The Riz Team Blog

Keeping your home warm doesn’t come at a high price, thanks to these easy-to-do fixes. Bring on the Heat!

Elsa Satella • This Old House magazine

On average, 10 to 25 percent of a home’s heat escapes through its windows. If you’re feeling drafts, you should consider reglazing or even replacing your windows. But if you can’t because of time—or budget—first weatherstrip, then try these other temporary fixes to help beat the chill.

Plastic Film

Applied to panes with double-sided tape and sealed using the heat from a hair dryer, this inexpensive clear shrink film can allow a room to retain as much as 55 percent of its heat. In a pinch, bubble wrap makes an effective replacement; just push the bubble side of the wrap against the glass and adhere with double-sided tape.

Shown: Duck Crystal Clear Shrink Film, about $13 for two 3-packs, My Brands.

Draft Snakes

Stop cold air from creeping through windowsills with a snake. You can buy one online, or easily make one yourself by filling a tube of fabric, like an old knee sock, with dry rice.

Shown: Window and door draft stopper, about $10, Improvements

Rigid Foam

For basement and attic windows you don’t need to see out of, cover the panes with a piece of foam board glued to ⅜-inch drywall. Cut pieces to fit snugly inside the frame, press the foam side against the glass, then simply pop out when you want to let in sunlight.

Shown: Dow ½-inch polyisocyanurate rigid foam sheathing, about $12.50 per 8-4-foot panel, Lowe’s

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Warm brown paint, glass mosaic tile, and fresh fixtures update a drab old kitchen

Natalie Rodriguez   This Old House Magazine

With kitchens, simple does not necessarily equal streamlined. For homeowners Eduardo Perez and Moo Sirikittisup, the kitchen that came with their Atlanta condo fell short on both frills and function. Builder- grade cabinets and white laminate counters set a cheerless, monotonous tone in an open space that can be seen from the front door. And washing dishes meant looking at a worn wood cabinet, as the window didn’t line up over the sink. Opening the dishwasher blocked the oven door and vice versa. “It was a sad-looking space,” says Eduardo.

Sad-Looking Space

A bland color scheme and an awkward layout made this kitchen boring and inconvenient. So after a year—and with some DIY know-how passed down from his contractor dad—Eduardo spent two weeks removing the oak cabinets, refinishing and reinstalling them, then putting in new counters. The sink and the dishwasher swapped places, improving the room’s flow, and he added sleek new hardware and fixtures to update the space.

Beautiful Backsplash

The new faucet (Delta) is classic and functional, with a graceful shape. The priciest splurge was the colorful mosaic tile (Casa Italia, Green Mix Mosaic Glass from Floor and Decor Outlets of America), but the green-and-white glass-tile backsplash brought in a finishing touch of color. Says Eduardo, “Now, when I walk in and see the kitchen, it makes me smile.”

Homeowner Tip: Eduardo picked up a small wet saw for just $59: “It cut the glass tiles like they were cookies. It was so easy.”

Dynamite Details: Cabinet Pulls

The removed-and-reinstalled cabinets look like completely new boxes, thanks to a DIY paint job. Rectangular bar pulls (IKEA) updated the cabinets and complemented their new modern chocolate-colored finish.

Dynamite Details: Lighting

An inexpensive home-center find, the spotlight fixture (Home Depot) targets its beams on the kitchen’s separate workstations. And, the brushed-nickel finish matches the new cabinet pulls beautifully.

Finding Storage in Small Spaces

Since the kitchen is on the small side, the homeowners added shelves underneath the breakfast bar area to hold the microwave and other appliances when not in use. This smart use of space clears up the countertop for food prep and other everyday use.

Eduardo and Moo are saving for the next phase of the makeover: new appliances. But for now, chocolate-colored paint (Behr) on the cabinets and a countertop swap (IKEA), along with nickel-finish fixtures and cool green mosaic tiles complete the contemporary makeover.

Project Tally

• Removed and reinstalled original cabinets in a slightly new configuration, $0

• Replaced old laminate counters with new ones that have stainless-steel edge banding, $300

• Put a fresh coat of paint on walls and ceiling, $34

• Sanded original oak cabinets and brushed on a gallon of new chocolate-brown paint, $28

• Added a brushed nickel, three-light ceiling fixture, $35

• Swapped in nickel-finished cabinet pulls, $80

• Upgraded the kitchen faucet, $45

• Added undercabinet pucks for task lighting, $45

• Installed new glass tile mosaic backsplash, $400

TOTAL: $967

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