I like this holiday decorating idea from Apartment Therapy: hang some mirrored garlands from a metal rod and string some white lights behind.

Instant sparkle!

I like this Built-In Air Dry Clothes Rack from Stay Organized. The rack will air dry your clothes for cheaper than an electric dryer and is especially useful in the winter when it is too cold to hang your clothes outside. And it’s much neater than hanging clothes around the laundry room to dry.

If you’re committed to air drying clothes, this is a nice set up, and it would save you money in the long run. Plus it doesn’t look hard to DIY if you already have some drawers that can be converted. [re-nest]

Here’s a great one from Southern Living–turn a pumpkin into a cooler for drinks.

The idea is simple: cut the top off a wide pumpkin, scoop out the seeds, line with plastic, fill with ice, and pop in the drinks. Perfect for a Halloween party, or any other holiday party, too.

Martha Stewart has a how-to on making Haloween Pumpkin Creatures. It goes over how to carve a pumpkin to make all kinds of animals, like a porcupine:

Or a cat:

Or a snake:

And more! Great ideas.

Kate on Minieco made this spiffy Pac-Man garland as a Halloween decoration. It’s just a matter of cutting out the template from her site on black paper, attach white plastic eyes, and hang them on a string.

It’s nice to see a Halloween decoration that is different but not too scary. If you haven’t made your house festive for the season yet–I haven’t!–this might be a good way to go.

(Yeah… camera still being cleaned…)

When you’re talking about window treatments, there are lots of options and a lot to consider. You have to think about privacy, sun blockage, wear-and-tear, cleaning, and of course, the overall design.

I’ve talked about how to install blinds and how to make your own, but I’ve never reviewed all the options. So let’s start looking at them.

Here are five types of shades or blinds:

Wooden Blinds–These traditional blinds look great on a window. They fit almost any kind of decor and can be paired with curtains. The downside is that they are expensive and can’t be used in room with high-moisture, like the bathroom, since the wood warps. (They do offer faux-wood versions too.) If you shop around, you can find good prices on wooden shades.

Plantation Shutters–My friends have plantation shutters and I love them. They are a type of wooden shutter that are “promotes the free flow of air through a structure in a warm climate,” according to this site. Wooden shutters add value to a house and last a long time. The downside is that they are very expensive and usually have to be installed by a professional. Is the look worth the cost? It depends on your budget, but the payback may be worth it.

Honeycomb Blinds–Also called Cellular Blinds, these are shades that look like this up close:

Honeycomb shades give a room serenity and are best for windows that get bright light. They offer up to 99% UV-protection, which means they are an energy-efficient option that may help drop your cooling bills. The downsides it that they are difficult to clean–always a problem with window treatments–and there is no middle-ground to the light control. The shades are either open or closed, no in-between.

Roman Shades–These fabric shades fit in your window and are a compromise between curtains and shades. Because they come in many styles and fabrics, Roman shades offer versatility in design options. They can look great or tacky. Roman shades are reasonably priced and can often be removed and washed like curtains. They aren’t good in rooms with high-moisture, however, since they can mildew.

Bottom-Up Shades–Instead of pulling these blinds down from the top, you pull them up from the bottom. They are best for second-story windows because they allow for privacy and still let light in. They are great for keeping people from looking into your home.

What do you have on your windows?

I like this quirky idea from the Shannon Kaye house tour on Apartment Therapy. It looks like she uses a wall pillar to hold her toilet paper.

It’s a humorous, but oddly elegant, alternative to your traditional toilet paper holder in the bathroom.

Very cute robot wallpaper by Dutch design label Studio Ditte.

Kind of expensive at almost $200 a roll, but pretty awesome, nevertheless. [The Style Files]

Following up from yesterday’s post about How To Make Your Own Cat Scratcher: there’s nothing more annoying than buying or making a cat scratcher when they refuse to go near it. Even worse is when your cat prefers to scratch on the sofa instead of the scratching post.

The good news is that cats can be trained. Like dogs, bad behavior can be broken and good behavior can be introduced.

Cats scratch to sharpen their claws and mark their territory. When they scratch, not only are they leaving visible evidence they were there, they are leaving behind a scent pheromone that other cats can smell. It’s a way of saying, “This is my spot, I own it.”

The key to getting them to use the cat scratcher to make clear that they have a spot in the house that they “own” for scratching, but only one place. And that’s not as hard to do as some people think.

Here are some tips to get a cat to use a scratcher:

1. Play with the cat around the scratcher. Wiggle a toy near the scratcher so that the cat claws on it. A few times of this and the cat will start to associate the scratcher with play.

2. Put catnip on the scratcher. Sprinkle a bit of catnip around the scratcher and the cat will want to go near it more and associate it as a fun, good place.

3. Reinforce that the scratcher is the only place where scratching is allowed. If you catch your cat scratching on your carpet or furniture, tell him no (or spray with a water bottle) and then pick him up and move him to the scratcher. A few times of this and he will start to understand that this is the place he is allowed to go for scratching.

4. Praise the cat for using the scratcher. Saying “good kitty” or “good boy/girl” goes a long way with cats. They respond better to positive reinforcement than punishment. Believe it or not, they do want to please you.

5. Remove pheromones. The above tips should be enough for most cats. However if you have a bad scratching problem, it’s important to remove the cat’s pheromones from the old place they scratch and put them in the new place. There are products you can buy in the pet store that mask the pheromone smell. I’ve used them and they work. If you apply the spray to the old place and follow the above steps consistently, your cat should start to use the scratcher exclusively.

Well, most of the time, anyway. You know how cats are.

Those are my tips. What has worked for you?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are a lot of ugly shower caddies out there (the above image being a prime example). Since I finished remodeling my own shower, I have been looking for a better way to store my soaps, and let me tell you, wire baskets or cheap-looking plastic tubs don’t exactly give the bathroom a look of elegance.

However, there are some attractive shower storage options out there. Here are a few that I found:

This Bamboo Adjustable Shower Caddy (image above) from Simple Human is one of several attractive bamboo shower caddies available. Bamboo is water resistant and can give a shower a spa-like feel.

Another idea is to install a shelf up high where the water can’t hit it to store towels, and use that as your caddy. In this picture from Andy Butkaj’s Flickr, an IKEA shelf and a towel bar have been installed together to just this.

Alternately, you can install a glass shelf to hold your shampoo and conditioners. Here’s an Apartment Therapy post telling you how.

Corner shower shelves are probably the way we’ll go in our own shower. They are elegant and unobtrusive, only I’m not sure why they are sometimes so expensive. I’ve seen them for as much as $125 each, but here is one for $13.55.

Finally, I like this Owl Shower Caddy from Urban Outfitters. While not the highest quality, it looks pretty cute.

What is your shower storage solution?