Posts tagged ‘home’

Growing up, Mom always hung clothes outside to dry.  I thought it was a waste of time because we had a dryer.  Then I wondered if we were too poor to run the dryer.  That was more concerning.  But I just went along with helping hang clothes.  At least if I helped, I’d make sure the underwear were hiding behind the towels.

Then in college, I really was a poor college student.  I hated spending those quarters on laundry, so I hauled wet clothes to the dorm room & placed them strategically over chairs & shower curtains to dry.

After moving to our house, we bought a washer & dryer.  I happily dried clothes in the dryer.  I thought, “Look at all the time I’m saving.   I just push the button! And my electric bill is affordable.  This is great!”

But in the past two years I’ve been gravitating toward all things sustainable & energy efficient.  I was shocked to learn there’s no energy stars for driers.  Then I realized Mom is more energy-savy than me.  Kicking & screaming, I resolved to hang my clothes outside.  I thought it’d be terrible & too much time & too hard with the kids.  But, I found that I like it.  I’m saving energy, and it’s not all that hard.  It takes 5 minutes to hang (I don’t bother with clothes pins), and really no more time to take them down while folding them.  Plus, since my clothesline & drying rack are under the deck overhang, I can dry clothes no matter the weather.  …Thanks Mom.

Being in the “business” of repurposing things means that I get a lot of bags of things destined for the landfill or Goodwill. My friends, family and acquaintances will drop stuff off here before they donate or pitch it. I love this. I rummage through the goods and take what I want and then drive the rest off to a Goodwill donation center.

In my most recent bag-of-stuff acquisition I found, among other things, these cool vintage flour sack tea towels with calendars printed on them. There’s no wondering what year they were made, as it is stamped right on there. I kept them even though they don’t match my decor at all. They just seemed so unique and quaint. Now I am wondering what to do with them. I don’t want to put them into my regular rags, since they get used for things like wiping up grape juice, but I can’t think of a good place to display them.

Should I just let them make their way to the thrift store, or should I keep them around for some project later on?

Last week some friends came over to help weed my driveway.  I didn’t pay them , nor was I in dire need because I broke a leg or something.   It was just an experiment in helping each other.

See, some of my girlfriends regularly get together for brunches.  But Devona & I brainstormed, “Why not do work projects for the person who hosts brunch?”  So last week I was the first work brunch hostess and kindly received lots of help with the overgrown weeds in my driveway.  I chose a project we could do while socializing & watching the kids.  We worked for an hour on what would have taken me a week alone.

Have you tried anything like this with your friends or even family or neighbors?  I’m curious what other ideas are out there.

For years I’ve had the most ragged garden, one which I apologize periodically to my neighbors.  This year it was, “I’m sorry my mint is appearing in your lawn.” and “Sorry about the raspberries looking so messy right near your garage.” But they’re nice about my urban gardening experiments, plus I always give them fresh produce!  So to curb the chaos, I’ve teamed with my husband to build three raised garden beds.

Here are instructions for building a wooden raised garden bed, plus tips on how to set it up in the garden space.  I think it’s much easier if two people work on the project together.

Supplies (for building the wood square):

tools for building bed

-4 pieces of wood per square.  Mine is 6″ tall 2″ deep, and cut to 4′ long, so my box is 4′ x 4′ square.  You can change the size, but keep in mind that you need to be able to reach all plants from the outside perimeter.  Ideally, I wanted 5′ square, but the wood only came in 8′ pieces, so 4′ square didn’t waste wood.  By the way, the nice people at the hardware store only charged $.25 a board to cut my wood.  That saved so much work!  Also, I used untreated wood.  I don’t want those chemicals near my plants.

-8 wood screws per square.   Mine are 2 1/2″ long.

-drill, extension cord to reach your drilling area, a drill bit that’s a little skinnier than your screws (for predrilling holes), and a screwdriver bit for the drill (unless you want to hand screw them with a screwdriver instead). Read more »

My husband told a friend recently that I’m a “house hacker”.  With embarrassment I asked, “Did you tell him what I did with the windows?”  (Ha, ha that might be for another post!)  But I am a hacker when it comes to my home.  I’m always trying to make something run more smoothly, resourcefully, or efficiently.  And the goal is to be aesthetically pleasing (or at least acceptable) as well.

You can probably guess that my little sign to the left is for dishes.  My husband begged for clarity on the state of the dishes.  He suggested buying a magnet.  I thought, no I can make a magnet.  So I made a magnet but soon realized my dishwasher isn’t magnetized.  Then I was going to drill a hook into my tile, but thought that was too permanent and risky if I didn’t like it.  Finally, I used a sticky hook and made this sign from two laminate countertop samples (from Zero Landfill).  The holes were already punched in them.

It’s useful & it works…dishes clarity!  And it doesn’t look too bad.  Plus, I could remove the sign for special occasions, and the little hook isn’t too conspicuous.  Do you have any interesting kitchen hacks?

Our flower gardens are in full bloom. And if you have  little girls, like me, then all of the floral bounty is probably turning their imaginings to the subject of fairies.

This dish, filled with water, became the paddling pool for some fairies on our dining room table this week. I let the girls cut the flowers from my hostas before I trimmed them down to use in decorating the pond. They also clipped some lamb’s ears, some pink flowers (I don’t know what they are!) and some of the petals from my day lilies. The day lily petals made great boats.

The bonus feature for this “craft” is that it makes a wonderful variation on a center piece. The flowers remained vibrant for about 5 days before I needed to remove them from the table giving us plenty of time to enjoy the arrangement, and plenty of time for the girls to retell Thumbelina around the dining room table.

I received a rain barrel for my birthday in March and finally got it installed today…just in time for the forecasted storms the next few days.

It’s a Fiskars rain barrel.  It wasn’t difficult to install.  We had to cut the gutter & drill a hole in the barrel (while entertaining 2 kids at the same time).

So, why did it take three months to get it up and going?  Well, mostly we weren’t sure if we should keep it.  We have a small yard and wondered if it’d be an eyesore.  Now I need to figure out how to camouflage it into the landscaping.  We also weren’t sure if we could use the water safely in our vegetable garden.  I read lots of websites to try & get a straight answer.  The most educated answers I found from the Texas Water Development Board.  They make suggestions for the types of roofs to use, how to keep out debris & other contaminants, and treatment methods for potable water.  They said composite & asphalt shingle roofs leech toxins.  Plus, my system doesn’t have fancy roof cleansing abilities or first-flush system, so rain will collect bacteria, mold, fecal material, etc from the roof.  I’m not comfortable putting these things on my plants, so I’m pretty sure my barrel will just be for landscape plants.  But either way, I’m thankful for my gift & I’m happy to conserve a little water.

Last spring I made two candle lanterns for my back deck (and this tutorial on how to make them).  But two wasn’t enough because the last time we had friends over in the evening, my husband said we don’t have enough light out there.  He suggested buying more light strands or installing a solar light.  But my thrifty sense said to make more candle lanterns.  So, I’ve been saving glass peanut butter jars, and now that I’ve collected a few, I made three more lanterns today.  I just need some mounted hooks to hang them on.

These are the flowers that Rob gave me for Mother’s Day. They still look as fresh as the day he brought them home to me. Aren’t they amazing?

Well, the trick to keeping cut flowers fresh is changing the water daily. And by keeping your flowers in a tea pot for a vase it is very simple to change the water. I just tip the pot and pour out the old water and refill it in the sink. I don’t have rearrange the flowers at all.

Now Mother’s Day has lasted for more than a week. If only I could get my family to make my breakfast everyday until these flowers wilt!

My collection of pretty antique tea cups is stored in a small corner cabinet in our bedroom. They are lovely to look at and bring a peaceful feeling to the room but I often think I should try harder to actually use them. On a recent visit to FARM Restaurant in Calgary I saw this delightful and innovative use of china cups as holders for tea lights.

Just drop a candle into the base of the tea cup and set it out. A grouping of tea cup candles on the table or one set at each individual place setting is a perfect way to add a sweet touch to a spring or summer meal. I also love them on the windowsill to enjoy during the day.

Read more about guest blogger Erica of Nest and Sparkle.