Lauren Sieben

We’re finally closing the book on 2020, and many of us have never felt more desperate for a fresh start and a new beginning. And since it's not like we're leaving the house anytime soon, it makes perfect sense that the first place to start anew would be at home. (Plus, decorating and home renovation projects are a pretty good distraction from ever-present existential dread, if we do say so ourselves.)
If you're looking to do a design overhaul, you're probably also looking for some inspiration...

Whether you're buying your first home or your 11th, there's one thing we all think about when it comes time to negotiate the deal: wiggling that pesky price down as much as possible.
Of course, price is important when you’re buying a home. But it’s not the only negotiable part of the sale—there are plenty of other ways to haggle aside from list price.
“In most parts of the country, sellers often have multiple bids right now,” says Danielle Samalin, CEO of Framework Homeownership. “In this mar...

Many of us say we’re “going to the doctor” whenever we have a medical appointment. But are you actually seeing a doctor each time you step foot in an exam room or log on for a video visit? And if not — does it matter?
In a primary care setting, you might meet with a physician (an MD or a DO), or you could see a nurse practitioner (NP) or physician assistant (PA). Each type of provider can specialize in primary care, diagnose and treat illnesses and write prescriptions, but there are differenc...

Two years ago, my husband and I were gearing up to put our first home on the market, which meant our house was due for a deep cleaning and an organizational overhaul.
After we got the house sparkling clean and staged for sale, we started to fall in love with it all over again. We looked around at our newly organized pantry and immaculate closets and wondered, Why haven’t we always lived like this?
Now in our new house, I’ve taken lessons from the home-staging process to maintain a relatively ...

For many of us, Thanksgiving is the official kickoff to the holiday season—the one truly American holiday that unites us all. It’s a time to gather with far-flung family members, squeeze as many people as possible around the dinner table, strenuously avoid talking about politics, and feast on a meal that may or may not feature turkey, but either way is a heck of a lot of food.
But with COVID-19 rates rising alarmingly across the United States, many public health officials and government leade...

As much as we all wish we could go back to a time when social distancing was a foreign concept and masks were just something you wore with a Halloween costume, it’s clear by now that COVID-19 isn’t going anywhere. At least, not anytime soon.
One consequence of the pandemic is that our collective concern over cleanliness remains at an all-time high.
A recent survey found that 47% of Americans are pining to upgrade their bathrooms during the pandemic, and 44% want to redesign the kitchen.
The s...

In a year full of canceled vacations, socially distant celebrations, and postponed events, we’re all desperate to hold on to any festivity and sense of normalcy we can get our hands on—including Halloween.
The tradition of going door to door for candy or inching your way through a haunted house is a sketchy proposition in a pandemic world. But if the idea of sacrificing Halloween altogether this year is just too spooky to endure, we talked with health experts about ways you can celebrate whil...

When it comes to home improvement, the bedroom is easy to ignore. We often spend more time in the kitchen (or even the bathroom) than the bedroom, and guests are more likely to hang out in the living room than the sleeping quarters—which makes it tempting to treat the bedroom like a storage space instead of a refuge for relaxation.
But these days, we need a fantastic bedroom more than ever.
“The bedroom is meant to be a retreat, haven, and a space in which one can decompress, relax, and ultim...

You probably don't think—or don't want to think—much about the creepy crawlers and rodents that could be hiding in your home.
But that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. (Cue the spooky music!)
The truth is, many of us unknowingly live alongside bugs, mice, and plenty of other uninvited guests lurking in our homes. And when it comes to pest control, ignorance is not bliss. You need to know what you’re up against in order to prevent and evict unwanted critters.
We talked with entomologists and ex...

Ah, fall: The nip of the first chill in the air. The colorful foliage. The pumpkin spice lattes. The pumpkin spice everything.
Oh yeah, and the long list of home maintenance tasks awaiting you at the start of the season.
We hate to intrude on your fall bliss, but the postsummer months are a critical time for knocking out routine home maintenance to keep your household running smoothly into winter. Luckily, many of these tasks are easy DIY projects, with options to call in the pros if you pref...

If you imagined 2020 was the year you would finally list your house for sale, you may have hit the brakes on those plans when the coronavirus pandemic arrived.
But now, we’re more than six months into the COVID-19 era with no clear end in sight. As many people continue working and logging in to school from home, the real estate market is again heating up with buyers eager to upgrade to a new home.
So stop putting it off: Now is the time to step on the gas in preparing your home to sell. We ta...

When it comes to protecting your home from criminals, the stakes can be high. Burglaries at residential properties make up more than 70% of all theft, according to the FBI, and the average loss per burglary tops $2,000.
But there are also plenty of myths circulating in the world of home security. If you have the wrong idea about how to keep yourself safe, you could be making your house an awfully attractive target for criminals.
We talked to experts to learn the most common myths about home s...