Expert Advice on Home Improvement TV Host of Today's Homeowner^® and home expert for The Weather Channel

Part of embracing the Green philosophy means to adopt new ways to power our every day lives. Reducing the consumption of electricity, natural gas or propane means we are also reducing the emission of greenhouse gases. One of the best ways is to incorporate an idea that is as old as civilization itself. Solar powered items have never been more practical as they are today. Innovations in the field have made solar powered items more practical for today’s homeowner.

Not all outdoor painting projects are equal. You may have several types of surfaces to paint outside your home and each has its own unique method to ensure success. Here are a few tips that, hopefully, will keep your colors and your painting experience bright.

Have you got an idea for adopting environmentally-friendly living practices into your home? If you want to help the world go “green,” your chance is coming up! The Early Show on CBS is looking for original ideas for green living.

One of the most visible things you can add to the exterior of your home is fencing. Before you get started on a project like this, make sure you identify your property lines. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve heard a homeowner tell me about all the hard work they put into erecting a fence only to have to tear it down because it was built on someone else’s property!

Most of us want to have that lush, green lawn and be the envy of the neighborhood. For some people, that means dragging out the garden hose with an attached sprinkler and moving it around several times in order to keep the grass sufficiently watered. However, that is also one of the most inefficient ways to water the lawn, and a vast amount of the water is completely wasted.

Typically, you think of a pathway as nothing more than the shortest distance between two points. Left alone, an often-traveled pathway can lead to a worn rut filled with dead grass, so creating a pathway is the logical thing to do. Instead of a full-blown pathway, though, consider creating a path of stepping stones. There’s actually less work involved to install them and, aesthetically, stepping stones can give your yard its own unique personality.

A lot of home and garden centers will have yard tools, but not all of them are going to make yard work simple. Here are some really cool tools that, not only do the job, but make your day in the garden a walk in the park.

There was a time when lawn work was looked on as strictly the guy’s job. In fact, it often took the strength of Hercules to pull the crank cord a minimum of 10-12 times just to start the darn machine! Long gone are those days, though, as the lawn mower has evolved into a tool that any gender can operate with ease.

Outdoor kitchens have been rapidly gaining in popularity, which should come as no surprise. Seems like it gets harder to gather the family around the dinner table at night, but when you’re talking about a barbecue, the “whole fam damily” likes to show up!

When looking to spruce up your home, there are literally dozens of ideas that can make an impact that won’t break the bank at the same time. Of course, you still need to live by the old adage, “You get what you pay for,” so you also don’t want to purchase materials that are inferior.