The area’s best lawn-care companies
(iStock photo / iStock photo)
A Washington Consumers’ Checkbook special report: By choosing the right lawn-care firm, you can put the green in your grass and keep the green in your wallet.
A family beach house makeover
A Maryland couple works with their designer daughter-in-law on their Delaware beach house renovation.
Fix a faded fiberglass door
How to reduce fading on a fiberglass door and block noise from an upstairs unit.
Distress painted brick
How to paint exterior brick to look aged, and repair wood objects and accessories.
Troubleshoot hot-water problems
Tips on tracking down the source of hot-water problems in showers and repairing wood pieces.
High on the list of climbing roses
A groomed climbing or rambling rose telegraphs to the world that here lives a gardener, not someone who signs a check to a landscape company.
An ode to high design at Mount Sharon
Go inside a true beauty: the classical garden at Mount Sharon in Orange, Va.
A nod to the sunflower
Sunflowers belong in a kitchen garden. After all, they are considered edible plants.
Still time for sweet potatoes
If a fast spring has left you in the dust, sweet potatoes are the crop for you.
Handy Guide
Raise your AC IQ
(Sears / SEARS)
What you need to know if you’re shopping for an air conditioner this season.
What’s fresh in paint
(Courtesy of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum / COURTESY OF THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM, NEW YORK.)
Although paint is easy to use, it’s not always easy to choose what’s right for you.
Buying a mattress
(Simmons)
The Handy Guide takes a look at what’s new in the Land of Nod.
A relaxed, stretched-out space
A den in Petworth needs to be redecorated and also pet-friendly.
The family room, Take 2
A couple asks for help in redecorating and modernizing their dark, outdated family room.
Bedroom design ideas: A sunny retreat
A couple wants their bedroom to look less fussy, and that pink has got to go.
More home and gardening features
Living Well: Topher Paterno
Get to know local designer, builder, teacher and green living advocate Topher Paterno.
How to run a neat home on a budget
A new book by a West Virginia blogger offers up strategies for more of what we all want: organization, time, and money.
Auctioneer’s advice: Collect what you love
LIVING WELL | Stephanie Kenyon of Chevy Chase dishes on where she shops and gives tips for picking out antique gifts.
Ugly ducklings become pretty fly
Foundry home store, specializing in vintage, antique and repurposed goods, opens on U Street NW.
Darryl Carter’s dream store in Shaw
The Washington interior designer is rehabbing a rundown building.
Miss Pixie: Behind the pink facade
A Q&A with Pixie Windsor, owner of Miss Pixie’s furniture shop on 14th Street.
A color story told with bravado
An Alexandria couple hired a color consultant to make sure the paint on their walls showed off the couple’s artwork.
Jonathan Adler to open D.C. store
Adler, the New York designer known for his mod-meets-traditional home furnishings, is preparing to open his Georgetown store in May.
Photo galleries
The 2012 D.C. Design House
Before and after photos of the Spring Valley home that was made-over by 23 local designers.
Rediscover the Lenten rose
The Lenten rose bridges winter and spring in a way that no other perennial, bulb or tree can.
Darryl Carter’s Shaw restoration
Interior designer’s 19th-century commercial property will become a store and studio.
House Calls: Local rooms get virtual design makeovers
The Washington Post pairs local readers’ design challenges with an interior designer.
Local kitchen designs
Take a look at the inspiring kitchens featured in The Washington Post over the years.
Finding the perfect daily planner
Deciding on a personal calendar system is more difficult than it sounds.
An Arlington mom feathers her nest and launches new career
Christen Bensten took to the used furniture market to scoop up inexpensive pieces she could bring back to life with chalk paint.
20 gift ideas for the home for under $50
The holidays have officially arrived, which means it’s time to start gift shopping. We’ve done the legwork for you.
Videos: Gardening
Summer in full swing
Higgins uses the arbor to make shade for the summer and demonstrates how to keep tomatoes standing tall.
Gardening high and low
Higgins explains how an arbor makes a small gardening plot more spacious and shows how to care for herbs and lettuce.
Community gardens
Higgins prepares his community garden plot for the start of spring and gives tips on sowing, growing and harvesting.
Elsewhere in Lifestyle
Home Front
Jura Koncius and Terri Sapienza discuss tips for picking the perfect paint color.
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