Home Sweet Home: The lighter side of home improvement

If you're getting older, you might want to call an electrician to install new lighting. The Chicago Tribune reports that 60-year-olds need four times as much light as 20-year-olds.

Storage: Read all about it
Are old magazines and other things piling up in your house? Maybe you need to perfect the art of storage, or even hire a professional to build some cabinets or shelves. We can help. Log on to www.ServiceMagic.com, click on the Articles & Tools tab, and select Organizing.

Power drain
TVs, DVD players and computers still use electricity after you turn them off. Buy a power strip, pull the plug when you're done, or install a switch that shuts your entertainment outlets on and off.

Going fluorescent down under
Australia has banned the sale of incandescent light bulbs. Beginning in 2010, consumers will be buying more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs instead. The switch is expected to save 4 million tons in greenhouse gas emissions in just two years.

Like Jack and Diane
The movie Something's Gotta Give, starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, wasn't a box office hit. But the 2003 film is a favorite with homeowners who want their kitchens to look exactly like Jack and Diane's. In the movie, their kitchen "gleams with white glass-front cabinets, vintage hardware, a commercial-style range and dark soapstone counters," according to the Washington Post. Some people have gone so far as to hand their contractor a DVD of the movie.

"A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life: he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
American poet and essayist