Spring DIY

With snow on the ground but the distinct feel of Spring in the air (or maybe that's wishful thinking), I went around the house, making notes on some little niggly things that need to be done before the weather changes. (Honestly, this is a my list of b.o.r.i.n.g. Spring things to get done before moving on to the F U N Spring things.)

Get the doors in full swing. Our front door is squeaking. Not so annoying when it's the dead of winter and no one is using the door much, but soon to be used all day, everyday, and likely to be really annoying! Spray a little WD-40 onto the hinges, moving the door back and forth to work in.

The lock sticks a little on the back door - Squeeze in graphite powder. (Don't use oil, which can attract dirt, and make matters worse.)

The light fixtures need dusting. Dust the ceiling fans, chandelier, and pendant lights. (Turn them off first, and allow them to cool.) Here's a trick I read: wear a pair of white cotton gloves - I got a bunch of thin winter gloves from Target in the after-winter sale for about $1 a pair. Put them on, one dry, one sprayed liberally with glass cleaner. Clean the fixtures and glass shades with the gloves. I'm sure this will be a helpful tip, especially if you have an elaborate chandelier, with lots of little pieces.

The bathrooms need a good, well, bath. Dawn dish and vinegar for the baths and showers. Mix 1 cup warm vinegar with 1 cup regular dawn dish liquid and shake well. Spray on liberally and let sit for 2 hours. Use a scrub brush or sponge, and then rinse VERY well. (If you don't rinse very well the surface will be VERY slippery.)  Use this cleaner and you won't believe how clean your shower or bath will be.

While in the bathroom, dissolve mineral deposits plugging up the shower heads. Just remove the shower head, soak it overnight in a 50-50 vinegar-and-water solution, rinse it, and reinstall it to improve water flow. If the shower head is too hard to remove, fill a plastic bag with solution and secure it around the head with a rubber-band overnight.

Check the gutters and downspouts.  Spring = rain. And the gutters need to be working properly. There might be leaves and pine needles that need to be removed. Even birds nests! Once the gutters are clutter free, you need to get all of that water away from your foundation so make sure you have extra long kick-outs at the bottom of down-spouts.

Kitchen floor. We have a squeaky floor board easily silenced by sprinkling on talcum powder. Use a paintbrush to work the powder into the joints between boards and then sweep away the excess.

Lights. Got a room everyone leaves the light on? We do too. Alright, it's me! I leave the basement light on all the time...  Screw a First Alert PIR725 Motion Sensing Light Socket into the fixture and leave the wall switch in the on position. The light will illuminate as soon as anyone walks in the room, then automatically turn itself off when you leave the room. Perfect for the basement, attic or closets.

You can order these at Amazon:


They have great reviews and are $17.99!

Let in the sun! Our master bathroom and bedroom need a lot of privacy because they face the driveway. Rather than leave the blinds closed at all times, apply window film. It'll create privacy without blocking natural light.



The Etched Leaf Window Film 24-by-36-Inch has great reviews.  Actually all of the patterned and non-patterned window films have great reviews, are easy to use.  The patterned products are made so that you can cut and/or place them together for the repeating pattern easily.

So that's my Spring fixer-up list. Shouldn't take long, and then we can move on to

 

The Lint Lizard

Coffee in hand, I'm ambitiously planning my day ahead. Maybe ambitious is too strong of a word... Here's my TO DO list so far:

1.  Make banana muffins
2.  Clean dryer vent
3.  Eat banana muffins after strenuous job of cleaning dryer vent

Because I had recently written about changing the furnace filter, my Mom mentioned that my post made her think of cleaning out the dryer filter.  And who can resist the thought of blogging about that? Not me!

Seriously! It's almost Spring. Why not get some Spring cleaning done? I personally don't "do" a big Spring clean - but I do think of it as a time to clean the things I normally would ignore or put off.  That includes checking out the dryer vent.  (Tomorrow - washing windows! Only joking, I'll just wait for it to rain.)

If you clean out the vent system on your dryer, not only will it last longer, it will dry your clothes more efficiently, and save you money.  I have no idea how that equates to cold hard cash, but it's probably an ice cream cone or two worth of savings a year. And it's wrong to turn up your nose at ice cream.

Furthermore, dryer fires do happen, and they normally start from the build up of lint (and socks!) trapped in the vent system. Should you over-worry about a fire? Probably not. But just to be on the safe side, take an hour and clean the vent.

[caption id="attachment_804" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Cleaning the dryer vent[/caption]

In general, you should be mindful of keeping the drying in good working order on a daily basis:

• Clean the lint trap every time you use the dryer. This is a no-brainer, and anyway, it's weirdly satisfying pulling the lint off in a big sheet of linty softness.


• Don’t pile clothes on top of the dryer, because they will fall down behind the dryer and that's a pain, plus a fire hazard.


• Clean out behind and underneath your clothes dryer periodically. It's just gross not to.


• Use the metal type of vent for your dryer, or consider changing it to metal. The plastic kind can melt.


• Inspect and clean your dryer vent once a year. (Exciting information below!!!)


• Just a mention, be careful when drying clothes that might have had flammable liquids on them. If you, get gas on your clothes, wash them a couple of times before you dry them.

So, now comes the fun part - cleaning out the vent. You first have to figure out how to pull the dryer out from the wall. Especially if your washer and dryer are stack-able, and you are only 5' 3", it's advisable to get someone taller to help. You don't wanna end up the cheese in that sandwich.

Pull the dryer out and unplug it. If it's a gas dryer, turn off the gas. Use your vacuum hose attachment, or a shop vac to clean out the vent hose and the vent itself. (The hose is easily unattached with a screwdriver and then you can just stick the vacuum hose in and clean out all the lint.)



Some of the vent hoses are loooong. So you might have to use a dowel or something to really "snake out" the tubing.

Next, go outside, and look into the vent. This is a little nerve wracking for me.  What's in there? What if there's a bird or something in there? Nothing ever is in there, but I get freaked out just the same...  Anyway, once you're over your fear of birds hiding in the dryer vent that they couldn't possibly get in, get the shop vac and clean from the outside too.

Here's what the outside vent looks like:

[caption id="attachment_805" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Outside dryer vent[/caption]

Vacuum out that lint, and you're done! Put it all back together, and plug it back in.

But wait! There's another option! Courtesy of Informercials, and The Today Show - the Lint Lizzard dryer cleaning kits, (as seen on TV!) and they say they're worth the investment. (Don't worry, by "investment", they mean about 30 bucks!)  So, because I easily fall prey to infomercials, and don't really trust The Today Show, I decided to take some time to research these gizmos. The "lint lizard" brand was poorly reviewed, BUT the Gardus LintEater kit, which is also under $30, had 440 high reviews! And based solely on the following review, I've decided to buy one! Read on:

"So, this is what life comes down to when you are 50 years old: reviewing dryer vent cleaners while sitting at your kitchen table waiting for American Idol. This is not what I envisioned when I was 12, I can tell you that much. You kids who think it won't happen to you? It will. Sorry to burst your bubble. That said, the product works great. Our dryer pretty much stopped working and we were thinking we needed a new one, which was seriously going to eat into my plastic surgery budget. One last shot before a trip to the appliance store was this Gardus LintEater. My husband, who is not the handy one of the family, had to do the work as I have a torn labrum. (Which sounds dirtier than it is - that's part of your shoulder.) He, the clumsiest man in the world, had absolutely no problem using this. I warned him to read the directions first, and he actually listened and followed. He hooked it up to the drill, and away he went. He got a bunch of musty, wet lint that had probably been up inside the wall since 1977 - probably consisting of bell bottom material and macramé. Now our dryer actually dries clothes again, and I can continue to save for my facelift. Thank you Gardus."


That person should write a blog, no? And now don't you need a LintEater?

Replace your Furnace Filter

Hello there!

Today I woke up and realized the heat has been on almost non-stop for 3 months. The windows have been opened only when I burned the bacon last week occasionally, and the dog and cat have been indoors more than usual. And that means, dust, and dog hair, and general nastiness in the air. Which means the furnace filter probably needs to be replaced.

They work better when they're clean, and that means cleaner air and heat, which means better heat bills.

Before I get to how to replace the filter, you need to buy replacements. They come in different sizes and are usually sold in 6-packs, so you can store them until you need them. If anyone in your family has allergies, consider a HEPA filter. If you click the link below, you can find the size you need.



Four steps to furnace filter freshness:

1. Assuming you have the correct filters it's time to find your furnace. We have two. One in the basement, and one on the second floor. This may sound like an easy task but for me it was an adventure. Especially finding the furnace in the basement. My journey to the center of the basement included a hike through what one might call no-mans land.  I had to journey through the motorcycle grave yard, over paint can mountain, and through power tool valley - narrowly escaping cat litter abyss. (Lucky I remembered bottled water and protein bars.)

2. Assuming you have located your furnace, find the filter.  It is a framed mesh rectangle, and you will know it needs changing when it's brown and you can't see through it. Usually after ONE month (not 3 like me!).


(photo from Bobvilla.com)

Weird furnace fact from my house - I sleep on a feather pillow, and the feathers get everywhere, including, apparently, all the way to the basement. The filter actually had feathers in it!

3. So you've located the filter. Throw away the old filter and put the new filter in it's place, which is a fairly easy task. Just turn off the furnace. Pull out the existing filter (located near the intake/outtake blower fan). Slide in a new filter and don't forget to turn the furnace back on.

4. Find your way back home upstairs.

YAY! I can almost see see the clean air!

Okay, so I guess I shouldn't be so proud that I changed the furnace filter, but I get excited about little things. Champagne anyone?

Ideas from Pottery Barn

If I had all the money I wanted I might just flip through Pottery Barn and buy whatever strikes me. That not being the case, I'll settle for flipping through their catalog and see how I can recreate their ideas.  Because there's no shortage of blogs giving step by step instructions on how to recreate Pottery Barn pieces, it's just downright silly not to try a couple of ideas.  It's just so fun!

And as they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I'm sure Pottery Barn won't mind.

I have a couple of end tables that have easily removable glass tops, with pretty iron legs.  These glass top tables are a bit of a pet peeve with me. I'd love to replace the glass - not only are they covered in fingerprints, they seem to be magnets for cat hair!  Reaaaallly cool! This slate or stone top table gives me a great idea.



The Home Depot has the perfect sized slate pieces for about $15. The mixture of the colors would match perfectly with our walls and fireplace.



Moving into the dining room, Potter Barn shows this mercury glass chandelier.  I am going to replace my frosted glass shades with clear (only about $4 per shade at Lowe's), so that I can paint them to look like Mercury Glass.  To make your own mercury glass, you simply spritz the clear glass you want to change with water and then spray with Krylon Looking Glass Spray Paint.



Big A is loathe to hang our TV from the wall.  So for now I have it on a similar sized unit as in the following Pottery Barn picture.  I love the way the TV blends in with all of the other decorations, so some re-arranging is definitely in my future!



The next picture also inspires me to do some rearranging.  I have a sofa in a bay window area and I really need a sofa table (read: old bookshelf that no one will ever see) for behind my sofa, so that I can add some visual interest there. I've been worried about blocking the view, but when I look at this PB picture, I see how much of a difference the lamps and greenery make being placed behind the sofa.



Oh, and see that coffee table? I've seen some pretty darn cute pallet tables on wheels all over Pinterest.

 

 

Pallets

We're having a little ongoing argument here. It's over pallets. We haven't come to blows over it or anything, but today I decided to finally put this baby to bed. Big A is just going to have to see things my way, and everything will be fine. They don't say "a happy wife, is a happy life" for nothin!

Now I think it's awesome that people are using pallet wood to create book shelves, or wall art, or chairs. I yell "Stop the truck!" when I see pallets by the side of the road.  But Big A thinks pallet wood is crappy wood and simply can't see why I would want it in our home. Despite my protests, he hits the accelerator and guns it on by, leaving the perfectly good, and free, wood sitting by the road.

Clearly he doesn't share my vision, or spend enough time drooling over all of the creative blogs, DIY magazines, or Pinterest. So I'm posting these pictures for him, hopeful that he will change his mind.

These pallet shelves would be perfect in our living room. I would want to stain them a dark color because I think that would look nice with the colors in our house. I can also see using them in the bathroom to hold lotions and potions.
from dumpaday.com

Or maybe something like this to hold photos, books or small house plants.

from amandacarverdesigns.com

Imagine something like this in the kitchen holding olive oil or cool vintage bottles. (No, not cans of Monster.)
from dumpaday.com

And I love pallet wood as wall art.  This is gorgeous!

from http://somedaycrafts.blogspot.com

And I like this too. (Cuz I love you too).

from http://www.adorbymelissa.com/

And this made me think of you darlin' - isn't this funny and cute?

from http://loveurspace.blogspot.com/

People even write books on pallets:
Wood Pallet Projects: Cool and Easy-to-Make Projects for the Home and Garden

So, waddaya think? Will you stop the truck next time?

 Everybody happy, happy, happy.  -Phil Roberstson

 

Hanging Frames with Ribbon

Update on the framed recipes:

A week or so ago, I painted two dollar store frames and printed out two recipes (one from my mom and one from my grandmother), but I couldn't decide what to do with them, besides having them somewhere in the kitchen.  Turns out we have either enormous walls - too big for the little frames, or tiny spaces - too cluttered with the little frames.  So I put them on the windowsill until I thought of a better idea:



And then one day while rummaging through cleaning out one of my cupboards, I found a roll of 1" wide black ribbon. And I thought, "Huh, that could work".

So staple gun in hand, I went to work.  I just measured the frames and the ribbon, and stapled the ribbon right to the back of the frames.  I left about 3" at the top and bottom. To hang, I used Velcro! (Shhh, don't tell Big A cuz that's gonna leave a mark if I ever pull it off.)

The recipe frames now hang in the kitchen next to the pantry door.  I think they look kinda cute there.

[caption id="attachment_787" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Frames hung on ribbon[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_789" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Frames with ribbon[/caption]

 

 

DIY glitter candle holders

I had these tea light holders that I got at the dollar store a couple of years ago.  I use them but their kind of boring. So, I decided to glam them up. Any glass receptacle (wine glass, mason jar, jelly jar) would work.  Against my better judgement, I decided this would be fun to do with my teen-aged daughter. But we will get to that later.

[caption id="attachment_773" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dollar Store Glass[/caption]

We all know glitter gets everywhere, so I used a gallon sized ziploc bag and an old cake tin, to put the holders in, and TRY to keep the glitter at bay.

I went to AC Moore and bought "white gold" glitter, which actually just looks plain gold to me, but whatever.  You can use Elmer's glue, but I had a tub of "glittering glue", cuz I'm a geek like that. It comes with a little brush attached to the lid.  Of course you can use any paint brush, or even an old make up brush, if you don't have a cool bottle of glittering glue. I won't judge you.

[caption id="attachment_774" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Glittering Glue[/caption]

Ok, so get your pen and paper because the directions for this project are pretty in depth.

1. Use brush to paint the glue all over the inside of the candle holder.

[caption id="attachment_775" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Painting with Glue[/caption]

2. Sprinkle the glitter on the glue.



3. Let dry.

[caption id="attachment_777" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Glue and Glittyer Drying[/caption]

4. Make chicken nuggets for 14 year old daughter (glittering requires sustenance).



Easy and fun!  I guess it took about 4 hours for the glue to dry.

Now, before I end this glittering good time, there are a couple of glittering do's and don'ts.

Well, mostly dont's:

• 
  
  Don't breathe deeply while sprinkling glitter - it will make you cough for hours.


• 
  
  Similarly, don't breathe deeply while sprinkling glitter- it will make you sneeze
  and blow glitter all over the counter.


• 
  
   Don't let your 14 year old daughter help - she will glitter the dog.

 

[caption id="attachment_781" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Dog.[/caption]

But the tea lights look pretty!

Easiest Cookies EVER

My daughter and I planned on baking cookies after school. When we got home and started looking at recipes, alternately running back and forth to the pantry, we realized we didn't have anything we needed!  We didn't have sweetened condensed milk, we didn't have chocolate chips, we didn't have more than 1/2 cup of oatmeal... You get the idea.

So, being the honor student that she is, my daughter did a little research and came up with the following recipe - which has three ingredients, takes three minutes to make, and three minutes to clean up! Genius! That's my kinda baking!

Peanut Butter Cookies
12 cookies. 350F

1 c. sugar
1 egg
1 c. peanut butter

Mix the sugar and egg together.  Add the peanut butter.  Mix.

Form mixture into (about 12) 1" balls, and place on a greased cookie sheet.

(That last sentence is a little bit misleading - what it should say is "grab plops of peanut butter goo and try to force into something that resembles a 1" ball, but really looks like a plop of poo.")

Press each ball (poo plop) down a bit with a fork.

Bake at 350F for 10 minutes.

THAT'S IT!

A couple of notes - the cookies spread out, so give them room when placing them on the cookie sheet.  Let them cool completely before you remove from the cookie sheet, unless you want peanut butter mushies.

These peanut butter cookies are soft and chewy and really, really good. (Just put the poo references out of your head, I apologize!)

Next time we make them I'm going to try adding in a little bit of oatmeal, say 1/2 cup.  I imagine chocolate chips will work too.

[caption id="attachment_766" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Easiest Cookies![/caption]