How to Make an Office Chair Mat

The plastic mats under the rolling chairs in our home office have seen better days. No matter what kind of office chair mat I buy, it eventually cracks, breaks, and sheds plastic chunks all over the carpet in the office.

I need to use a chair mat under our rolling chairs to protect the carpeting we aren't ready to replace.  Replacing the mats every couple of years isn’t sustainable. More than that it is a pain!

I solved our problem by making durable office chair mats from laminate flooring I bought at the Habitat Restore. I went with laminate flooring instead of plain plywood because I was concerned the plain plywood office chair mats would crack and break. Laminate flooring isn’t my favorite look but it is built to do the job I need it to do – be a floor.

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Our Top Condo Blues Blog Posts for 2015

 Before we can say hello to 2016 we should take a look back at 2015. It is always interesting to me when I take a look at which Condo Blues projects and blog posts are the most popular posts of the year because I am almost always surprised!

2015 is no exception. I had no idea there were so many readers who want to cut glass bottles without fire or risk of burning down your house. I thought it was just me!
As we say good bye to 2015 and before we say hello to a bright, shiny, and new 2015 let’s take a look at my most popular Condo Blues in 2015.
 

How to Cut a Glass Bottle with Hot Water

 

How to Fix a Broken Dishwasher Rack

The top rack of the dishwasher was a little wonky.
 
Scratch that. A lot wonky.

The top rack wouldn’t slide in and out of the dishwasher easily. When it does, the rack dips down to an angle instead of being parallel to the bottom dishwasher rack.

Husband did a little investigation.  Instead of something being misaligned, the sliding brackets on both sides of the dishwasher rack broke off. So that’s why the dishwasher recently wasn’t cleaning dishes well!

10 Garage Storage and Organizing Hacks

Fall is one of those busy DIY transition times in the garage. The summer things need to be cleaned and put away for winter and it’s time to dig out the rakes to deal with all of those leaves falling off the trees that make Fall, well, Fall.


Fall is also a great time to reorganize the storage in your garage. Need some help? I have 10 garage hacks to share with you!

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(Not that I pinned all of these hacks to Pinterest (follow Condo Blues on Pinterest, please?)  because I personally need every single one of them. OK. I’ll be honest. I need to all of these hacks to keep our garage neat and tidy.

Quick and Easy Boat Cleat Towel Rack

I need to to organize the towels in the guest bathroom and found my design inspiration at the vet’s office. Wha? Let me explain.

Lacey’s vet has boat cleats on the main desk which allows you to anchor your pet’s leash (pun intended) over the cleat so your hands are free to make payments and sign paperwork.  It is quite genius and something I’d totally expect seeing growing up on Lake Erie.

The guest bathroom is taking on a nautical vibe. I like repurposed and reclaimed design elements. So why not organize my bathroom by repurposing dock cleats? Sounds like a plan.

How to Make a Boat Dock Cleat Towel or Coat Rack

 

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How to Fix a Running Toilet: Replace the Float

Water in the guest bathroom toilet kept running after every flush. I removed the lid to the toilet tank to investigate.

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• I already replaced the toilet flapper when it warped and made the toilet run. That was not the culprit this time.

The House of Unfinished DIY Projects

Husband had a dream.

One of those I dreamed I ate a giant marshmallow and in the morning my pillow was gone kind of dreams.

His dream was about making a list of DIY projects we need to do and actually finishing them.

I have no idea how his subconscious cooked up that idea for a dream.

How to Build a Rain Barrel Drainage Pad

Late summer/early fall is a great time to do garden landscaping projects. The weather isn’t as blazing hot as it is in the middle of summer and most of the materials are now on clearance to make room for fall and winter merchandise.

  

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Or in our case, you end up with a bunch of extra bricks from repairing your vintage brick garden border and want to do something with the lovely, worn, and free reclaimed bricks.

Thanks to two months of never ending rain and me replacing the broken spigot on the rain barrel (read the tutorial here) before the rains came, Husband and I have plenty of water to use for watering our new plantings. Eco Dork that I am, I get positively giddy watering my plants with rain water but I’m not happy with stepping in the mud that sometimes surrounds the rain barrel spigot.

10 Amazing Pirate Ship Beds

Ahoy ye matey!

In honor ‘o International Talk Like a Pirate Day I be roundin’ up a bevvy of pirate décor for ye children be they wee pirate lads or wee pirate lasses. Yaaaaarrrrrrrrrrr!

 

Pin for later ya scurvy dog! 

</end pirate voice mode>

I’m using International Talk Like a Pirate Day as a big fat crazy excuse to dive head first into my Pinterest boards (follow me @condobues on Pinterest pretty please?) and share with you 10 of the most spine twinging, shiver me timbers and blow me down pirate ship kids beds that will make you the coolest parent on planet earth.

Or if you can fit one into your master bedroom, make your inner pirate child happy.

5 End of Summer Projects and Adventures

Just as our unseasonably cold and soggy summer finally gets around to acting  like a normal clear and blazing hot summer the season is officially over with Labor Day weekend. Ohio weather is certainly an adventure!

That’s not to say, Husband and I have not had our share of projects and adventures in between thunderstorms. Since most of them are tidbits rather than full blown blog post I figure why not wrap up the summer with a wrap up of our summer fun?

After spending a little over a year driving past it and silently sending the place “build it faster” vibes

How to Make a Brick Tree Ring on Uneven Ground

After I repaired our crumbling brick garden border (read the tutorial here) it was time to turn our attention to the brick tree ring.

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Yep. The brick wall around the tree in the front yard is falling over too.

Why?

Whimsical and Recycled DIY Flamingo Garden Decor

I have a weird love hate relationship with outdoor garden décor and yard art. I’d love to add a few whimsical pieces to my garden for color that doesn’t die (like our landscaping always does.) The problem is I hate for my garden tchotchkes to be the same as everyone else.

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I’ve been looking on and off for unusual garden decorations all summer. I found a few to poke fun at like the free range garden Yeti we found in Amish country but nothing we really wanted in our yard full time. Or in the case of Sasquatch and lawn gnomes, something which is commonly stolen because it is ridiculous.

How to Repair a Crumbling Dry Stack Garden Border

Husband and I finally got several days without rain in a row to repair and landscape the front yard – again. I think this is Landscape 4.0 of our promised “easy to care for landscaping’ that keeps dying and makes us sing the condo blues.

But at least I got the name of this blog out of the deal. So there’s that.

We were so sad when the harsh winter killed our lavender bushes.We spent many cool summer evenings chilling on the porch and watching the biggest bees you’ve ever seen flit and play amongst the flowers. The on demand organic lavender is something I miss too.

We tilled the soil in the front flower beds and planted lavender instead of traditional evergreen bushes. Next I turned my attention to the crumbling brick garden border.

Why Your Dry Stack Brick or Stone Garden Border is Falling Over and How to Fix It

Ant Killer Caution: Ant Pesticides Can Kill Plants Too

With the rainiest summer in history (sorry drought stricken folks) everyone I has had an ant problem this summer.

Apparently this year’s ant colonies are particularly devious and tenacious because even after following all the steps in my post How to get Rid of Ants in a Pet and Kid Safe Natural Way some of those little jerks found a way back into my house, although not as many as before.

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The last straw came when the concrete ants bit me because they though I was standing too close to the pot of chocolate mint they use as a summer party pad on my patio.  We’ve been doing our own thing on the patio for years without bothering each other until now. What’s up with that ants? Why won’t you let us use the grill without annoying ant bites?

Pistachio Screen Door

They may not be as energy efficient but I can't help but wish my HOA allowed us to add wood screen doors on our houses. I spent many, many summers in houses and summer camp cabins that had wood doors that opened with a "SPRONG!" and closed with a mighty "TWAK!"

Followed by a shout, "DON'T SLAM THE SCREEN DOOR!"

To this day I still think springy screen doors need to be closed with a TWAK!

"SPRONG!" "TWAK!" remind me of happy summers.

And mosquito bites as big as my head.

But I digress.

Sprongy screen doors scream SUMMER!

Landscaping Budget Hack: Use a Tool Lending Libarary

It seems strange to start a landscaping project in late July instead of May but Mother Nature isn't giving us much choice. Ohio has the opposite water problem California has - too much rain.

The number of days in a row Columbus has not had any precipitation this year?

Four.

This we're lucky if we get a 24 hour period without rain once every couple of weeks. If the sun decides to visit us after a 15 to 19 day rainy stretch we learned to drop everything to do outside chores just in case it rains later in the day.

 

Pin this for gardening and landscaping season!

DIY Downton Abby Doorbell

Sometimes putting a bit more effort into the design of the day to day functional bits of your home pay off in unexpected ways. For example, doorbells.

Most people, including myself, take that plain Jane button beside the door for granted. As long as it connects to a functional door chime unit inside the house doorbells are something you typically don't think about replacing until it breaks.

That's a shame. Especially if you are lucky to have a period home.

 Is it possible to fall in love with a doorbell? I think I have.

 Photos courtesy of Home to Cottage

Cheap and Easy No Slip Tool Chest Organizer

After I built my recycled pallet and cabinet workbench, I needed to organize and load in my tools.

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The power tools were easy to organize. I already keep my power tools in their cases. I stashed those in the workbench cabinet. Boom. Done.

DIY Fire and Ice Fire Bowl

The first time I saw fire stone was in a gas burning fireplace on HGTV. When they lit the fireplace it looked like the cheery orange flame danced above a field of clear ice shards.

It was just the thing I wanted to replace the ceramic fake logs in my gas fireplace.

I put the fire stone idea aside when my research told me I'd have to replace the entire gas fireplace insert to a specific insert that works with fire stone. I put the fire and ice desire on the back burner since it wasn't the quick fix I thought it would be.

Until I read Kim's tabletop fire bowl idea on her blog Today’s Creative Life. She made a fire stone fire bowl for her deck in less than 30 minutes.

Just look at that blue! It looks like ice from the Caribbean ocean is on fire.

Which is a pretty good trick since the only ice I ever saw in the Caribbean has been in my drink from the hotel ice maker.

I can totally do this!

So can you. Read Kim's tutorial

DIY Tabletop Fire Bowl

on Today's Creative Life!



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How to get Rid of Ants in a Pet and Kid Safe Natural Way

After nine days of consecutive rain my yard is waterlogged. A bunch of ants decided to seek higher ground and wanted to use my kitchen as a summer vacation spot.

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I wanted to kill the ants but I am leery of using borax, conventional ant bait traps, and sprays because I don’t want to kill my dog along with the ants. Death by shoe is more natural and personally satisfying but it not a good long term solution.

Five Things You Absolutely Must Do to Get Rid of Ants