A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Create a monthly chore list. On the first day of every month, there is an appointment on my calendar that reminds me to do monthly chores. I usually don't do them until the first weekend of the month, but it helps me keep on track with chores that don't have to be done every single week, but should be done on a regular basis. Here is my chore list:

Oil countertops
Polish wood floors
Clean make-up brushes
Clean coffee maker
Clean washer
Update net worth spreadsheet

Since it is January 29th, I will be doing all of these chores this weekend!

A new pantry

After our wedding last year, we had quite a few awesome presents that needed a home. Our kitchen doesn't have a lot of storage, particularly for large items like a slow cooker, Griddler, and Kevin's favorites: the wok and the smoker. We had a rather gross closet off the laundry area of our basement that we decided to turn into a pantry. I don't have any before photos to share.

We lined the walls with heavy duty plastic as a vapor barrier, then rigid foam insulation sheets and finally beadboard sheets for the walls. Kevin also hung a grid and we added some fancy ceiling tiles and a colorful rug to finish the space. The storage are white adjustable brackets and melamine shelves from Lowes. It has really added a lot of storage and function.

Here is what we have stored in our new space!

Straight back is extra storage containers, extra food and our booze, small appliances and paper products and baking supplies.

On the left side is our board game stash, some books that are listed on paperbackswap.com, and athletic equipment like golf shoes and camelbaks, some of Kevin's beer brewing stuff, and entertaining supplies like our nice placemets and napkins and fancy wine glasses.

On the right side, we have vases, craft supplies and instruction manuals for the entire house, our huge rag pile and cleaning stuff like our steam cleaner and a whole box of car cleaning supplies on the bottom. 

It's handy to have everything together. It's sometimes annoying to have to run down to the basement to get the rice cooker or a box of crackers, but our kitchen storage is limited.

Oiling soapstone

I have soapstone countertops in my kitchen. I love them, they are so pretty! They have a matte finish and some really cool veining. They don't require a lot of maintenance, but you can oil them periodically if you want. It really changes the look.

Here is one section, not oiled. You can see that there are some lines in the stone where my dish drying tray recently sat. If you don't oil the counters, you can see water marks, although they fade after a little while (a few hours or so).

I use an old washcloth to spread a thin coat of mineral oil around the countertop, making sure to get the front edge.

This is the countertop immediately after I oiled it. It's nice and shiny and the watermarks are gone. But it's a little too oily/shiny for me. So I take a clean washcloth and buff all of the countertops after I oil them. And this is how they end up.

A nice warm glow, but still a matte finish.  I do this about once a month, which minimizes any temporary water marks (unless my husband has been brewing beer, then there is water EVERYWHERE). It only takes about 10 minutes, not a lot of effort for something that I love so much!

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Plan your menu out each week. I know this is not a revolutionary idea, but it makes life so much easier. I used to my favorite phone app To-Do (a post for another day) but I recently switched to a Google calendar. I created a separate one for my Menu Plan and I share it with Kevin (although I think he ignores it). I am really liking this method because it helps me track how recently we had tacos or chicken pot pie or grilled cheese, to make sure I keep mixing things up. Certain spouses get cranky when we eat the same thing too often. I usually plan 4-5 meals for a week and then leave a couple of nights open for leftovers, going out or throwing together something last minute. Which is usually pasta or grilled cheese! I take a fridge/freezer/pantry inventory on Saturday or Sunday to see if there is anything that needs to be used up and then I create my plan for the week.

Here is the plan for this week:

Monday: Pork Tingas (America's Test Kitchen)
Tuesday: Book Club (which means lots and lots of cheese!)
Wednesday: Spaghetti Carbonara
Thursday: meeting for charity event
Friday: Chickpea Stew
Saturday: French Onion Soup
Sunday: Devil's Chicken Thighs

Help me understand why I'm not doing this right now?

The high temp tomorrow is -2. That is ridiculous.

Love this kitchen

I know I just finished my kitchen and I am certainly not changing it anytime soon, but how amazing is this white and dark wood (walnut?) kitchen. So pretty!

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Use an empty tissue box to store your plastic bags. Keeps the madness contained and allows you to pull one out as needed. If the box gets full, it's time to recycle the bags! We mostly use reusable bags at Target, etc, but we always seem to have a few plastic bags around. This method works great!

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

I managed to put holes in 2 trouser socks in the same day, so I thought I would try this idea: use old nylons to clean candles. We have flameless candles in our fireplace and they are pretty dusty and dirty.

Here is the evidence

I shoved each candle inside a trouser sock and rolled it around to get the dirt off the outside. Then I used the trouser sock to clean out the inside and the top edge. It worked great! I threw the trouser socks away, but I am guessing you could wash them if you weren't using ripped ones.

Looks so much better!



A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: It takes 21 days for a new habit to stick (I have no idea which book I got this from). And humans have limited willpower, so we can't develop multiple new habits at once. Pick one habit/resolution for January and stick to it for 21 days until it is a real part of your daily life and routine. Don't try to change too much at once!

What's your new habit?

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: Have a Merry Christmas!!!

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday:Wash the produce as soon as you get home from the store. It makes cooking, packing lunches, grabbing a quick snack, so much easier when everything is ready to go. Scrub the carrots, wash and tear up the lettuce/kale/spinach, wash the apples, etc. I will even wash half a bunch of grapes, saving the other half for later in the week. It helps them stay fresh longer if they aren't washed. Don't wash berries until ready to use, that helps them stay fresh longer too.

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: Wipe down the bathroom sink every night. It takes 10 seconds and makes the room look cleaner and the next morning less irritating (especially if you are married to a toothpaste slobber-er). I keep a sponge under the sink and while I am brushing my teeth, I wet the sponge, wipe down the counter and the bowl so everything looks nice for the next day.

Fail: I didn't buy mirrors for the bathroom!

Although they are beautiful, they are way too big for the space. So I had to cancel the order. Sad me.

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: Sort all your mail, magazines, flyers, random paper as soon as you walk in the door. Throw all the stuff you don't need, including junk mail and the envelopes, inserts, etc for real mail into the recycle bin, put credit card offers in the shredder (or make a pile on top until you have time to shred) and save just the important pieces to deal with. AND if the 'deal with' part will take 2 minutes or less, try to complete that task right then. Write the check, fill out the wedding RSVP card, send the baby shower RSVP email, put all dates on your calendar right then and there. You won't have to think about it or touch that piece of paper again. Maybe it can even go in the recycle bin! But don't recycle it if you need the address to the baby shower. Just sayin'.

I bought bathroom mirrors today!

I bought 2 mirrors for the bathroom today. I sure hope they look pretty when they get here!

A tip on Tuesday!

My friend Tammy (http://tam-sense.blogspot.com/) says I have lots of awesome ideas and tips on how to make life easier/more efficient. I thought I would share some of them here. I did not come up with any of these, they have been picked up along the way from my family, friends, magazines, blogs, etc.

Tip on Tuesday: save the wrappers from sticks of butter. Stick them in the freezer and use them to grease baking pans instead of cooking spray.

Here is a photo of my stash.

Bathroom Faucets?

Kevin has decided we are doing polished nickel faucets with cross handles. I get to pick the faucet (as long as I stay within his parameters).

Do you like the low arc?

Or the high arc?

Beadboard: Fancy or simple?

We are planning to do a beadboard wainscoting in the bathroom. I am debating if it should be fancy and framed out like this:

Or simple, just beadboard, a baseboard and a top edge, like this:

Which one do you like better?

Floor Tile Options

Here are some of the options I am considering for floor tile in the bathroom. We haven't done any real shopping yet, I found all of these online.

 Basketweave

 Lantern

 Octagon

 Spiral

Penny

I am torn between the basketweave and the spiral. Although I do love penny tile!

Bathroom Inspiration

I will be swiping ideas for new upstairs bathroom from these pretty, pretty pictures.

The navy grasscloth and the chevron beadboard (need help convincing Kevin on these). And the toilet.

whiteandgolddesign.blogspot.com

Love the beadboard wainscoting, the basketweave floor, the sconces and the mirror.

houzz.com

Love the dark upper wall, white lower wall. If you get tired of pink, you could swap out the towels and rug for another fun color!

marthastewart.com

Our shower will be similar to this one and I like the double vanity and 2 separate mirrors, although I am planning to do a white vanity.

hookedonhouses.net

Again with the contrast between the upper and lower wall and the bright accent!

www.decorno.com

Any thoughts?

Attic Addition

We are getting ready to start work on our attic addition. We are adding a second bathroom, a bedroom, a closet and a lounge space. Well, technically the bedroom and the closet already exist, but they are a little scary right now. Check out the before photos.

Here are the current plans. We have a few minor tweaks to make but it's pretty close! I am getting excited about this project!

New Kitchen Table

My dad made us a new kitchen table. The beautiful butcher block top was donated by a family friend. It was part of a display at a retailer where he works. They were throwing it away, but my dad trashed picked it. So classy!

We were inspired by this table from Crate and Barrel.


 
Our table is regular height, for chairs, not bar stools. The base is painted BM Black Satin and the top has a coat of Danish oil in natural on it. We love it, wings up or wings down!

Living Room Update

Since I got married and my husband lives here now, we needed to do some furniture rearranging in the living room so both of us could watch TV comfortably. Priorities!

As a reminder, this is what the room looked like before:

That turquoise pillow you see on the couch is now in the guest room. We moved the couch to face the TV, booted the tree to the dining room, shifted one of the red chairs to the corner where the tree was and added some new tables.

I got the coffee table off Craiglist. It's a little too big for the space, but I haven't found anything that I like better, so it is sticking around for right now. The console table under the orchid painting, I built last winter. We needed something both skinny and not-that-long and I couldn't find any tables available that fit our space. I used plans from Ana White (http://ana-white.com/) and modified them to our dimensions.

I won the white and black pillows on a giveaway on From the Right Bank (http://www.fromtherightbank.com/) and the yellow ones are from Crate and Barrel.  The quilt on the red chair was a wedding gift, it's beautiful!

Once we finish the upstairs, this room will probably change again, so we didn't want to invest a lot of money in a temporary solution.

An Update!

It's been a while! For most of 2011, I was busy getting married. Planning the wedding was very time consuming because I did a lot of craft projects myself. But it was a lot of fun!

I finally paint the guest room nightstand. I went with grey to coordinate with the file cabinet that serves as the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

I made the shams out of the fabric I mentioned before. I definitely should have put interfacing in the edge, they are way too floppy. Oh well, I am not motivated to take them apart and start over. The turquoise pillow moved in here from the living room.

I got the lamps off Craigslist. I added a grey ribbon to the top and bottom edge of the shades to dress them up a bit. The knobs on the new nightstand are glass, from Target. I also added a design to the top of the nightstand for a little bit of interest.

Not too bad for a couple of bucks! Now my mom has somewhere to put her glasses when she comes to visit!

My first bathroom remodel!

Kevin and I helped our friends remodel their bathroom. It looks great (if I do say so myself) and we didn't kill each other!

http://smillers.blogspot.com/2011/02/our-new-basement-bath.html