I’m new to town and I adore my new apartment, even though I am often awakened by creepy noises in the middle of night. Whether it’s my icemaker releasing a load of ice from its dispenser or the heat kicking in like Freddy Krueger in the boiler room, my charming apartment seems to have a mind of its own.
I have convinced myself the reason I am disturbed by such noises is because my place needs furniture. I truly believe, like kids want candy and adults want careers, homes want to feel like home.
As I prepared myself for another furniture shopping adventure, I discovered a hideous stain embedded on my gray carpet near the fireplace. I suspect when my brother and his wife came to visit two weeks ago (and refused to remove their tennis shoes) he must’ve had some mud or oily concoction on his shoe. Or maybe it was his wife? Who am I kidding? Regardless of who created the stain doesn’t mean I’m going to start acting like some pretentious person, monitoring every visitor’s move or putting plastic protectors on my carpet.
Instead, I’ll put the Resolve carpet stain remover to rest and look for a credible carpet cleaner on Angie’s List. Besides, I could always buy a sofa that would cover the stain. Nah, I’d feel too guilty.
Valerie is an Associate Editor at Angie's List. She enjoys traveling, movies and writing.
Earlier this summer, I wrote about preparing to move from one great, beautiful home to a house that’s, well, soon to be great. Last week my wife and I took possession of our new house. We have our work cut out for us with the long list of to-do’s (or rather “never-gonna-do’s”) the previous owners left. Continue reading ‘Welcome to the jungle: Cleaning up our new house’
Tristan Schmid is host and producer of
List-en up!, the Angie's List podcast. When he's not sitting in front of a computer, working on websites, audio or video production, he stays occupied by taking his dogs for walks, helping
homeless animals find families, and skiing.
My chief goal this summer was to rip out my unsightly, peeling and warped deck, and replace it with a paver brick patio. Working at Angie’s List, I’ve learned a lot while interviewing home-improvement specialists for our magazine’s Comparative Shopper column and other stories. Advice on how to improve my home’s resale value always gets my attention. So, that said, I knew replacing the deck with a patio that not only looks lovely but is also maintenance free was the way to go.
My husband, however, chalked the idea up to a womanly impulse to spend our hard-earned money and nearly chickened out at the last minute. He hated the deck, but he said, “I can build a new one… installing a patio can’t be that difficult, I can do it myself.” Now, that’s a manly impulse. Continue reading ‘The battle of man vs. wife’
Brittany is senior editor of national affairs for
Angie's List magazine. When she's not busy reporting for the magazine, she enjoys relaxing, bowling and watching movies.
Like fitness and puppies, certain themes run through the Angie’s List Blue House at any given time. And like Eric and Conor, I’ve caught the moving bug.
My wife and I have only been in our house for about two years (see pictures below), but thanks to the current housing market, we’ve found an affordable place right next to Broad Ripple Park, and we can’t pass it up. Continue reading ‘One door closes, another opens’
Tristan Schmid is host and producer of
List-en up!, the Angie's List podcast. When he's not sitting in front of a computer, working on websites, audio or video production, he stays occupied by taking his dogs for walks, helping
homeless animals find families, and skiing.
I’m rather excited today … that’s because I’m leaving work early to participate in the second annual Angie’s List golf outing. Even though I’ll have to make up the hours I’m spending on the course, it’s a still a great chance to get out of the office on a weekday and do something I truly love. Continue reading ‘Gunga galunga’
Eric is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a Cocker Spaniel named Maggie, his favorite food is anything but beets, and he enjoys watching football, being loud and correcting other people's grammatical errors. His favorite album is Johnny Cash's "At Folsom Prison."
You’d think after living in central Indiana my entire life I’d be used to our weather. But it never fails to surprise me with tornadoes, thunderstorms, destroyed power lines and overflowing basements.
As Kristy indicated, Indianapolis has recently experienced some bad weather. Last weekend, I came home to knee-high sewage that had backed up into my basement. Continue reading ‘Bad weather bothering you? Not me…’
Conor is an associate editor for
Angie's List magazine. He has a cat named Kanye and a puppy named Sherman, his favorite movie is
Back to the Future, he loves playing basketball and his favorite place is his couch.
I’ve lived in my house for nearly two years, and haven’t managed to get much done … as far as gardening goes. The front yard is in decent condition, but the back is lacking. We had fantastic weather last weekend, so I decided to grab the trowel and some gloves and give it a go.
I started in the backyard, which, as you know, is in pretty bad shape due to my large herd of dogs. I bought some lovely ferns to hang in the back, some trellises to mask the unsightly garbage-can area and ground cover to surround our birdbath. After a few hours of backbreaking work, I was able to revel in my accomplishments. Then it hit me … Continue reading ‘Garden of heathens’
Jackie is editor of
Quality + Design, the
Angie's List newsletter.
She's currently owned by three Great Danes named Silas, Eppie and Augustus Merriweather as well as two angry tabby cats, Bob and Polly. Her favorite album is anything by Radiohead.
Finally, warm weather has arrived. (Well, kind of. We hit freezing temperatures in Indy last night after enjoying a week of 70-plus degrees.) After spending all winter getting my house spruced up on the inside, I’m ready to dig out the gardening supplies and get to work on further improving my home’s value. At the top of my list of outdoor home improvements is the demolition of a hideous red deck the previous homeowner haphazardly installed. It’s gigantic and eats up nearly half of my already small yard. That, and it sits way off the ground, allowing my neighbors a full view over my fence (which is painted a matching hideous red, of course). Continue reading ‘Pave the way…’
Brittany is senior editor of national affairs for
Angie's List magazine. When she's not busy reporting for the magazine, she enjoys relaxing, bowling and watching movies.
Reading through the Blue House Blog has given me comfort — I, too, have landscaping and lawn woes. However, unlike Tristan, I want to cultivate grass, not destroy it.
Last spring, my partner and I hired a contractor from the List to install a new sidewalk leading from the back door of our house. The goal was to get a walk that sloped away from, not toward, our house. To that end, we got what we wanted and were pleased with the result.
However, we were not pleased with this contractor’s liberal use of his Bobcat. While “grading” the ground around the walk, he seemed to have held some sort of Bobcat Demolition Derby in our yard. That result: A dirty gray-brown lawn devoid of any grass. Continue reading ‘Oh, how I know now …’
Mandy Miller is senior online editor for Angie's List publication department. When she's not focusing on the
magazine's website and other online offerings, she's tackling a mounting list of home improvements she thinks she can do herself. Plus, she really likes to ride her bike, play with her puppy, Boo Radley, and take naps.
I know I already wrote a blog post today, but I wanted to add a quick one to say “Happy Earth Day!”
The Angie’s List Tree Hugger Society was formed by Angie’s List employees to encourage environmentally friendly efforts on the Angie’s List campus and its surrounding neighborhood, and the Society, along with members of Angie’s List’s Handy Helpers volunteer group, celebrated Earth Day at lunch today with the kids from IPS School #14 here on the Near Eastside of Indy. Continue reading ‘P.S. - Happy Earth Day!’
Tristan Schmid is host and producer of
List-en up!, the Angie's List podcast. When he's not sitting in front of a computer, working on websites, audio or video production, he stays occupied by taking his dogs for walks, helping
homeless animals find families, and skiing.
