Check Out The Terracotta Floor We Found
I frequently joke that I’ve been searching for hidden treasure since we bought our circa 1780s home five years ago. I only joke to downplay the fact that I am a grown adult who thinks this could actually happen to me. Crazier things have happened in New Jersey. I grew up reading books where the plot lines contained treasure maps and old buildings with secret rooms and hidden passageways. My imagination runs wild but it’s not implausible to think there are gold coins or Prohibition-era liquor buried around here somewhere. Unfortunately, I haven’t found anything newsworthy yet but it turns out a treasure of sorts was hiding underneath a bunch…
How To Hang A Clothesline On A Deck Railing
We hung a nondescript clothesline on a deck railing and this has become one of my favorite practical housekeeping ideas! Plus, it was inexpensive! Clotheslines are a great way to dry your clothes and save energy but they can also be an eyesore or take up space where you don’t have space to give. Retractable clotheslines are a great option to deal with the eyesore and space part of this equation but only if you have the right location to install one. We did not. Instead, we hung a clothesline on the outside of our wood deck railing. What You Need To Hang A Clothesline On A Deck Railing: All…
The Perk of Decanting Laundry Detergent
At the risk of romanticizing the chore of laundry, I have discovered there is a perk to decanting laundry detergent. The perk is I dislike doing laundry a little bit less when my laundry detergent is in a pretty bottle or my stain remover is in a glass spray bottle. Or perhaps, since I’m giving optimism a whirl these days, it’s better to say I enjoy doing laundry a little bit more now that I’ve started decanting my laundry detergent. Yes, optimism always sounds better. Two things have contributed to this laundry work perk. First, by decanting laundry detergent from a bigger container into a smaller, prettier container, I’m more…
14 Ways To Reuse a Basmati Rice Bag
Have you ever wondered about all the ways to reuse a basmati rice bag? Have you ever bought rice in one of these bags? Royal brand basmati rice is sold in the neatest burlap bag. It has handles. It has a zipper. It has neat typography. It has bold colors. It can hold at least 20 pounds. In short, it’s amazing and something that could definitely be reused. Here are 14 ways to reuse a basmati rice bag. 1. Turn it into wall art. 2. Use it as a grocery shopping bag. 3. Use it to store potatoes, onions, and any other vegetable that needs ventilation. 4. It’s the perfect…
In Praise of Wicker Laundry Baskets
A few weeks ago I spotted the neatest wicker laundry basket at a thrift store. It was $4 and in perfect condition. So what did I do? I left the laundry basket behind and have regretted it ever since. In fact, I even looked for it on my next visit to the store and it was gone. The anguish! That wicker laundry basket could have improved the aesthetics of our laundry situation. I don’t have a spot to hide a bulky laundry basket, so the plastic one I have is always sitting on top of the dryer. We walk by it 500 times a day. It’s not ugly per se, but…
How We Manage With No Junk Drawer In Our House
I don’t think I’ve ever written a more melodramatic blog post title than “How We Manage With No Junk Drawer In Our House.” No junk drawer. The horror. How DO we manage? All joking and sarcasm aside, we really don’t have a junk drawer and haven’t had one for years. It’s not because I don’t pine for a junk drawer. If we had a spare drawer in the house, I would junk it all up in a heartbeat. Kidding. Sort of. But that does tend to happen when you have a drawer assigned as a catchall. In fact, in a survey sponsored by ClosetMaid in 2021, they reported that 88%…
How to Remove Plexiglass Film That is Stuck On
After much trial and error, I can definitively tell you how to remove plexiglass film that is stuck on. I’m talking baked-on protective plexiglass film that no amount of prying or peeling will remove. If Google brought you here to fix this specific problem then this below photo of plexiglass film that is stuck on probably looks familiar. Hopefully yours isn’t dotted with tears of frustration. We had a piece of plexiglass that was installed over a broken basement window. We don’t know how long the plexiglass had been filling the role of a window but suffice to say it had been years. No one had ever removed the protective…
The Great Barn Loft Clean Out
Last month we tackled The Great Barn Loft Clean Out. Did we accumulate THAT MUCH junk in less than two years of owning the Colonial Farmhouse that we needed to clean out the barn loft? No. But… Here’s an itty bitty detail that’s important to this story. We had never looked in the barn loft before last month. That’s right. We bought the property with the barn loft sight unseen and then ignored it for almost two years. Who does that? Us, apparently. In our defense, the loft doors were nailed shut and it’s not like we weren’t busy dealing with all the other problems this money pit house of…
Ode to a $30 Vacuum
Did I ever imagine myself writing an ode to a $30 vacuum? No. What’s an ode anyway? Oh, shoot. It is a poem. Ehm. Here goes…channeling my inner Shakespeare… Ode to a $30 Vacuum Who knew there was so much dirt on the floor From feet and pets and crumbs of bread I tried to sweep it out the door But a $30 vacuum works better I said Suck it, all you expensive vacuums! Wow. That ode took an aggressive turn at the end. Here’s how I came to be writing a terrible ode to a $30 vacuum. I think vacuums are RIDICULOUSLY expensive. In fairness, I think everything is expensive,…
5 Practical Uses for Soda Crates
I’m a big fan of using what you have on hand to decorate and organize your home. I happen to own some vintage soda crates, so today I’m sharing 5 practical uses for soda crates. None of these practical uses involve soda. Or pop. Or soda pop. Or Coke. Or whatever that bubbly goodness is called where you live. Such a shame. Practical Uses for Soda Crates #1: Sunscreen Caddy With a pool in our backyard, we need a sunscreen caddy to control the various bottles of sunscreen and bug spray that summer requires. I keep the sunscreen right by the pool towels, so everything we need for an afternoon…
