If you’re thinking about painting your living room, you’ll need to consider more than the color. While picking a new hue is the first step, a successful paint job requires choosing the right type of paint for your living room and the right finish for your needs and lifestyle. Live large by giving your living room an exciting new look with a fresh coat of paint. But before you do, read our guide to choosing the best paint for living rooms so that you’ll have a long-lasting and beautiful finish to look forward to....

There are several main factors that differentiate better vinyl plank flooring from cheap flooring, such as thickness, core, wear layer, quality of register embossing, and the quality of the visual layer. Other points that help boost the quality of a brand or type of vinyl plank flooring include the size of the selection, the company’s reputation and its longevity, and the flooring warranty. Here are six vinyl plank floors or series of floors considered to be the best purchases for your home....

Label makers are not just for household or office use. The Brady BMP21-PLUS Label Printer has advanced features that make it ideal for industrial applications. Its sturdy build can withstand shock, vibration, and drops—so you can feel confident taking it out in the field. With a seemingly endless array of symbols and custom templates, you can label anything from circuit breaker panels to cable flags. We were eager to put this tough label printer to the test....

What People Want in a Laundry Room According to a 2019 National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) consumer preference survey, 95 percent of new homeowners request a separate laundry room. And, 61 percent of laundry rooms are being built on upper levels rather than first floors or basements. The NAHB survey shows that homeowners want an expanded, multi-functional work area in the laundry room. Many new homes incorporate the laundry area into an entry mudroom that is used for storage and pet care....

The Union Sofa is available in a variety of timeless chenille fabric shades to correspond with a wide range of interior styles: Choose from ivory, crushed gravel, heather charcoal, and navy. The fabric is stain-resistant and pill-resistant, meaning you won’t need to worry about the effects of day to day wear. Sofas are meant to be used and enjoyed, after all!“Union builds on our innovative approach to clever design, applying lessons we’ve learned from each of our other collections to create our biggest sofas and sectionals for any stage of life," notes Kabeer Chopra, Burrow’s co-founder and CTO....

So what style of freezer should you buy and what will work better for you? There are trade-offs to each type of freezer. Chest vs Upright Freezer: Major Differences The type of freezer that best suits you depends on your particular lifestyle and needs. Some people prefer to have an upright for everyday frozen foods, while they store seasonal game/meat or special and seasonal baking in a chest freezer. That being said, they do accommodate odd-shaped, long, or large items that may be difficult to place in an upright freezer....

Why Offer Direct to Customer Now? Costa did a soft launch of the online store to gauge interest at the end of 2020. Word spread like wildfire, and houseplant fans shared the news (along with the secret password) to shop online with other plant parents. The interest was more than Justin Hancock, brand marketing director at Costa Farms, could imagine. The plant grower’s main reason to offer plants directly to consumers is that they want plants to be more accessible....

Daily Cleaning Chores Daily cleaning chores are the absolute minimum that must be done on a daily basis to keep a home clean. Depending on the type of household you live in, some of these chores may even need to be done more than once during a day. These are the bare-bones basics. Weekly Cleaning Chores Although most of these chores don’t require daily work, they are still some of the most important tasks that need to be done in our homes....

The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that from 2016 to 2019, the failure or collapse of decks and balconies led to 2,900 injuries. It’s important to keep on top of the building code requirements for decks, because the code is continually changing. For example, your older deck may have toe-nailed connections—wood connections made with nails simply driven through the joints at an angle. If so, be advised that toe-nailing is no longer an accepted connection, according to the current International Building Code (IBC)....

So if you are a stickler for linguistic detail, instead of calling these trees “deer resistant,” think of these trees as those that are not a deer’s first picks to eat if given a choice. Take a look at three separate lists, according to how the selected trees are used in landscaping such as flowering trees, shade or fall-foliage trees, and evergreen trees. Ash (European) Beech (European) European birch, river birch, yellow birch, paper birch Sunburst honeylocust: Sunburst honeylocust boasts a number of other great qualities, in addition to being relatively deer-proof....

If you have dead, bald spots in your lawn, first, you should determine the cause and use whatever measures to remove the cause of the problem. Then, repair the bare patch, which is a fairly simple process with reseeding or a sod patch. Going forward, work to prevent future recurrence. Take a look at some of the most common reasons why dead spots might occur on your lawn. Urine From Pets or Wild Animals Dogs, cats, and wild animals urinating on your lawn will usually leave a telltale brown, straw-like patch due to the high concentration of urea that burns the grass....

Codes, Permits, and Planning Before even contemplating a deck, check with your local building authorities to determine if there are any restrictions and if building permits are required. Many communities have set-back rules that determine how close you can build to property lines, as well as requirements for heights, structural supports, and dimensions for railings and stairways. Your building inspection office really should be the first place you go, as they can tell you much about how you should build, whether you can build, and variations in deck construction—all of which will tell you if you want to build at all....

Known for its bright pink, leathery skin, dragon fruit is sweet on the inside, featuring bright white flesh and tiny black seeds. Not only will you have a harvest of this unusual, nutritious, and showy fruit if you grow a dragon fruit cactus, but these fast-growing perennial cacti also have ornamental value in your garden landscape or in your home. Best planted in spring, dragon fruit cacti can grow up to 20 feet tall and produce aerial roots that allow them to cling to surfaces, creating their creeping, climbing habit....

But Dutch elm disease (Ceratocystis ulmi) changed all that with its quick spread. There’s been some positive movement in eradicating this tree disease, but here’s what you need to know if you are lucky enough to still have American elms on your property. History of Dutch Elm Disease and the American Elm American elm trees (Ulmus americana) are the most susceptible of all to Dutch elm disease. American elm trees are also known as water elms, soft elms, white elms, or Florida elms....

One of the newer trends on the scene is the art deco glamour trend—different than traditional art deco, and a little more on the fancy side—and it’s all the rage right now. Here’s what design experts have to say about what it is, why people love it, and how long they think it’ll stick around. What Is Art Deco Glamour? “Art Deco, short for Arts Décoratifs, is characterized by rich colors, bold geometry, and decadent detail work,” shares Lionel Scharly, the Strategic Construction Advisor at Real Estate Bees....

Light Things Up Adding lights to your seating area make it seem like a seamless extension of your home, says Ash Read, interior expert at Living Cozy. “Whether you’re adding lights in the winter to brighten up the long dark nights, or opting for ambient lighting in the summer as the sun goes down, there are endless options for outdoor lighting, from delicate fairy lights to robust wall lights.” Layers of Warmth When the air starts to chill outside, many of us reach for a fluffy blanket while we are inside on the couch, watching a little TV....