This current house has no true front door. As you see in photos, the "front door" goes into the garage and driving me crazy because it is impossible to keep the garage clean for guests. Old front door was on the L side of the house inbetween the two bay windows but since has been removed.

Can anyone help design or give insight on what would look good, be functional for a front door? Pictures would be helpful too of what you're thinking. We don't necessarily need that space where the "fireplace room" as we call it for a sitting area so open to any and all ideas.

My wife and I, after many years of planning and budgeting, have FINALLY finished our basement.

Mostly.

Because while our basement now has walls, flooring, shelves, a bathroom, and a couple of rugs, we still have no idea what t do with our outdated and backless stairs.

These stairs have clearly recieved the "landlord special" paint treatment a few times in their decades long life. My wife and I were hoping to strip the paint off the stairs using Citristrip and then stain and seal the wood afterwords, but the initial Citristrip treatment revealed another 2-3 layers of paint. The final layer was a sort of burgundy that has seemingly seeped into the wood. My wife then moved onto using what I believe to be terpentine but that didn't do much to remove the staining of the original paint color.

So...now we're not entirely sure what to do. We'd like the stairs to feel as nice and homey as the rest of the basement, not like the entry path to a souless storage space.

We're also not made of money and were hoping to DIY the project ourselves. We do not want to use carpet.

Does anyone hae any ideas or creative direction they could lend us for this project? My wife and I are both artists so we don't mind something out-of-hat so long as the idea is sustainable, affirdable, and nice or cool looking.

Pictures of stairs and bonus pictures of basement can be found below.

Whats best for insulation in an attic. Add more blow in type or spray foam. If spray foam is used does it completely seal off the attic or are certain areas formed only.

Hi all!

I am not a big fan of the transition between the patio door and the cement pavers due to the weeds and bugs making their way to the door.

I'm trying to come up with ideas on how this can be improved. If anyone has suggestions or solutions that might help address these issues, I would greatly appreciate your input.

Thank you!

https://preview.redd.it/rzoqho8w7rxd1.jpg?width=1535&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d6808a7a2d6ba9edf3eb2a7b955fbd6e83f9cdaf

https://preview.redd.it/96gyko8w7rxd1.jpg?width=1536&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=136ef2821c078ea12135d4efb1976c6ea2eb7d10

I am replacing a shower valve on the second floor. I will be turning off the water and draining. The gas hot water tank is in the first floor. Should I turn off the gas to the tank? There is no electrical breaker to turn off. The water will be drained for a bit as I take the current valve out and get a replacement. If the tank were to drain itself I would certainly have to turn off the gas. I guess I am asking if I turn off the water and let it drain will the tank drain? Thanks in advance

I (23m) live with my folks right now and we have a home around 80-100 yrs old.
When I moved back in after college, mice had soiled everything just beyond the visible areas of my room. Behind books in the shelf, under furniture, under clutter... They tell me it's my fault for having snacks around but I'd rather just block off the entry points than commit to never eating in my cozy room again in an effort to deter them.

I identified pretty quickly that the entry points are inside my two wall-recessed radiators. Unscrewed the cover from one and found it to be lined with particle board and lead-or-asbestos(?) paper. (Silvery, old and worn and peeling off. Had been applied with tacks.)

A quick fix could be to cover up the big openings in the covers with mesh, but I'm curious-- If I was going to replace the particle board, what should I use? Would metal sheets get too hot and be a fire hazard? What about proper wood, would that be good enough? Cement?? Should I get rid of the paper and cake a layer of cement to the particle board? It might be going overboard, but I really hope if I block all our radiators we'll have fewer mouse problems. We used to only have mice but a rat has been making itself wellll known recently...

I was thinking of changing my window and door frames. Wife says no.

https://preview.redd.it/uevystre1mxd1.png?width=1909&format=png&auto=webp&s=ae9de14773a4fb1e433a23c4f72aefc2f36badb9

I don’t want to talk about the aesthetics but rather the usability of this type of sink. What do you love, what do you hate.