March 29, 2004

By: Daria Becker
Website: http://www.1st-in-home-decor.com

New Site Dedicated to the Home Arts Provides Cooking, Gardening and Home Improvement Content All Under One Roof

Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet communications, commerce and media company serving 156 million individuals worldwide each month, today announced the official launch of Yahoo! Living, a comprehensive guide dedicated to all topics related to home living.

Yahoo! Living brings fun, interactive, easy-to-use cooking, gardening and home improvement resources to the Yahoo! network and to our growing community of home arts enthusiasts, said Jean Teather, producer, Yahoo! Living. Whether it's entertaining, landscaping or home improvement, Yahoo! Living enhances the home life experience by bringing together inspiring and functional resources all in one place.

Yahoo! Living enables consumers to search and browse comprehensive information from a variety of creative and respected industry experts. Content providers include Cooks Illustrated, publisher of a bi-monthly magazine and cookbooks; Improvenet, a home improvement services company that provides free personal assistance by phone or email through every step of a remodeling project; SierraHome , developer of home software and Internet tools; Taunton Publishing, publisher of multiple magazines spanning food, garden and home; Tavolo, an online retailer for people who love to cook, dine and entertain; WineToday.com, part of New York Times Digital, the Internet division of The New York Times Company, dedicated to all things related to wine; and Women.com, a leading women's Internet network offering programming, community, shopping and personalized services that are relevant, interesting and immediate to women online.

In addition, Yahoo! Living provides a variety of resources including video, audio, community and shopping. Consumers can view rich media and photos; listen to experts in the home arts industry; chat with other home arts enthusiasts; and buy tools, ingredients, knick-knacks and other home and garden items.

Someone's In the Kitchen with Yahoo! What's for dinner? A common question that now has an easy answer. With Yahoo! Living's Recipe Search, cooking enthusiasts can search hundreds of recipes from appetizers to desserts. Recipes outline ingredients, nutritional analysis and preparation time. Chefs can search by course or by ingredient, and if they don't know what they want to prepare, they can look to the Weekly Pick section, which highlights new recipes each week. In the Community section, cooks can post messages, ask for advice or join the Recipe Exchange to garner ideas from other food enthusiasts around the globe.

Yahoo! Living's Garden Encyclopedia enables gardeners to search more than 3,000 plants and view color photos of everything under the sun (and shade). By typing in the name of a plant, people can discover the species, color, use, type of light for optimal growth, blooming season, best type of soil, and best environment. Featuring thousands of colorful plants, gardens, ponds, and other natural environments, the photo gallery demonstrates a variety of ways to beautify any backyard.

With the Find Your Zone feature, gardeners can find out what type of plant is best suited for their particular climate, temperature, and soil conditions simply by typing in their zip code. Advanced Feature Finder enables consumers to select their desired plant criteria (withstands dry, hot weather; is blue in color; blooms in early spring; etc.) to ensure success in the garden.

It's never easy to guess how much material it will take to complete a home improvement project, and now there's no need to wonder. Yahoo! Living's Calculators make the job easy by taking the guesswork out of the equation. If plans call for building a room from the ground up, consumers can type in the room's measurements and let Yahoo! Living's Calculators do the rest. The Calculators can determine how much lumber, dry wall, paint, tile and roofing materials will be needed to complete the project. The site leads even the most novice builder through the process, making it easy and fun. If there's a need for a contractor, re-modelers can tap into the database of home improvement professionals matched to their particular project need.

For additional advice on choosing a plumber, painter or contractor, people can participate in the Community area of Yahoo! Living, which enables home improvement enthusiasts to exchange information with one another in real-time formats.

About The Author:

Daria Becker is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-home-decor.com.  Home decorating tips and ideas to showcase any room with style.