Coffee Table Shopping

This is my temporary coffee table (six years running.)

Not my best work.

Even putting a cute dog on top doesn’t save it.

Would You Buy a Thrift Store Mattress?

I popped into my favorite Thrift Store. It often has donations from retail stores. That day it had new furniture. A sofa, a chair, and a few mattresses and box springs were so new they were still wrapped in plastic. The quality was that of a low end discount store, but the prices were excellent. If you were buying furniture for a dorm room or first apartment, this is your place! A queen size mattress was selling for $199 and the matching box spring was $75.


Thrift store shopping is an affordable way to shop green. Husband and I needed a mattress for our guest room. We don’t want to spend thousands on a super duper uber green guest room mattress since we have overnight guests maybe once or twice a since we moved in six years ago. A more affordable option with an allergy ban cover to keep the flame retardants and such at bay will do just fine. It's working out well in our room.

Finally a Pet Friendly Fabric Refresher

I reupholstered my sofa.

A short time later I spilled milk on it.

Because I am not allowed to have nice things.

My deep dark not so green secret is that I have a big ol’ spray bottle of Fabreeze fabric refresher for those times when my furniture gets wiffy. I’d prefer a more pet and planet friendly alternative. However, the homemade versions are vodka based. Vodka works great on the smells (professional costumers use vodka to clean costumes) but vodka is not pet friendly.

CSN Stores Giveaway

Hello dining room light. You are not cute. You need to go.

Merida Home Sisal Rug Contest

I got an email in my in box that I’d like to share with all you sisal rug lovers out there. Merida Home  holding a giving away for a 4x6 Elements Driftwood sisal area rug!

The Elements Driftwood sisal area rug

Want a New Sofa? Reupholster It!

Husband came into my life with his own sofa. It was kinda like a gift with purchase. There was only one small problem with his bachelor sofa – the print.

 1994 called. They want their sofa back.

Blissdom 2011

I went to my first Blissdom blogging conference in Nashville.


It was awesome.

The conference started out on the right foot because the first person I saw on my way to the Wisdom Workshops was my Foodie Night In (#FNIchat) Twitter party friend Carol from Cozi.

One of the nicest things about Blissdom is that I got to meet so many Ohio, home, DIY, and craft bloggers for the first time in real life.

Centsational Girl, House of Hepworths, Make and Takes, Kitchen Stewardship I met them all!

Home bloggers! or we as called ourselves Homies

How to Fix a Garage Door Opener

My automatic garage door opener works fine in the summer but never in the winter. When I push the button on the wall or the remote, the garage door opener does one of two things:

1. The door goes down and pops back up when it reaches the garage floor.
2. The door doesn’t go down at all. The light blinks and that’s it.

Turns out that these two problems are common with garage door openers in winter. The cold weather causes the metal tracks of your garage door to expand ever so slightly which can knock the sensors and force of your garage door opener out of position just enough so the opener will not work properly in winter.

Fortunately, both issues have very quick fixes and take a less time to complete than a TV commercial break.

World’s Cutest Reclaimed Four Poster Dog Bed

The Speckled Dog  literally turned trash into the coolest treasure! She found this nasty looking table on the side of the road and carted it home.

 Photo courtesy of The Speckled Dog

Do You Use a Neti Pot?

The first time I went snorkeling in the ocean I was so caught up in watching the wildlife that I’d forget and turn my head to watch a fish swim by. My snorkel filled with water. What I didn’t swallow went up my nose. I kept swimming back to the boat to blow my nose – repeatedly.

At the time, they told me that salt water cleared a sinus that’s why I went through a roll of paper towels blowing my nose that afternoon.

I’m allergy sufferer. A stuffy nose is my co-pilot

 I knew about neti pots but didn’t understand how to use one without water boarding myself. Instead, I bought a little bottle of salt water in a nose spray bottle for clearing my sinuses. It didn’t work as well as the ocean. I didn’t buy another one when it ran out.

Years later Husband’s co-worker Brian convinced me to give the neti pot a try. Brian believes that all sickness can be cured using either:

1. Scotch
2. A neti pot