Whether old or new, a home is an investment worth protecting.

"The difference between a house the owner has paid attention to and one they have not can be amazing," said Mike Becker, a home inspector for Calgary and surrounding areas with Pillar to Post Home Inspectors.

Homeowners can maintain the value of their investment by monitoring these areas of the home:

Want to sell your house fast? Then add a little sizzle to your curb appeal, so potential buyers can see from the road how pretty your house is before they book a showing.

Sizzle is as simple as adding one or more fantastic flowerpots. Even an empty pot screams, "Hello, I have potential!"

Your kitchen and bathroom need to stand the test of time, both in design and function. How do you create a kitchen – one that you will love – that serves both needs?

It starts with an experienced designer who understands today's products, innovations, space-saving ideas and, of course, trends that actually stand the test of time. The right designer will have the expertise to ensure your renovation runs as smoothly as possible.

As spring starts to arrive in Calgary, homeowners might be looking ahead to the warmer months and the possibilities for home improvement or building something new on their property.

Many of the most popular projects involve fences, whether building new or breathing life into an old one. However, fence building can be fraught with frustrations: Who is responsible for fence construction between two properties? What are the costs? What should it be made of?

Everything was overflowing everywhere, Jodie Tilley says, as she stands in the open-concept main floor of her 2,500-square-foot duplex in Richmond-Knob Hill.

"My life was unmanageable in this house," she said. "My dining table was a dumping ground, and lots of the house was unusable because of the clutter. It didn't feel like a home I could welcome people into."

Want to sell your house fast? Then add a little sizzle to your curb appeal, so potential buyers can see from the road how pretty your house is before they book a showing.

Spring is the time for cleaning up after the drab days of winter, but a good clean-up is also key to selling a home quickly and at the right price.

Calgary-based designer Alykhan Velji is partial to mid-century modern design. So when he and his now-husband, Jason Krell, were scouring the MLS® System listings for their first home, it was a given that the couple would jump on a four-level, mid-century modern gem in Chinook Park.

Gardening guru, author and HGTV Canada's Home to Win host Carson Arthur has fond memories of his first home, a two-storey, 1960s fixer-upper with a lovely front porch in Toronto's eclectic community of Leslieville.