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If you are planning to work on a home improvement project but are at a loss on where to start, you might want to consider watching some home improvement TV shows. These shows are becoming more and more popular because of the valuable information, tips and tricks that viewers can pick up from watching them. As a matter of fact, some of these shows are selling DVDs with their episodes that homeowners and designers could buy to get some home improvement project and design ideas from.

There is a wide variety of home improvement TV shows that can give you plenty of tips on home improvement, organization, interior decorating, gardening and landscaping and home repair. There are also some which show arts and crafts projects and home makeovers.

Here are some of the more popular home improvement TV shows today.

1. Clean House

Hosted by Niecy Nash, this home improvement TV show helps individuals and families who are in need of a home makeover and reorganization. The show basically brings in a group of interior designers and organizers to work on the home. They first decide which items and furniture in the house to get rid of and then sell them in a yard sale. From the money earned, the crew works on different home improvement projects from adding storage spaces to painting walls to installing new flooring. Clean House is an excellent show to watch if you have been wanting to get rid of the clutter in your home and if you need some simple and inexpensive design ideas which can improve the functionality and appearance of your home.

2. Home Made Simple

Debuting in 2006, Home Made Simple is a home improvement TV show that is hosted by the Home Mavens. They help families from all over to come up with simple solutions to improve their homes from talking handyman projects to room organization to interior decorating to creating easy meals for the family. It is a show that any homeowner or home renter would be able to pick up plenty of ideas and expert tips from.

3. Take Home Handyman

This is a home improvement TV show on TLC which is hosted by Andrew Dan-Jumbo, a craftsman, carpenter and a handyman. At the beginning of each episode, Andrew approaches a Home Depot customer and offers his services to help them complete any home improvement project that they are working on or are planning to work on. Aside from the main project, Andrew also works on small additional projects around the home. The good thing about this show is that viewers can easily understand and follow the steps done by Andrew so that they can do it in their own homes as well.

Some of the other home improvement TV shows would include Trading Spaces, Holmes on Homes, Design Start, Mission: Organization, I Want That!, Designed to Sell, Designers’ Challenge and Decorating with Style.

Today, there are a lot of home improvement projects that you can do to increase the value of your home from painting to remodeling your kitchen to building a deck or patio. However, in order to get the most out of these projects, it is important that you have quality home improvement tools. These tools would not just allow you to complete each project properly; they could also make simple chores and repairs that need to be done around the house a lot easier.

Home improvement tools are readily available from hardware stores and from online retailers; but because of the countless tool types and options that are available, knowing which ones you need to get could be a bit of a challenge. If you are planning to stock up on some essential home improvement tools, here is a guide on some of the basic types of tools that could help you out.

1. Cutting Tools

These tools are designed to remove or separate portions or parts of a material. Ideally, they should be made with a stronger material than what they are made to cut. One of the most important cutting tools that you should have would be a utility knife. A utility knife is a lightweight knife which can be used for cutting various types of materials from paper to plastic. You might also want to get a hacksaw, which is a fine-toothed saw which has a blade that is under tension in a metal frame. It can be used for cutting metal, bone and other materials. If you are planning to repair or remodel your bathroom or kitchen, then you can also get a ceramic tile cutter, a tool which can be used for cutting tiles to your desired size and shape. Ceramic tile cutters come in several forms from manual or hand tools to attachments which can be used with power tools.

2. Garden Tools

These are tools which are designed for gardening, landscaping and for a variety of agricultural and horticultural applications. They can be hand tools or power tools. Some necessary garden tools that you should have would include a spade, garden hoe, garden fork, garden rake and a lawn mower.

3. Moving Tools

These tools are designed for transferring materials from one place to another. Some essential moving tools include the hammer, screwdriver, wrench and pliers. You can also get a furniture dolly or a utility dolly, which has a large flat base and four wheels. A dolly can help you move boxes or heavy furniture and appliances. You can also get a stair-roller, if you have stairs. This is usually attached to the stairs, allowing you to roll heavy objects down a staircase.

4. Transforming Tools

These tools are used in changing the physical or the chemical state of a material. Some of these tools make use of reactive chemicals while there are some which make use of temperature. Some examples would be the blowtorch, lighter and solvent sprays.

5. Alignment or Measurement Tools

These tools are also known as guiding tools and can help you to be more accurate in your projects such as installing a window or a door and determining whether a plane is properly aligned. A simple but very important alignment or measurement tool would be the tape measure, which is a flexible ruler that is typically made with cloth, plastic, metal or fiber glass. It allows the easy measurement of materials and structures, even around curves and corners. Some other measurement and alignment tools you can get include a ruler, a theodolite, square, a caliper and a spirit or bubble level.

6. Shaping Tools

Shaping tools are used to alter the shape or form of a material for practical or aesthetic purposes such as carving a piece of wood or fitting a key into a lock. Some shaping tools which can be used for different home applications include moulds, chisels, sanders, jigs and trowels.

7. Fastening Tools

These tools are made to join two portions or parts to make one whole. These portions or parts may or may not be made of the same material. Some fastening tools include staple guns, wire tackers, nail guns, glue guns and rivet guns.

8. Power Tools

Power tools are tools which are powered by a compressed air motor, an electric motor or an internal combustion engine. They are classified as portable or stationary. They can be used around the house for a variety of uses such as drilling, cutting, shaping, sanding, polishing, painting, heating, driving and grinding. Some of the more commonly used power tools would be the drill, electric sander and the lathe.

These are just some of the types of tools that you could consider getting for your home. Whether you are planning to work on some home improvement projects or some repairs and chores around your home, these tools could certainly help make you finish the job a lot faster and easier.

This includes anything which is flat and either framed or mounted. It could be a piece of embroidery, such as a sampler or a Chinese silk picture, a print, poster, painting, photograph, sketch or portrait, or a collection of cartoons, menus, cigarette cards, postcards, stamps or other ephemera.

Frames

A picture can be framed with or without glass. It is usual to frame oil colors without because the glass interferes with the visual experience of the texture of the paint and can also reflect light from windows, acting as a mirror which conceals the painting rather than reveals it.

Don’t be in too much of a hurry to make a choice. A large painting may look best in a frame’ of dark wood, pale wood or metal, in something plain or something ornate and gilded. Try the picture with different kinds of frame and bear in mind where you want to hang it. You may be surprised to find how attractive it looks in a frame you had not initially thought of. For example, a very small painting sometimes looks good in a large frame, particularly one in which the frame is deeper in the middle so that the painting is pushed forward slightly and thus given a prominence not afforded by its size.

Storing paintings which you have inherited or do not have a place for at present can be a problem. You can take them out of their frames and store them in acid-free tissue paper flat in a drawer or rolled up in a cardboard tube; use the frame for a picture you do want to display. Framing is expensive so this is a sensible cost-saving exercise. Frames can be dismantled and cut down to make smaller frames, or renovated and re-used as they are.

With watercolors, it is normal to place them on a mount before framing. The painting can cover the whole mount or some of the mount may show within the frame. Suit the proportions of the mount to the painting—if the mount is too narrow it can look ungenerous, if too wide it may dominate the painting. In conventional mounting, the margins at the top and sides should be of equal width while the bottom margin should be about 15 per cent wider.

Sandwich framing

Pictures mounted or not, can be sandwiched between a sheet of glass or clear acrylic and a backing board. If you use two sheets of acrylic, you can make a two-way picture to hang in a window or between shelves that are used as a room-divider.

Simple paint effect give unusual and stylish results without the enormous expense often associated with such sophistication. Decorative paint techniques have a sort of mystique surroundings them but, although the more subtle effects do need great skill, especially when applied to architecturally graceful houses, simple effects can be produced by the relatively inexperienced painter in the sort of homes most of us live in.

Once you have grasped the idea, you can create the sift chalky colors of old Italian plasterwork, the more silky effect of faux marbling or the textured impression produced by using a darker shade in patches over a slightly lighter shade of the same color.

Generally, these techniques look best in a fairly disciplined household where the finish can be appreciated; otherwise the effect will be wasted and become part of the general chaos.

You will need to experiment with colors and the effect on a test piece of paper may be very different to when colors are seen on the whole wall. Often a quite surprising combination will appeal, such as green and pink or yellow and blue.

Some color combinations only work when both are overlaid with a ‘smoky’ color, which tones down what otherwise might be too sugary and links the two colors. Only experimentation can discover the right combination for you. The best way to experiment is on the actual walls, trying a small square of color and getting used to it for a day or so, then adding a little of another color or a little white or black until it looks right.

You may have the wall completely covered in small squares of different colors before you hit on the one you like. If you choose colors which please you, rather than colors suggested to you as being fashionable, you will find they automatically co-ordinate with your paintings, prints and fabrics.

The Japanese have made an art of living in small spaces, using sliding screens and doors to make their living spaces highly versatile. Sliding partitions can also play a part in saving space in Western households. We have already recognized the value of the futon, and have adopted it as a good-looking means of providing seating during the day and bedding at night. Japanese rooms are low as well as small, so much so that you can often reach up and touch the ceiling. They are mostly absolutely square, with perhaps one recess in the best room.

Rooms are divided by sliding partitions or screens consisting of lightweight frames covered with rice paper to let the light through. In a traditional Japanese house the futons are stored in a cupboard during the day, since the Japanese kneel rather than sit and would have no use for a sofa.

Screens in Western homes do not have to be sliding or fitted. Folding screens have been used for centuries to keep out drafts, to provide an element of privacy while people were dressing and as a psychological division between one part of a room and another. Recently they have begun to be popular again. In a room in which several activities take place at the same time, a screen can be used to separate the kitchen-dining area, say, from the main living area. Folding screens can be covered in woven tapestry fabric or in decoupage. You could also use lace or anything else you think would look good.

Japanese-type shoji screens can be bought in shops specializing in futons and other Japanese furniture, but they are very simple to make yourself. Use them to cover untidy shelving, to screen a window with an ugly view or as room-dividers. Venetian blinds can also be used to divide a room, but are pulled up rather than folded vertically.

In many small homes, the height of the rooms is scarcely used but could almost double both the storage and the living potential. For example, it might be possible to create a balcony area in a living room which could be used as workspace, play space or for visitors to stat overnight.

If there is not enough height for that, a built-up platform could provide storage underneath, at the same time giving the room an added dimension.

In a small bedroom, build the bed on top of a 1.2m (4ft) high cupboard. This is just the right height for being able to see out of the window from the bed, an enormous bonus if you have a pretty view. The cupboard underneath will provide useful storage space for quite large objects, anything from clothes to small pieces of furniture, pictures and pieces of equipment which you may not want to throw away but do not need at present It is also useful for duvets and pillows for guests. A more primitive version would be a bed base resting on two chests-of-drawers.

Make the bed base out of slats with a good 12mm between them; if you are using solid pieces of board, drill holes to allow the mattress to air. For a 1m (3ft) high bed you won’t need a stepladder but you will need a step of some kind. A box-step can hold lightweight objects so that you have no difficulty raising it when you want to get into the cupboard. A chest-of-drawers next to the bed, at about the same height, acts as a bedside table.

A tall bed can be curtained off with muslin or pretty cotton print fabric to give the enclosed and private feeling of a four-poster.

Picture frames

Professional frames are expensive but worth it for valuable pictures. It is also advisable to have a picture professionally framed if the sides are longer than 1 m (3ft) because a frame as big as this is difficult for a beginner to handle.

There are various types of framing kit available, offering a choice of assembly, finish and color, the main drawback being that most of them are comparatively small. One of the cheapest is in the form of an acrylic box with a close-fitting piece of board to hold the picture in place. When finished, this has no visible frame. More sophisticated kits contain pieces of frame, mitred corners and clips, and fastenings to hang the picture from,- check whether you have to buy the backing board and glass separately.

Sandwich framing

An alternative to conventional framing is to place the picture between a sheet of board and a sheet of glass or acrylic, and to simply clip the edges together. This is quite easy to do at home because you can get the glass and board cut to size when you buy them and there is no complicated cutting or assembly.

Spring-loaded clips are available from art shops and framers. Clip sizes vary and should suit the thickness of the combined backing board, glass, picture and mount. Metal or plastic mirror clips, sold by glass merchants, ironmongers and DIY shops, can be used as well.

To fit spring clips:

1 Push a spring clip over the backing board on all four edges. Make a pencil mark where the inner edge of the clip meets the board.

2 Measure between the pencil mark and the edge of the board. Drawl lines this distance away and parallel to all the edges.

3 Make holes with a bradawl on the lines you have drawn through the smooth side of the board, a quarter of the board’s width from each corner.

4 Place the glass, mount and board face down on a cloth. Fit the spring clips so that the inner ends notch into the holes made with the bradawl.

Panel mounting

Cheap prints, labels and other paper ephemera can be mounted directly onto chipboard panels without glass.

1 Cut the panel to the size of the item and smooth the edges with sandpaper.

2 Chamfer the edges with a plane and fill them with cellulose filler. Rub down with sandpaper when dry.

3 Paint the edges with emulsion. (Black is the most popular color.)

4 Mount the picture onto the panel, using the ‘wet mounting’ technique (see below).

Wet mounting Paper expands when it gets wet, so handle it with extreme care and practice first on something unimportant.

1 Size the cardboard or chipboard backing board with smooth wallpaper paste.

2 When the size is dry, moisten the back of the print with a damp rag then dab with blotting paper or tissues until the print is limp but not wet.

3 Brush a thin coat of wallpaper paste over the back of the print.

4 Lift the pasted print carefully by the top edge. Align the bottom edge with the edges of the backing.

5 Lower the print onto the board as evenly as you can.

6 Cover the print with greaseproof paper and smooth it with a dry sponge, working from the centre outwards to remove any air bubbles and wrinkles.

7 Remove the greaseproof paper and wipe off any excess paste.

8 Cover the print with another sheet of greaseproof paper and a sheet of card. Weight down until dry.

(Large prints may buckle the backing board as they dry. To prevent this, stick paper roughly the same weight as the print onto the back of the board, using the same technique.)

Hanging pictures

- Use nylon cord or 3-ply picture wire (not string) knotted into D-rings, screw eyes or back hooks.

- Screw eyes are suitable if the moulding of the frame is thick enough to take the screw without splitting.

- For heavy pictures, use back hooks and screw them to the back of the frame mouldings.

- Hang pictures on picture hooks (sold as single or double hooks). These come complete with fine masonry nails that can be hammered into the wall.

- For concrete walls or walls which have been given a concrete coating to prevent damp, use special plastic hooks with three or four short, needle-like nails to hammer in. Beware with these because the nails are intentionally very short, which means they may become dislodged if pulled.

No amount of pre-planned storage is going to solve all your storage problems. There are always little items like drawing pins, elastic bands, corks, postage stamps, pens and pencils and computer disks, and medium-sized things like calculators, cameras, film and so on which don’t fall into any convenient storage category.

It is important to find places for all these, otherwise they become the very things you can’t find when you need them most. There are also bulky items—extra blankets, sleeping bags, duvets and pillows for visitors, and the inevitable stepladders, bicycles and pushchairs.

Let’s look at the bulky items first. Drawers that pull out from under beds are practical for extra bedclothes. If the bed is tall enough drawers from an old chest-of-drawers will do, but if you are buying a new bed or divan choose one with drawers specially designed to go under it. Large but comparatively narrow items such as bicycles can be hung on a wall.

In modern, minimalist homes they can be a decorative element in a living room, but they take up potential storage space which could be used for other items and this idea would not suit everybody’s taste. Items which fold up into narrow shapes take up less space when hung than when simply leaned against a wall.

When it comes to the medium-sized items such as calculators and cameras, you can allocate a drawer to a particular type of storage so that cameras, film and boxes of slides will all be found together.

For the little items which are so difficult to organize, mini chests-of-drawers intended for carpenters’ nails and screws are excellent for home office use and will take labels, paperclips and other small items which need to be separate and available. Other drawers can hold buttons, thimbles, hooks and eyes, and other sewing equipment.

Filing can be a problem. Paper never looks tidy and gets lost so easily. Specially designed chunky ‘household’ files with categorized compartments are theoretically the answer, but the pre-ordained categories seldom correspond to those one actually needs and the files usually end up being too small. It may be better to buy box files or even to use shoeboxes for filing.

A low filing cabinet may be the answer, where you can store writing paper, envelopes and other office paraphernalia as well as letters. In a room which has to double as an office and a guest room, files can act as low room-dividers and there’s a choice of colors to make them less industrial-looking.

Many bits and pieces can be organized into albums. Photographs take up far too much drawer space and are largely wasted because of the trouble of sorting through them. Albums can be lined up in a bookcase, where they look orderly, take up less space and are easy to find. If you keep Christmas cards, postcards, children’s paintings and letters, they will be better preserved by being kept in scrapbooks rather than scattered about in cupboards and chests.

Many people have decorative displays of china, glass or other collections, and objects such as copper pans, books and even architectural details can all be highly decorative. To do them justice, they should be well lit so that they stand out from the rest of the room.

There are various ways of highlighting. For pictures, there are special picture lights which are fixed above the picture and shine down on it, leaving the surroundings in shadow. Spot lamps can highlight objects satisfactorily but you need to experiment to make sure the beam falls on the object from the right direction and at the right angle, without glaring into people’s eyes. Ceiling tracks are useful if you want several spots on different objects, but again the placing of the track is important so that the spots can be directed without glare.

Glass is most effective lit from behind. Daylight coming through a window gives it a wonderful sparkle and a collection of colored glass bottles looks spectacular on a windowsill. At night, subdued light at the back will emphasize the colors and reflections in an entirely different way.

Flower arrangements also come to life when lit from behind. A gentle, diffused light will not compete with the flowers but will throw the shapes and colors into relief so that they and their container take on an extra charm.

If you are lighting objects in a glass cabinet, it is best to use small strip lights at the back. If you try to shine a light on the cabinet from outside, the reflections in the glass will prevent you from seeing the objects inside.

Most computer screens have a poor light output themselves so bright lighting in the room will simply overpower the images on the screen. However, you do need some background light because the contrast between a dark room and the words on the screen makes it hard for the eyes to adjust from one to the other and is therefore very tiring. Since light levels from the window vary from hour to hour, you want to be able to adjust the room light to make it as comfortable as possible for you while you work and this is an instance where dimmer switches will help. Desk lamps are sometimes helpful.

When you are setting up the lighting for computer work, check that there are no reflections on the screen. What usually happens is that the operator gets so used to reflections that he or she doesn’t notice them, but if they do exist they are an extra strain on the eyes and are distracting. If you can see the ceiling fixtures reflected in the corner of the screen or if there are bright spots of glare from the general room lighting, then a dimmer will help to reduce them; better still, alter the lighting in the room or the position of the computer screen so as to eliminate them.

Fixed spot lamps and ceiling lights are the least flexible, although spots on a track can be adjusted. If the ceiling is high enough and the room small enough, any ceiling fitting will probably be out of sight of the screen anyway. Shiny objects such as mirrors and glass-covered paintings should not be hung in a computer room.

Remember that lighting is just as important for children’s computers as it is for adults, if not more so.