About House & Home: Last Minute Tricks & Treats

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House & Home From Diane Schmidt, your About House & Home Editor At our house there are still pumpkins to carve, spider webs to weave and a cemetery plot to plant and with only a few days remaining before the big night, the pressure is on. But our Guides are here to help with some last minute tips, tricks and folklore tales (or in this case, "tails") for a fun and safe All Hallows Eve. Halloween Yard Haunt Makeover Okay, so you might not have time to create a full featured yard haunt, but it's fun and inspiring to see how an ordinary house gets turned into a spook-fest. Carve a Pumpkin or Two If you're starting to panic because your house is the only one on the block that isn't decorated for trick or treat-ers (like me!), then it's time to return to the basics: pumpkins. Nothing says Halloween like pumpkins. Except maybe more pumpkins. Pumpkin Safety While jack-o-lanterns are a Halloween must, making sure witches and goblins and ghosts have a safe night should always be part of your decorating to-dos. Black Cat Superstitions We have a black cat who's taken to curling up on top of the only pumpkin we've managed to carve so far. It sits in our living room window. She (the cat) and it (the pumpkin) have become somewhat of a novelty on our street with kids and adults stopping to stare. What is it about black cats and Halloween that causes such a fuss? House & Home Ads Halloween Pumpkin Decorating Treats for Halloween Pumpkin Decor Scary Treats Featured Articles Trick-or-Treating for Apartment Dwellers Garden CSI Make a Bamboo Wind Chime Must-Have Tools for the Home Workshop Have a Debt-Free Christmas Online Yard Sales   More from About.com Is it a Cold or the Flu? Knowing whether you have a cold or the flu can help you treat your symptoms more effectively. More > Concerned About Your Drinking? This short quiz can help you identify whether or not you have a drinking problem. Take the quiz now >   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About House & Home newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement

About House & Home: Decorate Like a Pro

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House & Home From Diane Schmidt, your About House & Home Editor I'm not one of those people who have a strong decorating gene. In fact, my husband gets nervous every time I head to the do-it-yourself store to purchase another can of paint. I swear that this time will be different. This time I'm going in armed with the best advice on home decorating - everything from creating a cohesive space to tips on how to freshen up your home without breaking the bank. Decorate Rooms So They Work Together Okay, so this is a problem in our home. Nothing matches. There's no flow. Each room was painted on a whim and obviously my whims lack cohesion. It's time to start over with this easy-to-use guide to getting your rooms to work together. Freshen Up a Room (For Less Than $15) Aunt Mable used to say that the best way to freshen up a room was to move Uncle George to the basement then twist open an air freshener stick. While this was fairly cost-effective, it only served to make Uncle George crabby and the room smell like a perfume counter. Since freshening up a room isn't just about smell, but creating a new look, I much prefer the solutions this article offers. Basic Interior Design Principles I think this is my problem. I never start with the basics. While my mother always told me that you have to walk before you can run, I keep skipping the first step. But reading through these design principles I can see that the first steps are key to ensuring not only that you'll run, but that you don't trip and skin your knee along the way. Decorate Your Living Room with Feng Shui Here are more tools for my decorating tool belt. Things like creating a sanctuary where once stood chaos. Like in our living room. It helps to picture flow, to imagine how the space might feel if I follow some of these helpful tips. House & Home Ads Home Interior Design House Decorating Interior Decorating Living Room Decorate Home Featured Articles School Scrapbook Page Ideas Should Pets Wear Costumes? Pumpkin Container Planter Pink Ribbon Gifts How to Jump Start A Car Network Media Player Basics   More from About.com Is it a Cold or the Flu? Knowing whether you have a cold or the flu can help you treat your symptoms more effectively. More > Concerned About Your Drinking? This short quiz can help you identify whether or not you have a drinking problem. Take the quiz now >   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About House & Home newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement

About House & Home: When Autumn Leaves Start to Fall

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House & Home From Diane Schmidt, your About House & Home Editor Every fall we battle with fall leaves. While they're pretty to look at, fun to jump into and wonderful to stroll through, they can be a pain to deal with. Around our house we take care of them in three stages: 1) Admire (mesmerized by their beauty) 2) Astonish (that our trees could produce so many leaves) 3) Abolish (get rid of them before our house disappears). Best Way to Deal with Leaves Growing up, the guy next door, who was usually a pretty cranky fellow, used to invite kids from the neighborhood to his house for a day of fall games. It was only when we became older that we realized his "rake up the leaves into big piles" was just a way of getting free labor rather than providing us with some outdoor fun. Guide to Cleaning Gutters and Downspouts My husband has a fear of heights. So every year I'm the one that must ascend the wobbly ladder to clean out the troughs. After reading this easy-to-follow guide, I think I'll use the "scoop and drop method" from now on, leaving my husband below to help. And if some leaves accidentally hit him while dropping to the ground, it may forever change my outlook on cleaning out the gutters. Autumn Leaves Hand Soaps Now don't get me wrong, I really do love fall leaves. It's just that I prefer to admire rather than abolish them. So using fall leaves in hand soaps that our guests can enjoy is a great way to keep their beauty alive while providing a more practical use. How to Sell a Home in Autumn Did you know that fall is the second best season for selling your home? If you think about it, it makes perfect sense. The craziness of summer is behind us and the hectic schedule of the holidays has not quite hit. So if you're planning a home sale, check out these great autumn-selling tips. House & Home Ads Cleaning Fall Autumn Leaves Aluminum Gutters Rain Gutters Flu Remedy Featured Articles 10 Master Bathroom Ideas Famous Home Offices Halloween Safety for Dogs Tricks for Treating Halloween Stains Get Rid of Pet Smells Manage Household Trash   More from About.com Is it a Cold or the Flu? Knowing whether you have a cold or the flu can help you treat your symptoms more effectively. More > Concerned About Your Drinking? This short quiz can help you identify whether or not you have a drinking problem. Take the quiz now >   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About House & Home newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement

About House & Home: Frightfully Fun Halloween Tips

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House & Home From Diane Schmidt, your About House & Home Editor Our neighborhood is the kind that loves to decorate for Halloween. I'm not talking about stapling cardboard ghosts to the front door, but instead building entire scenes that could be mistaken for a Wes Craven movie set. So this year our household has to ratchet-it-up a notch or two to even be recognized as viable neighbors. Who knew Halloween was so competitive? Halloween Decorating for Your Party, Porch and Yard I feel a whole lot better about staying in competition this year after checking out some of the creepy ideas in this gallery of Halloween decorating tips. For me, nothing increases the creep-factor like dolls, clowns and goth ghouls - shiver. Free Jack-o-Lantern Patterns While we're trying for the ultimate creepy scene, I'll still be carving some pumpkins to welcome the little people to our front porch. Free Costume Ideas and Patterns After all the planning that goes into our Halloween decorating, there's little time to create the perfect scary costume. But this year, with the help of these free patterns (especially the costumes that don't require sewing skills, like 'Shrimp on a Barbie') I'll be the perfect Halloween host. Guide to Planning a Halloween Party If you're hosting a Halloween party instead of the usual trick or treating, then this is the only guide you need. With recipes, costume ideas and decorating tips, you'll have the kids (and parents) screaming for an encore celebration - next year. House & Home Ads Halloween Recipes Halloween Decor Halloween Mask Halloween Stores Halloween Decorating Featured Articles Black Cat Month How to Brighten a Room Ergonomics at Work 8 Tips for Fall & Winter Container Gardening Who Makes the Best Roommates? Harvest Safety   More from About.com Is it a Cold or the Flu? Knowing whether you have a cold or the flu can help you treat your symptoms more effectively. More> Take Our Breakfast Survey What did you eat for breakfast? Take About.com's 10-minute survey.Click here to take survey>   Sign up for more free newsletters on your favorite topics You are receiving this newsletter because you subscribed to the About House & Home newsletter. If you wish to change your email address or unsubscribe, please click here. About respects your privacy: Our Privacy Policy Contact Information: 249 West 17th Street New York, NY, 10011 © 2010 About.com   Advertisement