Condo Blues

Friday, March 24, 2023

New Self Watering Patio Vegetable Garden Tour

Every year my husband and I come home from the nursery with more plants and seeds than we have pots in our container garden even though we swear we aren’t going to do it this year. 

Honest. 

Promise. 

We swear.

And totally ignore when we are buying plants and seeds. 

At least we are consistent.

We really don’t use the patio for anything other than a few potted plants.I finally made peace with myself that we will never be a hanging out on the patio around a fire pit kind of family (sad face.) Since our eyes and shopping cart are always bigger than our space and with supply chain issues and inflation we decided to turn the entire patio into a vegetable garden which more than doubled the amount of room we have to grow vegetables in a small space.

 

 Patio container garden BEFORE

Friday, March 10, 2023

DIY Bathroom Vanity Upgrade

I found patches of black mold on our bathroom vanity, wall, and subfloor due to several micro leaks and needed to replace everything in the bathroom.

Which is totally fine because we hated the builder grade bathroom vanity with a passion.

I demoed, replaced and leveled the subfloor, and laid new tile. Now it’s time to update and upgrade the bathroom vanity. 

how to install a double sink bathroom vanity
Save this idea to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

Thursday, March 2, 2023

How to Light a Room without a Ceiling Light Fixture

For some baffling reason, two bedrooms in my house do not have wiring for ceiling lights. I’m not sure why the builder though that some folks in a house doesn’t deserve overhead lighting like the main bedroom but here we are.

I originally solved our room lighting issue with placing four halogen desk lights on top of the bookshelves that line the wall in our office. This worked well for years until it didn’t. The light bulbs started to burn out more frequently. Replacement light bulbs seemed to burn less brightly (I used the same wattage) and even more puzzling, a random light would blink one day and be fine the next.

 office lights before

Overhead office lights BEFORE

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Easy Moss Stitch Crochet Scarf and Ear Warmer

While poking around on Pinterest (follow me on Pinterest @condoblues pretty please?) for new and different beginner friendly crochet stitches, I kept coming back to projects using the moss stitch. I recently made Stitching Toghether's Moss Stitch Ear Warmer pattern (a quick and easy scrap yarn project, by the way) and liked is so much (and got compliments when I wore it) that I wanted to try to make her matchingCrochet Moss Stitch Scarf pattern

I need a thicker winter scarf. Fortunately I found a skein of yarn in my yarn stash I bought to make a practice crochet project that I forgot what I had planned to make with it.

Ain’t that just the way?

(To quote my favorite mini- series, Over the Garden Wall.You can watch it here. ) (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.)

So I got these two crazy kids together and crocheted a cute winter scarf

 

how to moss stitch crochet a scarf and ear warmer
Save this easy crochet idea to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

 

Friday, January 27, 2023

How to Prevent Cabbage Worms and Garden Pests the Easy Way!

For the 2023 gardening season depending upon how it goes in 2022

One summer, my husband and I tried growing a cabbage from its stem. Once it grew a good set of roots, I planted it outside in our container garden. 

Where we learn just how much cabbage worms love cabbage. We vowed never to plant cabbage again. 

 

how to grow vegetables from scraps

We were successful growing the cabbage and Romain lettuce. The celery failed us.


So what did I do? I decided to grow broccoli, kohlrabi, and bok choy thinking the seeds would be a better gardening investment because those fresh vegetables can be on the more expensive side in the grocery store.It was only after I got home that I learned I bought a bunch of seeds in the brassicas (cabbage) family.

We were right back where we started. Because not only do cabbage worms like to eat and destroy cabbage plants, they also like chowing down on broccoli, kohlrabi, and baby bok choy.

Fortunately there is an easy one and done way to prevent cabbage worms from wreaking havoc on your vegetables: use floating row covers. 

How to Use Floating Row Covers on Container Garden Flower Pots and Planters

Thursday, January 12, 2023

How to Repair Rips, Tears, and Holes in a Sleeping Bag

I tried washing one of our sleeping bags in my washing machine thinking it would fit since I washed our other sleeping bag in this same machine.

Turns out I was wrong.


Save this tutorial to your Pinterest boards for later! Share it with your friends!

Note to self: Next time go to a laundry mat and wash the sleeping bags using a big industrial size washer and dryer.

We invested in buying a good Coleman cold weather sleeping bag similar to this one. (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links for your convenience.) It’s in my best interest to repair it since the rest of the sleeping bag is perfectly fine and would be a bit expensive to replace for cosmetic reasons. I’d rather spend that cash on extra s’more supplies to be honest.

Fortunately, repairing a sleeping bag is easy and may already have what you to need to fix at home.

How to Repair Sleeping Bag Rips, Holes, and Tears the Easy Way!