7 DIY Home Improvement Ideas for Your Forever House

This overlooking of tradespeople is certainly not unique to Victoria’s show—it’s only the latest manifestation of a pattern that has come to define home-renovation TV as a whole. Every program on HGTV arguably owes its existence to This Old House, which first turned home renovation and real estate into television. Without it, viewers might never have gotten Property Brothers, or Fixer Upper, or probably even House Hunters International. All the same, it can be difficult to locate the similarities between This Old House and its descendants. This Old House, meanwhile, has no single star and little concern for dramatic narrative arcs. Its chief goal is, as it always has been, to put skilled tradespeople and the work they do in front of the camera.

• Any openings in the slab or foundation are sealed to keep out radon.
• If your landlord is