Glimma-tealights- IKEA

Which Tea Lights Burn Longest? Read This.

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When using tea lights to illuminate a special event, you need to know exactly how long they will burn. Here’s what we discovered.

Glimma-tealights- IKEA

 

BUY RIGHT | One thing I know for sure about tea lights is that the burn time listed on the package never lives up to its promise. I have only my own experience to back up this claim, but over the past few weeks, I have been testing tea light burn times for an upcoming wedding reception, and, without exception, every wee candle came up at least one hour short. It may be possible for tea lights to burn for as long as the manufacturers contend, though I can only imagine that to do so, they would need to be in a place where the air is still. Read more

incandescent bulb

3 Ways To Help The Health Of the Planet

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You can make a difference in the health and well being of our planet by changing just one thing.

LandfillWASTE NOT | Here are three ways to get started:  Read more

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

How To Top Dress Floral Arrangements

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Turn ordinary potted plants into miniature landscapes by choosing a soil cover that matches their look. There are lots of toppings to choose from, including aquarium stones, beach glass and even rosebuds.

Top Dressed Narcissus -Martin Tessler

 

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Plants potted up for the house are more than just leaves, stems and blossoms. They’re landscapes in miniature, with every aspect of their situation—the pot, the soil cover, the setting—adding to or detracting from the presentation. When I want my indoor plants to look all of a piece, I start by making associations. Read more

nonwoven garmet bags

Keep Your Best Clothes In Nonwoven Poly Bags

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Who knew that nonwoven polypropylene could actually protect your best garments from evil clothes-eating moths?

nonwoven garmet bags

 

THE FIX | I’ve done a lot of things to rid my home of casemaking clothes moths (CLICK HERE for our Frugalbits how to) but, until recently when I read about it on goop, I didn’t know that a particular material used to make clothing storage containers might actually ward off these hungry insects. According to Gwynnie and, as it turns out, a gaggle of other Internet home-keeping pundits, breathable nonwoven polypropylene, the material found in those ubiquitous grocery shopping bags, may do just that. Read more

Schmutz Haken Broom

Pusher Broom Love: Meet The Schmutz

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Swept away by a funny looking broom with the funny sounding name Schmutz Haken. (VIDEO)

Schmutz Haken Broom

 

BUY RIGHT | When it comes to sweeping indoors, I prefer an angled broom with a dirt-catching split-fibre tip that can wiggle into corners (Vileda makes a good one). Outdoors, I want a broad brush that can cover more ground and sweep away heavy debris so I always go for a pusher, though I had no idea how inefficient most push brooms are until I tried a Schmutz Haken, the silly looking sweeper pictured here. Read more

Is This The Best Dog Leash Or What?

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There is more to a dog leash than the choice between leather or nylon. The best leashes have useful bonus features like a quick hitch buckle.

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BUY RIGHT | There are plenty of dog owners who think that a leather leash is the only way to go, but I’m not one of them. A friend gave us an expensive harness leather lead for our pooch when he was a pup, and beautiful as it is, I’ve used it only once because I found it stiff and unwieldy. Yes, I know that leather put to work will soften over time, but nylon-webbing leashes are pliable from the get-go. They work perfectly fine for my needs, particularly the inexpensive brand I use that has a helpful feature no good dog leash should be without. Read more

Give Old Planters A New Cement Overcoat

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Turn old pots and planters from blah to beautiful with a concrete overcoat.

Concrete on Old Planters - Clinton Hussey

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Do you have a hodge-podge of unattractive garden pots and vases collecting dust in the recesses of your storage area, containers you’ve been thinking about shipping off to the Sally Ann? Well, if you like the look of concrete, a binding agent the late, great Canadian architect Arthur Erickson called “precious …. the marble of the 20th century,” you could mix up a batch of the material and paint it on your old planters the way I did on mine. It made me want to keep them. Read more

Water running down the drain.

Sink Clogged? Try The Drain-o Volcano

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Here’s how to clear clogged drains without commercial drain cleaners. It’s simple science, really.

Drano-Volcano-Sample-select

CREATIVE SOLUTION | Try as I might, I can’t seem to keep hair out of the bathroom drain, where it diabolically wraps itself around greasy soap residue to form stubborn, icky clogs. Since I dislike using harsh (and expensive) drain cleaners, I tackle drains first with a simple kettle full of boiling water,* hoping to dissolve the hairy sludge. But when hot water doesn’t dislodge the muck, I revisit my seventh grade science project—The Erupting Volcano.

Read more

Our 5 Favourite Multi-Tiered Cake Stands

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Multi-stack cake stands are not just for Afternoon Tea anymore. Here are five of our favourite ways to display your treats at the table.

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SHOP THIS | The multi-tiered treat stand is stacking up to be the must-have piece of serveware in 2013, and for good reason: it’s both a practical and a striking way to display nibblies of every sort. Here are the five double- and triple-tiered serving dishes we’d press into service right now. —eds Read more

Stylish Oil Lamps Are Super Simple To Make

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Here’s how to burn the midnight oil with a gorgeous lamp that’s super simple to make.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

 

DO IT YOURSELF | Oil lamps are probably never going to replace candles as a readily available ambient light source, but they are a viable and attractive alternative. The oil lamps you see these days, like the stylish ones by the German company Radius Design pictured above, are essentially just a wick threaded through a bead that sits on top of a bottle filled with lamp oil. This kind of decorative oil lamp is very easy to make. Read more