Blog Posts by This Old House Magazine

I can't recall a time in my life when I didn't think magnets were fun. My kid managed to get her hands on some old school rattlesnake eggs, and I think I have them in hand way more than she does. I'm a pretty big fan of the jumbo mustache fridge magnet from our latest installment of Wackiest Kitchen Products. But, it turns out that there are great ways to use magents to enhance kitchen storage. The Better Housewares Bamboo Magnetic Bar ($27; Amazon) is a great way to put wallspace to work and it's a quick and easy upgrade that'll keep knives at the ready for food prep. Keep reading for more cool, magnetized kitchen organization tools

Magnetic Knife Rack

Getting pregnant isn't always as easy as it looks on TV. Some 7.3-million American women have trouble becoming pregnant or staying pregnant. Doctors can't explain what's wrong for about 10 percent of the couples who can't conceive, and some experts suspect the culprit is all around us: environmental contaminants, particularly in the home.

That may help explain why male sperm counts are dropping, and it's a fact that the male contributes to infertility about 40 percent of the time. Toxins in your couch, vinyl floor, and other spots where you may have made attempts to expand your family could be throwing a wrench in your reproductive works. As much as we like to see home as a benevolent vessel of our dreams, the materials and chemicals they're made of and furnished with-from flame-retardant cushions to Teflon pans-can quash those dreams. Here's what to look for, and what you can do about it.

Related content: Nine more ways your home could make you infertile

1. Solvents: Handle With

Hammers, screws, and tape measures are handy, sure, but if your house needs a face-lift, you need specialty spray paints. Able to mimic the look of everything from stainless steel to stained glass-and formulated for all types of surfaces, including plastic and metal-these high-impact, long-lasting finishes offer an easy fix for a slew of household objects. And at around $5 to $10 a can, you can afford to make over every beat-up, outmoded item you own. Need proof? Check out these examples.

Before: A Window That Leaves You Exposed

Installed in a bathroom, this window revealed too much...

...until we sprayed the panes with Krylon's Stained Glass Color. Available in red, yellow, and blue, the translucent formula lets in light while shading details from prying eyes.

About $9.50 each; Krylon

Tip: Layer splotches of color over one another to give your window the look of art glass.

Thanks to their varying heights and

Not very many of us can afford to live like Hollywood stars. But, for those of you with a few million dollars in the bank, it just so happens that Nicolas Cage's beautiful Rhode Island mansion and Michael Jackson's swanky Los Angeles chateau are up for grabs. Here, we'll take you on a tour of a dozen celebrity homes currently listed with real estate search engine extraordinaire trulia.com

1. Nicolas Cage's House in Middletown, Rhode Island



This French Colonial Revival-style estate-one of several to be recently put up for sale by actor Nicolas Cage (National Treasure, Kick-Ass)-is listed for $7.75 million. The home is in Rhode Island's beautiful Newport County and sits on a private 27-acre lot with breath-taking ocean views. The manor was built in 1924, making it the oldest home on our celebrity list. Take a look inside.

2. Michael Jackson's House in Los Angeles

Own a small piece of pop culture history with this property, once inhabited by The King of Pop. The house is a

Here's another "greatest hits" installment of some of the strangest-slash-most-awesome home goods ever invented. If you thought the toilet-for-two and the Vodka-dispensing machine were insane, wait 'til you see these.

• 1. Pizza Saw

  

  Sure you could use a run-of-the-mill pizza cutter, but you could also hire someone to custom cut your crown molding, and really what's the fun in that? Get perfectly straight edges with the Pizza Boss 3000. This mini table saw has a stainless steel blade that is sure to cut through the deepest of deep-dish pizzas and sports a removable shield for easy clean-up. Show your pizza who's DIY boss. About $15; Fred and Friends. See an entire gallery of Wacky Kitchen Products

• 2. Butter Cutter

  

  Butter up the dieters in your life with this handy gadget. The Butter Cutter precisely measures a 35-calorie portion at a time and dispenses it with just one click. It's also great for kids if you are incredibly

From a chilled Vodka shot-dispensing machine to a toilet for two (yeah, you read that right), here are some of the most crazy-slash-clever home inventions of all time

• 1. Bubble Scrubber

  

  Rub-a-dub-a-dub, dirty dishes in your sink! What better way to tackle a tiresome chore than to blow bubbles while you work? This long-handed scrubber not only cleans off last night's dinner, but the hole in the center allows you to relive one of childhood's happiest activities. This handy dandy trick might even get your kids and, possibly, your sweetie to roll up their sleeves and chip in. About $6; Fred and Friends. See more Wackiest Kitchen Products at thisoldhouse.com

• 2. ForkedUP Utensil Holder

  

  Joining the circus and becoming a knife thrower sounds fun, but the reality is most of us just can't hack it. These wall tiles can help you fool friends and family. The simple-to-mount Baltic birch ply and lacquer ForkedUP wall tile uses magnets in small

TOH reader Mark Feroglia from High Springs, Florida finds new lives for plastic yogurt containers that pile up.


SEE MORE 10 USES FOR... AT THISOLDHOUSE.COM

Start Seeds

Poke some holes in the bottom of a cup for drainage, fill with potting soil, and plant seeds. Once they sprout, pop out the seedlings and transplant them.

MORE: 10 USES FOR CAR WAX

Catch Paint Drips

Cut a hole in a lid large enough for a paintbrush handle. Slip the handle through the opening, and paint mess-free.

MORE: 10 USES FOR PLASTIC PLANTING POTS

Create a Funnel

Cut a hole in a container's bottom for funneling small amounts of sand or liquid.

Time: 3 hours
Cost: $75 to $200
Difficulty: Moderate
DIY Savings: Up to $200 to hire an electrician

By swapping a recessed can for a pendant, you can elegantly bring task lighting down from ceiling height to where it's needed. In this case, just above a kitchen sink.

To tie in with other accents, such as the chrome faucet and white tile backsplash, TOH chose a mini pendant with a polished-nickel finish and opal glass shade for $135 from a lighting shop (Schoolhouse Electric). You can find similar pendants at home centers for as little as $35.

Instead of calling an electrician, we used a $40 recessed-can conversion kit (The Can Converter) and wired up the pendant ourselves for a grand total of $175.

Step 1. Install the converter

Cut power to the fixture, and remove the bulb and can's trim piece. Then secure the can converter in the recess, as per the manufacturer's instructions, lowering the mounting surface so that it's flush with the ceiling.


Step 2. Hook up the pendant

Hook up the