If you're like me, you probably think blown-in, or spray-in house insulation is about as exciting as watching paint dry...right?

Watch this short video and it might just change your mind.

Time for another segment of my recent interview with Paul Ryan of DIY Network's Kitchen Renovations and Weekend Handyman.

Green is the word and Paul has some great ideas about what is available for your kitchen renovation or homebuilding project. He offered up just a few of those ideas when I asked him about it recently.

So what do you think are some of the new kitchen trends in homes these days?

I know that I see some pretty interesting things in some of the higher priced new homes that I tour that are either in the final phases of construction or waiting for a buyer.

Okay...so high priced homes to me may be different from what you have in mind. The homes that I'm gathering new trends and ideas from that are in my local vicinity (suburban Atlanta, GA) range in price from the $400's to $1M. (Homeowners that live in areas where home prices are astronomical will need to use a sliding scale to apply these ideas to your home.) Anyway, that's high-end 'round these parts and it's where builders really start to offer homeowners something custom, somewhat unique or new-on-the-market to get them to sign on the dotted line. That's not to say that you can't borrow what you may find here and apply it to your home if it happens to fall above or below that price range. Create the kitchen that works for you and your family.

For a moment, let's set aside what you and I think about kitchen trends. Let's hear it straight from a nationally recognized home improvement expert that lives and breathes this sort of stuff everyday, DIY Network's Paul Ryan.

I had the privilege of conducting a rare one-on-one phone interview recently with Paul Ryan of DIY Network's Kitchen Renovations; Weekend Handyman; and Home Energy Savings. Paul was also a guest host on DIY's 2007 Blog Cabin series where he installed all of the custom kitchen cabinetry of this blogger-designed log cabin in Kinzel Springs, Tennessee.

Paul is a licensed contractor and expert carpenter with experience in plumbing, fiberglass repair and general construction, but his specialty is kitchen renovations and remodels. I feel fortunate to have been able to speak with Paul to get his expert opinions on some hot topics and kitchen trends.

I'll be shedding some light on the details of my interview with Paul in upcoming posts.

In my first segment, Paul offers his opinion about the #1 thing that homeowners can do to a kitchen to increase the value of their home and some options for refacing kitchen cabinets.

I've found that decorating your home for Halloween is an ongoing process. Everywhere I look on the web, I see where people have their own Halloween yard and home decorations chronicled on a year-by-year basis and often cataloged by prop so that we can see the steady improvements and additions being made.

People are more than proud to show the world, as well. Who could blame them. It's a lot of hard work, in many cases, to come up with props that will scare the pants off of kids and adults alike. It takes time to see what works and what doesn't.

I've found an eerily grotesque amount of home-grown Halloween websites with some really cool ideas and a few corny ideas just for fun. All with the main focus of having a good..but scary time.

Would you like to put your home handyman skills to the test this coming Halloween by learning how to make your own Halloween props? If you're the DIY type and you enjoy scaring the kiddies at Halloween, I've 'dug up' some great links to all sorts of scare the pants off of 'em yard props and 'killer' decorations that you can build yourself.

I'm talking about skeletons (Bucky's), torsos, hands, flying crank ghosts, skulls, zombies, spooky audio effects, lighting and fog techniques (some very detailed), demons, gargoyles and all manner of creatures and devices.

Some of these Halloween props are simple enough for beginners and others are rather involved but well worth the fun of building them yourself for a fraction of the cost of store-bought.

Come along as you prepare to greet your guests properly for Fright Night!