My House Stinks!

 

 

 

 Hey guys! I just moved into my house over the last few days and it stinks! It's not a moldy smell, or even a something crawled up in here and died, smell. It's more like straight up thrift shop in here.  It's just old smell.

 

Speaking of thrift shop, we've been singing that song for 3 days straight while moving. We can't get it out of our heads. I even sing it before bed time.

 

 I'm pretty sure my husband and I could have made our own cover. " I'm gonna pop some tags, I've got 20 dollars in my pocket, then I cluck like a chicken to the tune, this is crazy awesome!"  Yeah, I always edit any bad words out with my own.

 

You can see the official video on youtube

 

Anyways, I'm getting distracted. I googled what to do to get rid of old house smell and Apartment Therapy had an article on using something called, Room Shocker.  They weren't sure if it worked or not but suggested it wouldn't hurt to try at 25 dollars a can.  I jumped up and bought 6 right away.

 

 

This company claims that it can get rid of any smell in your house. ANY smell. I also read somewhere that they used these to get homes ready to move back into for families affected by Hurricane Katrina. I have no idea how true that is, as it was a comment somewhere on the web.

 

 

 

We bought 6 of them and let me tell you, we followed directions to the T as it seemed like the reviews were by people who just didn't read the directions, and this stuff did NOT work for us. In all fairness there were reviews on Apt. Therapy and Amazon, that swore by it's effectiveness. There were also reviews on Amazon, that indicated it did not work.

 

So, now I'm hoping I don't get hassle about getting my moolah back! That moolah can go towards something more useful in our new home, like some art, or curtains or something.

 

I am really hoping someone reads this and knows how to get rid of old house smell. I really want our house to smell clean and fresh.  I really hate chemically made smells, so I'm not into Glade, Renuzit, Febreeze or anything like that. I need to find something that rids the house of the smell  and not just mask it, which is what Room Shocker claims to do.

 

Until then, I'll be using lots of windows to air the house out and natural products with essential oils.

 

 

 

Look 4 Less: Capri 1 Light Pendant & DIY

I'm shopping for light fixtures and ran across this:

 

 

 

Home Decorators Capri 1 Light Pendant is 22"Hx10"D at 184 dollars.

        Shades of Light Pendant is 15"Hx6"W at 99 dollars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or, to me it looks like you can diy one with this:

I haven't tried this yet, so feel free to add whatever to make it work.

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1: Purchase a Glass Jug (maybe something without a handle)

via Label Peelers

 

 

Step 2: Cut the bottom off the jug:

via The Bella Files on Glass Cutting

 

 

 

Step3: Add Light Pendant and Chain

 

via Pottery Barn

 

Or

 

 

 

 

Or

Maybe one of these:

 

Portfolio accessory kit

 via Lowe's

 

 

You could add one large chain link to the chain to keep it from slipping through the jug.

Summer Lovin'

 

I'm browsing Matchbook magazine's boutique.

I'm in the mood for Summer!  I'm loving black and white stripes with the addition of emerald green and a little coral.

                                                        

 

 

Spiffing Up A Plain Jane Home: No Porch Issue

If you're new to the blog, you do not know that we bought a house recently, almost.

 I'm leaving so much out but buying it has been sheer torture, but it's hopefully, crossing my fingers, throwing salt over my shoulder with a 4 leaf clover in my pocket, hunched over in a corner and timidly peering over my shoulder with one eye squinted because I'm waiting for one more thing to go wrong, praying to Jesus (which is the only thing I did which works), finally over. : D

One of the things I've been looking at in a home is something older, (older homes tend to evade the cookie cutter factor that I'm not very fond of), something with a nice sized yard, and something with character to the exterior of the home.

Well, because of circumstances beyond our control, and me just wanting to get the agony of it all over with, we ended up settling for a plain Jane house. 

BTW....if your name is Jane, I absolutely do not find that a plain name at all, it's actually one of my favorite names, and far from boring in my mind, but the phrase is quite common in American culture. Why, I don't quite know.

While I love our house and actually prefer a project, it is rather plain and without a porch, unless you count  a 3 by 5 ft plot of cement in front of your door a porch.  A porch is something I could have really worked with to bring in some wow factor to this box on a lot.

Which don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for our box on a lot!

One of the solutions we decided on was to build a pergola to the side of the house. Pergolas do not have to stay at the back of your house. Think front or side when replacing a non-existent porch. This solves our "no porch" issue, brings character to the house, and adds value to the home in one fell swoop.

While these houses are far from plain it helps to get a visual.....

Traditional Patio by Millbrook Architect Crisp Architects

Traditional Patio by Menlo Park Architect Ana Williamson Architect

Traditional Exterior by Boston General Contractor Woodmeister Master Builders

Traditional Patio by Hinsdale Design-build Normandy Remodeling

Contemporary Exterior by Alexandria Architect Moore Architects, PC

Traditional Patio by Frederick Interior Designer JB Interiors, Inc.

Contemporary Exterior by Portland Interior Designer Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

Traditional Landscape by Far Hills Landscape Architect Deborah Cerbone Associates, Inc.

Mother's Day Gifts Under 50 Dollars

 

 

 

Here's my favorite Mother's Day gifts so far. These are on my own personal list.

I found these all on one page on Layla Grace.

 

 

Spiffing Up A Plain Jane Home: Shutters And Window Boxes

Several days ago, I did part one in the series of spiffin up a plain home with awnings. Today, I'm going to concentrate on shutters and window boxes! I love them! First off, if your house is rather plain, you really should consider awnings. They add some architectural detail to an otherwise boring house.

Traditional Exterior by New Port Richey Architect Bud Dietrich, AIA

Contemporary Exterior by Minneapolis Design-build Orfield Remodeling, Inc

 

Awnings are not cheap. Window boxes are relatively inexpensive and you can always Google how to DIY one yourself!

They should match the window frame plus any trim. If there are shutters then add 4-6 inches on.

 

Sometimes I like them a little longer than the frame.  Longer window boxes tend to draw the eye in more and the look can be very lush with the right plants, like the one below.

Traditional Exterior by Vancouver Landscape Architect Pot Incorporated

Traditional Exterior by Minneapolis Design-build Great Neighborhood Homes

Traditional Exterior by Chicago General Contractor Greenside Design Build LLC



If you already have shutters, try a nice bold contrasting coat of paint to make them pop! Finish them off with flowers and plants that color contrast the window boxes.

Traditional Exterior by Tarrytown Landscape Architect Westover Landscape Design, Inc.

Tropical Exterior by Other Metro Architect Barefoot Design Group, LLC

Traditional Exterior by Beaufort Design-build WaterMark Coastal Homes, LLC

Oh No She Didn't! Two Bloggers And The Same Post

If you have been blogging long enough, more than likely you have ran into someone who posted on the same topic as you or their post was very similar. Off and on, in the DIY blogging world or the design blogging world, I will notice that someone in a comments section will think they are doing the blog's author a favor and kindly point them in the direction of another blog who supposedly stole their post or project.

 

 

 

 

When I have run into these, I almost always will go over and look for myself. What I find usually is not what was thought they saw but someone who happened to have the same idea yet the post was written in their own words. There was no plagiarism going on!

Via  White Kitchens House Beautiful

One thing that we all have to keep in mind is that no one has the monopoly on a certain idea. I can write about white kitchens and guess what? There will be 500 other bloggers writing about the same topic. And the odds are that some are going to write the same week I do, even less may even post within a day or 2 of when I do.  But it does happen often!  It's even very likely that we may use some of the same inspiration photos. After all, Pinterest makes sure we all get to see a lot of the same inspiration images. Let's face it, a lot of us have the same tastes! How many posts have you read on Chevron over the years?

                                                                       

My Chevron Pillow DIY. This pillow cover will look much nicer with a larger pillow in it.
 

        

Granted if they copied your post word for word, well that would be a whole other enchilada.

I think we are doing each other a great disservice by judging or jumping to conclusions about another blogger's intentions. I can say with perfect confidence that I don't steal posts, but this happens to me literally all the time. There are how many design/diy/craft blogs out there? Thousands upon thousands? Millions? I don't know the exact number but I know there are a lot of them and I know that I will have a post in draft and work on it as I have the time, and very often someone will beat me to the punch and write something very similar to what I am already working on.  The more I post the more I see it.

 I can say it's happened to me more times than not, actually.

 

The most recent time it happened is just this past week when Centsational Girl wrote a post on Homebuying Tips, I believe. I haven't read the post yet, but I did see the title of the post when it was posted.  Well, guess what I have in draft?  First Time Homebuyer's 411.  I've learned so much the last few months in house hunting, that my husband and I thought it would make a good post. However, we've been working on this for quite awhile, and I didn't want to post it til I was done with the process.

 

It's OK! We all will very frequently have the same ideas. It's all rather innocent. And to be honest, I like reading more than one blogger's tips on a subject I'm interested in!

One time I was gold leafing a chair with my Krylon gold leaf paint pen and getting ready to post about it, the very same day, Jenny, from a Little Green Notebook, posted a coffee table that she had gold leafed with the same paint pen. Her table had very similar features to my chair legs.

                                                                               

My shame, the UGLY chair. Aka, my Doug chair. Those who use to watch TLC's Trading Spaces back in the day will know what I mean.

I was just getting ready to post this! I froze. I was thinking, "Oh no! What if someone thinks I copied her?"  I was 2 seconds away from NOT posting it and deleting the whole project. In hindsight, I should have scrapped it because my chair was UGLY!  Her table turned out great, though. She's really an amazing stylist and DIY'er.

                                                                                   

The "iconic" paint pen.

One last example, recently I was writing a post on Jonathan Adler coming to JC Penny and all of a sudden, another blogger on my reading list posted the same topic! Did either of us know the other was already working on the idea? No. No harm, no foul!

Let me point out that doesn't mean that you can't find information on another blog and share that news with your own readers! Of course you can! Just make sure to put it in your own words!

There were many other times that I did delete a post because someone else beat me to it.  Finally, it happened so much that I realized there is no way to avoid it, if it was happening to me, then surely other bloggers knew this happened too, and I just let myself relax a little on it.

Trust me, if this hasn't happened to you yet, it will.  The more blogs in your niche that you read, the more linky parties you participate in, and the more blogs that you have on your reading list, the more likely it is that you too, will find other bloggers blogging about something you just posted or were getting ready to post.

 I just put my own spin on my own ideas and I put it out there.  If someone else happened to do it too, then that's OK, cause it's going to happen.

We are not in competition with each other.  Blogging is about community.  Isn't it so nice just sharing what you love and finding someone that loves the same thing and chatting over it for a short time?  I find it refreshing to see someone post similarly to me but they bring something different to the table.   It makes it interesting and it's inspiring.
                                                                                    
                                                                                

I think we have a community of ethical bloggers in the DIY/ design world.  Let's give each other credit and not tear each other apart.

BTW,  I don't remember the people who participated in the commenting.   I'm not singling anyone out!

Linking up Here
http://itssoverycheri.com/2013/04/21/its-party-time-4-21-2013/  http://www.threemangoseeds.blogspot.com/