Updated Weekly with New DIY Guides

All Guides & Articles

Everything we've learned about curtain motorization, smart home DIY, and budget-friendly home improvements. Written by real people, tested in our real Utah fixer-upper.

💡 Dad Joke Alert: Why do curtains make terrible comedians? Their timing is always off!

12

Total Guides

8

Curtain Guides

$1,800+

Money Saved

100%

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guides

Product Experiences

Lessons From a “Dumb” Smart Lock: Why Convenience Isn’t Always Smart

Our smart lock looked great and installed easily, but after constant battery changes and unreliable auto unlocks, it slowly turned into a very expensive manual lock. Here is what we learned from living with it for years.

January 22, 2026

Home Automations

Two Smart Devices That Save Time: Automated Irrigation and Robot Vacuum Insights

Our Rachio irrigation system and Roomba Combo j7 Plus are not perfect, but they save us hours each week. Yard care and floor cleaning became set it and forget it tasks that fit naturally into family life.

January 15, 2026

Must Have Accessories for Perfectly Hung Curtains

Curtain spacers, brackets, gliders, and rings may not sound exciting, but the right accessories completely changed how our curtains looked and moved. Here are the small upgrades that made a big difference.

January 13, 2026

Smart Home Basics

Blackout, Pleated, or Standard: Choosing the Right Curtains and Shades

With fourteen windows and zero experience, choosing curtains felt overwhelming. After testing blackout, pleated, and standard panels in every room, here is the simple guide we wish we had from the start.

January 8, 2026

Comfort & Daily Living

Ergonomic Upgrades for the DIY Tech Lover: How a Trackball and Keyboard Changed Our Work Life

Months of bad posture caught up to us during renovation. Switching to an ergonomic trackball and split keyboard made work, DIY planning, and late-night coding far more comfortable.

January 6, 2026

Comfort & Daily Living

Waking Up Smarter: How SmartShade Helps (and Sometimes Fails) to Start Our Day

We thought SmartShades would transform us into early risers. Instead, we discovered a routine of soft sunlight, the occasional WiFi hiccup, and plenty of mornings where we hit the SmartButton and slept in anyway.

December 18, 2025

Home Automations

From Home Depot to Your Living Room: SmartCurtains Installation Guide

Installing SmartCurtains sounded intimidating, but with a few tools and a free afternoon, we turned our bare windows into a smooth motorized setup. This guide breaks down every step we learned while outfitting fourteen windows.

December 16, 2025

Smart Home Basics

Affordable Home Security: Door and Window Sensors You Can Install Yourself

Door and window sensors turned out to be one of the easiest upgrades we installed in our fixer upper. Affordable, quick to set up, and surprisingly powerful, they gave us instant peace of mind during renovation chaos.

December 11, 2025

Catching Pests on Camera: My DIY Smart Home Mouse Trap Adventure

A cheap security camera, a glue trap, and one mysterious mouse created the most unexpected DIY smart home stakeout. Here is how we used simple tech to finally understand where our uninvited guest was hiding.

December 9, 2025

We Motorized Our Living Room Curtains for Under $200 (No Electrician!)

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October 9, 2023

💚 Affiliate Disclosure

We're proud affiliate partners with RYSE, the motorized curtain system we use throughout our home. When you purchase through our RYSE links, we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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