1 Avoid do-it-yourself headachesand costly mistakes 2 Add to your home’s resale value 3 Save money over time with energy-efficient improvements 4 Customize your home to fit your lifestyle 5 Add space where needed 6 Increase functionality and use

  1 Modular furniture 2 Rain chains(decorative alternative to traditional downspouts) 3 Sunbrella weather-resistant fabrics 4 Natural stone and boulder hardscapes 5 Moonlighting(using artificial lights to create theeffects of moonbeams) 6 Pizza ovens 7 Raised-bed andcontainer vegetable gardens 8 Daybeds

  1 Dark-brown and bronze finishes 2 Down-sizing and small-space solutions downspouts) 3 Personalization and customization 4 Simple, organic and natural 5 Home automation/networking 6 Universal design 7 Recycled/repurposed materials 8 Open floor plans 9 Outdoor-living retreats 10 Casual, approachable

Sleek Simplicity Du Verre’s “Lotus” collection of contemporary hardware by William Harvey is made with recycled aluminum and comes in black matte, oil-rubbed bronze, satin nickel and polished nickel finishes. Elegant Additions, www.elegantadditions.net; $14-$29 Organic-Inspired Top your table with this

Summer vacations and back-to-school—Who has time for the garden? If you’ve chosen the right plants, watered and weeded, your garden will make it through August without too much maintenance!   Garden Maintenance ➤ Weeding is still at the top of

The mission of The Bob and RodMan Home Show boils down to minimizing maintenance and saving money. Coincidentally, following the “green” principles of “reduce, reuse, recycle” will have that same effect. The target for today is “reduce.” The first step

Landscape renovation by O’Donovan & Sons Inc., 2720 W. Ogden Ave., Naperville, (630) 355-3370, www.odonovanlandscaping.com    BEFORE Neil and Mary Maloney had been living in this Naperville residence for years when, after a series of internal home improvements, they turned

Whole-house historic-preservation remodel by Cherrington Design & Building Inc., 400 W. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton, IL 60187, (630) 510-0005 BEFORE When Tom Cherrington discovered this abandoned American four square–style West Chicago two-flat, built in 1918, he knew it had good bones.

Lemonade, barbecue and fireworks! That’s what July brings to our neighborhoods and homes. Celebrate the summer by harvesting tomatoes, peppers, cucumber and herbs that you grow in your own backyard. Cool off from the heat under a shade tree, and

Kitchen Renovation by RK Remodeling and Maintenance LLC, Plano, TX 75023, (972) 238-1514, www.rkremodeling.com BEFORE After 20 years as the center of this Plano family’s home, the kitchen was in great need of an update. Working hand and hand with