Do you know how to fix scratches on wood floor? Whether for home maintenance or to get the best selling price for your home, we’re showing you the easiest way to fix those scratches and gouges! Continue reading
What do you do when your gas fireplace won’t light? This very thing happened to us just when winter was setting in. But you know what else was setting in? Omicron! If you’re us, you nix calling in an expert because it’s early days of a new variant and you don’t want to take chances. After some initial anxiety on my part about ‘messing with fire’, Hubs got it working for a while. But he only had short-lived success.
There are only two season in Canada: winter and construction. So now is as good a time as any to fix our gas fireplace!
Our powder room makeover was a long time coming. It is the first room you see as you come into our front entry and it was an eyesore. Dated oak cabinets, builder beige walls, old toilet and an ugly light fixture made for a poor first impression. Continue reading
Today we’ve got the ultimate guide on our loose lay vinyl plank flooring installation. Because it’s waterproof, durable and can be easily removed and reinstalled if you ever have a flood, loose lay luxury vinyl plank is a no-brainer for a basement. And, let’s face it, most basements will experience water damage at some point (you can read about how we recovered from our first leak here). Continue reading
How to clean tile grout was always an issue with our white tile and light grout. Until we found an easy solution! A few years ago Hubs offered to rip up our ugly white tile and replace it with new tile. It was a very tempting offer, but I didn’t have the heart to send all that waste to landfill. Continue reading
Resanding with Polymeric sand marks the end of an era at Birdz of a Feather. All good things must come to an end; nothing lasts forever. Today that sentiment is twofold: we’ve updated our logo and are replacing the polymeric sand in our front walkway! Continue reading
Pond maintenance is par for the course if you want to enjoy an urban oasis. Are ponds high maintenance? Yup; but there’s a secret to keeping algae at bay if you continue to read. That will help keep maintenance during the season to a minimum.
Opening up the pond for the season is a dirty job. But somebody has to do it – and thankfully, it’s not me! I’m happy to take my place behind the camera to help show you how it’s done 🙂 Continue reading
Mold prevention – and remediation – after any kind of leak or flood is hugely important because of health implications. We learned a hard lesson last year after the pipe connected to our outdoor faucet burst and caused water damage in my newly built craft room. In that post (part 1), we showed you how we installed a frost proof faucet to repair it and make sure it wouldn’t happen again. Now that it’s Fall, we’d like to remind you to remove the hose from the faucet – even if you have a frost-proof one, so you don’t make the same mistake we did. Leaving a hose connected during the winter is a recipe for disaster! Continue reading
I had yet to install a paver walkway, despite owning and renovating two houses before this one. Hubs came into the picture shortly after I bought this house so it was great timing for me; maybe not so much for him! Faced with rows of underwhelming builder slabs that the previous owner lived with for over 20 years, the perfect opportunity presented itself for both of us to learn a new skillset! Continue reading
A staircase and entry way makeover can really set the tone for the rest of the decor. Because a staircase is often one of the first things you see when you step into a house, we’re sharing how to refinish stairs and railings. Continue reading
A level basement floor rose to the top of the priority list many years ago when we applied to be on one of those home reno shows. They chose to renovate our basement! – or so we thought. In the planning stages of the reno, the show’s contractor discovered that the slope of our basement floor was too steep to build on. The floor was inconsistent and out of level by over half a foot in some areas! There wouldn’t be enough time in the production schedule to fix it properly so they were going to have to take a pass on us. Continue reading
Water leak repair is something we all hope will never be on the to-do list. While water leaks and burst pipes can be a huge problem, we’re showing you how to tackle the repair in two parts. Today we’re showing you how to install a frost proof faucet. In part 2, we’re showing you how to prevent mold growth after water damage. Continue reading
Use this DIY couch cover idea as an interim solution when you’re cleaning IKEA’s washable slipcover. It also works as a cheap & cheerful permanent slipcover. Now that Spring has sprung, it’s time for a little spring cleaning. Upholstered couches are great, but washable slipcovers are even better! Continue reading
There’s going to come a time when you have to replace a bathroom fan. They say nothing is certain but death and taxes, but I’d like to add a third: repairs! Repairs are inevitable. Just last week alone, three things broke down on us. When you’re a do-it-your-selfer and a blogger, you have to look on the bright side of things. It’s a good week when repairs alone give you a ton of things to write about!
I wasn’t sorry to see the old fan go. It was so loud and clunky; I could hear barely hear Hubs singing rubber ducky outside the bathroom door 🙂
When a fellow homeowner asked “How can we repair chipped tile in our kitchen?”, I knew there were plenty of people out there who were faced with the same problem I just tackled. In this post, I’ll explain how I went about fixing this common problem in my own house. Continue reading