Category: For The Home

Let’s face it: life can get mundane sometimes. When forced to deal on a daily basis with diapers, work, feeding a family, teacher conferences, soccer practice, homework, bill-paying and… oh yeah, maybe a shower and the brushing of teeth… it can be nice to let a little color in to cheer us up when things start feeling a bit too much like a hamster wheel.

Sometimes, delighting in the little things — favorite colors, delicious flavors, the sound of our kids’ laughter — make all the stress and hassle totally worth it. So if you’re a fan of bright, bold hues and feel like your home could use a lift, this post is for you. Read more…

In our youth-obsessed culture — or, at least, in the pop media that covers the celebrity portion of it — there’s not a lot of room for going grey. While the decision to cover up those telltale silver hairs or let them shine is up to each of us personally, filling a room in our home with the hue can actually create a relaxing and sophisticated space.

There’s an emerging trend in the home decor realm of pairing cool shades of grey with warm bursts of yellow in a sublime and unexpected color combination… we’re pretty sure it started with this pillow in particular, which the nation went wild over when it debuted last year at Target (this post’s author included… she has two on her living room couch), and thus, a new obsession was born.
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When it comes to cooking, I use one of three things: olive oil, safflower oil, or coconut oil.

I know they’re healthy options, I know they’re tasty in my food (especially the coconut oil in homemade waffles), and I also know that there’s a lot of options.

Particularly when it comes to olive oil. There’s straight olive oil, virgin, extra-virgin, cold-pressed … the list goes on and on.

The most common varieties are obviously virgin and extra-virgin. But what’s the difference?
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As budgets shrink and living spaces do the same — and, more to the point, as our families grow but our houses don’t — the need for convertible furniture and small space solutions is at an all-time high.

So today, we’ve rounded up a few inspiration points to get you started if you’re in the market for some magic to maximize the space in your home. Read more…

It’s a fact of life — particularly with the economy in its current state — that many of us rent our homes these days. For the apartment and rental home dwellers among us, a new trend is emerging in home decor that promises to save us a ton in security deposits later on down the line: removable vinyl wall art.

Now, while “removable vinyl” and “wall art” might at first seem to be opposing terms, a company called Blik aims to bridge the divide through its cooperative partnerships with art colleges and prominent design partners. Read more…

Those of us who are addicted to Pinterest probably owe at least a tiny debt of gratitude (or blame) to Debbie Needleman, media maven extraordinaire and founding editor-in-chief of the now-defunct home decor magazine domino.

In response to the uber-high-end interior design magazines of the early 2000s, which included largely inaccessible (re: incredibly expensive) furniture and home accents to the sort of clientele who could ably hire interior designers to do their bidding for them, domino blessedly shed the sheen of six-figure personal incomes and provided a high/low mix of ideas and inspiration for the “middle-middle class” woman with an eye for design.

In short, it took high-end concepts and provided an avenue through which to make them real in a typical suburban home.
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With the arrival of spring, it seems ingrained in us to refresh our homes as well. From spring cleaning to switching over closets to doing housework, we’re all abuzz with making things new again.

But sometimes we want to pretty-fye our surroundings and have to do it on a budget. So what’s the easiest way to spruce up our coziest of spaces without spending a fortune? Read on!
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Ah, the 1950s. Chances are, things looked easier on the outside than they actually were, and since we only get to look back at the poodle skirt era through the magic of movies and television, we probably tend to gloss over the frustrations created by the absence of the modern conveniences we enjoy today without even thinking about how far technology has come.

One thing that’s absolutely stood the test of time — and for good reason — is mid-century modern design. While it maintains a chic and timeless air, there’s still something charming about unabashedly pastel, chromed-out retro accessories that simply scream, “I was made in 1957!” They may be aesthetically stuck in a particular decade, but luckily for their creators, their charm is everlasting.
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Let’s face it: pink gets a bad rap. Most of us, if we’re being honest, grew up drawn like magpies to shiny objects every time we saw something in a bubblegum hue, but we eventually outgrew it and perhaps even started to resent it.

As little girls, we’re expected to love the color pink; many of us started life in a pale pink nursery and romped around in a wardrobe awash in the pastel color. Once we got a smidge older, only a small percentage of us still readily admitted to loving it, while the rest of us shrug it off as “too expected” any time we see it.

But looking at the color more objectively, is it really so awful?

Whether used in small doses or to dramatic effect, pink can leave a lasting impression, from the wispy baby pink of the miniature nightstand above and armchair below to the bold, bright party palette afterward, it lends a festive air of femininity and, in today’s society, no longer stands for weakness or submission, but rather, a celebration of fun and festivity. Read more…

Do you ever get in the frame of mind and decide that today is the day you will clean the house.

Like, really clean?

This happens to me a couple of times each year—typically in the spring and the fall. And not only do I want to clean, I want to clean out. But what happens when you get in your grungy clothes to start cleaning, only to realize that you are out of one thing you need, like glass cleaner or Comet?

Luckily, there’s Google for that. Not only can you find an array of recipes for natural household cleaners, you can typically find recipes that use things you do have laying around the house. You might even find that you like this new concoction better than the store bought kind … and you’ll save money too.
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Getting your kids in the kitchen doesn’t have to be stressful. It can be an opportunity that results in a positive experience for your both. It will result in a child that not only participates and contributes to the family efforts, but it will result in opening the doors of communication as you work together to create a family meal or clean up afterwards – so consider the five suggestions below for getting your kids working with you in the kitchen. Read more…

Let’s be real: in appropriate (and occasionally slightly inappropriate) amounts, wine can be our friend. And since life is just a smidge easier when we use humor to take the edge off, we’ve rounded up some home accents that pay homage to the almighty grape.

Some are quirky and cute, while others are absolutely elegant — but whatever your tastes, rest assured it’s wine o’clock somewhere.

First, there’s the decorative cork letter from Cork and Company (above), a great way to display your family’s last initial, not to mention a perfect point of inspiration for a DIY project, given enough time and enough bottles of vino.
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With Earth Day having just passed us by and Spring in the air I’ve been on the lookout for great resources that provide information on the topic of sustainability, lessening my overall environmental “footprint” and ways to remove some of the toxic chemicals that come into our home through cleaning supplies.

Well, Eartheasy is a wonderful site, run by a family that provides all of that information and much, much more. Read more…