PROJECT: Deck umbrella stand TIME: Three days COST: Less than $50 HOW SHE DID IT: A large live oak tree in Linda Barrett’s backyard had to be taken down, leaving her deck unshaded. She bought a large umbrella but wanted the stand to be portable. Barrett couldn’t find what she had in mind at an affordable price, so she decided to make her own stand. “I got a large terra-cotta pot from Lowe’s, a piece of PVC pipe to fit the umbrella post and three small bags of Quikrete, only because I couldn’t lift the large bag,“ she said. “I cut the PVC to the height of the pot, centered it and anchored it with a small amount of the Quikrete. I let that set up, then put the rest of the cement in the pot to within 8 inches of the top.

PROJECT: Backyard tropical retreat TIME: Two weeks COST: $1,200 HOW THEY DID IT: Pam and Dave Conyers love the tropics—particularly Hawaii. “Pam wanted something a little closer and a lot cheaper where she could have a morning cup of coffee, read the paper and enjoy the sounds of running water and the smells of flowers,“ Dave Conyers said.

PROJECT: Utility room makeover TIME: One week COST: $150 HOW SHE DID IT: Betty Ann Spiers never imagined that a furnace chimney fire in her Henrico County home would turn out to be a blessing in disguise. “Although I had to clean up the soot from every surface in the utility room, I was jolted into the awareness that this room had not been cleaned in 40 years,“ Spiers said.

Norfolk has its mermaids—big statues of the mythical creatures—standing around the coastal city. Likewise, barbecue capital Lexington, N.C., boasts likenesses of pigs around town. Now, Abingdon is slated to have its wolves—two dozen fiberglass wolves, painted and perched as symbols of the area’s heritage on the colonial-era frontier.

Rob O’Connor, 30, faced a tough call two years ago when he moved out of a house he shared with friends. The choice: Buy an upscale, maintenance-free condo or a 1940s bungalow in an older neighborhood near Willow Lawn.