Get your home groove on with Curbly and HomeAndTell

Years ago I was part of a team that created a site that had content for the home. It focused on content while helped support the products we made. It was very popular because people like to talk about their homes. They like to share their homes both to show-off what is working and learn about what is not working.

Today I thought we should take a look at two new home community sites: Curbly and Home and Tell.

Curbly

"Curbly is a Web community for people who love where they live. Curbly is the best place to share pictures of your home, find design ideas, and get expert home-improvement advice."

Curbly appears to be well designed, and has a pretty active community. One of the posts I find fascinating is called "3×3 office" and explains how this person setup their office. I like the way this person has setup the velcro and the corkboard for keeping cables in order. The site allows people to post questions and get help from other community members.

Check out the inspiration category for ideas on using other items to create new items. For example, this milkcrate chair looks like an object d'art! (though I thought the warning on these crates was that it was illegal to take them).

Lastly, the How-To section offers user tips on improving things around the home. The featured tip currently explains to how maximize time and money when doing laundry at a public laundromat.

Home and Tell

Home and Tell allows you to post your home, pictures, shows, etc. and then create sub-projects for your home. Since most homes are always under some updating, this is an interesting concept. You can see your home at different times as you make updates over time. What might be interesting for them to add is a timeline that you can scroll through. Check out this home from Florida and their projects on the right menu.

HaT also has a forum/discussion board and a home library which allows you to post ideas and expressions for your home. I like the current featured item which discusses the personality of your home.

Summary

Check out both sites and decide which one you prefer. Home and Tell takes the more traditional web approach while Curbly is more Web 2.0, but both pack a punch for jazzing up your home (or apartment for most of us!). Report in on your experience using both sites.