A Guide to Buying Furniture: When you buy furniture you have the potential to change how you live. Really. Furniture can impact your health, your comfort, your efficiency. This realization can make buying furniture a bit challenging. After all, you want to buy furniture that fits, supports and enhances the way you live. To find the right furniture, you should be able to judge furniture for quality. And...

Selecting a real estate agent to represent you in a home purchase or sale can be one of the most important decisions you make. There are obvious considerations, such as choosing a reputable agent with experience in the area where you want to buy or sell. Here are a few not-so-obvious questions to ask before you select an agent.1). How will you and your agent communicate? One of the biggest complaints...

SUMMARY Your first investment will be a learning process. While you'll definitely make a few mistakes along the way, there are a few common pitfalls that can be avoided if you educate yourself beforehand. From financing errors to underestimating repair costs, newbies are at risk to lose serious cash if they're not careful. Still, a real world education is invaluable, and this guide will help steer you...

Now comes the fun of really planning your new kitchen. Layout is a three-part process that includes weighing basic options; blocking out storage, countertops, and work centers; and double-checking efficient heights and clearances. There's no perfect sequence&mdashthe trick is to work back and forth. In very small or oddly shaped spaces you'll certainly need to compromise. Consider the work...