Be Jane.: General

Want to be a part of the Be Jane community?

Mon, 21 May 2007 18:30:24 GMT

In case you were floating around trying to find out if there were other women out there who do home improvement like you, then check out www.BeJane.com We are the largest women's home improvement community and we are adding new features every day for you to be able to be inspired by other women or to offer your own projects as inspiration for others.

Our October Sweepstakes Winner...

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 22:11:06 GMT

For those of you who didn't sign up, we had a huge sweepstakes for October where there were a total of 31 winners but the grand prize winner won a $2,500 shopping spree with Improvement Direct and a Ryobi Renovator kit for her and 5 of her friends. It contains just about everything you could possibly need to take on the majority of home improvement projects. Also part of the package is that Eden and I will come to the home of the woman and teach her and her 5 friends how to use these tools in person.

Well we chose the winner and today I was able to speak with her on the phone. Her name is Laura L. and she is from Arvada, Colorado. She recently bought her home and it is in need of a great deal of renovation so she is ecstatic to have won. On a bit of a side note, she really wasn't going crazy over it when I first called her because, as she told me, she really didn't believe that she had won because she had never won anything like that before!

She just sent me an email about it and I thought you might get a kick out of it...I know I did:

Thank you Heidi, I actually am getting more excited now that this seems to be real and not just a dream. I am so thankful for this opportunity as I did just purchase a town home and have lots of projects in mind for it. I have never won anything like this before and you can bet I have told all my friends about your website and they have already checked it out.

Again, thank you so much for the gifts and I look forward to meeting you in the next year.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Laura

If you missed out on our October sweepstakes, you can still sign up for our November one where the grand prize is $1000 cash to fix up your own home. Click here to enter: Win $1000 Cash!

Oops! I picked the wrong paint!

Fri, 17 Nov 2006 22:49:47 GMT

Most of us have painted a wall or two that ended up not exactly like we expected it to (just look at my recent butterscotch bedroom fiasco!)

Maybe the burnt sienna color that looked great in the store, looks more like barn red in your kitchen! It's kind of like getting your hair colored a new color and leaving the salon thinking you look great until you see it in your light at home. Well just like your hair, it's all fixable. If you've painted a room too dark or too bright, you can change it. Start by bringing a sample of the color on the walls to the home improvement store and the reasons why you don't like it. Try to stay in the realm of too bright, too (insert color), shiny (part of why you don't like a color might have to do with the sheen) or anything else that comes to mind. With all of this info, they can help you figure out which shade is right for you. (To prevent any wasting any time, ask for a sample of the new color and test it out before painting the entire room again.)

Remember, you don’t have to live with anything you aren’t completely happy with!

How to paint a 15 story building in 70 seconds!

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:47:51 GMT

I just watched the coolest commercial online, to be honest I think it's for a tv but the reason why I'm telling you about this is they paint an entire building with paint bombs! It's soo much fun! Supposedly it took 70,000 liters of paint, 10 days and 250 people to film it but clean up took 60 people 5 days! No worries about getting it into the water supply, they created a special water based paint that made it easy to scrape up once it dried.

Check it out, I think you'll love it as much as I did: How to Paint a 15 Story Building in 70 Seconds!

-Heidi

What is Be Jane?

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 17:02:29 GMT

This morning I was thinking about it and realized that I never told you who we are and what it is that we do. Sorry about that, sometimes life gets so hectic that I forget to do the most obvious things.

What is Be Jane?

Well the simplest way to put it would be to say that we are a company that is focused on helping women to become empowered to take on home improvement projects they never thought they could do. Where the whole idea came from was both of our experiences of owning a home and not being able to hire someone to fix them up the way we wanted. So it was up to us to make them more than just a place to exist in.

While we didn't know each other at the time, we both had similar experiences in doing this. There were, of course, the naysayers who didn't believe we could do the projects we had planned on doing. We ended up laying stone countertops and floors, re-facing kitchen cabinets, installing new bathroom vanities sinks, faucets and all, installing crown molding, rounding out the corners of our homes called bullnosing, installing new lights and dimmers, building up and tearing down walls, building out walk-in closets (of course!) and so much more! It was a lot of fun making the naysayers eat their words- we loved that!

As if that wasn't enough, we were so surprised at the amazing calls we got from our girlfriends. They wanted to know if they could take on similar types of projects in their homes and could we show them how to do it. They didn't listen to the naysayers either because, as they often said, what another girlfriend had done and taught them.

When they took on the projects, quite often they would call and ask for advice or ask if we could come over, but they always succeeded on their ownl! That was honest and truly where we this all began. We wondered how many other women also wanted to know that they could do these kinds of projects, only needing a safe place to ask the "stupid" question as we've so often been told. We know that there are thousands of women out there who've wanted to do things like this but didn't know where to start or who to ask. We've heard from so many of our members about how happy they are to have found us and how excited they are to have a community of women to share their home improvement experiences with.

We created Be Jane to be a place of strength, fun and community.

That's what Be Jane is.

Welcome to Be Jane!

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 22:33:29 GMT

Thanks for visiting Be Jane on MSN!

You're probably wondering what Be Jane is all about. Right now, it's one of the largest communities on the web dedicated to women who love home improvement. We're a group of Do-It-Yourselfers, ranging from those just getting started to true Jane-of-All-Trades, unafraid to take on any project. Check out our channel on MSN for videos, how-to articles, tips, tutorials, and more - all created for women interested in working on their homes.

Heidi and I started Be Jane more than 2 years ago after buying our first houses. We both had more ideas than cash and wanted to move beyond basic décor; we wanted to make substantial changes. But who – or where – could we turn to? We had a fear of asking “the stupid question” at our local home improvement store and were constantly frustrated by answers like “oh honey, you should just hire someone”!

But after trial and error – not to mention a few tears – we not only transformed our homes, but found a new sense of self-confidence and empowerment. We did it! We used power tools! And our homes were still in one piece (not to mention our fingers)!

We began sharing our knowledge and inspiring friends and family to take on their own projects. We then found that our girlfriends were sharing their inspiration and knowledge with their girlfriends. And so the community began.

Today we invite you to share your knowledge, your experience, and your stories (both good and bad!) with other Do-It-Yourselfers. It doesn’t matter if you’re just beginning and want to learn, or consider yourself an expert – we invite you to ask questions, answer questions, or share a project you’ve done in your own home!

We’ll be here every week, and we can’t wait for you to be an active part of our growing community!

-Eden