House Archives | Page 6 of 6 | House and Hammer

Finders, fixers.

delivery at boston building resources center

Shopping the Habitat ReStore and Boston Building Resources Center

One of the challenges of owning an old house — and there are many! — is finding stuff that matches your home. It can be tough to find doors that go with the ones in your 1890s Victorian or window molding as wide or as detailed as the trim in your 1920s bungalow. And that’s…

Wish Listing: Concord

I spent a day in Concord a couple weeks ago while I was working on this story for Sunday’s Boston Globe. And just… wow. It’s really an idyllic place. Between the central town square, the shops on Main Street, the rolling green hills, active farms, the miles of bike paths, and a grip on local and literary history that…

Wish Listing: Hingham

When it comes to the South Shore, Hingham has it all. It’s beautiful. It’s historic. It has a cute downtown. Grand old houses dot sidewalked, tree-lined streets. It’s on the ocean. There’s a harbor and a public beach. And it’s got commuter rail service, a ferry to Boston, and a major highway. Not even fancy Concord can say…

Is Angie’s List worth the money?

When we first bought our house about seven years ago, our to-do list, based in part on our lengthy, detailed home inspection report, was literally pages long. More like a to-do binder. We knew next to no one in Quincy, and after renting for all of our adult lives, we certainly didn’t have a ready…

Wish Listing: Craigville Beach

Summer’s officially here — and with it, visions of the Cape. This week’s lust-worthy listing is a big-but-somehow-quaint cottage near Craigville Beach in Centerville, where ocean breezes keep things cool and comfortable even as the rest of us sweat through our underwear on the streets of Boston. Oh, and it has a pretty nice view: I love living…

11 ways moving can improve your life

The American Dream has always been linked to mobility. Religious exiles sailed here to start a new, better life. Millions of immigrants later followed in their wake seeking the same. In fact, mobility was part of the American Dream even before there was an “American Dream” — many Plains Indians tribes were nomads who followed the…

Wish Listing: Quincy

I know you’re not supposed to covet they neighbor’s stuff and whatnot, but compared to our monstrous two-family, the cute dutch colonial next door has always seemed downright adorable. And now it’s for sale! Won’t you be my neighbor? Sure, it’s not a million-dollar Milton mansion or anything. But Redfin pegs our neighbor’s place as a…

Should you buy a house, condo, or multi-family?

You’re finally ready to buy a home — there’s just one thing: “Home” can mean a lot of different things to different people. Do you enjoy apartment living, with perks like professional landscaping and snow removal? Have you always dreamed of having your own house with a front yard, driveway, and picket fence? Does the idea…

couple using home equity loan for remodeling project

What’s a home equity loan, and what’s a line of credit?

If you’ve lived in your home for a while, paying down the principal on your mortgage while home values have crept (and then leapt) higher, you may now have a decent amount of equity in your house — the difference between what the home is worth and what you owe the bank. That equity is…

Wish Listing: Milton

Can you blame a fella for daydreaming once in a while? Each week on House & Hammer we’ll take a look at a gorgeous home for sale — whether it’s in anyone’s price range or not (bonus points for bargains, of course). I think this 5-bedroom colonial on Edge Hill Road in East Milton (i.e., the happening part…