Great tips on how to do things like tying your shoes or wrapping a cord faster. My husband has been doing the shirt folding trick for awhile now and it works great. Personally, I’m going to try the speed-peeling the potato and the cooking spray on nail polish tricks.
I wouldn’t recommend parking your car that way, however. [snotr]
In viewing Liv and Jeff’s house tour on Apartment Therapy, I was struck by this Dead Trees wallpaper they have put up in their dining room. It is designed by Geoff McFetridge and can be purchased here. A closer look:
I love the fanciful fairy-tale-esque nature of this wallpaper.
If not done right, this wallpaper could look too busy, but Jeff and Liv took the smart (and cheaper) option of breaking the wallpaper up through by only putting it on half the wall. Nicely done and worth the money, I think.
(Image courtesy Save on Crafts)
When wrapping Christmas presents this year, I will be reusing the bag of bows I bought at a thrift store five years ago. I’m curious to see how long it will last before I have to buy some more. But I confess, I have always wanted to be able to make those gorgeous floral bows you see on fancy gifts. Since I have some wire ribbon (my mom always calls it French ribbon) lying around, I decided to give it a try this year.
By learning this skill, you can make a nice topper anytime you want with just ribbon, a pair of scissors, and something to tie the bow off with. The bows can also go on banisters, wreaths, and even the tree itself. And you can reuse your loopy bow year after year simply by saving the ribbon.
Here’s a video going over how to make a loopy bow topper for a Christmas present. It goes through how to do a simple bow to a complicated multi-loop bow.
This lady shows another method for making a loopy bow for a gift that looks like it would work too:
Growing up, my parents always had a nativity set out at Christmas time. As an adult, I would like to continue this tradition, but most nativity sets are so tacky, you know? I don’t want to display porcelain dolls or badly carved figurines in my house. Maybe this is one of the reasons why so few young people put out nativities when they are decorating for the holidays–they often seem like something your Grandmother would display.
However, attractive nativity sets are out there. Here are some that I found:
Designer Valerie Atkisson makes these Nativity sets by laser cutting metal. “The two pieces connect in the middle, creating a cross, with the baby Jesus lying in his manager at the center, adored by Mary and Joseph, shepherds and animals, the three Kings and an angel.” $130-$280, depending on the metal you choose.
This Alessi Nativity set is a “contemporary spin on the Holy Family.” I’ll say! It comes in either red or white and costs $90.
This is probably my favorite, but to tell the truth, I am not sure if this German Nativity Set is still available. However, they have lots of other options on their website if it’s not.
Finally, this candle holder is maybe all the nativity set I need–and it’s easy to store. It costs £26.50 and looks like it can be shipped to the United States.
Apartment Therapy has a round up of inviting dining rooms, which is certainly timely since Thanksgiving is next week. Common things I notice in the rooms:
Which one is your favorite?
(Image via Ruche)
A friend of mine is moving and ran into a common problem for renters: she can’t paint her walls. What’s worse, her new place is full of very dark wood paneling. She is looking for a way to cover it up that doesn’t use paint or will put a lot of holes in the wall.
I remember this dilemma from my renting days. You have a wall in your house that you can’t stand to look at, but you can’t do anything about it. Hanging curtains over it doesn’t look good. Putting up shelving or hanging large paintings only partially covers it. What do you do?
I think I have found a solution: removable fabric wallpaper. You get yourself a fabric that you like enough to cover a wall with, dip it or spray it with a starch solution, and smooth it over the wall like wallpaper. When it comes time to take it down, you just peel the fabric right off the wall. It leaves no trace behind.
(Image via Apartment Therapy)
Not only does this solve the renter’s problem of not being able to paint the walls, it allows you to change things up when you get tired of looking at it. And covering a wall this way can be very inexpensive. I have read of some people doing this with muslin they bought for $.89/yard and a mixture of cornstarch and water. Apparently laundry starch also works well.
As for the type of fabric to use, they say lightweight cotton works best.
The downside of covering a wall with fabric is that it is labor intensive and messy. But it could be worth it not to have to look at that ugly wall anymore.
You can read more about how to put up your own fabric wallpaper here and here and here.
This method can also be used to make your own wall decals on the cheap. Here is the only video I could find that shows how to do it and actually has a nice result (although the girl in it is kind of awkward–sorry about that!):
If you have tried covering a wall up this way, how did it go?
Here’s a good idea from this post on creative frame uses on Apartment Therapy. Normally, I find that hanging empty frames around things doesn’t work very well, but I kind of like it around the TV here. It’s a simple way to add a little interest to that ugly old TV.
I think I love this Mustachio wallpaper by Flavor Paper. You have to look at it twice to tell what it is, which takes enough of the kitch out of it to make it workable in a room for me.
It’s pricey, though, at $150 a roll. But if you really love mustaches…
In my continuing efforts to have Enough, I have adopted what I call the Drawer-by-Drawer Organizing Method. It is making a big difference in helping me organize my kitchen. The best part about it is that you don’t have to torture yourself about what to keep and what to get rid of because the method does it for you. At the end of a couple of weeks, you will have a clear idea of what you really use and what is just taking up space.
Here’s how it works.
1. Empty out one drawer (or cupboard). I started with the utensils drawer. Put everything in a neat pile and leave it out. I only do a drawer at a time because if I emptied out everything in the kitchen, it would be too messy to function.
2. Clean the drawer.
3. For a week, whenever you use a utensil, put it back in the drawer.
4. At the end of the week, look at what is in the drawer and what is still in the pile. The things in the drawer are your essential tools, the ones that you use the most. The pile are the things that you don’t use as frequently.
5. Go through the pile. Remove the things that you don’t ever use or that you know you want to get rid of. As for the things that you still aren’t sure about, set them aside in a new pile that you will call the “maybes.”
6. Repeat steps 1-5 until you have gone through your entire kitchen. If during that time, you use something from the pile of maybes, you know it is a tool that you use enough to keep. Put it back in the drawer.
At the end of that time, you will have your essential tools organized in clean drawers and cupboards, you will have gotten rid of all the things you obviously don’t need, and you will have a big pile of maybes. One by one, go through the maybes and ask yourself if you want to keep it. Because so much time has passed, you may find that things you were hesitant about keeping three weeks ago have crystallized in your mind one way or the other. If you still aren’t sure, keep it. What the heck?
This method works for closets, bathrooms, garages, or anything where tools are stored away from the eye. I find that it works great. Of course, the downside is that it takes a long time and you have to look at little piles of things while you are doing it. But in the end, I think a cleaner, more organized place is worth it.
A friend pointed me to this trick on Life Hacker for getting stains out of your carpet.
1. Make a solution of 1/4 white vinegar and 3/4 water.
2. Spray the spot in the carpet with the vinegar solution.
3. Lay a damp towel over the spot.
4. Put a hot iron on the spot and let it sit for a few seconds.
Apparently, the stain transfers right onto the towel. My friend tried this this weekend and says it works great. Beats buying a carpet cleaner at the store.
Looks like vinegar wins again as the most useful household item.
