With winter here, my time to work on the house is throttling down. I shovel and clean the litter box far more (see blog) since my cats are only inside in the winter. My mom has had some surgeries and I’ve spent some nights with her. Because there is so much clutter in this room... Continue Reading →
Life Hacks – Deglossing vs. Stripping
You've heard me say, on every room, that I degloss the trim before painting it. Why? You have a couple options for good adhesion of the new paint over the old: cleaning and sanding, stripping and cleaning, or scraping and cleaning. If the old paint is in reasonably good condition, a light sanding will do.... Continue Reading →
Making a Planter Out of a Crock
My parents collected antique crocks - the genuine non-reproductions, the really heavy ones you don't know what to do with, yet fear them breaking. I have one in each finished room as a waste paper receptacle, but when I needed a little something to go beside an occasional chair in the library and found myself... Continue Reading →
Spare Room Makeover
I want to bring this plain room up to a contemporary standard. When my sister and I were little, it was big enough to fit our twin beds and a partition separating sleeping quarters to a play area. Today I stand in the middle of it and think how small it is. It saw us... Continue Reading →