It's a time when the weather is getting cooler, the leaves are turning colors and falling off the trees and the air is brisk. Fall is upon us and many Upstate New York homeowners think this is the time when landscaping can be cut back. But, in actuality fall is the perfect time to prepare for next year's planting. Plus, even though winter will soon be upon us you will still want your yard looking the best it can possibly look. In order to get the most from your yard, there are several landscaping tips you can use.

Drywall texture is a compound that is rolled, sprayed, or troweled onto the sheetrock after the taping and floating of joints is complete. It is the same material as the joint compound, but thinned down with water and applied to the wall surface. There is a lot of variation in styles of texture, and some are more appropriate for certain styles of homes. Here are seven basic types:

Texture work on remodel of 1970's home.

One of the most popular areas of a house to renovate is the bathroom. There are many different ways to renovate a bathroom, from small surface changes to completely gutting the room. With some forethought and elbow grease, there are renovating techniques the do-it-yourselfer can accomplish, while saving money at the same time.

Several homes, especially centrally located homes, have hardwood flooring. A pristine hardwood floor is beautiful, but to restore one back to its original 60 year old elegance, the floor will need to be refinished.

One of the most timely and costly home improvement projects any homeowner can take on is a kitchen makeover. Whether a homeowner desperately needs a kitchen revamp, or is tired of the dated look of the kitchen, there are several options to freshen up the area.

While Austin is known for its warm sunny weather, there are those few months where every year, when the temperature drops, it begins to get cold and we watch our heating bills rise. During the winter season, nearly two-thirds or your electricity (or gas) bill is devoted to heating spaces, often during times that they are not being used. Austin is a city that is turning green and though most of the efforts are concentrated on reducing energy consumption and our carbon footprint during the peak summer months, there are several easy and relatively inexpensive things you can do to lower your energy consumption in the winter and bring down your overall heating cost.

Perhaps the most common home repair is fixing a hole in the wall. When I was young, my grandfather would baby sit my brothers and I while mom and dad were of earning a living. What our parents called child care, my grandfather interpreted as napping and most afternoons we had the run of the house. Now on more than one occasion, something was said and something was thrown, and some how we ended up with a hole in the wall. It happens to the best of us. Not wanting to risk losing our afternoons of freedom or our grandfather’s reputation, my brothers and I became experts at repairing holes in the wall. As and adult with kids of my own, I’ve found that the holes keep coming whether we want them to or not. The only thing we can do is know how to fix them properly. It is a very easy repair that can be performed in a few hours. I should also note that the directions below refer repairing fairly large holes. Small holes can often be painted over or repaired with a bit of patching plaster.

"You’ve just put the finishing touches on the birthday cake. The streamers are in place, the snacks are on the table, the lawn chairs are set up outside and everything else is ready to go. You take a glance around your kitchen and sigh with relief. This birthday party is going to go smoothly after all. And then you hear it, the muffled cry from the bathroom: “Mom, the drain is plugged!”

"You’re standing in front of the home cleaning supplies at your local store and are completely immobilized. There are so many different product choices out there on the market today that you have no idea which one you want to use. Do you go with the name brand that you know from the commercials whose jingles get stuck in your head? Do you select the shiniest packaging which advertises that it can solve all of your problems? Or do you reach for the products that advertise that they won’t harm your health and home? Choosing household products is a difficult task indeed.