Category: Homebody

I bought a house…and now I like to talk about decorating, DIY, and the like.

An Ode to Monty Don

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I’ve got Spring Fever, and I blame Monty Don, otherwise known as Britain’s Favorite Gardener. After discovering a season of Big Dreams, Small Spaces on Netflix that I hadn’t already seen, I spent a couple of weekend mornings watching intently as people across England transform their backyards with the help of Monty. When I came to the end of the unwatched season I wasn’t satisfied. I started watching Monty Don’s French Gardens, and Monty Don’s Italian Gardens. All of this is on Netflix, ready to be binged. And while you might be saying, “I don’t care about gardening, that show isn’t for me,” I’m going to make a case for why you should all be watching Monty Don.

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A Writing Shed of One’s Own

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I am smitten with Britain’s favorite gardener, Monty Don. A couple of years ago, I had no idea who he was, but then Netflix started airing Big Dreams, Small Spaces and I was hooked. But I’m not here to talk to you about Monty Don’s gardening prowess, his suspenders, or his loping walk. I’m here to discuss his writing garden–a lovely little woodland with a shed at the back where Monty types out his books.

Monty Don in his writing shed.
Monty Don is his writing shed.

The first time I ever thought, “Gee, I sure would like a writing shed” was when I read John Irving’s Last Night at Twisted River. The main character talks about the little shack he writes in on a remote island. Then, several years later, Pinterest and tiny houses became a part of my life. Before I knew it, I was very seriously coveting a writing shed of my own.

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On Becoming a Plant Lady

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The title of this post is misleading. I’ve always been a plant lady–but focused mostly on the outdoor variety. Back in 2011, I bought a house. The yard was a bit of a wasteland, but I kind of liked that, because it meant I could make it my own. I begged, borrowed, and stole plants from just about everyone I knew. Roses and lilacs from my grandmother. Black-eyed Susans from my aunt. Peonies from my other grandmother. Irises from a family friend. Another family friend helped me procure wood for the raised beds for my vegetable garden. By the time I sold the house in 2017, the once barren yard was filled to near overflowing (though my mom did dig up some of Nana’s old roses and take them to her house before I put it on the market).

But since I sold the house and have been moving around, I’ve had to embrace houseplants. I had a few easy to care for plants at my old place–a spider plant given to me as a housewarming gift, a few cacti also given as gifts through the years. But I’ve never been much of a houseplant person. My cats were generally the enemy of any plants I brought inside. They either ate it or knocked it over. And frankly, I didn’t really know what to do with the plants, anyway. What does “bright indirect light” mean, anyway?

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Thoughts on Minimalism and the Point of Home Decorating

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An old friend of mine recently* posted this quote on his Facebook page:

“The best lives are often well-edited, carefully curated lives.” – The Minimalists

My immediate response was, “This sounds like the mantra of a control freak.” Being a bit of a control freak myself, I feel like I can say this with confidence. The quote immediately conjured images of someone wrestling with the idea of what a particular throw pillow or end table says about them. Inevitably this would lead to someone whittling down their book collection to only the titles that make them look witty, smart, and hyper-intelligent. No mysteries or chick lit here! Is that a scrap of junk mail that didn’t make it directly into the recycling bin? Burn it!

Ugh. Doesn’t that sounds exhausting? Even maddening? There’s a reason why the apartment from American Psycho looks like this:

Obsessive minimalism is, to me, not that different from hoarding. Your life is all about stuff–accumulating it or getting rid of it. Either way, when you let stuff take over your life to that degree, it seems like a symptom of something bigger. Continue reading →

I’m Going Solar, So Should You

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When this publishes I’ll be on my first real vacation in years. Sure I’ve taken a long weekend here and there to go to Maine or down to the beach, but this time I’m actually getting on a plane (which I hate doing) and going to a place where it’s warmer to swim with Manatees and get a wand at Olivander’s. On the Monday after I return a team of guys will show up at my house between 7 and 9 a.m. to start installing solar panels on my roof. I may be more excited for the panels then I am for the vacation. (HYPERBOLE!)

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I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time, but I was paralyzed by the choices. Over the past year I’ve watched as panels appeared on houses all over my neighborhood. Each house seemed to have a different company on the job. Which was best? I couldn’t decide. Then, a couple of months ago, my boyfriend and I were leaving Home Depot which has had salesmen from Solar City stationed by the door for what seems like years. I figure Home Depot probably did its homework on the company, and since Solar City is now part of Tesla, it had to be a reputable company. Still, I usually avoid eye contact and sneak by, not wanting to get the hard sell, but on this day I was feeling it… So I stopped.  Continue reading →

My Latest Flea Market Flip!

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Last Spring an old friend of mine was getting rid a dresser–a nice solid piece with some broken hardware and missing decorative pieces. It went from her curb to my shed, and waited there for quite some time. Eventually I decided it would be a good time to experiment with chalk paint and antiquing wax.

That did not go well. I turned a perfectly nice dresser into a dingy, yellow mess. Continue reading →

Office Makeover: Take 2

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You may remember that last year, I gave my office a makeover…sort of. At the time, I wasn’t quite ready to completely overhaul the space, and was working with what I had on hand. That came a few years after replacing the old desk that was falling apart, with a couple of IKEA table tops. Recently, however, I decided to have a tag sale and once I made up my mind about that, I realized it was time to really re-do the office. I wanted to get rid of the big dresser/credenza that took up too much space, and so I needed to rework the office before the tag sale.

This was all preceded by me deciding to move furniture around in the office at least once a week, trying to put lipstick on the pig–but I was never quite happy. It was clear I needed to get rid of some big pieces, declutter, and come up with a more cohesive design (rather than just making the office the dumping ground for wayward furniture). When I decide to do something like this it pretty much takes over my life. I can’t stop thinking about it, and spend all my time combing through Pinterest for ideas. I started out with a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do. Continue reading →

The Benefits of a Bee Abode

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It’s that time of year in New England when I can’t wait to get outside, but all of my garden chores are clean-up related (read: boring). So in between raking the oak leaves out of the crevices (my oak tree holds its leaves through most of the winter and then dumps them in the spring–it’s very annoying) and putting down new mulch, I’ve been looking for ways to spice up my garden fun. That mostly consists of browsing Pinterest endlessly, and trying to grow starter plants in a terrarium. But I also decided to finally buy a bee house!

So here’s the deal! Not all bees live in hives. There are many species of solitary bees (who are not aggressive) and are GREAT for your garden. Your garden will benefit from having more of these insects around–and you can help combat colony collapse–and the houses are so darn cute! Honestly, picture this little palace when there are tomato plants and nasturtium all around. The bee houses (also known as insect hotels) often play host to other beneficial insects, like ladybugs and lacewings. Frankly, you can’t afford NOT to have one. Continue reading →

The Goldfinch Gave Me a New Hobby

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I finally finished The Goldfinch. I got off to a slow start–skeptical that it could live up to the hype. I really did end up loving it, though. It sucked me into the Dickensian world of art crime and antiques. But it also reminded me how much I like rehabbing furniture.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Hobie, but I can repaint and and add new hardware like the best of them! As far as hobbies go this one is pretty useful. I get to be creative, and instead of having a bunch of bad pottery or ugly paintings sitting around my house, I can either use the furniture or sell it on Craigslist.  Continue reading →

Pinterested: My Favorite Recipes

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1437142212-enhanced-buzz-21261-1368471252-16We all love a good Pinterest Fail… as long as we aren’t the ones who spent our time and money on the miserable failure. Nothing is worse than getting your hopes up for a delicious dinner or a cute craft and ending up with a mess on our hands–and, maybe, a takeout menu.

I don’t, in all honesty, love cooking. I do it occasionally but I don’t want to spend every evening whipping up dinner. I have a tendency to gravitate toward recipes that are easy, make enough to feed me for several days, and are tasty enough that I won’t mind eating it all week. Pinterest makes it easy to find those recipes, and I’ve started to amass a list of favorites. As the snow comes down outside, and I’m thinking about tonight’s dinner, it seems like a good time to share:

Quinoa Black Bean Tacos–This is, by far, my favorite recipe. It could not be easier, is very healthy, and super tasty! I’ve made it at parties–where it’s always a hit–and have branched out from tacos to make enchiladas with this recipe. And I also like to fry an egg and put it on top of the quinoa/black bean mix for breakfast.  Continue reading →

Eight Down: Beadboard in the Back Room

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I have this room at the back of my house that is part mudroom, part laundry room, and part sun room. My cats spend more time there than anyone else. They lounge on the old couch that is out there, eat their meals there, and use the litter box out there. There’s a big expanse of wall that has been repeatedly damaged by water, and so I’ve been hesitant to do much of anything to it–even though I couldn’t stop daydreaming about how I would turn that  wall into my well organized dream storage unit.

Some days I thought I wanted a mudroom:

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My New Dog-Proofing Invention

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This project wasn’t technically on my To Do List, but I thought it deserved a William Morris shout out. A couple of months ago I embarked on a mission to keep my dog from eating cat food. It hasn’t been easy. Those of you with both canine and feline housemates know that there is nothing tastier to a dog than a bowl of ash-filled cat food. But it isn’t good for them, and it often results in your dog waking you in the wee hours of the morning to take her outside for an emergency potty break. And because one of my cats needs to gain weight (I know…who has that problem?) I can’t have the dog sneaking in and eating her food out from under her. For everyone’s sake, I had to get creative.

I'd do anything for this face.

I’d do anything for this face.

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Seven Down: A Closet Makeover

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When I first moved into my house there was nothing in the closets. No poles or shelves of any kind. My friend, Allison, and I went to Home Depot and quickly racked up a bill that had us voiding the sale and heading back to the aisles to buy a much more economical closet kit for my bedroom closet, and a few shelves for a utility closet.

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We left the guest room and coat closet alone for the time being. I eventually put a shelf in the coat closet (which I don’t actually keep coats in) but four years later all the stuff in the guest room closet was still sitting on the floor. I decided to tackle that project this weekend.

This time my boyfriend and I headed to the HD and I knew enough to head immediately to the closet kits. I knew I didn’t want the same kit that I used in my closet. The guest room closet doesn’t have any clothing in it. It’s mostly extra blankets and pillows, a few boxes, and an air conditioner. So I wanted to keep the floor of the closet free of any obstructions, while having plenty of shelving up high. So I went with one of those adjustable track systems that can be configured however you want it.  Continue reading →

Five & Six Down: A Nightstand Goes from Fussy to Fun

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Despite the 90+ degree days here in Connecticut, summer is over. Labor Day has come and gone. Kids are back in school. I spent the weekend at a friend’s wedding on the water in Mystic–and then recovering from a night of drinking and dancing. But I spent my day off knocking another project off my list.

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When my grandmother moved in with my aunt I took a large dresser and its matching nightstand that she had used for a buffet in her dining room. It was a good, solid dresser but was very dark and formal. My cousin and I sanded and painted it but when we moved it upstairs it took a couple of hits and the paint was scratched. Then daily life scratched up the top over the past couple of years. Meanwhile, the bedside table was still the dark stain because I wasn’t sure where I was going to use it. I originally thought I would put it in my spare bedroom, but it didn’t fit. So I put it in my bedroom, but didn’t get around to painting it until this week. Continue reading →

Four (and a Half) Down: Paint, Paint, Paint!

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A couple of months after I moved into my house I cam home in the middle of a downpour to find the paint in my “mudroom” (I put that in quotes because it’s just a weird room that functions as a laundry room/mudroom/place where the cat stuff is) bubbling. This particular room is part of a one-story addition on the back of a two-story house, and the wall in question is the one that separates the original house from the addition. Water was getting in somewhere, and getting behind the paint. You could literally pop the bubble and water would come pouring out.

For months I looked for the source of this problem. The water only came in once in a while–clearly when the wind was blowing in a certain direction, and the rain was really bad. No one could figure out where it was getting in. At one point we even removed the siding to have a look. It didn’t look wet at all behind the siding. Finally I got someone up there with a hose, and we realized there was a small spot in the corner of a window where there was no caulk.

So we fixed it and I waited for months, though all kinds of weather conditions, to see if the problem was truly fixed. Then I fixed the wall. For a couple of years, everything was fine. Then it started again. This time I decided to skip the caulk and go straight to As-Seen-On TV methods and use Flex Seal. So far, so good.

Now it was time to fix the wall, and while I was at it…I’d finally paint the living/dining. Continue reading →