And as parents, we see the Pottery Barn catalogs, or something similar, and become disheartened that we need to forgo college savings if we want to give our kids a nice bedroom.

My daughter want a “Princess” bedroom, like many little girls her age. I wanted her to have anything BUT a princess bedroom. However, the more I thought about it, it was not the Princess bedroom so much that I objected to it was the licensed character bedroom that I objected to. And just for the record, I feel the same way about licensed characters for boy’s bedrooms too.

A Princess bedroom has to have a few things: pink, purple, and tulle. At least according to my daughter. However, this does not mean that the walls have to be painted one of these colors. I picked a subdued green color that is peaceful.

The bed was a tarnished faux brass that had definitely seen better days. I bought a fun purple spray paint that my daughter picked out to paint the bed frame with. Purple accents are much better, in my opinion, than an entire purple room. They are also much easier to replace.

I bought used furniture and refinished it myself so that it would have that shabby chic feel for less money than the stores are selling it for new.

That is the funny thing about shabby chic style, isn’t it? They charge an awful lot of money for something that looks well used.

I created Nursery Rhyme vignettes with vintage items, including toys and blocks.

These particular ones are located on top of an armoire in the corner of her bedroom.

The very first time that I installed a rough, unsealed tile floor I had no idea that it would behave differently than the smooth surface tile with which I had been accustom to dealing. So I used my thin-set and stuck the the tile down. Then I mixed up my grout and went over the surface with my rubber grout float. After I was finished, I went back with my bucket and sponge to clean up.

I knew I was in trouble after the first pass. When the water dried, the tile still looked like it was covered in grout. I went back and did it again. And again. I switched to small clean rags that I only used once in place of redipping the sponge into the clean water. After a few times of doing this I realized that the haze was not going to come off easily.

The next step that I tried was using a vinegar and water solution. Vinegar is slightly acidic and can in some situations cut through the haze. I used a stiff brush and went in a circular motion. This helped slightly. Very slightly. It still did not remove the grout haze to my satisfaction.

So I pulled out the big gun and bought an acid that is specifically designed for removing this type grout haze. Wearing gloves and eye protection I set to work scrubbing with my wire brush and wiping the each individual tile clean with a rag.

This was a long, laborious and tedious task. One which could have been prevented with proper prep work. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the tile I was working with should have been sealed prior to installation. When I used this same tile again in my kitchen, no I am not a masochist the mudroom I had previously tiled adjoins the kitchen and the plan always was for them to have matching tile, I made sure that I thoroughly sealed the tile prior to doing any of the installation work. It made a world of difference and I was able to clean up the tile after grouting easily. Or at least as easily as one can clean up grout off of tile.

But consider that a tiny 1/8-inch gap around a typical entryway door is the equivalent of drilling a 5 ½-inch-diameter hole through an outside wall, that might change your mind. Any well-sealed door requires two components: weatherstripping, which covers the sides and top of the door, and a sweep, which fills the space between the threshold and the door bottom.

Closing those gaps can save you up to 15 percent in heating and cooling costs and also can reduce the demand on your heating and cooling system.

Best news though, it is an easy project that you can tackle and finish in a single day.

Installing a Door Sweep

1) Cut the sweep to fit the width of the door.

2) With the door closed, screw the sweep to the door so that its bottom is in contact with the floor.

You can also go around the doors with a self-adhesive foam weatherstipping barrier. You would apply this around the top and sides of the door. This type is not as effective as the tubular vinyl with a flange that are tacked along the inside of the jamb. The self adhesive type tends to come off.

Not matter which kind of weatherstriping you choose, you want to make sure that the door compresses the weatherstripping, but that it is also able to close properly. You want the fit to be tight, not sticky.

The house was built in the late 18th century, and the fireplace is in what was then the kitchen. Back then it was the primary heat source for the house, just what it was going to be again, apparently. But while we seemed to be stepping back in time in terms of function, the language surrounding this enterprise was dryly contemporary, the poetry of the fireplace burning fragrant logs giving way to the prosaic efficiency of a sealed combustion unit fueled by a pellet product; where once we calculated how many cords of wood we would need to stack outdoors for a winter, now it was the number of pellet bags we would need to pile in the basement.

For a long time we debated whether or not to install a second pellet stove in one of the three original fireplaces in the house. My husband, ever practical, pointed out the heat savings. The fact that the location meant it would heat most of the house including the second floor. And the most painful blow, that making a fire in the fireplace actually sucked the heat right out of the house. But the aesthetics, I moaned.

To me there is something magical about having a fire in the fireplace. Sitting around a darkened room watching the flames dance, it is almost like being at a campfire, except in the comfort of your own home. Everyone loves a fireplace, don’t they? It taps into some sort of primitive collective conscious that we have.

So far we have not installed a pellet stove in any of the original fireplaces. Somehow that feels blasphemous to me. That progress means ruining something original and beautiful. But like the author of the aforementioned article, I realize that my home has been a series of improvements. Once upon a time there wasn’t running water or toilets. There were gas lamps. I somehow doubt that people objected to installing these modern conveniences. Even though it meant drilling holes through hardwood flooring, building boxes around heating vent pipes, marring plaster walls with those pesky outlets.

But somehow those of us living in and restoring old houses cling to some vestiges of antiquity and try to reconcile our modern needs with the historic aesthetic.

So what can you do?

1) Seal up air leaks around your home. Use weatherstripping around doors and windows. Use caulk to seal up cracks and expandable foam spray to fill in the areas around pipes. Fitted insulating pads can go behind outlet covers. Have you ever removed an outlet cover and felt a stream of cold air?

2)Add more insulation to your attic. According to the Department of Energy your heating and cooling costs can be reduced by 30% simply by adding more insulation.

3) Embrace alternative energy sources. A wood burning stove or a pellet stove are great for keeping your home warm. Even opening your blinds to allow the sun in to passively heat your home and then using insulated curtains to keep the heat in once the sun sets can make a difference.

4) Wrap your water heater in a blanket. And if you have exposed pipes in an unheated basement wrap those in insulation also.

5)Unplug electrical appliances that are not being used. Or invest in some power strips so that you can just turn the outlet on and off, which is a great idea for those devices such as televisions and stereo equipment whose plugs can not be easily reached. Households squander 10 percent of their electrical bill on electronics that invisibly suck power every year.

Five simple things that might not seem like much, but added together can put some extra money in your pocket this winter.

I saw this costume at our local walmart where it illicited a bunch of “ewwwwwwwws” from people around me. So I’d say that it is also a scary costume.

This Old House has compiled a bunch of home improvement related costumes. If none of those strike your fancy, perhaps you could dress up as Norm Abrams.

Moisture and water will splash into the space between the tub and shower wall and run down the back of the tub, quickly damaging the sub-floor and causing mold to grow behind the tub where it is not visible.

The first step is to clean the space out of any dust or grout debris. You want a clean dry surface to which the caulk can properly adhere.

Using your caulk gun, you want to fill the space with a bead of caulk.

Don’t worry about it not being perfectly neat. Messy is fine. After this you are going to take a damp rag and wipe off the excess and smooth the bead.

Once you do that, it will look perfect. And you will have no worries about water leaking behind your tub.

Now just let the caulk dry according to the recommendations outlined by the manufacturer.

Four easy steps you can do in advance to get your house ready for the holidays.

1) Powder room: Your guests will all be using this room at some point. Go on in there and give it a critical eye. Does the door need to be repainted? Caulk around the edge of the sink replaced? Has one of your children used the toilet paper holder as a step stool and it is hanging off the wall? Is the toilet seat in need of replacement, maybe because your children also don’t know how to aim? Has the baseboard trim been scrubbed one too many times and is in need of a touch up with the paint brush? How about some new hand towels?

2) Front door: This will be the first thing that your guests see when they arrive at your home. If you are like most people, you don’t use your front door regularly and therefore may have missed some of the much need periodic maintenance that needs to be done. Does your door need a fresh coat of paint? Does it have a window that needs cleaning? Do you need a new welcome mat? What about the immediate area around the front door… do you have planters that have dead flowers which need to be cleaned out (raising my hand here, sheepishly)?

3) Clean out the refrigerator: You need to make room for all the fresh food you will be preparing over the holidays. get rid of all those extra condiment containers that have been hanging out forever in the door and back of the fridge. Take everything out and give it a good cleaning. This way if guests ask if they can give you hand in the kitchen you don’t have to be embarassed when they open the door and find tupperware half filled with old leftovers.

4) Coat closet: Clean that thing out! Make sure it is well stocked with hangers, maybe a basket or two for putting hats and gloves. You don’t want guests opening up the door and having your stuff fall out on them while you jam their coat inside between last years ski coats.

There is no description for some of these places.

Oh my word, the ugly houses. Thankfully my house was never, EVER, in the condition of most of these houses. Maybe I should stop calling my house ugly and refer to it as tacky.

Go on over and have a look. I can almost guarantee that you will feel better about your renovation project. From now through November 15 you can vote daily for the house you think deserves the title of ugliest house. Personally, I couldn’t decide.

If you have dark tile with a dark grout, the tile lines become less obvious and the the individual tile will not stand out as much. Lighter grout used with dark tile will make the grout lines stand out and cause the tile to become more of a design element in the room, rather than a solid background element.

The opposite is true for light tile. Light colored grout that matches the tile will cause the tile to blend into a solid surface. Dark grout will make the grout lines stand out as the design element.

In the end it comes down to personal preference and your particular design style.