com;
set the store location to one near you and then type “workshops” in the search
box. If you’re worried about disturbing lead paint as you work, read up on
advice and rules at the Web site of the D.C. Department of the Environment, green.dc.gov/node/20762.
Plug
those gaps
You might be dealing with lingering cold-weather
issues in your house, but it’s also a great time to think ahead about areas
that get too hot in the summer. A three-hour class in Arlington on Saturday
will help you identify common causes of these uncomfortable situations and
teach you how to correct them — usually without expensive measures such as
replacing windows or adding a lot of extra insulation. The course fee is just
$5. Sign up for “Fixes That Work for Home Cold and Hot Spots,” at the Arlington
public schools Web site, www.arlingtonadulted.org.
If you can’t make the class, go online and
download “A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Sealing and Insulating With Energy Star”
from the home improvement section at www.energystar.gov. This pamphlet identifies the
usual places where air leaks and shows with pictures some simple ways to fill
the gaps. It will also help you decide whether you’re up to the task. If not,
you’ll know what to ask contractors when you interview them.
Get
credit
If you do tighten up your house, take
advantage of a provision in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, the
legislation that avoidedpart of the “fiscal cliff.” This law extended a package
of tax credits that had expired in 2011 for owners who make existing homes more
energy-efficient. If you didn’t already claim your lifetime credit limit of
$500, improvements you make through the end of 2013 now qualify (as do any you
did in 2012). Homeowners who also take advantage of local and manufacturer
rebates can sometimes wind up as much as $1,000 ahead — not counting their
ongoing savings in annual energy bills.
