You're going to thank me for sharing this genius tip from Apartment Therapy. If you have wood furniture - the real kind, not the fake MDMF kind from Ikea - and it's unpainted but has some dings or dents you want to cover up, here's the easiest possible way to do it:
Step 1: Take one walnut (it needs to be out of the shell) and rub it over the dented or scratched area. The damaged bits will start to darken and match more closely with the rest of the leg/affected area. Obviously the nut will only do so much (probably won't fix giant scrapes here), but that's pretty awesome nonetheless, right?
Step 2: Put five dollars into an envelope and mail it to me for the bright idea. I'll give $2.50 of it back to Apartment Therapy.
In case you don't already love me for my daily witty musings (ha ha), here's a tip that'll put me squarely in your favorites category. You can finally do away with that confusing pile of plugs under your desk, or always losing the one charger that you need for your [insert one of a million handheld technology devices here]. Here's a tip for easy cord organization using...(wait for it)...binder clips. Design Mom showed this photo a while back and I couldn't believe how great slash easy the idea is. I already have a bunch of binder clips around the house (if not, I'm sure your office does ) and this looks like it would take about 2.4 seconds to set up.
In case you need step-by-step instructions (I hope not), here's the original source (but be forewarned, it's in German).
Et voila! Enjoy your newly organized plugs and chargers!
I don't have kids and I've been out of school for quite some time now, but I do have a mom who is a teacher, so I've seen a bad teacher gift or two (or 20) in my day. With schools ending for the summer in a few weeks here, I know a lot of ladies in town have been looking for good and unique (not another smelly candle!) teacher gifts (this is what you get when you hang out at Paper Source a lot).
I will tell you that my mom always loves Starbucks or Barnes & Noble gift cards, but if you're looking to make something handmade, here are two amazing ideas made by some creative chicks (not me) that will put you safely in the good-gift category.
Numero uno - the cutest customized hand soaps ever: With all the random strains of cold/flues/diseases floating around kids and classrooms, teachers are always washing their hands (at least I hope they are!), so Jill Means of Legacy Digital Design capitalized on a practical idea and made something super-pretty out of it.
Basically, she took boring (and not cute) Softsoap - which she actually got on sale at Target for 1 dollar a bottle - took off the label, and added in a custom one with her kids' silhouettes (mwaahahaha, I snuck them in again!) and a thank you. Click here for the full instructions and a free downloadable template if you want to do this yourself.
Numero dos - a fun soda and snack pack: Simply Seleta took on a similar idea - finding something a teacher will actually use and making it really pretty - and came up with these great "goody packs" (as she called them) in varying colors based on the kids and/or teacher.
These packs included color-coordinated vintage-y soda, straws, sugar-free gum, chocolates, microwave popcorn (great quick teacher snack), and of course the pretty label. If you're interested in doing this yourself, here's the full how-to and downloadable template for the label. Originally spotted on Party Perfect.
I hope these two great ideas by two cool ladies sparked your inspiration and hopefully spared you from giving another picture frame/smelly candle teacher-gift combo. :)
Why didn't someone think of this sooner? It's brilliant! (And it would have saved me a lot of time while hand-washing wine glasses. Especially after our Annapolis Wino Club parties...) These sponges fit perfectly into fluted glasses or wine glasses, plus there's a tiny slot in the sponges to get the glass rims (and get rid of gross lipstick marks). So smart!
The lovely Nicole of Making It Lovely featured this Boon Grass Countertop Drying Rack (shown here in her own kitchen) the other day, and I think it's totally adorable. I don't think it's quite my style yet - it's maybe more appropriate to hold baby bottles than wine bottles - but it's awesome nonetheless.
It's available on Amazon here and for only 25 bucks. Pretty good deal for a fun and functional counter-topper, eh?
I think I'd like doing laundry a lot more if I were doing it in this cheery laundry room. That skirted utility sink is genius - a simple fix for probably pretty cheap and fairly little effort - and it makes the whole room. That and the awesome (and seen-it-everywhere) Ikea striped rug - which is also a steal at only $12.99. (And jumbo maps are always uber cool.) Love it all. Photo from Canadian House and Home, via Little Green Notebook.
Not only is that an amazing couch - tufted upholstery? nailhead trim? coral pillow? Burberry throw? Check, check, and check. I die. So good! - but also the little girl is adorable. What really appealed to me most in the photo, though, are those fun flowered caps.
Something about them is so flirty and fun, even though they're totally utilitarian (and so much better than an ugly shower cap that you get for free at a hotel): Photo Cig Harvey, via M.A. Belle
And I think what I really love about the cute caps is that I equate them with crazy old ladies - the fun crazy, not crazy crazy kind. I hope to one day be like that: old enough not to care if people look at me funny when I go into the grocery store rocking a flowered swim cap, and happy enough with myself after all the years that I'll wear exactly what I want, regardless of whether it's a bit kooky. A friend and me, 50 years from now? Kim's the more buxom lady on the left, and I'm the paler gal with the turquoise cap (my fave color!) on the right. :)
Would you ever wear a flowered swim/bathing cap? Do you wear what makes you happy, regardless of what other people might think? I know as I hobble out of my 20s, I'm definitely wearing things I want to wear. At least there's something good about getting old!
Lest you were scarred from this abomination yesterday, here's a little something to hopefully make you feel a bit more clean: I don't have les bébés of my own yet, but I have a lot of friends/un-in-laws who are expecting, and I thought this new baby tub was super cute. The Puj baby bath tub is made of a soft foamy material that folds down completely flat for easy storing, it's antibacterial, and it fits easily into any sink. Supposedly it makes the whole bathing process much easier (but don't ask me, I wouldn't even know where to begin).
So, not only does it sound like a great tub, but I also think I've found the first-ever redhead baby that I find to be totally adorable: Photo from Blonde Designs
Isn't he so cute?! (Though he does not appear to be a true ginger, so that helps.)
Anyhoo, back to the true subject of this post: you can go to the Puj site for a video, more info, or to buy one.
You caught me lying down on the job. Well, on the blogging side of things at least. On the housekeeping front, I've been earning an A+. Our party on Sunday was fab, and on Monday B and I took full advantage of the day off work by taking it easy alll day. Yesterday I snapped back into gear (to make up for our day of luxurious loafing) and spent the whole day cleaning like a manic to try and erase the fact that we hosted a very large red-wine-centric party. I forgot how much of a mess 25 people can make when drinking, eating and carousing. So yesterday was a fun, fun day of scrubbing carpet, toilets and other oh-so-fun activities.
Anyway, please forgive me for leaving you hanging out there in the blogosphere. I'll be back to normal starting tomorrow, I promise! Check back in later today or tomorrow morning for more, k?
(And I'll try to scrounge together some photos from the party, but unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the tables, food, etc. before everyone arrived and before things erupted into a mess of fun. Boo. And I did end up making the croquembouche [hurray!], but sadly didn't get a photo of it either. Double boo!)
p.s. Just realized that this post (above) verrry closely echoes this post from end of 2009. I think I smell a theme here - AKA we have a party and then I spend an entire day thereafter scrubbing down the house, and then post about it. Laaame. Sorry folks. (Though can we just pretend for a second that I'm a touch like Martha and somehow [derangedly] make cleaning sound semi-interesting?)
Did you know this was happening?: Not surprisingly, the Queen of Mean Clean, Martha Stewart, is getting into the green home-cleaning products game. After I finally resolved to switch out the old standby toxic cleaners for the newer, greener Method products, good ol' Martha comes out with her own answer to eco-friendly cleaning. The website touts that Martha Stewart Clean products use 99% plant- and mineral-based biodegradable ingredients, and all of the products in the line are free of dyes and fragrances. They're also 100% non-toxic (for those of you with kids and pets...or who just like your own brain cells) and I'm sure they work just as well as normal products (or else Madama Stewart would certainly not put her name on them!). And I'm sure B will be happy to hear that the packaging - my bailiwick - is not only cuuute, but recyclable. Huzzah.
I had heard about all this through a tweet a while back, but it wasn't until I saw this pic on Young House Love today that I knew it was for real: All of Martha's new lovelies lined up at Home Depot.
If you don't have a Home Depot nearby but are chomping at the bit to try this stuff, don't fret - the line is up on Amazon already, here.
