Category: Home Decor

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Cake Decorating for Christmas

Many of my friends are very crafty and love to make homemade gifts to exchange over the holidays. My good friend Lindsay is especially talented with cake decorating. She made a cake shaped like a Christmas tree and then used sugar fondant in different colors to make the ribbons and ruffles that are the icing on this beautiful cake.

The funny thing is that she had just made a gorgeous Christmas tree skirt out of red and green fabric that looks like ruffles, and she used that as inspiration for this cake. The ruffles on the cake look just like the ruffles on her tree skirt made from real fabric. I wish she had taken a picture of the tree skirt so you could see how much they look alike. She is an amazing talent and I admire her homemade creations.

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Kitchen Renovations

I can remember many years ago, hiring a custom cabinet maker to renovate my kitchen in a house that I used to live in. I had spent a lot of time looking through magazines and planning out exactly what I wanted. I spent several hours consulting with him, showing him the magazines, and going through his hardware catalogs, picking out exactly what I wanted. That was back in the early 1980’s, before I had a computer with Internet access. That was a lot of work back then.

From time to time, I day-dream about using some ideas that I found from here and renovating my existing kitchen. I love so many of the new ideas for cabinet storage! If only I was independently wealthy!

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Cool rain catchers

During the summer I went to visit a friend of mine. On her porch she had what she called rain chains. I had never seen them before, and she explained that they caught the rain and watered the plant below, that was in a pot with the chains attached to it. She had a lots of really cool ones all around her house. I knew right away that I wanted to get some for my gardens, yard, porch and gazebo next summer. I asked where she had gotten them and she told me she went online for them.

I of course got online and found the garden rain chains that I totally love and want for my gardens next year. So then that led me to start doing more garden planning for spring. I’ve listed all the seeds and plants I want and how I want to redo some of my gardens just for these chains. They will make really nice additions to my front gardens as well. I have a lot of little fairies and what I call peeky people situated in places that one would least expect them, but can be seen if a person looks closely.

While browsing, I found a gutter rain chain and thought that would be a great idea for dispersing more rain water than what my boarder flowers would normally get because of the overhang on the porch.

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Easter and garden supplies out

I went shopping yesterday and could not believe it!! Easter items are out already. To me, this is getting a bit out of hand. I asked the store clerk how long they had been out, since it looked like the shelves were pretty much picked over and I hadn’t gone to that store in awhile. He told me they had stocked Easter things right after Valentines Day. (SMH)

The great thing though, is that the garden supply section is now nearly fully stocked. Looks like I’m going to get an even bigger jump on shopping this year for my garden. I’m at least excited about that!

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Bedroom and bed makeover

With the January sales upon us now, I’ve decided to get new bedding, starting with new mattress covers for my spare bedroom, which has twin beds. I know that I will undoubtedly have guests at some point in the near future, and since the spare bedroom has been needing somewhat of a makeover, I decided on starting with the beds first. There really isn’t anything wrong with the hand made quilts and such, but I want it to seem a bit more homey and inviting. Besides that, I use the spare room sometimes as a get away, to read and fall asleep in, and I want it to have more of my personality to it, along with a a touch of class, so to speak.

While I was looking for the covers, I found some really awesome satin pillowcases. I like these because I have really long and very curly hair, and if I don’t braid it before I go to sleep, I wake up looking sort of like someone who accidentally got stuck in a light socket. In other words, my hair is a total wreck, and I’ve found the satin pillowcases are great for sleeping on without wrecking one’s hair.

I’m also thinking about getting new bed skirts to match the quilts and comforters I have on the beds right now. The quilts are folded across the end of the beds in case it gets colder, and I really like the look of a bed skirts with the comforters. I’m looking forward to making this room more cozy, so I really can’t wait to go shopping for what I need. Who knows who the holidays may bring!

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Organizing the Spice Cupboard

This morning while I was looking for some cinnamon, I decided that I was in dire need of some kitchen spice racks. I opened the cupboard and I had an avalanche of spices fall out of it. My kids are all teenagers, or out of their teens now, and they have started to try their hand at cooking. Needless to say, they don’t put my spices back in the cupboard the way I like to have them, and since I have literally nearly every spice one can imagine, when they are finished cooking I can’t find what I’m looking for.

I have one wall in my kitchen, that I think a big wall spice rack would look great on and the spices would be organized plus close at hand for everyone to use. I like the idea of the spices to be displayed so we wouldn’t have to dig through the cupboard to find what we are looking for. I’m thinking about getting one for my baking spices, and then my cooking spices. Perhaps even one that would hold the various oils I use when I make candy.

My mom has some really nice looking spice racks that my sister got her for her birthday, and since she doesn’t have a whole lot of cupboard space, she has hung hers on the wall where everything is handy for her. I’m looking forward to getting rid of the clutter and have my spices organized.

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Carving Our Pumpkin Today

Every year I buy a pumpkin to carve for Halloween from a local farmer who has a produce stand a few miles from my house. This year he had a small crop of pumpkins for sale, and they seemed to be a lot higher this year than last. I asked him about that and he said that the drought we had this summer really took a toll on his pumpkin crop. Evidently, the crop was only about one quarter of what it was last year, because growing big pumpkins requires a lot of water and we just did not have enough rain to make a good crop.

With that in mind, I had to decide if I wanted to be extravagant and buy a big one from the few, expensive big ones that he had, or settle for a smaller one that fit my budget. It also occurred to me that I could just not buy my pumpkin from him this year and go to WalMart to buy one for about ten bucks. But I really don’t want to give my money to WalMart when I have a good local option, and I believe in supporting the local businesses and farmers as much as possible. I decided to buy a smaller pumpkin and stick to my budget, and hope that next year’s crop is bigger and better for everyone.

I’m going to carve something like the design on this photo. I like the idea of a more intricate design than just a grinning face. I’m not sure how to make this work on a smaller pumpkin, but I guess I will figure it out tonight when I carve the pumpkin and put it out on my front porch.

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Roofing with Auckland Roofing and Co.

My friend Maxine needed a Roofing Contractor, but was kind of afraid to hire a team, since she is a single mom and lives alone with her daughter. She is so happy that she choose Roofers Auckland. She told me since she read the reviews, that this is the company that she would feel comfortable with.

I’m not from that area, but I too need a roofing professional to fix my roof, since shingles have fallen and also there is a great deal of wind and hail damage. From what I have heard, this company is one that I could trust and afford.

Auckland contractors know EVERYTHING about various types of roofing and since I’m a lay person when it comes to this kind of stuff, I felt totally comfortable. From my friend’s happy dance going on, and another friend singing praises for Roofers Auckland.

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Thanksgiving Shopping and A New Pantry

I’m a firm believer in lists. While going through my pantry, and listing what I have and what items I need to buy for Thanksgiving dinner as well as to basically stock up on, I realized that the pantry that I have is not roomy enough. I need more space. Yes indeed, I feel another project coming on. I haven’t decided yet as to why it is that I always have a mega need to do home improvements at the most inconvenient times. With the holidays coming and I’ll be in the kitchen for a good ten days, my mind is on the pantry project, I would indeed call this an inconvenient time.

Shopping today (while my mind was/is still on the pantry project) did not go as well as I thought it would. Normally I use coupons, but not to the extent a lot of my friends do. Today I forgot my coupons. Fail #1. While looking for 22 to 24 pound turkey who I just know will catch my fancy to the point I want to take him home, will show himself, was shy today. Fail #2. I did however get a good deal on giblets, necks and backs. Also some pretty good prices on spices I needed.

I’ve got a couple more days to power shop if I can get the building of a new pantry off my mind until after the Holiday season, I’ll be just fine and dandy!

 

 

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Deep cleaning at a reasonable price

When my daughter and her boyfriend moved to a new home they had purchased, they discovered that the carpets had been soiled deeply by the people who had moved their belongings into the home, and yet they couldn’t prove that the moving company had messed up the carpets, so they couldn’t be reimbursed for the cleaning of the floors. My daughter got online and found http://www.thesteamteam.com which is a site of professionals that cleans everything from dirt to smoke damage and a whole bunch in between.

My daughter’s boyfriend was a bit skeptical about having more people come in to do things, but the steam team are reputable and they have a long list of satisfied customers to vouch for them. And they were reasonably priced.

I must say, that my daughter is very happy with the service provided. She called to tell me how clean her carpets were and that they looked brand new. Then she posted pictures to me of her laying on the floor in the middle of an empty room, and she said she didn’t want anyone walking on her nice new clean carpet! Of course she was joking, but the rugs and carpet does look nice and the “kids” are happy with it, so I am too! Now they have to learn to take their shoes off at the door!