What's playing at the cineplex and in your neighborhood.OPENINGGET LOWRobert Duvall stars as a 1930s Tennessee recluse who holds a "funeral party" for himself. Aaron Schneider makes his directorial debut in the Southern drama featuring Sissy Spacek and Bill Murray. Reviewed in this section. Rated

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

Liberty Town Productions' second annual Summer Musical Showcase is a true team effort this year.Last summer, the theater company brought back Libertyville native Ian Liberto, who was starring in the touring production of "A Chorus Line."This year, however, there's no one, big name.But, producer

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

These easy-to-grow perennials just got better with a wider-than-ever range of colors, shapes, and sizes

Learn how to identify common lawn and garden invaders, then get pro advice on how to eliminate them forever

A mower is essential equipment for anyone who wants a trim and tidy lawn. This Old House's experts tell you how to choose the best one for your grass-cutting needs

Front Porch Swing from SudburyDesign.com

My old house doesn’t have a front porch swing. Actually it doesn’t even have a front porch anymore; it was enclosed during a previous owner’s restoration project many years ago. But late summer brings back many memories of sitting on front porch swings and watching the goings on in the neighborhood. My friends and I would discuss the approaching baseball playoffs and the upcoming football season. We often talked of what the future might hold after we graduated. Many evenings we sat on that front porch swing until the moths were bouncing off the front door lights, and we could hear the mosquitoes whistling past our ears. Those were simpler times, and I sometimes can’t help but think we would all be better off if we made more time for front porch swing evenings today.

Old Houses and Front Porch Swings

I’m not alone in my fond memories of front porch swings: I think one of the first things that occurs to many old house enthusiasts when they see an empty front porch is that it might be a great place for a swing. Perhaps it comes from old movies such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” where the fictional town of Maycomb, Alabama, had homes with expansive porches and families spending their summer evenings conversing on their swings. Others may have grown up in old house neighborhoods similar to mine, where every other home had a front porch swing.

I found a blog post that manages to be humorous and romantic at the same time as the author describes making a front porch swing as a gift for his fiancee to represent the old house they would someday own together. When they started house hunting in South Carolina a primary consideration for every home they looked at was whether it had a porch for the swing, and the house they purchased looks like it was built just for that swing.

Another family found what might be the perfect old house for a front porch swing in Baltimore, Maryland. Actually, from the photos on the blog the entire old house might be perfect; whoever did the restoration appears to have done an incredible job. All the old house needs is a sleeping porch.

There is another old house in upstate New York that is a prime candidate for a front porch swing, and it sounds like it may have one as soon as the kitchen restoration is complete. I found this to be a great blog full of interesting descriptions of a typical family’s adventures while restoring a home built in 1855. I just wish I could enjoy reading about it on my front porch swing.

Create a bold accent wall with painter's tape and a menu of complementary colors

How to create a handsome looking glass from fluted casing and corner blocks

One of the perennial challenges of home improvement and maintenance is getting to the work. Gutter cleaning or crown molding, drywall or painting, trimming branches or replacing a window; whatever the project, you need to get yourself–and your tools–to where the work is.

Little Giant Select Step stepladder

The basic step ladder has been the go-to for most single-story work of this nature. They have–and still–serve many projects well. They are, however, sort of one-trick ponies. Notably, they’re a fixed height and on uneven terrain–whether that’s stairs, a porch roof, or a sloping grade outside–they can’t adjust.

Little Giant’s new Select Step stepladder, however, takes these challenges into account in their reinvention of the stepladder.This new tool adds a level of versatility and convenience I have never seen in a step ladder. Long story short, it’s awesome and I’ve used it all over the place.

Adjustable Height. The most common stepladder heights on my projects are 4 foot and 6 foot. While I often need an 8 footer, I’ve made due by…well…I’ve made due. The Select Step adjusts between a 5 foot and 8 foot ladder in 1 foot increments without sacrificing safety or stability. I can work on it just as easily at any height, though more carefully the higher I go. Simple release levers on the front and back of the unit allow the leg rails to slide such that they can telescope to the desired height. I’ve used this for everything from painting above a window to setting crown molding on a porch remodel–all with one ladder.

Independently Adjustable Legs. The front and rear legs adjust independently of one another. You can set the front lower than the back enabling you to lean the ladder flush up to a wall to get yourself and your tools right next to the work (I just did this on a drywall repair–very handy). It also enables you to work on a slope (I cleaned my second story gutters by setting the ladder on my porch roof; the roof pitched but I stood evenly and safely.) The most common example of this feature you’ll probably see is someone setting it up on stairs for painting the stairwell (which I haven’t done.)

Features. The ladder ships with what Little Giant calls their Air Deck, which is a large platform you can slot into the the top of the ladder to house a paint can and various tools. At first I thought it was a little too large, however, it grew on me and I like it. I can slot everything from screwdrivers and pliers (think ceiling fan installation) to my impact driver i the various holes and cut-outs. And its large enough that I can place a pneumatic nailer lying flat on it without much worry it’ll get knocked off.

There’s a round recess in the center of the Air Deck for paint cans–very cool. It’s even magnetized so small metal parts don’t roll around when you move the ladder. Nice. My Air Deck doesn’t like to stay in its on-board storage slot which is a slight headache, but I also got an early model of this ladder and it may be a manufacturing kink they’ve worked out by now. You can also slot the Air Deck vertically and use it as sort of a balance handle at the top of the ladder. I didn’t use this much, but I can see where it’d be ideal for someone new to ladders. Good idea.

The stance is nice and wide so whether working at 5 feet or 8 feet I feel stable. The legs are solid and there’s nothing flimsy about this ladder (it’s a Type 1 A rated for 300 pounds). It folds down quickly, easily and stores in a compact, easy-to-move package. I love this both for the shop and traveling to job sites. And since this single ladder now serves as three or more separate ladders for me, that’s a real storage bonus.

Bottom Line. Little Giant has reinvented the step ladder category, in my view, with Select Step. It costs a little more up front (about $220) than a traditional step ladder but I think its payback in versatility and convenience (not to mention an additional 8 foot stepladder I don’t need to buy, carry, and store) is well worth the investment. It’s a professional grade tool that makes all kinds of home improvement and repair easier and safer.

Whether you’re a contractor trying to max-out production and efficiency or a DIYer trying to get the job done before Monday a word that should be present in lots of your thoughts and actions should be organization. I think about it all the time.

While there is an endless amount of items that needs to be organized in a home improvement project–everything from budget to materials–one of the key things to have organized is tools. And while there are lots of products that go a long way to helping manage that mission, it all starts with your approach.

The reason for organization, in my mind, is that looking for a tool you need isn’t working. It’s looking for a tool. Nailing up trim or hanging a door is working if you catch my drift.

A key element to organizing my job sites and home improvement projects has always been to keep things neatly in a line and, therefore, visible. For example, my shop is lined with homemade shelves that enables me to place my tools on them such that I can see what they are. And, when possible, I keep the tools in their respective tool boxes or carrying cases so I can remove and replace them sort of like books from a shelf. This doesn’t always work–framing nailer or circ saw boxes are either too big or don’t exist for example–but it helps. Besides, hanging a nailer on a nail works even better.

Large stuff works well in individual boxes for me. Containers loaded from the top-down–like buckets–rarely works for me. Better than nothing yes, but it’s just an organized pile I still have to sift through. For small items like drywall knives and other accouterments, I like pocketed bags. I’ve had a Bucket Boss tool bag for my drywall gear for years while I’ve used a Duluth Trading Company riggers bag for my paint stuff (you can place your brushes in the sleeves upside down so the bristles don’t get crushed or curved as they probably will if you laid them in bucket).

I guess it doesn’t necessarily matter how you organize, just that you do. And in doing so, I hope you get more done.

I remember watching my father and grandfather move a large tool shed when I was very young. The shed had been hand built before the days of prefab buildings and was probably about 10 feet by 15 feet. It was being moved from my grandfather’s property over to ours, a distance of several hundred yards. I was too young to help, but even at that age I realized what a big job it was as they labored to get it off the foundation and up onto a tractor cart. Now, 50 years later, I read about old houses

House Moving in the Old Days: Seven Feet a Day; Photo from essential-architecture.com

being moved with hydraulic jacks and tractor trailers by crews that act as if it’s just another day at the office. It’s easy to forget about how difficult it must have been in the days before these luxuries.

Old House Moving in the Old Days

I recently read an interesting article about the preservation efforts of an organization in Boston way back in 1925. Boston went through a growth stage after the Civil War and by the late 1800s and early 1900s many Bostonians were concerned about the preservation of the houses and buildings of Old Boston. The Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA) was founded in 1910, and in 1916 they purchased an old house dating back to 1796 as their headquarters. As luck would have it, the old house was slated for demolition in 1925 to make room for a street widening project. The SPNEA had already saved a number of old Boston houses and buildings by then and now they had to save their own. The house was moved back from the street 43 feet to save it. It moved at the rate of 7 feet a day and took almost a week; house moving was a little tougher back then.

Old House Moving Today

House moving today is still a major project, but most of the time it goes a lot better than 7 feet a day. Thankfully there are many companies now that specialize in moving houses, and moving an old house to save it from demolition has become a viable solution in many cases. Recently an old house in Seattle was moved a mile to save it. People lined the streets to watch it go by, just like a holiday parade in a small town.

House movers in Grahamsville, New York, had a little different approach to the task. They were able to use bulldozers to move a 100-year-old house from its location to where it will become part of a living museum. Regardless of the method, however, the end result was the same–another piece of our history was saved.

Each summer I lived in Tonopah as a kid, there were two places I went just about every day. One was the pool. The other was the library. I’ve been to the library this summer, too, but my trips aren’t to check out books. They’re to help keep the library operational and to help preserve and restore the first circulating library in rural Nevada, which is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Photo, 1906, courtesy of the the Central Nevada Historical Society in Tonopah, Nevada, home of the "Best Museum in Rural Nevada, 2010"

The Tonopah Public Library was built in 1905 as the result of the town’s first death. John Randall Weeks, 47, was a geologist who died of heart failure while cutting wood in 1901. His funeral was the first in the mining boom town of Tonopah. His brother George Weeks, an editor from Colorado, suggested when visiting that the town form a library. After returning home, George sent 100 volumes of classics and best sellers.

Though there is some disagreement as to if those first books ever made it from the temporary library tent into the finished library, a beautiful library was completed and was dedicated in 1906. A Feb. 23 article in the Tonopah Daily stated, “The building is one which does credit to Tonopah. It is substantial, it is beautiful.” Three “public-spirited women,” as the newspaper called them, were responsible for the erection of the building.

The historic Tonopah Library Building as it stands today.

The single story building is slightly more than 1000 square feet and is “coursed dressed stone” on the facade with “random ashlar construction” on the sides and rear, according to the historical building report from the county. The cream-colored, chalky stones are the same as those used in many other early 1900s buildings in the area and taken from a nearby quarry. It is the best preserved example of early stone construction in town and was used as the public library until 2000.

Very few modifications have been made. The same historical report noted that the building was unmodified except for the screens added to the porch. That’s not exactly true as the building didn’t have a restroom until the 1970s. Up until that point, the only facility had been an outhouse out back. An oral history taken from a librarian who worked there in the 1970s recalled a patron who took a pork chop out of his satchel one day intended to cook lunch in the library on the blacktop stove. The old stove was changed out for a rather unattractive wall-mounted gas heater–instead of having the original stove converted to preserve the historical integrity.

"Library" carved into the lintel.

How did those three women raise enough money to build the library in the first place?  They held socials and lectures and solicited local businesses and families. One lecture on “The Social Side of Rome in the First Century” resulted in $15 in donations. These women were able to get the block donated, the lot donated, and raised $10,000–the equivalent of $235,723 today. One even slept on the building site and supervised the laying of each block. A few years later when the money ran out, they pinched and scraped within the community to keep the library open.

What is currently happening with such a treasure?  The building has been used as storage for 10 years, and though grant funds were secured at one time to do some restoration, those projects were incomplete. As budgets get cut, help gets cut, and things get lost in the shuffle. Library volunteers are currently working to clear out clutter and sell surplus books as a way to raise funds for the library, much like the library’s founding mothers.

Like many libraries throughout the nation that are cutting hours and employees due to budget cuts, Tonopah’s library is struggling. But it’s not just an old library building–it’s a part of our state and local history, too. And that should be worth a bit more pinching and scraping.

Turn your home into the belle of the block with these dozen exterior fixes—best done while the temperatures are warm

The following incidents were listed among the official reports of the Libertyville Police Department. Readers are reminded that an arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt. Only a court of law can make that determination.LIBERTYVILLEBURGLARY TO MOTOR VEHICLEPolice reports stated July 17 that a

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

Registered Dietitian and Certified Diabetes Educator Isa Carani will present a program on diabetes and controlling blood sugar on Aug. 12, from 1-2 p.m., at the Lake County Health Department's North Shore Health Center, 1840 Green Bay Road, in Highland Park. Each month the Diabetes Prevention and

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

It's nearly August, time for many parents to purchase a new backpack for their child. Younger kids might clamor for the backpack with the Disney characters while older students might want a pack that was originally designed for mountain climbers. But what parents should want is a backpack that

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

Two Libertyville residents have started an online petition drive to try to convince the Libertyville Village Board to broadcast its meetings.Residents Luke Stowe and Jim Moran said they have already collected several dozen signatures in support of their efforts to get the meetings televised. Stowe

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

When Sandy first moved to Park Ridge years ago, she was charmed by the way it was different from surrounding suburbs.It's low density and lack of big-box stores, the quaint appeal of our town square were refreshing to a family who had relocated from a very different suburb. Flash forward, and many

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

Tax assessment notices will begin arriving in the mail in many townships next month, and homeowners in most areas of the county will likely see a decline in their assessments in 2010.Reflecting the downturn in the housing market that's occurred over the past three years, assessed valuations in most

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)

For miniature schnauzers and owners only:The Chicago Miniature Schnauzer Club announces their 4th Annual Dog Day Afternoon Picnic for miniature schnauzers and their owners. Saturday, August 7th from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM at Shelter C, Half Day Forest PreserveShelter site:

Publication: Libertyville Review (IL)