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Modern Entry For many period-house lovers, the term “mid-century modern” evokes sharp angles, bare windows, and no place to sit except a stiff chrome chair. But you won’t have trouble finding privacy or comfy seating in the spacious 1959 home of George Marrone and Michael Nocera, dedicated restorers with a distinct preference for the floor plans and furnishings of the Mad Men era. Shown: Zingy orange-painted doors greet visitors as they enter the brick-and-wood-clad house, built in 1959....

A kitchen is the single-most expensive room to remodel, and even cosmetic improvements (painting the existing cabinets and walls, replacing the sink, faucet, and hardware, adding pendant lighting, and upgrading the electrical) can cost $5,000 or more. Knock down walls, rearrange the layout, buy new appliances, cabinets and countertops, and the price of your kitchen redo may skyrocket to $40,000 or $50,000 or more. So before you hire a pro or begin to tackle the job yourself, read our spend-smart tips—from easy upgrades to a total gut renovation—and get the kitchen you covet that fits within your budget....

Dear Insiders, On January 29, we relaunched the This Old House website. Our intent was to build a new site that included a sleeker design, faster loading time, and a more mobile-friendly interface. While we’ve made strides forward in several key areas, we recognize that there have also been challenges along the way. We apologize if you have encountered any issues with your Insider experience over the last few weeks. We appreciate those who have reached out with feedback, and we are working diligently to resolve problems that were inadvertently introduced as part of the relaunch process....

Are you working with interior or exterior wood? Are you painting it or staining it? In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva suggests the best substances for plugging holes and filling cracks and offers a variety of options. How to Fill Holes in Wood: Use vinyl spackling compound or water-based wood filler to fill small holes on interior surfaces. When applying wood filler, over fill the hole slightly to compensate for shrinkage as the filler dries....

How is it that finish carpenters do trim jobs daily without suffering angle-induced embolisms? Easy—because they rely on miter guides, not their eyeballs, to tell them where to cut. Likewise, framing carpenters use squares to determine the angles for rafters, rakes, and stair stringers; and furniture makers consult their protractors before laying out dovetails. What Tool Do You Use to Find Angles? The right angle-finding tool is your protection against loose joinery and expletive-filled outbursts, whether you’re doing something big like building a garden shed, or simply tackling around-the-house maintenance tasks like measuring for a storm window....

Most of the TVs you’ll find in homes are between 32 and 85 inches in size, with 65-inch TVs being a happy medium. Like with other electronic devices, the product descriptions for 65-inch TVs use confusing terms, such as 4K, LCD, UHD, HDR, HLG, OLED, and Neo QLED. To help you make sense of these terms and pick the best 65-inch TV for your home, the This Old House Reviews Team has done the research for you....

Top Black Friday Deals on Tools If you’re looking for more options or this sander is temporarily out of stock, here are our top three alternatives: SKIL Corded Multi-Function Detail Sander $29 $40 27% off Prices taken at time of publishing. This powerful sander has a 1.2-amp motor and 13,500 orbits per minute, allowing it to perform smoothly over various sanding applications. This sander comes with an additional three detail attachments for fine-finishing large surfaces, corners/edges, and any surface contour....

Chris Wolfe is the General Manager of This Old House Productions. In 2002 he helped launch the This Old House spin-off series Ask This Old House. He served as the show’s producer for 12 years, working with a team of expert contractors to solve hundreds of home improvement questions from viewers across the country. He now oversees all of the production of This Old House and Ask This Old House....

“My living room has a vaulted ceiling and no architectural interest or detail,” Mysha says. “We had no place to put our books and we needed a solution for our kids’ toys, too. I’d heard about people hacking IKEA’s Billy bookcases to make them look more custom. If we’d hired a finish carpenter to do this, it would have cost thousands!” Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Connect the Three Bookcases Mysha assembled three Billy bookcases and spaced them about 6 inches apart to create a piece with more presence....

As another storm season gets under way, it’s not just Florida and the Gulf States that need to be worried. The whole Eastern Seaboard, from Miami to Boston, is vulnerable. And those aren’t the only weather systems we need to watch out for, either. Just ask folks in the stretch of the country’s midsection known as Tornado Alley, or the victims of hailstorms in Colorado. The good news is that with a few tools, a weekend or two, and a little know-how, homeowners can take meaningful steps today to improve their home’s odds of surviving severe weather, whether it’s a hurricane in Florida or a twister in Texas....

In houses in the 1800s, it was typical to have a lamp just run on whale oil. You would just put the oil in the fixture and you would turn the valve up or down to control it. Then, gas came along and you’d have a similar process and use a valve to turn it up or down. Now, with electricity, we’d usually have to using wiring to connect the fixture and the switch....

Previous episode: S18 E7 | Next episode: S18 E9 In this episode: Ross and Richard discuss indoor air quality, what it is, and how to measure it; Richard travels to Richmond, Virginia to help a homeowner replace her polybutylene piping with conventional PEX; the team shares more Home Inspection Nightmares; Mauro explains which type of drop cloth he selects for which project; Tom explains different methods for silencing a squeaky door....

When it comes to exterior trim, carpenters have few options that can help them tackle their biggest concerns: rot, fungal attacks, and insects. Some wood species, like cedar and redwood, are naturally rot resistant. However, with less raw material available, shorter lengths, and higher prices, builders are looking for more choices. LIFESPAN Solid Select presents a new option—with performance backed by a warranty—and a return to using primed wood outdoors. Here’s what makes LIFESPAN unique....

Previous episode: S19 E30 | Next episode: S20 E2 In this episode: Richard Trethewey explains how to solder and what goes into the process. While PEX has grown in popularity, copper piping is still industry standard for residential plumbing. Soldering is the process used to connect copper pipes together. Richard explains that soldering can be dangerous if not done carefully, but the average homeowner could do it themselves. Then, Kevin O’Connor finds Heath Eastman in the workshop, ready to answer a common question they get all the time: what should a person do with their two-pronged outlet when so many cords have three prongs?...

Our Rating Methodology The This Old House Reviews Team is committed to providing comprehensive and unbiased reviews to our readers. This means earning your trust through transparent reviews and having the data to back up our ratings and recommendations. Our rating system for solar providers is on a 100-point scale based on five factors: Payment options (40 points): Options include purchase, loan, lease, and Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs). Companies receive points for each of those four options it provides....

Over the past four decades, This Old House has renovated dozens of houses, worked with tons of tradespeople, and built plenty of projects. Now, we have just one question for you: What do you love about TOH TV? Whether it’s your favorite house, an episode that inspired you to tackle a project around your own home, or just a moment you thought was hilarious, we want to hear about it....

General contractor Tom Silva shows host Kevin O’Connor a quick, cheap, and accurate way to space balusters during a railing project. This simple trick involves a trip to the fabric store for an elastic band, a tape measure, and some careful alignment to perfectly place balusters without complicated math and fractions. Don’t Overthink Baluster Spacing Most porch or deck projects require baluster installation, and this can be a challenging step. The balusters require even spacing that meets code (typically 4 inches or less between balusters)....

Power tools sets vary in the number of tools they provide, with some offering as little as two and others containing 10 or more. No matter the number of tools provided, each power tool set typically houses widely used tools like hammers, drills, and reciprocating saws. Here are our top picks. Top 6 Power Tool Sets Best Entry-Level Set: BLACK+DECKER 20V 4-Tool Set Best Drill-Only Tool Set: DEWALT 2-Tool Combo Kit Best Battery Life: Makita 7-Piece Cordless Set Best Four-Tool Set: PORTER-CABLE Power Tool Combo Kit Most Comprehensive: DEWALT 10-Tool Combo Kit Best Hybrid Set: BLACK+DECKER Drill and Home Tool Kit Best Entry-Level Set: BLACK+DECKER 20V 4-Tool Set Pros and Cons ✔ Included flashlight provides 70 lumens of light and up to 11 hours of runtime✔ Contains a reciprocating saw with a tool-free blade exchange✔ Drill/driver features an 11-position clutch with an LED work light...

We spent some time consolidating our research to get you in the know for this upcoming Prime Day 2.0 and help you pick the perfect Prime Day furniture to enhance your home decor and save big! By clicking on the product links in this article, Mattress Advisor may receive a commission fee at no cost to you, the reader. Material: Metal Customer Rating: 4.3/5 Size(s): Full, queen, king Assembly: 3.9/5 Warranty: 1-year limited Simple, sleek and sturdy are three words that come to mind when seeking that perfect metal bed frame....

Master electrician Heath Eastman explains the hand tools every homeowner should have in their DIY electrical kit. Heath shows us the voltage testers, special screwdrivers, pliers, and wire strippers that most homeowners should keep on hand, and even shows us how to use them on a basic home electrical repair. Homeowners Need the Right Tools for Electrical Projects Most homeowners don’t need a wide assortment of electrical tools because the jobs they handle are rather limited....