house remodeling ideas Archives

What did people wear in the 1700’s?

25/02/2026 Kartika

Otherwise titles Colonial Clothing 101.

What DID people wear in the 1700’s? Do we even know? The answer is YES! We actually know quite a lot about what our forefolk (forefathers and foremothers) were wearing.

Colonial clothing is interesting. It is fashionable and functional. What’s interesting is that different social status is displayed not in different fashion choices but the quality of the fabric. It gets even more interesting because you might think silk would be an indication of wealth but a fine printed cotton might be worth more.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Colonial clothing is fascinating but let’s do a brief overview and then get to the video!

What did Colonial Men wear

Short answer for men’s colonial clothing? Breeches, a shirt, a waistcoat, and a coat. Top with a cravat and a tricorne hat, add stockings and shoes and voila!

Now the quality of

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How to Increase the Value of Your Home

01/02/2026 Kartika

House Renovation

Home improvement is practically an American pastime, with millions of homeowners completing projects each year. while renovations will generally improve your quality of life, many don’t actually provide a financial return.

“In most cases, only home projects that add additional functionality or livable square footage add to the home’s value,” says David Steckel, home expert at home services marketplace Thumbtack.

The exceptions are kitchen and bathroom upgrades, as well as extensive enhancements to the exterior such as a new roof, windows or landscaping because these projects can elevate the home’s feel.

To identify projects that can increase your property value when you sell—or at least save you money while you live there—we spoke to home improvement experts and shifted through return-on-investment data. Below, a look at five popular home improvements and tips to make sure they pay off.

Do solar panels increase home value?

Interest in solar has been growing

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Home Renovating While Black: The Very Real Costs That Nobody Tells You About

28/01/2026 Kartika

House Renovation

About six weeks after she moved into her Dutch Colonial in Beekman, New York, Alyse Archer-Coité’s excitement shifted to hesitation. Her anxiety peaked when she started reaching out to contractors to start home renovating discussions. “I felt like they would come to the house with an expectation, and then I would open the door,” she recalls. Archer-Coité didn’t want word to get out that the ivy-covered brick home on the hill of a predominantly white and middle class neighborhood was owned and occupied by a single Black woman—she would often wait for cars to pass before getting the mail. “I had a fear that I was going to end up with a burning cross in my yard.”

Fifty-five years after passing the 1968 Fair Housing Act—a law preventing discriminatory practices around renting, buying, selling, or financing a home in the face of redlining—racism continues to pervade the house buying experience.

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The order in which you should renovate a home, according to experts

18/01/2026 Kartika

House Renovation

order of home renovation — The order in which you should renovate a homeHillarys

New advice is being provided by experts on the best order to renovate a property after it was revealed that more than half of homeowners have made mistakes, and 36 per cent regret their renovations.

Radiator specialists, BestHeating, polled homeowners on renovation habits, revealing that nine in 10 have taken on a renovation project since 2020. According to the research, more than a third of homeowners will spend up to £10,000 tackling renovations, so it is a costly project to get wrong.

“When renovating a home, it can be confusing to know what to focus on and what will add value,” says John Lawless of BestHeating. ‘Write down the order of plans and priorities as this will provide a list to stick to, and budgets can be set for each change. If the transformation involves structural or electrical wiring work,

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30 Times People Should Really Not Have Done Any Home Renovation Work Themselves

10/01/2026 Kartika

House Renovation

They say, practice makes perfect, and professionals know it to be true after spending years trying to master their craft. That’s why there’s usually a clear distinction between an end result provided by a professional—or at least with the help from one—and an amateur, be it making desserts or building houses.

When it comes to the latter, it’s worth remembering that architecture-related decisions require knowledge in different areas, from engineering to design, and beyond. That’s why hiring a professional is usually the sensible thing to do, as they typically have years of experience, not to mention the value of education they go through.

Be that as it may, not all people opt for professional help when building something, which often results in disasters, such as the ones shared on the ‘You Should Have Hired an Architect’ Facebook group. It is home to the best worst architectural ‘gems’, some of which

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How much does it cost to renovate a house? Save, Pay, Profit

04/01/2026 Kartika

House Renovation

The past few years have changed the way Americans dealt with their homes and real estate, in general. Shelter-in-place orders spiked a renewed interest in home renovations to accommodate a new family dynamic of remote work and homeschooling.

Then, a sudden spike in home prices and interest rates caused many would-be homebuyers to reexamine their plans to purchase a home. For many, the best option became home renovation instead.

As this trend continues, it’s very possible that you might be in the same boat—planning to renovate your home. This will naturally bring you to the next phase in your research, which determines the cost to do so.

If you’d like to get a sense of what it costs to renovate a home in 2023, we’ll break down the average costs for different projects and return on investment (ROI) to help you determine if a home improvement project makes sense to

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Home Improvement Project? 5 Questions to Ask Before You DIY

20/12/2025 Kartika

House Renovation

It’s easy to find online tutorials to help you turn certain home improvements into DIY projects, and you can potentially save money by doing so.

But it’s also important to consider factors other than costs and convenience when deciding whether to complete a DIY home upgrade.

Before picking up a sledgehammer, ask yourself the following questions.

1. Is it really a simple project?

If the project is relatively small and simple — think installing a faucet or repainting your guest bedroom — attempting to DIY is probably fine. In fact, it might be a great confidence builder, especially if you’re a first-time home buyer.

But not all projects are as straightforward as they seem.

Anything that involves plumbing, electrical wiring or significant demolition comes with safety risks — for you and your home. That’s not to say you can’t handle big projects, but ask yourself if it’s something you’re truly

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Brady Bunch house is up for sale, listed by HGTV in Studio City LA

26/10/2025 Kartika

House Renovation

The iconic “Brady Bunch” home where Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby and Cindy Brady cemented their status as a beloved American ’70s sitcom family is up for sale.

“The possibilities are endless” for a lucky homebuyer — who will be able to ascend from the famous staircase, hang out in the groovy attic, cook on bright orange Formica kitchen counters and sleep in pink twin beds, according to the listing. Curated furnishings and accessories are also included in the sale.

The five-bedroom, five-bathroom Los Angeles suburbs home was listed for $5.5 million by HGTV, which bought the property in 2018. In 2019, the network launched its series, “A Very Brady Renovation,” to show the home’s transformation.

“As part of the massive renovation, HGTV invested $1.9 million and added 2,000 square feet to the property’s original footprint, including a full second story,” a statement from HGTV said.

Danny Brown,

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HGTV is selling the ‘Brady Bunch’ house for $5.5. million

14/10/2025 Kartika

House Renovation

HGTV is selling the “Brady Bunch” house in Studio City for $5.5. million, several years after its televised renovation.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale will “help provide up to 250,000 meals for Turn Up! Fight Hunger, an initiative that aims to help kids live with hunger in the US through No Kid Hungry,” the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned channel said this week in a statement. The initiative works with programs to prepare meals for children.

Originally built in 1959 with Late Modernist architecture, the house was used for exterior shots throughout the show’s five-season run from 1969 to 1974, followed by decades of syndication, cementing the mixed family of eight in pop culture. The building would become what is known as the second-most photographed home in America, behind the White House.

However, the inside of the house looked nothing like the rooms seen on the show. That’s because

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Make Your Own Whirlig Toy

06/09/2025 Kartika

House Renovation

What is a Whirligig Toy?

The word whirligig derives from two Middle English words: whirlen (to whirl) and gigg (top), or literally “to whirl a top”. So the gist of the whirligig toy then is basically to use a scientific force (in our case we create it) to get the thing whirling and then we seek to keep it going.

That’s all pretty fancy to say a disc on a string. This simple pleasure of both making and playing with whirligigs provided hours of entertainment for the children of early America and still does today.

Native American whirligig toy

Whirligigs are documented as early as the 1400’s in Europe but there is also evidence of whirligigs being here in America some say as early as 500 BC! (For you scientific types, it refers to the Fourche Maline Culture) There is evidence that the whirligig was used in the ceremony to

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