Weekend Round Up: Porch Makeover Edition

thisyounghouse_porchmakeover Spring is certainly in the air, and with it, home improvement fever. There’s a lot going on around the DIY blogosphere. Here’s the run-down:

Up first is Young House Love’s fabulous $500 porch makeover (pictured right). TYH was one of a few bloggers selected by Better Home and Gardens to compete for a $5000 prize using only $500 and 48 hours to remake their porch in the most creative way possible. We think they did a great job on a tight budget. Voting begins May 1, so make sure to stop back at their site to get instructions on how to cast your ballot around that date…

Todd at Home Construction Improvement gives us five power tools everyone should own. We like Todd’s list and tend to agree with it, but I personally would take a compressor/nailer kit over the #5 oribital sander.

CalFinder gives us 20 Ways to Avoid Pooling Water, one of which is to fix rain gutters. We’ve got a gutter that’s in desperate need of a TLC and I’m hoping to get to it Sunday. Thanks for the reminder, CF.

Green Gardenista gives us five great uses for Coffee Grounds… We’re avid coffee drinkers, and we’ve already started employing her tips (a post to follow on that from Kim this week!)

And finally, two things from us:

I started writing a home improvement column on Bargaineering, one of the more popular personal finance blogs. I’ll be writing articles at the intersection of home improvement and finance… I started off with Eight Frugal Ways to Get Tools. Jim has really put together a great site with about a half dozen authors. Definitely check it out.

Last but not least, don’t forget to enter our $200 Home Depot Tool Rental Giveaway. Two Hundred bucks could make a big dent in this year’s home improvement projects, so don’t miss your chance!