Start by mixing one part water with one part vinegar in a bucket. If there is a lot of build up on the doors, use more vinegar. Straight vinegar can be used as well for really dirty doors.

With wallpaper in a haphazard print, an old-fashioned floor, and a ho-hum dining area, the Hollenbecks' sparse kitchen looks far from homey. The only positive attribute of this space is the abundant light from the two windows.

For fist-size holes or bigger, cut a square piece of Sheetrock slightly larger than the hole. Enlarge the hole so this patch will fit by placing the piece over the hole, tracing its outline, and cutting the wall along your marks with a utility knife.

The unfinished, unused cellar in Megan and Casey Collins's 1920s Minneapolis bungalow was the stuff of horror movies. Slanted cement floors, exposed pipes, dangling wires, and slapdash wood paneling made the subterranean space "scary like a dungeon," says