How to: Make an Easy and Secure iPad Wall Mount | Man Made DIY.

The Kitchen has a New Floor! | Manhattan Nest. Have an ugly floor but rent? Daniel but down rubber flooring cut to size and it looks great. Earlier done over at My Little Apartment. Both of these are giving me ideas for my bathroom floor that is horribly beige but I’m keeping in place because we might sell the house soon. Or not. We haven’t decided.

Surface Skins at Blik. Adhesive, durable skins for tabletops and furniture. I love and hope they make lots more designs. I wonder how my dining room table would look with the faux cow hide?

Plumbing Pipe Rack Tutorial – The Crafts Dept.

Leather door pull how-to, Brick House. I have a nearby leather working shop and a need for one of these in my house.

mirrormirror: Five Great Things to Grow in Your Pacific Northwest Garden.

I constantly lose and misplace things. Here are a few of the tricks I use to keep the things I use daily in order. (Over at Babble.)

Cool Tools – Belkin WeMo Switch. A simple device that you plug into the wall and it allows you to turn things on/off from your mobile device. This would have saved me so much worry when I was using my iron on a daily basis, I was always heading back inside to double check that it was off.

Iron Out Carpet Stains | Pintester. It actually works! You open the windows, spray Windex (or diluted ammonia) on the spot, put down a towel and use the steam setting on your iron to get all the gunk up. (Spot test first, of course, and beware scorching.)

The kitchen has been painted! | Door Sixteen. Here Anna used a gray paint from Valspar called Filtered Shade which we used in one of our bathrooms and love. This particular gray paint has also been recommended to me by Holly at Nothing But Bonfires.

The Fiddle-Leaf Fig Tree | Making it Lovely.

15 Clever Solutions for Small Spaces | Brit + Co. I’m loving a few of the things on this list.

Cool Tools – Philips L-Prize Bulb. I’m so on the fence about these super expensive LED bulbs. The right lighting is very important during our deep, dark winters here.

DIY Industrial Furniture – The Crafts Dept.

What’s really smart for a smart house? | Ask MetaFilter. A good discussion of what home technology is worth it.

I had an excellent time at AB Chao’s Design Camp here in Seattle. The Pantry at Delancey was a perfect and charming location (and so very convenient to Essex’s 4:30 opening time). I came away from the two day class looking at my house with a critical and organized view and with a clear plan for a whole bunch of problem spots (ahem, my window coverings). The second day of class included going over a room in each attendees home and mine was troublesome, I think all my classmates might agree. The exercise was amazing because I found myself applying everything I’d learned the day before and, this was great, feeling like I can do this. Among the swag that comes with the class is a USB/bottle opener (right?!) with the whole presentation on it including the resources that I completely forgot to write down.

My favorite bits, though, were getting to hang with the women whose sites I’ve read for years: da*xiang, Erica Mulherin and of course AB Chao. Ladies, it was an honor!

You can find more pictures of Design Camp Seattle over at AB Chao’s site because somebody forgot to charge her camera battery and needed to use my camera instead. Only with her way-better lens.

Three Apartment Makeovers | Making it Lovely. I like all these quick makeovers, excellent job Nicole!

Radar Sconces from Schoolhouse Electric. | Door Sixteen. Many colors.

Cool Tools – Tool Rental Know-How. Some neighborhoods in Seattle have tool lending libraries.

Hi there, for this post I’m collaborating with 3M DIY.

A few years back I made a shoe rack for the tiny corner by our back door which is the only place to put shoes when we enter the house. There isn’t enough room to fit a regular rack and the space is tight enough that I wanted to avoid having anything hard that I (because I am clumsy) could bang my shin on as I am reaching for my coat or hurrying to shut off the house alarm. At the time I took some inspiration from a designer rack (that was tragically built too long to fit into our space) and set up a series of short shelves that the toes of the shoes perch on. We’ve used it for the last, wow, five years but of course it very quickly went from the spot to hold four pairs of shoes to the spot where we unceremoniously dump about ten pairs.

Our original rack was installed using a series of L-brackets and when we were putting it up we realized that if we’d mounted the shelves on a backing instead of the wall itself we would have to drill a whole lot fewer holes into the wall. So, with the shoe situation only getting worse I decided to make a version that would hold six pairs of shoes instead of four and this time make it with a backing.

I realized that no matter what we’d still put shoes on the floor under the rack itself so I hung it high enough on the wall so that it short boots put underneath wouldn’t run into the soles of shoes on the lower part of the rack. This means we can neatly (or some approximation thereof) store eight pairs of shoes in a compact space and if I do bump into anything it will only knock a shoe off the rack and cause no pain. Excellent.

I’m happy with the result but I’ll admit it was more complicated to build than my earlier version. It does feel sturdier though. I can report (or, really, brag) that I build and installed this all by myself because my loyal manservant had supposedly important things to do. Like go to his job.

As I was making this I would complain to Scott in the evenings that it was so much work and that I don’t think woodworking is something I would be adding to my Do Not Like list (right next to dealing with out of control ivy). But now that I have it up and it’s being used I’m already wondering what other custom storage I can build for my house. I found sanding surfaces down to be very therapeutic.

Click through to see instructions.

You’ll need:

• 1 sheet of 1/2″ plywood cut to size (see below for determining dimensions, I used birch)
• 1 or 2 boards of 1/2″ x 2.5″ wood cut to width (I used poplar)
• 1 or 2 boards of 1/2″ x 5.5″ wood cut to width (I used poplar)
• sanding blocks
• stain and sealant or paint
• 4 drywall anchors
• wood screws, I used #6, 1.25 inches
• safety googles
• mask for dust or fumes
• work gloves
• a good sturdy drill
• a way to hold up a few things while you mark and drill, or a friend to hold things in place for you

Here is the diagram I used to determine size (those orange blobs are supposed to be shoes as seen from the heel, I added them later in Photoshop and apologize for the decidedly un-shoe like appearance of them):

I determined that upper and lower shelves that are 2 inches apart are good for all of our shoes. I set each set of these 3.5 inches apart to allow for the tallest of Scott’s shoes, though if you are and all-female family that plans to mostly store flats here I think you could get away with spacing each set of shelves only 2.5 inches apart. With these two measurements in mind I figured I could fit three sets of shelves and not run into the long rain coat I hang in that corner.

I went to a hardware store and bought one sheet of 1/2″ plywood and a few 1/2″ x 2.5″ and 1/2″ x 5.5″ boards and had them cut to size. For me this meant 20 inches wide, and the plywood was cut to 16 inches high.

Here is what I did: I sanded and stained my wood, then marked and drilled holes.

Here is what you should do: Mark and drill holes then sand and stain (or paint).

I marked and drilled holes through the plywood from the back to the front and it chipped up the front surface. The nice surface I had just spent so much time sanding and staining and sealing and waiting for. Darn. I’m sure if I worked with wood more often this would be a mistake I wouldn’t make. In any case, don’t be like me.

Mark holes to drill in the backing

I found my sewing rulers work really well for marking the grid of where to drill holes.

Drill holes

I did four wood screws for each 20″ shelf and they seem incredibly sturdy. I used #6 wood screws so I used a 5/32nd drill bit for the backing (so that the screws can slide right through).

While you’re drilling the holes to attach the shelves, also drill the holes for the drywall anchors, your package should tell you which drill bit size to use. Place the holes below the wider shelves and you won’t be able to see the mounting hardware while you are standing.

Sand

I stained my wood so I dutifully used three different grades of sanding block. I thought I’d hate this part but I found it really enjoyable (with a few podcasts to listen to).

I wore a dust mask and safety goggles while I was building this because wood dust did fly everywhere and I like my lungs and eyes. The 3M TEKK Protection masks with the cool flow valve made a huge difference. I’m used to using a mask for gardening and it gets hot and humid underneath and makes me cranky. I wore this one for a while before I realized that I was very comfortable. In fact while I was sanding my biggest complaint was that I kept getting sawdust on my iPhone.

Stain or paint

I awkwardly propped up boards to stain and seal them, I only did the three surfaces that face the hallway. What? I’m lazy, and we’ll never see the other sides. Promise.

I accidentally tracked a bit of the stain on the deck that Scott painted earlier this summer. Sorry sweetie!

Mark spots for pilot holes

To mark the pilot holes for the shelves I set the shelf were it would go, then set it down and drew a vertical line. I drilled shallow 1/8th pilot holes into the shelves, and marked the position of each before I moved on to the next one.

Attach the shelves

I propped the backing up held up a shelf and started the screws using a wratcheting hand screwdriver. Once the screws were sunk I switched to a power driver. Time consuming but safe. Also, maybe you shouldn’t forget the wood glue the way I did. Oops.

Ta da! Dusty and imperfect but solid!

Mark wall for anchors

To clear the tops of Scott’s boots I determined that the whole thing needed to be set about 6 inches off the height of the floor. Not having a second pair of hands I used black beans and Douglas Adams to hold the whole thing up to the correct height so I could mark the spots to put the drywall anchors. Thanks Mr. Adams! Thanks, uh, beans!

From the ground you can see the screws that hold the rack to the wall but…

From the point of standing the screws are out of sight.

I mentioned above that I ruined the finish on my stained boards. How did I fix them? I took the Pretty Woman approach shown above. It’s a bit There I Fixed It but most of the ruined finish is hidden at the spots the shelves are attached, and what you can see is hidden in shadow. And Sharpie. It’s like I never messed up that badly!

A few notes: If you are renting and hoping to avoid putting any holes in the walls you could lean this instead. I only have 20 inches of width to work with, but I don’t think the way I’ve constructed this would be strong enough to hold more than three pairs of shoes per set of shelves so experiment a little before committing to something bigger.

Conclusion: It took a bit of time to build but since we know we’ll use it for a long time the effort was worth it. This compact she rack remains a better solution for our tight corner than anything we could buy in a store.

This post is a collaboration with 3M DIY. To learn more about safety and preparation, visit 3MDIY.com.

All content and opinions are my own.

Earlier I was a little nervous about the new fence that we were having put in and now it’s here and it is indeed one hell of a fence. We moved it back a little and made it a little taller and now the view from our deck no longer primarily consists of the cars parked in the alley. It’s so much calmer, deeeeep breath. We also had an arbor top added for a little more visual height and so we can do things like grow vines across them and hang twinkling lanterns and see even less of the neighbor’s roof.

Before and after-ish. I didn’t want to show you the falling down fence. It was sad.

Now we have to protect the fence from the never ending rain we get here. Has anybody done this? Can we do this on our own (we’re talking 150 feet) or is it worth hiring somebody do come in and do it? Help?

On Monday some nice people came and ripped down our falling-over fence and put in a whole bunch of tall straight posts. They all looked like they play in bands or bartend at night and they talked about The Avengers and how sugar leads to diabetes. I sort of wanted to invite them all over for a cookout next week. On Friday more people will come and put in the rest of the fence. I cannot wait. We saved up a long time to have the fence rebuilt and we moved some of it and made bits higher and chose a decorative top so that when we sit on our deck our main view will no longer be of the back of our neighbors cars. Besides one of us holding up a measuring tape while the other person pretends to lounge on the deck we don’t have much of a way to envision the result, so I’m nervous. I hope this is one hell of a fence.

The vines we grow to screen in our deck grew well this year but they’re already fading. Next year we’re going to plant more Cup and Saucer vines, they’re fighters.

Sleep Better: Separate Covers for Blanket-Hog Partners – GOOD. I think we will adopt this side-by-side blanket arrangement for the colder months, Scott keeps letting all the cold air rush under the covers!

Cool Tools – Nest Learning Thermostat. I recently found myself giving this thermostat some serious consideration.

Design Crush » Light ‘n Go Bonfire Log.

swissmiss | Ideapaint CLEAR. Paint that lets you turn any surface into a whiteboard.

How-To: Cityscape Stenciled Canvas Wall Art @Craftzine.com blog.

Paint-Dipped and Lovely – Curated by Summer Robertson | kirtsy. A collection on Kirtsy.

Slow and Steady but Mostly Just Slow. « Manhattan Nest. I love what Daniel has done to his apartment, but I’m also bookmarking this to note that that Enje shades are back at Ikea!

Dewit Design Camp: NOLA Recap – Blog – AB Chao. These pictures from the NOLA camp make me so very excited for the one coming up here in Seattle!

Hold On Tight, An Adjustable Bookshelf Concept seen at Laughing Squid. I want one of these for my cookbooks.

Flushmount Lighting Fixtures | Making it Lovely. “This is my least favorite category of ceiling lighting, but often in our homes, flushmounts are the only option that will work.” As a lady with 8 foot ceilings I highly appreciate this list.

The Brick House, paint dipped cord wrapped table legs. Simple and lovely.

Propagating Rosemary at Juniper Moon Fiber Farm.

Yessss! Super lady AB Chao is bringing her Dewit Design Camp to Seattle in September 15th and 16th. The camp is, I’m just going to quote right from her site here: “A two-day workshop with interior stylist AB Chao, where you’ll learn everything from design basics to magazine-worthy styling.” Which I need, badly. There are rooms in my house I’ve put off decorating for real because I walk in and look around and I’m gripped by the overwhelming sense of just how much I don’t know how to make a room look pretty despite all the time I’ve put in looking at design blogs and Pinterest boards. The class is going to be awesome, sign up soon because it’s also going to be small! You can read more about it, see the Q&A and sign up for the Seattle class right here.

AB Chao is bringing the Dewit Design Camp to a whole lot of cities: New Orleans in May, Austin in June, San Francisco in July, and NYC in October (what a lovely time to be there, I’m officially jealous).

disclosure: I’m getting a discount on the price of the class in exchange for helping spread the word to all of you lovely people.

Tempaper, Self Adhesive, Repositionable, Temporary Wallpaper. Via Fab.

swissmiss | Polaboy. A giant photo in a frame, I need this.

jk jk: DIY: Nail and String Letters. I love this! Via Petite Elefant over at Pinterest.

From Candlestick to Succulent Garden: How to Make Mini Color-Dipped Planters! » Curbly.

Accenting Walls with Temporary Wallpaper and Fabric « Real Estate News & Tips.

Cleaning a Mercury Spill – TodaysMama. How to deal when you break a CFL bulb.

Little Green Notebook: Bedroom. How to hang really big artwork, via Craftzine.

string art – wise craft. I’ve been lucky enough to see this in person and it’s stunning!

Plantgasm – Ideal Office Plants 2: Spathiphyllum ‘Domino’. I need me a Peace Lily.

Pendant Light Cord :: NUD. Hey, nice cords.

You know what is incredibly satisfying in the midst of dealing with a messy house due to a water leak needing repair? Redoing a room that is completely under your own control. We recently finished getting our bedroom in order (it took us, um, a long time). And know what? I think I finally understand what people mean when they refer to a room as a sanctuary. I keep wandering into the bedroom to take one last peek. Yay for new and more organized things.

While the room might be my sanctuary now it’s a very small sanctuary. The room barely fits our king sized bed (which I refuse to give up, don’t even suggest it) and because the window faces a neighbor’s house which sits higher on the hill above us it can also feel very dark even when the sun is shining brightly.

And before you say it let me say it, I know we need art above the bed. But we are struggling to find something big that we like and that won’t potentially fall on our heads. Did you know we have earthquakes here? We have earthquakes here. I’m afraid of earthquakes. Or, rather, big heavy things falling on my head while I’m sleeping because of earthquakes.

Because the room is so small I thought it was very important to avoid filling the room with unnatural materials whenever possible to keep the air quality in the space as good as I could. When we moved into our house we painted all the walls and ceilings with zero-VOC paint. We we decided our all white walls were good for keeping the room bright, but we really needed some color to make the room seem more intentional? Grown up? Yolo Colorhouse to the rescue. They make great colors.

Know what I’m not so good at? Making decisions. Going through the colors of Yolo Colorhouse paint options was so much fun I kept hanging more and more swatches on the wall, as you can see above. Scott and I went back and forth on what color to paint the wall. I originally wanted something dark and dramatic but he pointed out that the winters here are so dark that a dark wall might appear darker than I intended. Then we thought maybe a bright blue? But we just aren’t blue people. We wove our way through yellows, back to red for a moment, then Scott suggested we go with a gray that we could easily accent with different colors as we wished. Good thinking, sir. The paint is a cool gray and it looks richer than you might think of when you envision “gray”. We used Water .03 which is actually a blue but in our room it appears gray. I was so glad to get a few of Yolo’s painted posters that we hung on the wall, it showed us exactly how the paint color was going to act under the different light conditions throughout the day.

We tried to be conscious of the environment when we were painting. We bravely decided to skip the plastic tarp and use a canvas one instead, though we did put down a layer of cardboard underneath and used another bit of cardboard to hold the can of paint because, well, I’m clumsy. We gathered rollers from previous paint jobs, my favorite short handled edging brush and a smaller craft paint brush that I use to neaten up my atrociously crooked edges.

We managed not to spill anything! We also used a paint roller tray made from recycled plastic and bought some waste paint hardener. Waist paint hardener is like magic, it soaks up your leftover paint making it into solid so when you dispose of it it won’t leak. Just a note, Yolo paint is available at some Lowe’s stores. They offer all the colors that Yolo makes, we bought ours at the Renton store here in the Seattle area.

When we were ready to open the can of paint we found we didn’t have a stir stick, so we ended up using this old wooden fork we had in the kitchen.

I was all ready to buy the lowest profile bed frame I could find and DIY a headboard and some floating bedside tables in the little space that remained on either side of the bed. We have about 16 inches on either side of the bed and even the bedside tables I could find that are meant for tiny spaces were about 20 inches wide. Even if we could have found one I felt like it would have taken up a bit more visual space than I wanted to give up. That and I’m awfully clumsy so avoiding having yet one more thing I could stub my toe on made sense. I had plans for installing picture ledges on either side of the bed that would be just enough to hold a glass of water, a book and an iPhone and charger. I was pretty excited about it. But then we found a bed frame that has a built in shelf behind the headboard. Problem solved! Additionally it sits fairly low to the ground meaning that the room doesn’t feel filled with a tall bed.

I put these soft woven felt baskets next to the bed to hold extra pillows and iPhone cords. I cannot stub my toe on these no matter how hard I try. It’s basket love.

We have this Muppet-like shag rug at the foot of the bed. It makes my toes warm in the morning as well as reminding me to take my shoes off before I enter the room (a bad habit of mine). I find wool itchy (sad!) so I was happy to find this one made of cotton jersey strips. I’m honestly surprised at how well the rug seems to anchor the room and make it seem more welcoming. I see many more area rugs in my future.

To make this yellow and gray pillow that is out of focus in the photo above (sorry, apparently I didn’t take a better shot) I used silhouettes of our profiles cut out of wool felt. I was hoping it would look like that faces/vase optical illusion but instead it looks like we are about to kiss. This wasn’t my intention but I think it’s sort of cute.

The room is too small to hold a dresser with a top so I had to find some way to store my jewelry where it was organized and I could find it. I used these large cork tiles and t-pins from an office supply store to separate and hold everything. If I get more I can simply add some pins.

It’s great to be able to grab a pair of earrings and not have to spent a few moments untangling them. It’s also great to have a spot where I can put my wedding ring and do a quick check to make sure it’s there. Did I mention I lose things easily? I lose things easily.

What else? We have simple white cotton bedding and curtains to keep the space bright and calm and easy to accessorize should I find myself getting tired of yellow. We added a larger mirror and it makes a huge difference when I’m heading out and need to get a glance at my outfit. I’ve noticed that the sound in the room is softer, I think with the addition of longer curtains, a very dense rug and maybe even the yarn around the lamp sound is deadened a bit. It makes for a very “ahh” sort of feeling when you enter the room.

And last, the overhead light. I really want one of those Random string lamps but cannot afford one. I’ve seen them DIYed and figured this was the perfect time to try it out. And let’s just say I learned some lessons in the course of not getting this one right at all. It mostly fell apart when I deflated the small yoga ball I used as a form, there wasn’t nearly as much yarn in the skein I bought as I thought there would be, and I think my idea of setting it over a light fixture that is set in the ceiling is entirely the wrong way to go. You can’t tell from the photos but this ball is seriously lopsided. But, I did learn that as long as the light fixture is airy like this it doesn’t crowd the room as much as I’d feared, and it softens the room a bit, distracting you from the boxy shape that it is.

You will be hearing more about the string light fixture, at least once I have conquered it.

Huge thanks to Yolo Colorhouse for helping to transform my bedroom!

Anybody have tips on where to look when you just need a little bit of matching laminate flooring? We could use the help.

Remember the water leak I had last month? We’re on our way to getting it fixed. In the mean time our house with all of it’s stuff moved out of some rooms and into others means we look half hoarder and half squatter around here. It’s been so long that we have come to refer to it as This Is How We Live Now.

Unfortunately the water leak destroyed some of our laminate flooring. Said laminate flooring covers most of the upstairs and kitchen, the stairs down to the front door landing and the landing. It ties our tiny house together very nicely. The water only ruined about 12 boards and we could just replace those if only we could find matching laminate boards. We’ve been told by our very awesome contractors that there is a chance we could find old stock (apparently flooring companies change the colors every year or so, maybe so people like us have to buy all new floors?) but that we shouldn’t hold out hope. The thing is, if we do manage to find a box or two of our old color we could potentially avoid having half of the house ripped up. And I like our current flooring, more than the replacement colors we’ve gone to see so far. We’ve called the store that we know it came from (big box place, little they could do), we’ve Googled to death and have had no luck. I feel like this is a whole other world I know nothing about. So, anybody know of a fantastic old stock or remnants flooring warehouse we might try? By any chance? Oh-I-hope-so please?

About 24 hours after I got back from my trip to New York I was standing under streams of water coming from the ceiling of my sewing studio. The water was there because our hot water heater had failed rather dramatically, and the water was in streams because the flood control guy had poked a few dozen holes in the ceiling to let the water out. Our poor house with it’s surprisingly watertight foundation had been flooded from the inside. (Dramatic music queue here.) I got to make a phone call to a plumbing service where I actually opened by saying “Hello, I am having a plumbing emergency!” Happily the guy on the other end was way more in control than I was and talked me through the process of turning off the water to where it was leaking from.

As I type this all of our stuff is has been migrated into areas of the house that managed to avoid the deluge. I cannot get to my television or the computer that holds most of my files, or to the window for that reason. Our bathroom sink is on the back porch. Startlingly large portions of our Pergo is in a trash dump somewhere. The picture above is the view over my laptop looking at the contents of my office closet that are currently in hoarder-like piles in the dining room. Industrial strength dehumidifiers, blowers (they look like giant hair dryers) and heaters are chugging away for three to seven days to dry out all the soaked bits of wood and drywall that I now know what look like from the inside. Our living room carpet ripples like water when you walk over it since it’s lifted by a cushion of hot air. Our office and bathroom are currently 125 degrees to dry out the layers of wood beneath the flooring. We have these many yellow tubes delivering hot dry air into the space above the ceiling and it looks incredibly creepy. If I could keep this around through Halloween I’d totally throw a party in this room.

But you know what? It could have been so much worse and we’ve kept in perspective. Drinking has certainly been involved. So far we’ve paired initial shock with tequila, waiting for the asbestos test with beers and the presence of giant heaters with chilled white wine on the deck. I’ve slept really well because we have white noise machines running on both floors of our house. It’s surprisingly exhausting having work people tinker around your house all day, waiting for this company to do X so that they can do Y. The other night we decided it was very late and we started getting ready for bed only to find it was 9:30 at night.

Here are a few things I’ve learned, or at least think I’ve learned, from this experience:

• Tradespeople will try to help you if they can since they’ve seen this many times before, but there are limits to what they’re allowed to outright tell you. If they seem to be speaking carefully or in a code it’s because they are, so listen closely. One of our guys actually had to ask me the same question three times with his straight man comedy timing intact before I figured out what he was trying to communicate. (He was also a ringer for Paul Blackthorne and I expected he would pull out a hockey stock/wizard staff at any moment.)
• Your homeowners insurance might cover the extra electricity used by all the machines that are drying out your house. Both our flood guy and our insurance lady let us know about this. Which is good because it’s taking a lot of power. As in, we turned on a fan the other day and our lights dipped. We had to unplug the stove (yay for the excuse to get take out!) to allow access to our only 220 outlet for the big heaters.
• Don’t be afraid to push for more aesthetically pleasing solutions. Because I insisted that an overflow pipe run through the back wall of a closet instead of through the closet itself the flood guy was able to have a good view of what was going on with the flooring under our tub, and as a result we might not have to rip up a large portion of our bathroom floor to see under there. Also, resale value is a very legit argument. Also, nothing the previous homeowners had done will make any sense, brace yourselves.
• You will suddenly become unsentimental. I have so much stuff! Where did this stuff come from? I think if I had a removal company come take it all away I wouldn’t miss it. Or much of it. I am seriously considering a move to minimalist after this. Or maybe just ruthless. We’ll see.

And so, wise and experienced people, have you had a big and inconvenient house disaster? What did you learn from it? School the rest of us so that we will be prepared!

FRÄCK Hack « Manhattan Nest. An adjustable bedside light, such a great idea.

Shift Space Design – Philadelphia, PA. I love these modern planters and yard accessories. They are expensive but so nice and clean looking.

Refreshing Vintage Wood The Brick House. A nice how-to with favorite products.

How To Make a Hanging Gutter Garden | Apartment Therapy. We have a small house with a sturdy deck but a small back yard and (forgive me) an ugly house next door. So our quest to find a way to screen it out inexpensively has led to vines or trailing plants. I might give pictures some day.

Top Secret « Manhattan Nest. Daniel leaves a note for the next tenants and one gets in touch, this story is so sweet. But, I take extra special note of this one point: “and we’ll also be doing some DIY projects of our own… starting with an oversized mirror that we’re turning into a chalkboard for the kitchen.” What a perfectly strong and flat surface to start with, so smart!

a little macramé | Design*Sponge. We have been searching for an affordable hanging pot for our String of Pearls plant for too long, it’s time to pull out the macramé.

How to Make Abstract Art DIY, at Oh Happy Day. They make it look so easy, maybe even I could do it!

Side Table to Lego Table {IKEA Hack} | Skip To My Lou. I’ve been wanting to do this to our coffee table, we have a Lego collection that needs more attention.

J-Me | Nest Wall Shoe Rack. Nice and compact.

When apartment-hunting, how can you tell if a place has good inter-unit sound insulation? | Ask MetaFilter. Knock on the laminate flooring that I own, may I never have to worry about this again. Then again, as I type this it’s 1:46 a.m. and I just heard my (otherwise very quiet) next door neighbor sneeze.

shelterrific » desk zen: footed aeriums. I want one of these.

shelterrific » kinda genius: painted foam core bookcase inserts. Instead of painting the bookcase itself, fake it with foam core. As somebody who hates commitment I salute this.

Modern Parents Messy Kids: DIY Creativity Center (Toddler-Friendly & Baby-Proof). I like the use of the colorful plastic cups made to fit on the rail here, and the magazine rack to hold art papers.

Hack A Temporary Air Conditioner For Hot Summer Nights | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Outdoor Orbs Part II.How to Make a Birdfeeder From Glass Shades | The Art of Doing Stuff. So simple and so incredible looking!

shelterrific » everything you wanted to know about hammocks (but were afraid to ask)!.

The Brick House, DIY Terrarium.

Ask a Clean Person: Spilled Nail Polish and Mysterious Smells | The Hairpin. I’m noting the recommendation for DampRid here, we have a finished basement where we spent lots of time and while it’s miraculously water tight (knock on foundation wood) it can be a bit too humid downstairs.

Use Black Paint to Hide TVs in Plain Sight | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

before & after: paneled wood wall | Design*Sponge. I like the wood wall here but what I like even more is how the switch transformed the white banister into something much cleaner and modern looking.

Make Your Own Upholstered Bed in One Weekend at Big Box Detox, via Apartment Therapy.

Build a Patio: Notes from a DIY – DIY Life.

Yolo Colorhouse wants you to know that their paint is now available in Lowe’s stores on the West Coast, and to help spread the word they are offering one lucky reader some useful things, more on that below. To celebrate the introduction the paint is being offered at a special price, yipee. Go see more about this, and find out which select stores the paint will be available in.

Yolo Colorhouse makes gorgeous zero-VOC paint which means it’s good for you, your home and the environment. They are both Green Seal certified and has a whole bunch of LEED rating points. I first learned about Yolo Colorhouse when we bought our first home and painted every wall, ceiling and door with zero-VOC paint (I would have painted the floors too, but half are already pretty nice and the other half are carpet). Yolo Colorhouse has amazing colors, each one is richly pigmented and seems to spring from nature. I wasn’t surprised to find that the women who founded the company actually started with color, custom mixing it on the spot for clients, and was followed by researching and creating paint that would be healthier for themselves and the dwellings they put it in. They call themselves color nerds! Their designer sensibilities also show in how they present the paint, they sell poster-sized samples of the actual paint which you can hang on the wall of you choice to see how it acts in the light in that space and there is no need to paint a swatch on your wall (something I find perilous and more work than it seems). Or, if you’re getting ready to make some paint choices for your home, you can order a Design Kit which are books of 8×8 samples of all the colors they offer. Which brings us back to the giveaway!

Yolo Colorhouse would like to give a reader both of their Design Kits, each is worth $80. One set contains The Earth’s Color collection and the second contains both The Color of Hope collection as well as the Sprout collection which is a range of lovely pastels suitable for childrens rooms. Each sample card lists three companion colors on the back as well as a note on the color. My favorite, Petal .02, says “Hot lime – full of energy. Try it with black and white – makes for a lively contemporary kitchen or for an accent in a kid’s play room.” Petal .01 reports “Make no mistake, Petal .01 is loud and vibrant. An orange designed to be used sparingly, unless you want to live loud.” Each kit is bound using a metal ring that is easy to unclasp so you can hold up individual samples as needed. In addition to the design kits you’ll get an organic cotton tote bag and a BPA-free water bottle. Excellent, right?

Are you a designer? Or just fixing up your house and anticipating needing some time to obsess over colors? These are meant for you. If you think these Design Kits would come in handy you can enter this giveaway simply by leaving a comment with this post. If you’d like something to chat about (I love reading all the responses) please answer this question: Which color would you paint your ideal kitchen? I think I’d go with a sunny yellow to keep my spirits up during our overcast winter days. You’ve got until Tuesday, June 14th to enter, the fine print applies and the winner will be chosen by the Random Number Generator. Just so you know: This a sponsored giveaway, from a company I like.

Alright, good luck! Done! I’ll be announcing the winning number once I’ve heard back. Thanks so much for entering everybody!

How expensive is cheap lawn equipment? | Ask MetaFilter. A discussion about brands of string trimmers, which we are also looking at buying. Our old rechargeable one wasn’t powerful enough to make it all the way around the lawn.

Home-Dzine – Make your own designer fractal mirror, via Curbly. I like this idea.

Target’s Limited Edition Home Accessories by Calypso | Apartment Therapy. Something to remember to check out.

Glowing Outdoor Orbs | The Art of Doing Stuff.

Color Block Mountain Painting @Craftzine.com blog. I like this, and Meg Allen Cole offers very good tips.

Unexpected Favorite: Vintage Drying Rack | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn. This is so cool.

Intrinsic Complexity: Modern Hacked Lighting | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. Create a modern looking pendant for cheap.

I’m looking to buy a new (or very nearly new) king-size mattress. Recommendations for stores, brands, or particular models are much appreciated. | Ask MetaFilter.

Freshly Picked: How to Make a Chandelier. An inexpensive shell-like chandelier, fabulous. Via Design Mom.

Make: Online | Make: Projects – Doortop Stash. A most brilliant way to hide small things in (almost) plain sight in your house that will not be bothered with. Via Erica Mulherin on Pinterest.

How To: Hack an Ikea Frosta Stool Apartment Therapy Videos | Apartment Therapy New York.

My friend, the towel radiator. « Door Sixteen.

A Whole Mess of Staples « Manhattan Nest. He upholsters an Ikea bedframe using an army blanket and it come in under $100. My hero.

Design*Sponge » DIY 101: building your toolbox – saws part I.

A Curtain at the Front Door | Apartment Therapy. When we lived in houses where the front door opened directly into the living room I always wanted to hang a heavy curtain over the door, at least to make the room seem cozier and less sidewalk adjacent.

Wall-Mounted Nightstands Round Up | Apartment Therapy.

Is It Still Called An End Table If It’s Made From Lamps? | Apartment Therapy San Francisco.

We finally installed our FLOR tiles so I used them to learn all about the A-Dep (depth of focus setting) setting on my camera. Last time I wrote about these we had samples and we liked one color, but a different texture that the color wasn’t available for. Happily we dithered long enough and FLOR updated their line to include the combination we really wanted, Feelin’ Groovy in Clementine. Now we need a low table and some lighting. At this pace we will be done sometime in October.

Museum of Useful Things – 24″ Order Rail. I wish I had found this when I was putting together my kitchen wall stuff.

The top air scrubbing indoor plants from a NASA study. | Apartment Therapy Re-Nest.

Best Vacuum Roundup: Dyson, Miele, Electrolux, Airider… | Apartment Therapy.

Cool Tools: Window Alert. UV window clings that are almost invisible to humans but birds can see clearly, they help stop birds from flying into windows and hurting themselves. Wish we had these when I was a kid, I grew up in a house with giant plate glass windows and birds flew into them often.

swissmiss | Componibili Laundry Basket. A wall mounted flip out bin that would work as toy storage or recycling. We have three Ikea Trones shoe bins that we spray painted white and use as wall mounted recycling bins, they work well, but these Componibili look nicer.

Jordan Ferney | Oh Happy Day!: Removable Wallpaper: The Final Report. Did the wallpaper come down easily? The suspense! Actually, I’m all up on considering removable wallpaper for an entryway now.

Home Projects for Renters: Reversible Wall Decor | Apartment Therapy New York.

Design Happens » Archive » A DIY Grandfather Clock For Under $50. So smart! Seeing great uses of wall decals like this makes me want to throw back my head and curse my orange peel walls. Curses!

shelterrific » vintage lighting love: behind the scenes at rejuvenation.

Before & After: Adding Style to an IKEA Karlstad Sofa | Apartment Therapy New York. Very cool and easy change, they turned an Ikea Karlstad into what looks like a Crate and Barrel Petrie.

How to cut an ENJE roller shade. « Door Sixteen.

Help! My Wall Outlet Moves When I Plug Things In | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. An easy fix to bring a loose outlet flush with your wall.

Brasa Brings the Fireplace to the Tabletop | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

How-To: Make Your Own Sunburst Mirror For Under $25 » Curbly | DIY Design Community. Via @CapreeK on Twitter.

swissmiss | Coffee Filters.

Cool Tools: Umbrella Patch. Handy kit for fixing a hole in drywall.

Cool Tools: Method Foaming Soap Dispenser. Reusing foaming soap dispensers is easy, we reused one for about five years before we had to replace it (with a prettier Muji version).

Luggage Racks As Pot Racks | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn.

Large Wooden Ampersand by Hindsvik on Etsy. Oh yes. Via Making It Lovley.

Shane Powers for West Elm – The Crafts Dept. We saw some of these terrariums last time we were in Portland (the nearest West Elm store) and I loved them.

Adventures in Renovating a Brooklyn Limestone: Junk Drawer Overhaul: Chargers Made Lovely. We need to do this, our chargers live on our kitchen counter as well.

Pharox60 6 Watt Dimmable LED Bulb Daily Find | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

in the loop – Home – how to: make a bubble wreath.

Rain gutter bookshelves! At Parent Hacks.

Tea & Cookies: Create an Organized Spice Rack? Check. She has great information on what she picked and why, as well as useful links to the other spice organization systems. I still just pile everything into my drawer, but feel the need to at least label them a bit better.

Design*Sponge » sneak peek: mike and emma of m+e. I wasn’t the only one who immediately wanted to know what paint they used in the living room — Emma responded in the comments and it’s Wedgewood Gray by Aura. Thank you Emma!

Where’s the best place to buy one-off large posters online? | Ask MetaFilter. Asker is looking for services that will print his own images.

Tutorial: Eco-chic Chandelier | i do it yourself™.

How To Create a Quick, Cheap Rug Home Hacks | Apartment Therapy New York.

Friday I’m in love… with our crafty felt rug « Conversation Pieces. Love this! Via Apartment Therapy.

True Up » Digital Fabric Printing Comparison Chart Updated!. Via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories.

High-Heeled Foot in the Door: DIY Chevron Rug. Wow, a big impact rug made for very little money.

Eighteenth Century Agrarian Business: diy: a mirror from a leaded-glass window. This is beautiful.

shelterrific » strangely appealing: designgrass.

you are my fave: Woven wooden light shades are my fave. I love these.

Best Books for Home Remodel | Ask MetaFilter.

Silver Electrical Cord Kit – Pendants and Lanterns – Cost Plus World Market. Nice, and cheap.

Help me stop my windows from dripping | Ask MetaFilter. Condensation on aluminum frames, a question I have myself.

The Doors « Manhattan Nest. Using fabric to block the view but not the light through the windows in bedroom doors.

We finally bought some lounge-y type chairs for the empty spot in our dining room. I really wanted ones with arms (these chairs we spotted in Vegas would have been ideal) but after looking at every lounge chair I could and finding none that fit into the two categories that were imperative (A: I like them, and B: they are something less than $3000) I gave in and we bought inexpensive armless chairs. (We found them here at Overstock.) They work well because they don’t block the sightlines to the large mirror that leans against a wall off to one side. The mirror is huge and heavy and came into our possession when the people who previously owned this house left it behind. It’s so heavy I suspect we will also be leaving it behind.

Here are chairs looking really boring.

Now we need a rug to go under the chairs and sort of define the space. We hope it will say “this is where we sit and sip martinis”. Or at the very least “this rug is here so the chairs won’t slide as you go to sit down”. The space is a size that most area rugs won’t work for as we walk through that corner to get in and out of the dining room. So a 5×8 area rug would stick out too far and I’d constantly be tripping on the corner (and dramatically dropping platters of food). A 4×6 rug wouldn’t be wide enough to allow all eight chair legs to rest on the rug. We need a 4×7 rug, so it was off to FLOR to decide on a color.

FLOR tiles, if you have not already come across them, are modular carpet tiles about 20″x20″. They are created from recycled or renewable materials where they can, low VOC, made mostly in the US and you can return them to the factory for recycling if you ever decide you no longer need them. If you spill something on one of them you can pick it up and wash it. And, important for our purposes, they can be trimmed to fit the size you need. Neat huh? Read more about the tiles and the company here.

This is our dining room wall color.

I spent three days changing my mind about what color rug we needed. White! It would get dirty too quickly. Gray! Black and white stripes! Teal! Scott pointed out that an orange to go with our dining room wall would work well. The house is oddly laid out and you cannot really stand somewhere and be able to see the area rug and the wall in the same view so the amount of orange hopefully won’t be overwhelming.

Shown above: Fez in Orange, Toy Poodle in Persimmon, Fedora in Cayenne / Toy Poodle in Clementine, Feelin’ Groovy in Orange, Making Waves in Clementine.

We ordered six samples, they come 6″x6″, and I’m very glad we did as they look very different in person than on the website. (This may largely be the fault of my lack of a good computer monitor.)

We narrowed it down to these two, Toy Poodle in Clementine and Feelin’ Groovy in Orange. After seeing them in daylight and at night we’ve chosen clementine as our color, it’s the lighter one above. The colors in the photo aren’t quite right, the Orange looks better up there, so you’ll just have to trust me. Though, I really really wish they still had the yellow-flecked orange they show as a design element at the top of this page:

p.s. The FLOR site has lots of great chairs in their example room photos. I want the violet/magenta ones shown on this page.

After that I need this Martini table from West Elm to hold our martinis. See? Perfect.

Craft/tool station with wall organizer – Craftynest.

Centsational Girl » Blog Archive » How To Paint Perfect Stripes on Walls.

Jonathan Adler Mrs. Godfrey Chair. I LOVE this chair. I cannot afford it.

The Dishrack of Your Dreams | Kohler. Mine too, I hope they start making this to purchase soon.

mirrormirror: Mrs Thomas’s Book of Household Management, DIY fruit fly traps that work.

Space Heaters, Radiators, Heating Pads for Every Size Roundup | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. I’ve decided I cannot go another winter without a small programmable space heater for our bathroom. Or a bathroom remodel. Guess which one is realistic right now.

POSTERHANGER at Textile Arts. This is 60 inches wide so you can use it to hang large pieces of fabric for decorations. I have some fabric hangers from CB2 that are, sniff, no longer available, but work really well to fill a large blank wall with something fairly inexpensive.

the girl in the green dress.: interior design magazine. We’ve been wondering what to put on our bedroom walls to add some color but we wanted something that wouldn’t hurt if it fell in the middle of the night. Felt panels? Perfect.

Design*Sponge » before & after: sarah’s rug + kat’s planters. The painted rug here is very smart.

Earlier this week I accompanied Tea on a trip to the Seattle Ikea. She taught me how much you can get done at Ikea in the twenty minutes before closing time and I showed her my two favorite shortcuts.

Shortcut #1: If you head to your right just as you go in the main entrance doors, pass by the entrance to the kids play area and round the corner at the end of that hallway you’ll pop out near the restaurant, thus bypassing the entire showroom half of the store.

Shortcut #2 (my absolute favorite): If you take the official shortcut in the marketplace area with the mirrors and picture frames you’ll go through a hallway and end up in the warehouse just a few rows from the checkout lanes, bypassing nearly the entirety of the warehouse section. This one isn’t a secret, but the sign for it is hard to spot unless you’re looking for it as it’s just out of the sightlines from the main walkway. You come out at aisle 62 so if only need one thing from the warehouse and it’s in, say, aisle 50 you can cut through here and backtrack through the warehouse. It’ll save a bunch of time and will avoid the pinch of going through the section with vases and plant pots (which we call “The Gauntlet”).

These two combined can save a huge amount of time. Especially if you’re only there to eat some meatballs and pick up a new cutting board.

I also noted two Ikea items I’ve been somewhat obsessed over in the last few years.

Vippa hooks: These are simple metal double hooks, both the angled top and the curved bottom can hold something. Since they are attached with two screws instead of one they won’t eventually loosen and rotate against the wall. (I’m looking at you, Blecka hooks.) When we set up our kitchen storage the Vippa hooks were on the website but the spot for them in the store, conveniently labeled “Vippa”, was empty. For years. I checked the stock at stores all over the world and even had Busywork check on them in a UK Ikea, no luck. (Though I did gain a witness to my madness on this point.) And suddenly earlier this year there they were. So, if you’re looking for a good hook for your wall in a closet or entryway Vippa might be for you. They come in two sizes and I suggest you buy them now before they disappear again.

Grundtal hooks: These 9-shaped hooks were the ones I used in my improvised kitchen cabinet handle-as-hanging-bar (about half way down that page). Unlike S-hooks they can’t be pushed off to fall noisily. I get reports from time to time that people cannot find them, but my Ikea faithfully has them in the Grundtal section of the marketplace aisles where the bathroom fixtures are. Grundtal is also the name of storage items in the kitchen section which does or used to carry Grundtal S-hooks, thus the confusion, I think. That and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that my Ikea is the only one in the universe that actually stocks the 9-hooks. If you need some get in touch, I’ll be happy to get some to you.

Heated….RUGS? » Curbly | DIY Design Community « Keywords: heater, space_heater, rug_pad, rug. I think I want a rug heater, anybody used one? Like it?

DIY Athens Farm Wedding | Once Wed. While the wedding dress is great, I’m bookmarking this for the easy and charming polka dot garland shown behind the sewing machine.

Dyson City DC-26 Multi floor (NOTCOT). It’s so tiny, and it has a retractable cord. I might rethink my proposed purchase of a Miele.

WowWall on Etsy. I like the scale of these wall stickers.

What do you wish you knew before you finished your basement? | Ask MetaFilter.

Loft Portable Fireplace, at Outblush. Not horribly expensive, I might have to have another look at portable fireplaces.

Cool Tools: Magnetic Doorstop. Must keep this in mind for an upcoming redo of a door.

DIY: Painting My Bedroom, Part 2 – Fresh Home Blog. I like the light gray she picked out here.

Centsational Girl » Spray Paint FAQs. Via Making It Lovely.

How do I use painter’s tape successfully? | Ask MetaFilter.

Design*Sponge » top 10 paint resources.

Music for fake grown ups drinking cheap bubbly? | Ask MetaFilter.

Eye candy: Wood organizing products | Unclutterer. Nice bike rack/bookshelf.

Living in 182 Square Feet in Seattle The Seattle Times | Apartment Therapy. I love that his focus is on getting himself back out into the neighborhood instead of hanging at home too often.

How can I muffle loud pipes in a wall, preferably cheaply? | Ask MetaFilter. We discovered that a kitchen sink pipe runs through our lower level living room when we drilled straight through it while hanging curtain rods. Now that we know where it is (silver lining?) we might try to muffle it.

Design*Sponge » before & after: ashley’s chair + mary’s ikea hacks. I really love the second chair makeover on this page, almost makes me wish we didn’t have upholstered office chairs.

Your Smoke Detector Questions, Answered | Unplggd. I’m suddenly feeling insecure about never cleaning out my smoke detectors.

Design*Sponge » new: oh joy wallpaper for hygge & west. I really like this, and as I usually dismiss wallpaper as too much work I will be considering where I could use this.

decor8 » Aunt June Fabrics. An Etsy shop I really must remember, I have throw pillows to make.

shelterrific » tried and true: spot shot carpet cleaner. I need this, I am a clumsy person who prefers red wine in delicate and tall stemmed glasses.

Limited Edition Walnut Eames Hang-It-All | Design Milk. If only we had the space, all our hallways and entry areas are too tight for anything but the most compact of hooks.

Simple Lovely: The Summer of Self Improvement — Paper Chandeliers (Or “The Patience Edition”). I love the reflection on DIY, but I also love this paper chandelier. I have a new light fixture that is plain and just begging me to decorate it for the seasons.

Traditional & Affordable: Cotton Rugs | Apartment Therapy DC. I could use a big rug in our dining room.

Col-Letto Bed | Design Milk. This bed with foldable soft sides is really neat. I want one.

The Secret to Successfully Painting IKEA Shelves Reader Intelligence Report | Apartment Therapy Chicago.

Serious Entertaining: How to Turn Office Supplies Into Dinner Party Accessories | Serious Eats. I heart Helen Jane.

Off-the-shelf door replacement – easy? | Ask MetaFilter.

I’m looking for a home owner’s manual. By that I mean a book, website, etc. (the type of media doesn’t matter) that is structured like a car manual’s scheduled service interval section. | Ask MetaFilter.

Outstanding online furniture stores for medium to high end furnishings? | Ask MetaFilter. Includes a lot of Seattle recommendations.

Making it Lovely | Transforming the so-so. » DIY Painting Tips, Tricks, and a Step-By-Step Guide. Scott and I painted most of this house together, but as we start painting the bathrooms it’s always good to have a look over the basics and this guide to painting a room at Making It Lovely is a good one.

I’d like to buy a cool, large map to hang on my wall. | Ask MetaFilter.

Serious Entertaining: Three Quick and Easy Napkin Folds | Serious Eats.

Design*Sponge » diy project: portable sun shade.

Trompe-l’oeil Door Wallpaper | Design Milk. I like these, thanks go Maggi for sending me this link!

Design*Sponge » diy project: drawer knob finials. I have to be honest, my own curtain rods have stood finial-less for over a year. I bought them at Target and none of the finials looked good to me. I wonder if door knobs like these would fit into the rods I have?

Just Something I Made: FUN WITH DECALS PART 1: In the Kitchen Free PDF Images. Downloadable decals for your kitchen, via Craftzine.

Marimekko Upholstery Fabrics | Bold Designer Fabrics by Marimekko Finland. I didn’t realize some Marimekko fabrics were upholstry weight, thanks Laura for the tip!

Door Sixteen » Attack of the 16-foot planter!. Instructions for some huge, and pretty, planters. Thanks Anna!

We have an empty space in our dining room that we’ve been meaning to fill with two chairs. We see ourselves sitting there in the morning sipping coffee and reading the paper (well, reading the morning news on various mobile devices). But it’s a small space and I cannot find chairs that I like and which would fit. Most chairs I find in the furniture stores I frequent (which is mostly limited to Ikea and Crate and Barrel) have too large a footprint, those that are small enough are like a mini version of an overstuffed chair and just aren’t comfortable. I’d like something bit a little bit of a cushion and with arms (no slipper chairs, unfortunately) but the space we have doesn’t allow for the boxy upholstered chairs I find everywhere.

I keep seeing chairs in lobbies and lounges that I like a lot. Above are some chairs at a bar in the Luxor in Vegas, and below are some spotted on an episode of Bones. (I’m glad nobody was home to see me gasp and rewind Tivo to take photographs of the screen.) But I cannot seem to figure out where one would buy chairs like these. Does anybody know? Or do you know what words I should be using to look for this kind of chair? If so pipe up before I start walking into hotel lobbies and demanding to speak with their decorator.

How To Make a Custom Knife Tray Out of Wood & Glue Reader Tips | The Kitchn.

angry chicken: outdoor art fun. She combined some sheets of plywood and chalkboard paint to make giant outdoor chalkboards, I want one for myself!

Backyard Dinner Parties: Pretty Things to Hang from Trees | The Kitchn. I like the candles in jars hanging from the underside of the porch umbrella.

Technological Green Garden Party Lights | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. Ikea also has a few good solar powered outdoor lights this year.

Will Room and Board’s Jasper slipcovers work on Crate and Barrel’s Petrie couches? | Ask MetaFilter. The answer? Yes!

Going Paper Towel Free : Juniper Moon Farm. This makes me think it might be possible to eliminate paper towels around here too.

shelterrific » make your own photo wall decal with shutterfly.

A Light Wall That Mimics Sun Rays | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

swissmiss | ID Guard Stamp. Thirding the great idea declaration, this is a stamp that obscures your private information before you throw that mail into the recycling bin or shredder. You can never be too careful, etc.

all buttoned up.: Fabric Windows. This is a fantastic way to use fabric to frost a window, with complete instructions on how to make it fit perfectly.

ikea hacker: Table vase. This makes it look like the fresh flower is coming right out of the table, nice.

Free Printable Vintage Ephemera | Apartment Therapy San Francisco.

Make This! Inexpensive DIY Hammock | Apartment Therapy Chicago.

Ceiling Decoration at Design Mom.

Craftzine.com blog : Plantable Paper Flowers.

Round Up: Ideas and Sources For Displaying Family Photos The Supersize Version | Apartment Therapy DC.

Organizing Computer Cables with Binder Clips | Apartment Therapy Unplggd. Very simple, and not all that bad looking.

vertical garden how-to « in the loop, at CB2. We have a perfect spot for one of these! via Shelterrific.

How to store your cashmere | The Working Closet | Work It, Mom!.

Derek Powazek – You Already Have A Green Thumb. On growing houseplants.

Starched fabric wall decal experiment | How About Orange.

Ruche: DIY – Wall Decor from Ruche’s Lookbook. I’m looking at #3 Natual Peel-able Wallpaper. This is one of the first times I’ve seen a picture of it done.

DIY Glass Bubble Chandelier at The Small Notebook.

Building a Stacked Wood Fireplace Mantel at The Small Notebook. I really wish we had a fireplace, and I’ve thought about making one but I’ve never found any fakes as appealing as this one.

Design*Sponge » sewing 101: curtains.

Memo Chalkboard Wall Sticker, online at JohnLewis.com. Curse my orange peel finish walls!

Highlight Your Flat Screen With Plywood & Pipe | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Making it Lovely | Transforming the so-so. » DIY Painting Tips, Tricks, and a Step-By-Step Guide.

Design*Sponge » small measures with ashley: starting seeds indoors.

The Kitchn On Dishwashers Kitchen & Bath Month 2010 | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn.

5 Books & Guides To Help With Wiring Woes | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

take a seat… – Oh Joy!. I’m looking at the coat hooks here to use in our upcoming (we’ll get to it, I swear) bathroom redo.

Design*Sponge » going places: modern world map + prints.

Potentially Amazing Technology: Is Spray-On Liquid Glass About to Make Everything Greener? : TreeHugger. I hope this gets made really soon so I can spray it on my floors and walls so I won’t have to worry about scratching them. (Kidding. But I hate the the surfaces in my home can be damaged by the act of living.) Via Shelterrific.

How To Swap a Two-Prong for a Three-Prong Outlet | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Hang Out Hooks by David Zachary — Better Living Through Design. Keeping these in mind for our (purely theoretical at this point) bathroom redo.

Stainless Steel Modular Bathroom Storage? Good Questions | Apartment Therapy.

Envi High-Efficiency Electric Panel Heater Unplggd Test Lab | Apartment Therapy Unplggd.

Oversize Music Murals | Apartment Therapy New York.

Document sans titre. Big graphics for you wall, you get to choose the size and color. Via NOTCOT.

Reversible Decor: Martina’s Chandelier Cover-up | Apartment Therapy San Francisco. We’re figuring out what to do with our dining room light, this might be the temporary answer.

Cool Tools: Toto Eco Drake. A helpful review of a toilet.

shelterrific » modern mailbox: found. I must remember this!

swissmiss | Overhang Shelf with Hooks. I’m currently shopping for things that will fit in our tiny bathroom, this might work.

Chunky Console Table | west elm. I love that this can act as a fireplace-like focal point in a room. Wish this was around when we were trying to figure out what to do with the dining room.

Shopping: The search for designer doorknobs.

swissmiss | Luft Wall Shelf. I love how slim this is.

mirrormirror: Scribbler on the Wall Charlotte Mann This is fabulous, the artist draws all the things she wants but cannot have on the walls. I like the pleasant views most of all, the thing I most want myself.

Silicone Door Stop – Better Living Through Design.

Cool Tools: GutterShutter.

shelterrific » vintage fixing: re-webbing a patio chair.

swissmiss | Hook and Pinboard. I need one of these for Scott.

DIY radiant floor heating at Design2Share, via Shelterrific.

Cool Tools: Homegrown Evolution.

What do you wish you would have known before you sold your house? | Ask Metafilter.

Woolly Wally Five. A modular wall gardening system, at Outblush.

How can I make my house into a home fit for a spy? | Ask Metafilter.

Two friends asked about window film at separate times last weekend so I figured that as long as I was gathering the information again I might as well post it again. I’ve mentioned window film before and a lot of this information was previously gathered for this post on window film for my stint as Guest Blogger over at Design*Sponge.

I love window film for a (possibly) inexpensive way to cover windows that don’t have a view of much of anything. It’s a low commitment and easy to remove solution for renters, takes up no space at all for a window that is in a hallway or a door, and lets in a lot of light. I use it in the place of cafe curtains in a few places to only block out the bottom half of some windows.

There are a few options which I’ll list below going from expensive to cheap to unfamiliar to DIY, but first I want to give you a warning. This is the warning: beware using clear contact paper. It seems perfect, and a few years ago I used and removed it easily in my SF apartment. But the second time I used it and went to remove it the @#$%ing adhesive stayed on the glass. I spent a very long day surrounded by Goo Gone, Windex and various scrapers picking that @#$%ing adhesive off three windows. Tears were involved. Arms were unable to be completely lowered to my sides for a time. I think the adhesive formula had changed in the intervening years. So, unless you are ready and willing to go through this yourself I suggest you use one of the options below.

Strossel Design: I have the Geranium film in the window over my kitchen sink, it’s a much nicer thing to look at than my neighbor’s siding. Upside: It doesn’t have any adhesive. Downside: It’s expensive. The height of the panels work out well to block out the bottom half of a window. There are a number of patterns available, white on translucent. Available at Rare Device and Scandinavian Design Center. Strossel Design website.

Maria Liv: I really like the effect of branches just on the other side of the glass. I have not used this one but Ex Libris shows how she used the branches design to block the view in from windows next to her front door on Flickr. There are a number of designs, white or gray on translucent. You can find this at Scandinavian Design Center.

Gila brand film from a hardware store. I see this in the aisle of Lowes that has the window blinds. Most of the designs are less that lovely, but the plain frosted film is fine. Upside: The roll is very, very wide. Downside: The roll is very, very wide. The roll is wide enough that it can be difficult to find a surface big enough to measure and cut the size you need. I currently use this on the window in our office that, sadly, has a view of our neighbor’s holly tree which is encroaching on our roof. (The picture above shows some seams, which is only there because I accidentally cut the film too small and had to create an overlap.) This has a pretty strong adhesive backing, but I’ve had little trouble removing it using the accompanying Gila brand removal spray (you can borrow mine if you need it). Also a plus, the Gila film offers some UV protection. Gila website.

See also: Door Sixteen left a gap around the edges to create some privacy in a bathroom without completely blocking out the window. Megan B at Shelterrific used some film from Window Film World to create a bit more privacy for the sliding glass doors in her kitchen without losing the light. I also really like the modern vertical slat design (first image) created using frosted film in this living room shown off over at Apartment Therapy.

Amorf Frost film from Ikea: I found this in the Bathroom section of the Marketplace. Upside: It’s very inexpensive. Downside: The rolls are narrow and so are better suited to small windows, and the texture of surface of the film isn’t as nice as other films. I currently use this on a door which has a few small windows, and a small bathroom window. Backing is not adhesive, really easy to remove.

Emma Jeffs: I have not tried this, but the description says it has a slightly adhesive backing. It comes in a bunch of graphic designs and a few colors, my favorite is the white pixels. Available at 2Jane, Pure Modern and Design Public. Emma Jeffs website.

Brume: This is a company in the UK and I know very little about the film, but I love the cut out designs they have. With a little careful work with an exacto knife you could likely do something inspired by these designs. Brume website.

Trove: These are new to me, I only know them from a post at Design*Sponge. Pretty and motion filled designs, and it looks like the panels are very large. Trove website.

Application and removal of window film. I’m going to quote myself from the Design*Sponge post here:

Window film is applied by spraying the window with slightly soapy water. I simply put a drop of baby shampoo in a spray bottle and fill it the rest of the way with water. You don’t want to use something like a dish detergent as this will create too many bubbles which can be difficult to push out from under the film.

Before removing the film backing cut it to the size of your window, you can hold it in place to see if you need to trim a little more off. Spray the window with your soap mixture, peel the backing off the film and apply right away. The back, or smooth, side of the film is statically charged and will attract lots of dust if you remove the backing too soon. The small amount of soap in the water creates just enough surface tension to hold onto your window film, you can slide it into place while it’s still wet, and once it dries it will hold until you remove it. After the film is in place I use a clean, dry cloth to gently push air bubbles to the edges of the film so that they can escape.

Non-adhesive window film peels off cleanly leaving you with a little bit of soap you need to wash away, I used a regular window cleaner. Adhesive backed window film like the Gila film is more difficult to remove, but I was happy to find that the window film remover they sell worked like a charm to remove the film and any adhesive it left behind.

Image by and belongs to All Buttoned Up.

DIY options: There are a handful of DIY window film solutions as well. I really love this option at All Buttoned Up, she used a white-on-white cotton fabric soaked with spray starch to cover a window which turned out beautifully. Laundry starch will clean up easily. (I’ve also heard of people covering whole walls using a lightweight fabric and laundry starch. This frightens me as I imagine the clean up for a whole wall would be messy, but hey, it’s an option.)

Design*Sponge has a post on painting your own designs on window film. (I have to note again that I don’t recommend using clear contact paper because of the trouble I had getting the adhesive off the glass when I went to remove it. Use Gila or the Ikea stuff instead if you can.)

A few last notes on other things I’ve tested: One of the first projects I did on this site, way back in 2001, was testing what sort of DIY window film would work in my tiny San Francisco kitchen that looked out into the uninteresting space between buildings that did nothing but allow neighbors on four floors to see into my window. I used liquid laundry starch (which came in a bottle) to stick tissue paper on my window, a section of small squares of contact paper, as well as a section of various amounts of beer mixed with epsom salt. The tissue paper didn’t stay on the window long, the beer was fun (and can work as a holiday decoration) but the tidiest looking one was the clear contact paper. I used it for a year and a half in a San Francisco apartment and it came down cleanly (again, my later use of contact paper ended with tears during clean up, you’ve been well warned, etc.) Another thing I tried once up on a time was painting gesso directly onto glass. This worked well, and even covered the outside of a shower door without being affected by the water, but clean up was frustrating and I found myself tired of looking at brush strokes after not too long.

Guest bedroom window. At Door Sixteen. Great post about repairing old windows with links to resources.

Target Pod Chair We need a few casual chairs, and in a room with an orange wall, but I don’t know if I these would flop-able enough.

Nexus medicine cabinet Really nice in-wall medicine cabinet. At Ikea Hacker.

diy wednesdays: wallpapered medicine cabinet We’re getting ready to redo a bathroom, I like this idea for decorating the interior of a medicine cabinet. At Design*Sponge.

Delight Your Room Wallflowers! available at Delight.com I like these better than most of the wall stickers.

Silicone Door Stop (set of 3)– Better Living Through Design Simple and functional.

Strips 4 Seat Sofa– Better Living Through Design I hate itchy sofa fabrics, maybe I could make a quilted cover like this one should I ever, uh, accidentally buy an itchy sofa.

Advice for growing hops | Ask Metafilter

ironing board cubby spice rack She used screw eyes as shelf supports that are easy to adjust to make the shelves level, very clever!

Mighty Girl » Green Pockets by Maruja Fuentes

shelterrific » more fun with window film

swissmiss | Mila. A nicely minimal profile shoe rack.

We spent yesterday getting a late start on planting things. I’m an uninspired gardener, I like picking out plants and making grand plans (this year I want to grow hops in the front yard that will climb up to the roof of our porch!) but I have little enthusiasm for the follow through with watering and pruning.

This year I’m going to see how growing herbs in a container full of organic soil from our hippie market goes. (I’m aware that the rosemary will grow very, very well here but I’m afraid of what might be in the soil in our yard, so a container it is for the time being.) Here are the tags, which I’m sure to loose. Two kinds of basil, that just sort of happened:

Scott decided on some artsy-and-invasive sorts to grow in staggered pots in the corner of the deck that we rarely use:

And an asparagus fern to grow in my Grobal Baby pot:

How high up on the wall should my mirror hang? at Ask Metafilter

The Perfect Pear Terrarium, I want this too. At Decor8.

I tried caulk singles, at Shelterrific. (It’s the name of the post, not actually me.) I agree with Mary, if I could show you all the half-used caulk guns we’ve tossed when we moved the caulk singles are far more eco-friendly.

Museum Frame Decal at Better Living Through Design. See also, Do Frame adhesive tape over at Anh-minh.

Has anybody sat in the Midcentury Chair from Urban Outfitters? Is it by any chance comfortable?

Door Sixteen shows us how to neatly paint a taped shape.

Shelterrific on MirrorMate Frames, which can dramatically change the way your bathroom or hallway mirror looks. (And I’m thinking of adding this to a list of things to remember when staging a house.)

Two shelves from Better Living Through Design: Pablo the Object Frame and the Cloud Shelf.

Sunset magazine on two Seattle shops, Watson Kennedy Fine Home and Urban Weeds.

Emira’s home, in a design tour at Design*Sponge. I love that Martin has made all that special furniture and has taken the care to put circular windows in doors, amazing.

What do you wish you had done to your new house before you moved in? at Ask Metafilter

How To: Make Shades Out of Mini Blinds at AT

Oto Rug Collection from the Nought Collective at AT

Taco Truck Prints to Brighten Up a Kitchen Wall at Chow

multi-talented bay leaves keep pests away at Shelterrific

diy project: window films at Design*Sponge

DIY globe cluster lamps at Door Sixteen

This is the Duracell Powerpack 600 which I mentioned last week as what I wanted for Valentine’s Day. I was only partly joking, and I’m thrilled to have this. You charge up the battery inside and if you lose electricity, like we frequently do in Seattle, you have a good amount of power to draw from. It has three three-prong sockets, a DC outlet, an AC charger, an AM/FM radio, a light on one side, an alarm clock and a pair of jumper cables to jump start your car. So, the next time the power goes out or we drive through some remote parts of the country we’ll at least have a backup power supply. How sweet, thanks Scott!

And while shopping for pot pie ingredients I also came across the locally grown and processed flour from Stone-Buhr which I’ve talked about previously. This was found at my local QFC grocery store:

Learn how to save energy—and money—with a home energy audit at Home By Sunset

I like this Ikea spice jar rack, at Door Sixteen

Making a Chandelier? at mirrormirror. I really, really need to replace the light in my dining room, which is a Lowe’s-generic.

Lazy Bastard, I think I like this, at least in theory. AT Product Dose.

Duracell Powerack 600, a big battery with a handle to power a few small things when the power goes out. I want this as a gift for Valentine’s Day. at Uncrate

If you have not heard already the lastest designer to do a set of goods for Target is Orla Kiely, which makes me terribly excited. The line will consist of a some dishes, kitchen accessories and home organization things and I want a set of pear canisters. I realized last Saturday night that the next day was officially February and, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit this, I was so eager to see if the stuff had shown up in stores yet I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep. I found a small bunch of home organizations goods on an endcap, just like the one Ugly Green Chair took a picture of. Ugly Green Chair reports that somebody from her Target told her the rest of the stuff will show up on February 13th, and Decor8 has recieved official word that the collection will appear on February 15th. In the mean time it seems fabric covered bins, laundry bags and hanging closet organizers are available in some stores now.

To win one Shelterrific wants to see how badly you need it, and is asking for pictures of your interior space that is in need of a coat of well chosen paint. The five best of the worst will win a color helper and be featured in a follow-up story. For details go see the giveaway page at Shelterrific.

SimpliSafe, this “security system uses wireless technology to let the keypad, remotes, motion and entry sensors, and panic button connect to the main base station, which emits an 85-decibel siren and wirelessly contacts the service’s dispatch center in the case of an emergency or break-in.” at Uncrate

Porcoino Piggy Bank at Target

Lampel, a lampshade that you grow a plant in, at Better Living Through Design

Lightboxes at Mighty Haus

Urban Soule, goods for your home, on Etsy

Wall decals on furniture, at Ikea Hacker

Can anyone tell me about underfloor heat with tile? at Ask Metafilter

Door Sixteen’s Xmas pictures, which I bookmarked because I really really like the painting in this picture.

tranquil mint scented candle at Dooce

How can I soundproof a room in my apartment? at Ask Metafilter

Black & Decker Cordless Electric Mulching Mower at Uncrate

How to make sense of energy efficient bulbs and find what works in your home at Making This Home

Seattle Ork poster! I so want this

Dirt Devil Cordless Rechargeable Stick Vacuum at Sundry Buzz. I’m considering getting one of these since I am often too lazy to bring the big vacuum upstairs. Or is what I really need pronounded Roomba?

Oversized Equator Pendant Lamp at Better Living Through Design

Mod Cottage has proof, hanging red Christmas ornaments around your tomato plants scares away critters that would try to eat them.

swing arm window rods, these aren’t pretty but I like the idea

floating billies at Ikea Hacker

The Art of Storage has released the Brahms Coat Rack which has curved shapes for you to hang garments on so that the fabric does not become distorted. It also allows for hat and umbrella storage.

This is from the same people that make the Bach Coat Hooks which I talked about previously. If you’re not familiar with them I encourage you to go take a look at their clever bicycle storage options.

If you buy the Brahms Coat Rack The Art of Storage would like to offer you 10% Off and Free Shipping when you enter notmartha at checkout.

Ah! Spider Plates! at Home By Sunset

Tidy little bedside table at Mighty Goods

How can I get this awful, musty smell out of my towels? at Ask Metafilter

The truth about thread count. at Kottke. The sheets you’re looking for are percale, good ones are harder to find that you might expect.

How do I stop at futon mattress from slipping? at Ask Metafilter. The answer, those grippy things you put under rugs. It works!

I recently got the set of Clean & Green Twist Clean-Up biodegradeable sponges from Delight.com and I’m really happy with them. The scrubby side of the scrubby sponges is a layer of loofah. The Bamboo dusting cloths work well and might get me to kick my shameful Swiffer Duster habit. The Euro sponges are nice and big but I’m really in love with the European Sponge Cloth because it acts like a paper towel and I finally have something that can get into that narrow area behind the faucet in my bathroom sink.

Also, this is adorable, there are birdhouse and birdfeeder templates printed on the insides of the cardboard packaging bands:

Also take a look at the Better Life eco friendly and plant based cleansers that smell only very faintly of soap and work really nicely.

ice orb at Product Dose. I think I’ve linked to this already, but it’s worth talking about again.

Manetone Pantone Painting at Swiss Miss

Water Grass Plant at Mighty Haus

All Buttoned Up used fabric to frost her window, it’s the last picture in that post and it looks amazing. Also, she used a light gray Yolo paint I’m considering for a room in our house so it’s nice to see pictures of it in the wild.

Turn an Old Window into Illuminated Wall Art at Craftzine

Ikea cabinet owners: what do you think? at Ask Metafilter

What kinds of food plants will grow inside by a window? at Ask Metafilter

A movable pendant light at Ikea Hacker, we need to do something like this for our dining room table.

Magnetic make up brush organizer at Ikea Hacker. Good idea.

the native poppies flower poster at Blissen, I want one of these for my blue art wall (which has one thing on it so far).

Growing Cascade hops at home, at Imbibe.

We have a street lamp in front of our house that seems inordinately bright. at Ask Metafilter

Tree Shower Curtain at Product Dose

How to soften new sheets at SundryBuzz

insider’s secret weapon for wine stains: oxiclean at Shelterrific

Wonder Soil Wafers at Outblush

Quick, easy, temporary, and beautiful LED garden lights at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories

Shark Thumb Aid for use in hammering with nails, at Produce Dose

I like the Anise by ilan Dei wall design at Blik, specifically the white design on yellow walls like they did at the Menlo Park Idea House by Sunset.

modern trellis at Apartment Therapy

hack the hex, making a hex drill bit from a hex wrench, at Ikea Hacker

Reusable magnetic display system at Dooce

Digital Door Viewer Replaces the Peephole at Unplugged

wonderful graffiti wall transfers at Shelterrific

Lazy Geek’s Cushion at Produce Dose

keypad deadlock at SundryBuzz. I lost my house and car keys many, many times in the past. So much so that I clutch my keys to make sure they are there any time I come near a lock. Once that healthy fear subsides I think I’ll start putting these on my doors.

using shiny christmas ornaments to protect your tomato plants, at Modern Cottage

outlet for minimalists, love this, at Unplugged

I wanna live in an RV, at Ask Metafilter

natural indoor spider control suggestions? at Ask Metafilter

Best Product: American Pride Paint at Re-Nest. This is what we used to cover every wall and ceiling in our house and it’s doing well so far.

how to make a hop trellis at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories. This year I discovered how fascinating climbing plants are. I wonder if we have a place in our to grow hops next year?

recycled umbrella shade at Craftzine

how removing a skirt can transform a chair, at Readymade

little seedling at Product Dose. I love the various plantable containers I’ve been seeing lately, there might be hope for my plant killing self yet.

Plain Frost Window Film by Graham & Brown at AT

Have you seen Adam Frank’s Reveal light in person? I want to know if it’s worth it.

Every now and then I’m tempted to buy the Reveal light, especially in the middle of the dark, dreary Seattle winters where the illusion of sunshine would be welcome. The light is just expensive enough that I have not gone for it yet, but not so expensive that I have stopped thinking about it. I’d really like to see how it looks in person, or at least a good video of how it looks in a room. The only video I’ve found (it’s on the Adam Frank site) is grainy and loops before I get a good impression. Is the motion is realistic enough to trick the corner of your eye? Does the fan inside it makes a significant amount of noise in an otherwise quiet room?

So, have you seen it? Is it worth the price? Be brutally honest, I’ll appreciate it. Leave a comment or email me (notmartha AT gmail DOT com) if you’d rather. My thanks.

update: I got to see one of these at Greener Lifestyles in Ballard. Up close it was still very cool, but I decided the fan was loud enough that it wouldn’t work in my tiny living room. My thanks to everybody who responded and to Properly Salted for finding it locally.

Is there anything we can do to keep our apartment a bit quieter? at Ask Metafilter

Fluorescent tube (large one) broke in kitchen. I am freaking out now and didn’t follow proper procedures to clean it up. Am I going to get sick and die of mercury poisoning? at Ask Metafilter

Help me keep my hot water heater from exploding at Ask Metafilter

Where to buy furniture/home accessories online for small spaces? at Ask Metafilter

truck part as a soap dish, at Cool Tools

LED light sculpture, at ReadyMade

plant nannies, at LJC FYI. I wondered what these were called.

Rochelle Sofa by Gus Design, I like this one, at Better Living Through Design

Nite Bedside Table, it’s $$ but the idea is perfect for our bedroom, at Nite Bedside Table

Where to get a good push lawnmower? at Ask Metafilter. We thrashed around with the same thing a while back. Eventually we just bought the smaller one from Home Depot, which works well enough for our small lawn.

Free Vector World Maps Collection, at Swiss Miss

raindrops, lighting that is so perfect for our dining room, why are you so expensive? at Swiss Miss

coat/shoe hanger entrance of my dreams, at Swiss Miss

10 Best Non-VOC, Low-Toxic Interior Paints at Re-Nest

Last weekend we managed to get some lavender planted before it started raining. This is a spike lavender called Grosso, the label said it is often grown for oil production and I was sold. We planted three plants and they already smell pretty nice. We put these in on our front yard along the walk to the door. They get full sun here so hopefully they’ll live despite the less than ideal soil.

We’re in the middle of a big kitchen remodel and have been stymied by (of all things!) the kitchen faucet decision. We’ve been looking at models with integrated sprayer heads that pull out from the faucet but just received a warning about that style of faucet. at Ask Metafilter. We have this style of faucet and I loathe it. Or at least I loathe mine since you cannot turn the sprayer off, you have to make sure it gets back into the faucet so that it doesn’t spray all over the kitchen. But of course, I use the sprayer when I’m holding something large and awkward so having to fuss with getting it back into place right at that moment is frustrating.

What’s the best home-repair / fixit manual for someone with little-to-no experience in such matters? at Ask Metafilter

Our place in sunny Los Angeles at Design*Sponge — note for Scott to check out the padded walls in the music room

Instant Kitchen at Uncrate

Paint Everything By the Numbers! at Shelter

Green Idea: A Moss Yard at Re-Nest. If only our back yard wasn’t sloped, I would love to do this (damn grass).

Caulk Singles! (Scroll down a bit.) Before you tell me how not-Green this is let me tell you how many half used tubes of caulking I’ve thrown away when I’ve moved.

This Method Home Le Scrub bathroom cleaner is pretty darn good. It smells nice, is non-toxic, and the little scrubby sponge is a good size for my wimp hands. The notch in the top of the bottle is for storing the sponge (and perching it to allow it to dry), perfection.

The new Apartment Therapy book is out and I’m happy to say that Chronicle Books would like to give one away to Not Martha readers. See below if you’d like to enter to receive it.

There is an upcoming event for this book at the Brooklyn Designs show, here is the information:

Potluck Picnic at Brooklyn Designs May 10, 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. with a signing immediately after in the Tobacco Warehouse, Brooklyn Designs in the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park

Please feel free to invite friends. RSVPs to justine@apartmenttherapy.com by May 6.

Lucky New York dwellers, etc, etc…

Apartment Therapy Presents: Real Homes, Real People, Hundreds of Design Solutions is a collection of 40 fabulous apartments, many of which you might recognize from the Apartment Therapy site, information on how the owners designed and furnished the space and resources for where they found furniture and accessories.

The pictures are lovely, yes, but these are not uber-expensive spaces of perfection and as such provide a lot more inspiration for what I might be trying to do with my own home. Each profile has a survey including things like Biggest Challenge, Proudest DIY and Biggest Embarrassment that are equal parts helpful and reassuring.

Each profile also includes a floor plan and the spaces range from normal house sized to the very small 325 square feet, including AT founders Sara Kate and Maxwell’s Gourmet Shoe Box at 265 square feet.

Each picture gives me a glimpse of a good idea or way of displaying something that I know I’ll want to refer to as I continue to settle more deeply into my own home.

The winners have been contacted, thanks for entering! If you’d like to win the book please leave a comment with this entry before 8 a.m. PST on May 1st. On the morning of Thursday, May 1st I’ll let the Random Number Generator choose the winner. I’ll then contact you to get a mailing address.

update: The kind people at Chronicle Books have decided to give away TWO copies in stead of one. Everybody’s chances of winning just doubled, yay!

fine print:

– You don’t need to leave your real name, but do leave a valid email address. I’ll be the only one who can see your email address (just don’t put it in the actual comment box as well). I’ll write to get a shipping address when you’ve won.

– If you have never left a comment here before I’ll need to approve it before it publishes so don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up right away. That said, you might not end up being the comment number you see so know that if you want to say “lucky number 351!” you might not be comment number 351. I don’t know why it works that way, and I’m sorry, there is very little certainty left in this world and this isn’t helping any.

– If I have not heard from an initial winner by May 7th I will choose another winner.

– The winner will be picked by the cold, unfeeling random number generator.

Fantastic guest bedroom makeover at Happy Mundane. I’m normally not a fan of dark paint, but this works really well.

My husband’s dogs have done vile things to our furniture. What dog-proof materials should we look for in replacement furniture? at Ask Metafilter

Help me find this shelf! at Ask Metafilter

pot lid storage at The Kitchen. I have to break down an buy one of these, fishing for my lids on the bottom shelf isn’t working out.

Ferm Living sells acryic coated tablecloths which are just asking to be turned into bags. At Charles & Marie.

Flat Flowers, flower window decals, brilliant. At Swiss Miss.

Wired Wiki: How To Soundproof A Room

Note to self: ESP Lighting sells those wide spiral daylight CFL bulb you are looking to replace.

vegetable gardening in containers is on the rise at Chow — “tennis ball–size heads of iceberg lettuce—which could make an awfully cute little iceberg wedge salad.”

how to make a fabric wall hangingat the Marimekko blog, via Craftzine

‘The Night is Young’ Wall Mural, using a photograph from a Seattle photographer, at Better Living Through Design

I’d like to grow bamboo in a container indoors. at Ask Metafilter

steal this idea: extra-long conduit curtain rod at Shelterrific

I love these curtains made from Marimekko fabric at Making It Lovely.

How should I build temporary, attractive walls/dividers on the cheap in my basement? at Ask Metafilter

door purse organizer at Shelterrific

Grobal, a cool plant container designed by Karim Rashid at Anh-Minh.

Weiman Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish at SundryBuzz

at Apartment Therapy:

Losethelawn.com, we have been scheming to do something like this.

The Magnificent Drill, after using Makita’s in college I got one when we moved in here, it was expensive but has proved to be worth it.

3 Form Eco Friendly Materials, I love these as room dividers.

The Best Green & Eco Paints We Know Of

Miele Canister Vacuum: Pisces S5280 In the Test Lab

Wireless Outdoor Remote Control Power Outlet

Container Gardening in Mother Earth News, check out the DIY self watering bucket

Outdoor Solar Shoji Lanterns

How Can I Liven Up My Hallway?

Laundry Dropps, I wish I had these during the laundromat days, at Cool Hunting

What should a homeowner know about electricity in the home? at Ask Metafilter

wall graphics from harmonie interieure at Swiss Miss

Plantorb by Perch at Charles & Marie. Oh how I wish I didn’t know I would break this.

I can’t stop thinking about fridges and winter. Would it save much energy to freeze gallon containers of water outdoors and put those in the fridge now and then? at Ask Metafilter

What’s the secret handshake that gets me access to the interesting/unusual materials that designers and contractors can get ahold of? at Ask Metafilter

a siljan shoe rack for narrow places at Ikea Hacker

Help! Where can I find modern lampshade frames? at Shelterrific

Do you have a household emergency plan? at Shelterrific. I, too, have been watching too much Jericho and it’s making me want to stockpile cans of beans.

How can I make my “welcome mats” unwelcoming to cats? at Ask Metafilter. We finally made our front landscaping beds unattractive to the neighborhood cats (layer of chicken wire, landscaping fabric, then lots of big bark chips), but now we hope to discourage them from lounging on our front porch.

What do we ask a contractor and how do we ask it? at Ask Metafilter

Bathroom Renovation Filter: DIY vs. Contractor at Ask Metafilter

Bathtub faucets: Not so complicated! at The Shelter Life

Miraentuinterior, large wall murals. I love the boat. I lost my reference link for this one, sorry.

Putting Together an IKEA Kitchen at AT. I like the wall of wine bottles.

jazz up your bed frame with digital print at Ikea Hacker

Danny Seo’s DIY Wood Veneer Table at Re-Nest

Fiction Mirrors by Jean-Marie Massaud at AT. So cool.

Jamie from J-Me wrote to offer a 15% discount on his fabulous stainless steel j-me shoe rack. Just use the coupon code BOOM when you check out. Thank you Jamie!

I went to the internets to check and, after running off to take a Panic Shower, found some news that made me feel a little better and a little worse.

Apparently, a Hazmat team does not have to get involved in the case of a broken CFL bulb. Most of the resources I found on how to clean up and dispose of a broken CFL bulb repeat these guidelines from the EPA:

Before Clean-up: Ventilate the Room
1. Have people and pets leave the room, and don’t let anyone walk through the breakage area on their way out.
2. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
3. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.
4. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
5. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
6. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
7. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Great. But, my bulb broke over my carpet (not to mention myself). What about that? Am I supposed to duct tape all the carpeted areas and hope a mercury contaminated shard of glass doesn’t embed itself into the bottom of my foot in a couple of weeks?

Happily a bit later on I tracked down the full EPA guidelines that include:

Clean-up Steps for Carpeting or Rug
4. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
5. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
6. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
7. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Disposal of Clean-up Materials
8. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.
9. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing clean-up materials.
10. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken mercury-containing bulbs be taken to a local recycling center.

Future Cleaning of Carpeting or Rug: Ventilate the Room During and After Vacuuming
11. The next several times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.
12. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed.

This thread on this broken compact flourescent bulb question at Ask Metafilter makes me feel a bit better as well. Basically it says that while mercury is never a good thing to have around, the amount in a broken CFL won’t be fatal, but careful clean up is probably important.

Still, needing to carefully ventilate my home due to my possibly mercury-contaminated vacuum the next few times I use it, this doesn’t sound so (macroscopically) eco-friendly to me.

Then again, I have been hoping for an excuse to buy a nice yellow Miele vacuum with, swoon, automatic cord retraction for a while now.

Floating Shoe Rack made from wire shelving bits, at Instructables

Floating Pipe Shoe Shelf at Instructables

Philip’s SpotOn light with motion detector for a fumble-free life at Popgadget

So I’m moving to Finland. It’s dark most of the time during the winter. How do I make fake windows? at Ask Metafilter

Beautiful Backsplash for Bargain Budgets at Shelter

yellow and black: good shape design at Happy Mundane, I really like the dishtowel

Making a paper-recycling tote at Home By Sunset

NYT: The Best Energy-Efficient Lightbulbs at Apartment Therapy

Are “counter depth” fridges deep enough? at Ask Metafilter

hanging weighted leather ball clothes rack, at Swiss Miss

Colourful wall panels at Charles & Marie

Best of: Exposed Media Tables at Unplugged

Green Ideas: LED Ambiance at Unplugged

Yet Another Thing Baking Soda Can Do at Pink of Perfection

Fire Table at Cool Hunting

Continuing the theme of home fitness equipment that doesn’t suck from yesterday‘s post about the Schwinn 430 Elliptical Trainer, I’m going to tell you about Scott‘s chin up bar. I’d call it mine as well if I could manage to do more than one at a time (working on it).

After a bit of research Scott got the Creative Fitness Door Gym chin up bar. Scott was looking for a bar that wouldn’t destroy our doorway. This one has a section that curves up and rests a good amount of the weight on the wall on the other side and above you, meaning the stress is distributed between the wall on the other side of the door and the door frame in front of you. All the bits that touch are that rubbery foam, and it doesn’t leave a mark. The chin up bar comes with a small clip that you attach to the top of the door frame on the other side of the wall that you secure with a finishing nail. This clip keeps the bar from falling when you’re not hanging from it. Gosh, I hope that makes sense, the image below might make it clearer. We have regular sized doors, 8-foot ceilings, and have plenty of space for you head. I was a little worried about that.

The bar is easily taken down to be stored away until you need it, which is good because otherwise we couldn’t close the door to the laundry room. The bar allows you to do regular chin ups and also has two handles that stick out towards you that are shown more clearly in the photograph below. They allow you another arm position (I don’t know what those slings are). It can also be used as a push up bar, and for sit ups. Overall we dig it and usually leave it up so that one or two pull ups can be done (or attempted) on the way to drop off laundry, which dramatically increases my likelyhood of doing a pull up during any given day. So, you know, thumbs up.

What questions do I NEED to ask during the inspection of the home I just bought? Also, what questions should I ask the seller/seller’s agent during the inspection? at Ask Metafilter

Stampede Wall Graphics at Apartment Therapy

make an ivar trellis at Ikea Hacker

In the market for a new mattress: Requesting info on the classic Bergad Isoform Mattress. at Ask Metafilter. I want to know more about the Sonno mattress that Design Within Reach sells. I can only find positive reviews and I’m the type that needs to know the bad stuff as well.

Good Question: Green Fence? at Re-nest

I like the way this Martha Stewart Paints example room shown at Happy Mundane is decorated, and I wonder if it would make our small bedroom feel larger.

What’s the best CFL or similar for recessed lighting? at Ask Metafilter

hunt rettig at Swiss Miss, pretty

Vinyl flooring that is either NOT ugly or hideously ugly in a way we like: does it exist? at Ask Metafilter

gray pumpkins! at Happy Mundane

how to revamp a lampshade at Kirin Notebook, via Craft

Bright Blind, a fake window, at Product Dose

Suggestions for good interior design magazines? at Ask Metafilter

5 Ways to Insulate Your Windows for Winter at AT:Chicago

How do you make new bed sheets soft? at Ask Metafilter

How can I make homemade Christmas Tree preservative? at Ask Metafilter

Chilewich Woven Vinyl Rugs at Cool Tools. I’ve seen these a bunch of places, but the ones I’ve seen didn’t have a solid backing and didn’t make much sense in rainy Seattle. Looks like these would work.

What is the single most valuable piece of advice you received when you were in the process of buying your first home? at Ask Metafilter

very interesting stairs and storage at Apartment Therapy

LED rope lights to brighten a room at Craft

99 luftballons Blik wall decals, at Swiss Miss

urban wall graphics at Swiss Miss, I really like these

moon in my room, a phases of the moon light for kids, at Hearthsong, via Mighty Goods

felt wine rack at Swiss Miss

decorating your toilet tank at Modern Cottage

eco-friendly paint round up at AT:Green

make your own fabric softening sheets at AT:Green

pretty custom cork board at Design*Sponge

Lotta Jansdotter sticky notes via the comments on this post, my thanks!

saving money this winter by winterizing your home, at AT:Green

world map wall sticker at Better Living Through Designs

Neato Piegato Fold Out Steel Shelving at AT:Home Tech

How is the Kone Hand Vac by Karim Rashid really? at AT:Home Tech

How to improve our efforts to winterize our drafty, old apartment? at Ask Metafilter

It’s easy being green at Home By Sunset

DIY Stop Junkmail

Delia’s hat and coat rack at Ikea Hacker

Jar opener at Cool Tools, looks better than my thwack it with the non-sharp side of a knife technique

Swiss Miss on Ecolect a sustainable materials community

LED Balloon Lamps at AT

Glansa Lysa from Ikea via AT. I cannot tell if this is always plugged in or if that is a recharging base – anybody?

Vinyl decal round up at Unclutterer

DIY Wednesdays: refrigerator facelift at Design*Sponge

Foliage Lamp at Better Living Through Design

Tiger Taco at Uncrate. It may look simple/silly but I would have loved to have these durning the last few years when we moved four times.

Where Can I Find a Soundproofing Kit? at AT.

Product that will kill bedbug eggs? at Ask Metafilter

Knicks Cable Holder at AT:Home Tech.

Painting those narrow Ikea shoe storage boxes at Ikea Hacker

hack bedside tables into studio racks at Ikea Hacker

Unclutter’s list of recently made free articles from the NY Times

Day-lab DIY shows us how she painted her kitchen cabinets. Mine look a lot like this so there is hope I can get away with painting instead of replacing them.

guide to mirrors at Design*Sponge

The Glantan lamp is awfully nice, at Charles & Marie.

updating the plunger at Remodelista

Streamgarden, a small hydroponic system for your home, via AT:Green.

Apartment Therapy reports on Rejuvenation.

Yolo Colorhouse is coming out with outdoor paints, at AT:Green.

Wall drawer at Swiss Miss. I hope to use something like this for the bedside tables in our narrow bedroom, where every inch of floor space is appreciated.

WallMarker, for hanging pictures, at the Seattle PI.

Where can I go online for custom vinyl decals? at Ask Metafilter.

Sundry Mourning put up a nifty Ferm Living wall sticker and it looks great. I really want the power lines.

Panasonic Electric Heated Carpet, if I cannot have heated floors in our basement living room, I will have heated rugs. At AT:LA.

Block Posters, make large posters out of your images. Via Fairfax in the comments of this post.

Wine Wedge at Unclutterer.

Making a sunburst mirror at Home by Sunset.

Use Charcoal to De-Stinkify Your Fridge at Lifehacker.

Adam Frank’s Reveal Light is now available. I was really hoping this would cost closer to $1000, because at $380 I’m very, very tempted to buy one. The Reveal Light splashes what looks like light coming through a window on a wall, and a breeze appears to move through the branches of the tree. Read more about it here.

Beautiful light sculpture by Valérie Boy, at AT:NY.

Doggie-proof Vegetable Loft, maybe something like this will help me foil the neighborhood cats! At AT:NY.

How To Slow-Cook Paint Off of Hardware, at AT:NY.

DIY Wall Decor with Paper and Fabric at Craft.

99-Cent Stained Glass at Craft. I love the effect these give, as well as the privacy, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d be willing to do something so permanent to such a nice door. At Craft.

Thank you so much to everybody who left a comment hoping to win sets of Nellie’s Dryerballs from Delight.com in the last few days. I’m tickled at how many of you said this would be a perfect solution for chemical or frequent laundry woes. Delight was (understandably) impressed with the number of people who hoped to win, and I’m extremely pleased to let you know they are offering Not Martha readers 10% off on your purchase of Nellie’s Dryerballs, or anything else at Delight.com, when you use the code NotMartha at checkout. It’s good through October 31st, which is plenty of time to get some Christmas shopping done. (Already? Yup, already.)

I do hope the winners will let us know who they chose to share their second set of Dryerballs with!

It’s another give away! Delight.com wants to spread some eco-friendly laundry love and would like to send Nellie’s Dryerballs to six winners. But listen to this, since Delight is all about giving gifts each winner will receive two sets of Nellie’s Dryerballs, one for themselves and one to give to a friend. How sweet.

Delight send me a set of Nellie’s Dryerballs to try out for myself and I’m heartily impressed. Previously whenever I would do a load of kitchen towels I wouldn’t use dryer sheets since I don’t want a fresh scent transferring onto my hands just before I slice a green pepper. I was used to the kitchen towels either coming out fantastically statically charged, or with a few that got stuck in the middle of a tangle and are still damp. With the dryerballs however, the towels were dry and fluffy and didn’t have any chemical scents on them. My socks, shirts and jeans all came out wrinkle free and soft without using chemicals that coat the surface of the fibers.

I also washed two pillows – one firm and springy, and the other limp yet puffy filled with a down alternative. I threw them in the dryer with the dryerballs and they emerged surprisingly quickly, dry all the way through and fluffier than when they went in. I’m thrilled with how well the dryerballs worked on these, and might get up the courage to wash and dry my down comforter at home.

I expected Nellie’s Dryerballs to dissipate static cling, but I wasn’t expecting them to make my laundry so fluffy or get it to dry faster. I’m very pleased with how well they work. The only downside to the dryerballs is that they are a bit loud in the dryer when you are doing smaller loads, but this is a tiny thing when you think about never having to buy dryer sheets again. We’ve been using them for less than a week and already they just stay in our dryer all ready to go. The balls themselves are ovoid, so they won’t just roll around in your dryer, they’ll bounce drunkenly. Nellie’s Dryerballs come in a cute (and recyclable) box with a cheerful comic strip on the back explaining how they work.

If you’d like to win some fabulous Nellie’s Dryerballs, please leave a comment on this thread. You’ve got until 6 p.m. PST (Los Angeles time) this Friday, Sept. 21st. At that point I’ll let the random number generator choose six winners and you’ll be contacted for a mailing address.

Small print: Even though your email address won’t show up in the comments, I’ll be able to see it. If you have not commented on this site before I’ll need to approve it, so if your comment doesn’t appear right away wait a few hours and I’ll get to it. Let me know if you have any questions.

If you don’t win you can console yourself and get a set here at Delight (they are very good about wrapping things up prettily and including freebies whenever they can).

update: Congratulations to the winners! (I’m still waiting to hear back from one person.)

– Ellen is going to share with her sister Sue.

– Ceri isn’t sure who to share with, but she is happy to win.

– Dawn is going to share with her sister who has a large family and therefore lots of laundry.

– Jennifer is going to share with her friend Theresa whose sons are outdoorsy and get clothing very dirty. The dryerballs will also help to alleviate asthma and allergies in the family.

– Teri has three siblings and she’ll have to choose which has the most laundry to deal with.

These Hova Fabric Pots look great. Words from Hova Design: “The FabricPot is the first container made of waterproof breathable fabric. Its patent-pending design wraps the soil in fabric, allowing air and water vapor to circulate for proper aeration while keeping liquid water from leaking out. Unlike clay pots, FabricPots are lightweight, sturdy, easy to clean and won’t crack. Our current line features fabric patterns by Angela Adams woven in 100% post industrial recycled material.”

They have two types, the Silo pots are cylindrical while the Frusto pots are conical and narrower at the top and include a zipper to make repotting easier. More details here, and they are a small company so you can feel happy about buying some.

Perhaps these pots can work miracles and help me keep houseplants alive.

Apartment Therapy Chicago recommends the book How Your House Works, which I think I need.

Design*Sponge’s kitchen pegboard looks really great.

How to make a fabric covered pushpin board, at AT:Chicago.

Drain Sweep at Product Dose. I need one of these, some of our drains clog easily and it’s driving me crazy.

Half pot shaped window herb planter, how clever. A AT:LA.

And now, starburst and random mirror inspiration:

at Apartment Therapy

Readers inspiration at Decor8

AT:NY, scroll down a bit

Porda Stars Mirrors at Charles & Marie

Zoe roudn mirrors at Target, also seen at AT:SF