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American house styles come in many shapes, some with architectural details borrowed from classical profiles, some unique to the New World. Distinguishing Features for 23 House Styles The story of these styles’ evolution parallels the timeline of American history—a colony dependent on the Mother Country turns into an industrial nation with a unique design language. 1. Log Cabin Dates: up to 1850s. Features: Log walls; one- to three-room layout, sometimes with a center passage (called a dogtrot)....

Modern Dining You can’t always get what you want. But in the course of trying, you may get something even better. That’s how two big-city dwellers, Nick and Heidi Gamma, woke up one day in a Depression-era house in an exurban town they had barely heard of before they pushed their search to the outer limits of commutability. Shown: The traditional dining room proves a perfect foil for a vintage Heywood-Wakefield dining table, first issued in 1948, and a handful of Heywood-Wakefield chairs....

More and more, people want a green, environmentally efficient home. In short, a house that’s both healthy for the environment and for its occupants, with the main criteria being energy efficiency, sustainability, durability, and human health. Consider Your Home’s Energy Efficiency Energy efficient homes began catching people’s attention in the 1970s, when building science was in its infancy. Many of those original energy efficient houses failed, and the green home of today is light-years ahead of those early models....

Follow the restoration of the Season 43 Saratoga Legacy Restored project house weekly on PBS (check your local listings). You can also watch it for free on The Roku Channel. After being in their family for seven generations, homeowners Evan, Whitney, and Evan’s mother, Susan, plan to restore their 1864 Dutch Colonial home in Saratoga Springs, New York. The This Old House crew, including Kevin O’Connor, Jenn Nawada, and Tom Silva, arrive to scope out their next project home....

This project appeared in the Winter 2022 issue of This Old House Magazine. To learn how to subscribe, click here. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time I love the streamlined look of a classic tripod lamp, but lighting can get pricey fast. Vintage models often have the kind of industrial wood tripod that supported optical equipment, such as a surveyor’s transit. Their tapered, adjustable-height legs terminate in a small platform, and usually have brass fittings that lend a certain mechanical elegance....

Some of us might remember the pre-power tool days of drilling holes in masonry and concrete. And it wasn’t that long ago that any larger masonry job had a blacksmith on hand heating and re-sharpening chisels. (There were dedicated hand-saw sharpeners too, but that’s another story). And in our age of microchipped tools, we’re lucky we don’t remember this because the last things pre-power tool concrete drilling was were fast or easy....

In this video, This Old House host Kevin O’Connor and painting contractor Rich O’Neil show how to properly prepare a house for paint. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for prepping an exterior for paint Set up scaffolding for easy access to the house wall. Staple a plastic tarp to the lowest course of siding to catch paint chips. Don dust mask and safety glasses, then use a pull-style paint scraper to scrape loose paint from the siding....

Top 5 Carpet Stain Removers Most Versatile: Shaw R2X Carpet Stain & Soil Remover Best Enzyme Cleaner: BISSELL Professional Stain & Odor Remover Best Quantity Options: FOLEX Instant Carpet Spot Remover Best For Wine Stains: Wine Away Red Wine Stain Remover Best Powdered Cleaner: Resolve Pet Carpet Cleaner Powder Most Versatile: Shaw R2X Carpet Stain & Soil Remover From soil to oil, this stain remover can tackle any stain. It can treat one spot or act as a wall-to-wall cleaner on carpets and rugs made from a variety of materials, including wool....

Expandable garden hoses grow to their full length when they’re filled with water and shrink when they’re no longer in use, making them easy to store and maneuver around your yard. To help you find the right hose for your home, the This Old House Reviews Team researched the best expandable garden hoses on the market. In this review, we break down our top picks, talk about various features to look for when buying, and provide answers to some common questions....

Whether gas- or charcoal-powered, certain parts of your grill need a good deep clean on a regular basis. If you’re using your barbecue daily, you may want to clean the grill every couple of weeks, or more often if it’s accumulating a lot of burnt-on debris. At the very least, you should deep clean your grill at the beginning and end of each grilling season. Check out these easy steps to learn how to clean your grill the right way....

To create a feeling of expansiveness in a small yard, carve out distinct garden areas and outdoor rooms. Consider my own property, which is shown in these slides: An ornamental border along the street adds curb appeal, an entry garden welcomes visitors, there’s a private patio for dining, and a woodsy backyard for lounge-chair relaxing—all on a 60-by-100-foot lot. Not only do the “rooms” make the yard more functional, they keep from revealing the whole place at once, so there’s a sense of discovery as you move through them....

Accuracy Matters When working with expensive woods, it pays to get it done right the first time. Here, Sweenor Builders carpenter Riley Partridge demonstrates how to fit walnut bookshelves to the irregular surface of a stone veneer wall using a plastic contour gauge. Replicate the Profile Press the teeth of a plastic contour gauge against the irregular wall surface to replicate its exact profile. Then, trace that profile onto a piece of scrap wood....

In this video, This Old House general contractor Tom Silva lays down a vinyl sheet floor. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps for installing vinyl flooring Make a template of the floor using felt paper. Use utility knife to cut the template roughly around the room. Tape together the felt paper pieces to form a single, room-size template. Cut several triangular-shaped holes into the template with a utility knife, then tape the template down to the floor....

Previous episode: S41 E5 | Next episode: S41 E7 In this episode: Kevin O’Connor arrives to find the house is just about weather tight on the exterior. Inside, the main living space has been opened up, and upstairs are three newly framed bedrooms. Now it’s time to replace the temporary stairs with a new staircase that has been prefabricated in Jeff Sweenor’s millshop. There, Kevin finds Tom Silva and Jeff adding the final oak treads on the stringerless stairway....

Friendly Front Porch As you approach the house, cedar railings, steps, and brackets are a warm contrast to the cooler gray-blue clapboard siding, black muntins, and stone veneer-faced column piers. Overhead and Underfoot A full-width front porch tucked under an overhanging roof features rustic, knotty cedar flooring and ceiling, with clear vertical grain Western Red cedar railings. Did you know? The even grain and relatively consistent density make Western Red Cedar less likely to swell, warp, cup, and twist than other soft and hard woods, making it ideal for porch flooring and decking....

Each product we feature has been independently selected and reviewed by our editorial team. If you make a purchase using the links included, we may earn a commission. Finding the perfect bed for your home can feel overwhelming; there are many factors to consider and thousands of beds to choose from. Before committing to a new queen mattress, you want to think about who the primary users of the bed will be and figure out from there what sort of material, firmness, and support features will be best....

You don’t have to go to a farm to observe live chickens pecking and roosting. Many people keep them as pets in their backyards, but there are considerations to keep in mind—for the health of the birds and your landscaping—when outfitting a chicken coop. Donna Carver, a poultry vet and specialist at North Carolina State University, works with growers to understand poultry health. “People need to realize that chickens have to have someone taking care of them seven days a week, at least a couple times of day,” says Carver....

Front porch Driveway side of house, front to the left Kitchen Second floor porch First floor living room First floor parlor, in front of house Floor in front of fireplace, first floor living room Back two rooms of house after demolition started Rear of house after back third was removed First floor living room, column from second floor porch First floor parlor Front of house after porches were removed Driveway side of house after back third was removed and is being rebuilt Elliotborough-Charleston before video During the Charleston 2018 season of TOH TV, the crew took on not one, but two remodels....

In this video, This Old House landscape contractor Roger Cook explains how to build a retaining wall using concrete blocks. Project details Skill Cost Estimated Time Steps to Building a Retaining Wall Dig into hillside 2 ft. back from face of retaining wall. Stretch a level line between wood stakes to establish the wall height. Dig out dirt along base of wall to accommodate 6 inches of crushed stone. Add 6 inches of stone, then compact it with a hand tamper....

A wall covered with climbing vines may benefit the fairy-tale suitor who scales it to reach his true love, but in the real world, the twisting tendrils will wreak havoc on your house’s siding. Better that you create a buffer between the foliage and the facade with a garden trellis. Not only will it provide the plants with a more appropriate host, but it will also give you something better than a blank wall to look at when summer’s greenery fades....