Holiday Houseguest Prep Checklist: Prepare Your Home for Overnight Guests

Is your doormat squishy and virtually useless after a rainstorm? With a fine-tooth handsaw or a jigsaw, cut a piece of 2 x 4-ft. suspended ceiling plastic grid (about $10 at a home center) to fit under your mat. Air will circulate better under the elevated mat and help it dry faster and prevent mold from growing in the fabric. The plastic grid is sturdy and won't break under the heftiest footstep in your neighborhood. To keep mud from getting in your house, consider installing this mud-busting boot scrape.

It's difficult to clean out the cloudy residue left in slim flower vases. You can make any vase sparkle by adding warm water and denture cleaning tablets. Let it fizz for a few minutes and rinse well.

Zip ties are a simple way to string holiday lights on banisters and fences without marring the railing with nail marks. Zip ties are sold at home centers. You'll find them in the electrical supplies aisle. After the holidays, snip the ties off with scissors.

When you need temporary clothes-hanging space around the house, keep an extra shower tension bar handy. Put it between the jambs in the laundry room door on heavy laundry days. Or, use it in the bedroom closet to pack for trips or stick it in the closet opening in the guest room/den so overnight guests can hang up their clothes. It's a quick and easy way to gain an extra closet! Want more ways to expand your closet space? Who doesn't! Check out these 16 tips.

To hang a wreath on a door—without leaving an ugly nail hole—drive a small screw into the top of the door, leaving the head protruding slightly. Tie a piece of fishing line to the screw, tie the other end to your wreath and then drive the screw in completely. Need help hanging decorations on your walls? These tips make it easy.

Make inexpensive, long-lasting holiday light clips from common electrical cable wiring staples. Snip the staple in half and fasten it to your fascia or trim with the remaining nail. These clips hold the wire securely, but it's still easy to slip the wire behind the clip. If you have metal fascia, use stainless steel screws so they won't rust. Got some light strings that aren't working? Here's how to repair them.

If you have shallow scratches or nicks, hide them with a stain-filled touch-up marker. Dab on the stain and wipe off the excess with a rag. But beware: Scratches can absorb lots of stain and turn darker than the surrounding finish. So start with a marker that's lighter than your cabinet finish and then switch to a darker shade if needed. For deeper scratches, use a filler pencil, which fills and colors the scratch. If the cabinet finish is dingy overall and has lots of scratches, consider a wipe-on product like Old English Scratch Coat. These products can darken the finish slightly, so you have to apply them to all your cabinets. Bigger than a scratch? Use polyester filler.

To protect your carpet, place a water-absorbent mat inside your door for wet or snow-covered shoes and boots. Or you can make this attractive boot tray.

First spread a plastic tarp on the floor under the chandelier to catch the drips. Then turn off the light and spray the solution on the chandelier until liquid beads start to run (you'll use a lot of spray, but it beats wiping). The spray rinses off the dust. The solution that's left evaporates quickly and doesn't leave water spots. The spray works well on hanging crystals, but don't expect it to remove dust from crevices. Buy it from nancysilver.com or chandelierparts.com. If you're tired of cleaning you chandelier and would like to replace it, here's how you can do it yourself.

For people with limited mobility or who prefer to shower while seated, a handheld showerhead is a terrific help. And even better is a handheld showerhead on a sliding rail that allows for individual adjustment. But because those rails are often flimsy, grabbing one could be a disaster. Look for an ADA-compliant grab bar with a sliding handheld showerhead. Here are 20 additional tips for creating a safe home for older family members and guests.

Aluminum shovels are perfect for snow shoveling, or as a substitute for a big dustpan in your shop. The only drawback is that the soft aluminum edge wears out and gets bent, making shoveling more difficult. Here's an easy fix. Make a straight line across the blade with a piece of masking tape. Then saw along the tape with a jigsaw and a metal-cutting blade to straighten the front edge of the shovel. If you want, you can polish and sharpen the edge slightly with a belt sander. If you use a snow blower instead of a shovel for snow removal, check out these nine tips for safer, more efficient snow blowing.