With new budget, Obama urges focus on the foundation. Decorators ask, Where's the love?

"There are times when you can afford to redecorate your house, and there are times when you have to focus on rebuilding its foundation," said President Obama on Thursday before proposing his 10-year budget, "A New Era of Responsibility."

You could have almost heard a pushpin drop.

The president is known for his oratorical flourishes, but this one must have come as a punch in the gut to the nation's decorators. If Hilary Sopata, president of the Illinois chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers, was disappointed, she didn't let on. "People might be putting their major decorating projects on hold," she said, "but they can still take a simplified approach by changing paint colors, accessorizing, adding a few small furnishings, and updating the lighting." Sopata adds that consumers who want to make their homes more beautiful and help the economy should buy American-made products.

The folks who rebuild foundations must be feeling pretty good. But then, "it's always a good time to fix your foundation," says Andrew Rehner, general manager of The Basement Guys, in Toledo, Ohio. Rehner is vice president of the National Association of Waterproofing and Structural Repair Contractors, whose professionals nationwide perform free inspections. "They might find something small that can be corrected fairly inexpensively before it gets bad," explains Rehner.

Early spring is the ideal time for an inspection, especially in cold-winter climates, because snow melt often leads to water being trapped against the foundation walls. "That's when a lot of foundation problems rear their head."

If only solving the nation's economic problems were as obvious.—Daniel DiClerico

Essential information: Read our spring maintenance checklist to identify common trouble spots and use our interactive Home Improvement Guide to target the most cost-effective projects.