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Major Appliances Some major appliances may already be in place in your home, especially if you’re renting. New homes usually have no appliances other than heating/cooling equipment and a hot water heater. Refrigerator with freezer Range or cooktop and oven Microwave oven Freezer, chest or upright (optional) Dishwasher (optional) Clothes washer and dryer Countertop Appliances & Accessories Most countertop appliances have “manual,” or non-electric counterparts. For example, you can opt for a stovetop coffee maker instead of a standard plug-in drip coffee machine....

Many homeowners like you feel the dread of using dingy, non-functional showers, and they’ve successfully turned it all around. Some have turned their bathroom into a personal spa, others have enlarged their spaces, and even more home do-it-yourselfers have tweaked details here and there that customize their shower time experience. You can, too! See the bathroom shower ideas that have sparked others into action and gather inspiration for your bathroom....

What Kind of Plants Are Being Made Into Bioluminescent Plants? Most of the bioluminescent plants we’ve come across are air plants. And while these plants aren’t genetically modified, they’re coated to create that glow. “We developed a plant-safe phosphorescent coating specifically for tillandsia foliage. The trichomes help the glowing compound adhere to the surface of the foliage." explains Gotti. “It is made of silica-coated photo-luminescent nanoparticles. The silica bends the light around the nanoparticle and reduces its visible appearance....

Overall Bill Features Some of the most important aspects of a bird’s bill are not specific features, but the general jizz of the bill. When first studying bird bills, look for the following features. Size: How large does the bill appear in proportion to the bird’s head? Check for length as compared to the length of the head as well as the width of the bill and how that width may change along the bill’s length....

Buying a quilt is certainly easier than making your own, but with a $250 price tag, we wanted to see if Brooklinen’s lightweight option was worth the extra dough. The company, which is based in—you guessed it—Brooklyn, New York, was founded by Rich and Vicki Fulop, a Millennial couple who wanted to produce luxury sheets at an affordable price with a direct-to-consumer sales approach. Now, Brooklinen offers a variety of soft goods, from pillows and towels to comforters and loungewear....

Butternut looks a lot like its close relative, black walnut, with compound leaves featuring 11 to 17 oval leaflets with serrated edges. The bark is more gray and less fissured than the black walnut, and the nuts are more oval and less rounded than the fruit of the black walnut. Butternut tree forms a broadly rounded crown that serves well to provide shade in the landscape; the crown can hang quite low if the tree is not kept pruned....

What Are Epsom Salts? Epsom salts are a naturally occurring mineral, magnesium sulfate. It was first discovered in Epsom, England, its namesake. You can find cartons and packages of Epsom salt sold in drug stores and groceries, either in the laxative aisle, the sore muscle section, or the bath section; Epsom salts have many uses. What Are Epsom Salts Supposed to Do for Plants? Epsom salts contain hydrated magnesium sulfate, two elements central to plant growth....

The core of any good shower installation is a solid, waterproof shower floor, also known as a shower pan. Often, showers are created out of one type of material only: either walls and pan made from fiberglass/acrylic or both walls and a pan made from tile. But what about mixing and matching the two materials differently so that the walls are tile and the floor is acrylic/fiberglass? Can Fiberglass or Acrylic Pans be Used With Tile?...

Consider Them to Be a Cosmetic Change Only Slipcovers will change the look of your chair or sofa and can hide unsightly stains, but the feel or underlying structure will not change— it is a cosmetic change only. So if your sofa is sagging, lumpy, or the springs are sticking out, simply getting new slipcovers will not magically make them more comfortable. If your furniture is falling apart, this budget solution could turn out to be a wasteful expense because you stand to gain nothing from it....

Picking Color White is usually the predominant color in the coastal-style home, but really there are no firm rules when it comes to color. However, sticking with one or two colors is a very budget-friendly way to go coastal. Blue and white are popular color pairings for the modern coastal look but don’t be afraid to go off that color spectrum. Think of the beach and ocean colors: use soft blue, teal, or green colors, and neutral beige or tan colors....

Tomato diseases can be fatal unless you take management steps in a timely manner. While there are a variety of diseases, they mostly come in fungal and bacterial form. Some of the most common are crown and root rot, fusarium wilt, early blight, rhizoctonia, and more. It is important to catch any disease early, before it spreads to all of your tomato plants and possibly other plants in the same family, such as potatoes, eggplants, and peppers....

Perennial Legumes A very simple way to grow plants for your compost pile is to grow alfalfa or red clover. Both of these plants can be tucked between rows or planted at the edges of your beds. When the plant gets tall (according to your tastes), just shear it back and toss the clippings in the compost pile; it will continue growing. The best way to shear it back is to use some grass shears or clippers, collect the clippings, and compost them....

A great plan is to plan for future appliances that you don’t have now, or possibly have not even been invented yet. Look back 30 years and remember what you had for kitchen appliances back then. Now look around at the kitchen appliances you now have and cannot live without. As you can see, without any outlets and circuits you have now, you’d never be able to power them up with the old wiring plan....

The slow-growing plant has green and white variegated leaves that may sometimes develop a rosy blush tint in warm weather. It also has dramatic, colorful leaf bracts that look like slipper-shaped flowers, as well as unusual “crooked” yet symmetrical stems. Because the “flowers” are actually leaf bracts, they don’t produce any fragrance. The bracts appear in summer, but do not last a very long time. Though they can be white or green, it is the red and bright pink ones that are most sought after and inspire the plant’s many colorful folk names....

True Bulbs Many of the flowering bulbs we plant in the fall are true bulbs. A true bulb is an underground stem with fleshy, scale-like layers surrounding a center bud. The scales are food-storing leaf bases and they are attached to what is called a basal plate (the bottom of the bulb where the roots come out). The center bud is the future flower. Bulbs reproduce by forming offset, smaller versions of themselves attached to the basal plate....

Identification Characteristics When observing these black and white woodpeckers, consider the following characteristics to tell which is a downy and which is a hairy. Size: The bird’s size is the easiest and most obvious way to determine its species. Downy woodpeckers are small, only about 6-7 inches in length, while hairy woodpeckers are larger, usually 9-11 inches in length. While judging a bird’s size in the field can be difficult, it is useful to compare the bird’s length to nearby objects that can be measured, such as the size of a feeder or the width of a tree branch....