HOME Archives - Page 8 of 10

Easy Make Stands For Your Little Art Works

March 27, 2012/0 Comments/in D.I.Y., DECOR & DESIGN, DIY, HOME, Home & Garden, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All DIY Stories, View All Home Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

Make this classic art support for small images from a simple block of wood.

While not everyone has huge pieces of art gracing the walls of their home, most people do have plenty of little pieces, whether they are favourite photos or original, miniature works of art. But just how do you display these smaller things? You can hang them on the wall in thoughtful groupings to create a tableau, or you can find a way to set them on a table. For years I had been looking for an elegant way to display framed art or photos on a table top. I have never liked plate stands and using an easel seems derivative; finally, I designed an easy-make support of my own. Read more

Over Or Under: What’s Your Shopping Style?

March 26, 2012/0 Comments/in BUY THIS. MAKE THAT., Goods & Services, HOME, View All Home Stories /by Editor

Are you an under-buyer or an over-buyer? Here’s what you can to do about it if you are.

BUY RIGHT | After squeezing the last bit of paste from the only tube of toothpaste in our house last week, I rushed out and bought a replacement at Shoppers Drug Mart. The next day I was cruising through WalMart, a store I seldom visit, when I noticed my toothpaste brand was regularly priced at $1.25 a tube cheaper than at Shoppers. That’s a considerable savings, so I made a mental note to return in the future and stock up. I didn’t buy any that day because I already had some at home.

Gretchen Rubin, The New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Project, coined a term for people like me. She calls us under-buyers, and she knows one when she sees one because she’s an under-buyer too. Read more

Using Products at 1/2 Strength Makes Sense

March 19, 2012/0 Comments/in BEAUTY, BUY THIS. MAKE THAT., Cleaning & Maintenance, Goods & Services, HOME, View All Beauty Stories, View All Home Stories /by Editor

Using everyday products at 1/2 strength is often more than enough.

WASTE NOT | It all started with my first highlights. My stylist swung me around to the mirror for the reveal, and I basked in the glow of my glorious, glittering bangs, confident I would gleam forever in a radiant halo. Then he pulled me back to earth with a thump: “You’re going to have to stop washing your hair so much.” My wise stylist explained that daily washing strips the hair of colour and leaves it dull and dry.

I’d spent big bucks on my hair and was determined to protect my investment, so I cut down on the number of times I washed, and I revisited everything I thought I knew about shampoo. Instead of Shampoo, Rinse, Repeat, it became Shampoo, Rinse for me, all the way. Then one day it occurred to me—not only was my hair looking just as good or better, my shampoo budget had been cut in half. Read more

Tame Your Paper Tiger With Neat Receipts

March 5, 2012/8 Comments/in Goods & Services, HOME, Organizing, View All Home Stories /by Editor

If piles of cash receipts make you feel trapped like a circus cat come tax time, this scanning device could bring relief.

SAVE TIME | Everyone has their own idea of Hell On Earth, but sorting a year’s worth of scrunched up cash receipts spilling out of plastic bags and bureau drawers is a one-way trip to bookkeeping-Hades for pretty much anyone.

I’ve tried various organizing and recording methods, but my favourite is NeatReceipts, a mini “scanalizer” that reads, records and analyzes data from both sales receipts and business cards. It also allows you to print out copies with multiple receipts on a page. Read more

How To Stop Getting The Yellow Pages

February 21, 2012/0 Comments/in CANADIAN CONTENT, Goods & Services, HOME, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All Home Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

If unwanted telephone directories go straight to your recycling bag, here’s how to opt out of receiving them.

WASTE NOT | According to a 2010 Globe and Mail article, plenty of people still let their fingers do the walking through the physical pages of a hard copy version of the Yellow Pages. Funny, I don’t know even one of them. Everyone I know from 8 to 80 has switched to the computer to find the telephone numbers of their favourite businesses. For me, the Yellow Pages has become a shelf-grabbing dinosaur, and I cannot remember the last time I leafed through my copy—oh wait, yes I can. It was last week after two copies of the latest tome arrived on my doorstep and I picked up one them to look for a way to opt out. Read more

Tropical Plants Are Great In Arrangements

January 12, 2012/0 Comments/in D.I.Y., DECOR & DESIGN, DIY, HOME, HOW-TO KNOW-HOW, View All DIY Stories, View All Home Stories, View All How-To Stories /by Editor

Add fresh drama to your home in winter with long-lasting—and inexpensive—cuttings from supermarket tropical plants.

By this time of year, when the garden is devoid of flowers, the florist shop is not the only source of plant material to put in an attractive vase. Cuttings from a potted plant purchased at your local supermarket or corner store can take their place.

Ingredients For Tropical Punch Read more

Origami Boxes Cover Coloured LED String LIghts - Casey Phaisalakani

Make Easy Origami Cubes For String Lights

December 5, 2011/3 Comments/in DECOR & DESIGN, HOLIDAY, Holiday, HOME, Home & Garden, View All Home Stories /by Editor

Easy to make origami boxes add depth, elegance and fun to LED and other string lights.

BEAUTIFUL & EASY | We’ve used a combination of origami light cubes and bare LED bulbs (in a ratio of 1 boxed light to three bare bulbs) on every Christmas tree we’ve decorated in the last dozen years. The origami boxes produce beautiful, diffuse squares of light, something you don’t normally see on a Christmas tree. Some years we’ve chosen to box only white string lights, but mostly we box multi-coloured ones. To make our boxes, we worked with vellum squares (available at art supply stores or online) that deepen and intensify whatever colour light they cover. Read more

How To Shop Your Closet And Get Results

November 10, 2011/0 Comments/in FASHION, Organizing, Shops & Shopping, Styling Tips, View All Fashion Stories /by Editor

Here’s how to shop your own closet to find more than a few new outfits you never knew you had—results guaranteed!

WASTE NOT | The whole notion of “shopping your closet” makes perfectly good sense—in theory. Who wouldn’t want to expand their wardrobe by mixing and matching their existing separates in new and unexpected ways. Who wouldn’t want to put their little-used shoes, bags, scarves and jewels back into heavy (and more creative) rotation. Read more

Is Bleach Superbad For The Environment? You?

November 9, 2011/6 Comments/in BUY THIS. MAKE THAT., Cleaning & Maintenance, Goods & Services, HOME, View All Home Stories /by Editor

Is common household bleach a threat to the environment? Can it kill you?

BACK TO BASICS | Call me a freak, but putting on rubber gloves and plunging my hands into my own toilet bowls to clean them with a scrubbing sponge doesn’t bother me at all. What does bother me is that no matter what cleaning products I use, the bowls of my newish toilets look dirty again in days. Frustrated by the ineffectiveness of Vim, Ajax, Lysol et al., I turned to cheap, common household bleach. Read more

The Natural Way To Remove Wine Stains

October 17, 2011/4 Comments/in Cleaning & Maintenance, Green Within Reason, HOME, View All Home Stories /by Felicity Stone

When that splash of red wine lands where it shouldn’t, this fresh, natural product will remove every trace.

Murphy’s Law should have a corollary along the lines of, Anything that stains is more likely to spill—and that especially applies to wine. Read more