As the train of seasons chugs along further and further away from winter, if you're like us, you've started to put together a list of house projects, and if you're
really like us that list is very, very long! I know when I talk about weather I probably sound like a tediously boring guest at a dinner party, but after living in the Southwest for the better part of my life (and in the absence of any real weather) it fascinates me how big of a role Mother Nature plays in our lives in the northeast. No sooner will people in line at the Post Office shift their complaining tones from "ohhhh how cold it is" to "can you believe this humidity?" While those drastic shifts in temperature annoy the locals, they can also wreak havoc on your homes. Many of the places I've worked in on the east coast have not had air-conditioning (
insert dramatic gasp here), and that inability to control the humidity in ones home, especially in the hot summer months, can lead to nasty guests that just won't leave…MOLD. Now there are varying states of mold, and if it originates from a leaky roof or windows, other more dramatic steps need to be taken (like possibly removing and replacing drywall, etc.) but humid rooms will often grow moldy walls, so a quick scrub with a bleach-soaked rag should do the trick. Feel better now? While you're scrubbing the mold off your walls, how about dressing them up a bit with my other favorite trick..crown molding. A recent jog through Lowe's found something that would have saved so much time and frustration years ago when Joe and I were redoing our home in Southern California…pre-cut corners for crown molding. I can't tell you how much cursing, swearing, tossing of wood and trips to the hardware store we had when attempting to match the perfect corner (as shown in the example above). Now for under $5 you can buy these tough to cut corners, save a lot of frustration and angst and dress those walls in their sassy summer best! Three loud cheers for SUMMER because it's just a few stops away!
