Front door: A weekly look at adding beauty and utility to your space

If your bathroom has cracked tile, floral wallpaper and screams "1980s," you may be a candidate for DIY Network's "Bathtastic."

The bathroom makeover TV show is looking for bubbly, chatty homeowners who are open to edgy bathroom design ideas and live within the Twin Cities metro area. Homeowners must contribute $3,000 to $5,000 toward the project, but will receive professional design services and $2,000 toward the remodeling. Plus you can tell your friends you're starring in a TV show!

To apply, e-mail a brief description of what you like and dislike about your bathroom (it must be large), photos of the bathroom and yourself, your e-mail address, city, phone number and approximate budget to bathcasting@magneticproductions.com.

When you mow the lawn, let those clippings be. If you rake and bag grass clippings, you'll be robbing your lawn of the nutrients clippings deliver when they break down. So save yourself some work and do your lawn a favor.

Are you handy with a hacksaw? Skilled with a screwdriver? Can you look telegenic while wielding power tools?

DIY Network is seeking tradesmen and women from across the country for a new challenge-driven series, "DIY Dominator." Welders, masons, carpenters and landscapers -- all trades are welcome, as long as you can do high-quality work fast and under pressure.

Participants will receive round-trip travel to Denver, hotel accommodations and the opportunity to compete in their respective trade. The competitions will take place in mid-June. The series will air this summer. Oh, and there's cash involved: The grand-prize winner will receive $10,000; runners-up will receive $500 for their participation. To apply, go to www.highnoonentertainment.com/casting.php. Deadline is June 1.

There's no reason you have to shop the same old, same old every spring. The Twin Cities offers a wide array of garden centers and boutique nurseries, many of which specialize in specific plants. Interested in topiaries? Hostas? Natives? There's a shop for that. And you can find it in our online garden center guide. It contains staff reviews of -- and links to -- more than 75 local garden centers. Check it out at www.startribune.com/gardencenters.

It's going to be a bumper year for vegetable gardeners. This season, we'll follow a rookie and a seasoned vet as they plant their seedlings, wage war against pests and diseases and try to harvest the sweet success of a garden well tended.