January in Kentucky…
Archive for the ‘Home’ Category
Almost Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, Photography, tagged Farm, Home, Photography, Wordless Wednesday on January 18, 2012|
Almost Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, Photography, tagged Photography, Wordless Wednesday on December 14, 2011|
Thoughtful Thursday-How To Edition
Posted in Home, My Thoughts, tagged Decorating, Home, Krylon, Refinish Furniture, Thoughtful Thursday on December 8, 2011| 3 Comments »
C & I built our house about 6 years ago and it has a basement and two floors. We knew we weren’t going to finish the basement as we were building, but had (and still have) grand plans for it in the near future. The first floor is finished, but I hesitate to say that because there are always little things that I would like to do to it, but this is the space we live in everyday.
The upstairs is in between these two levels. It is “finished”, but not completely furnished and decorated yet. That is slowly changing though. Late last summer, I got a burst of creativity and decided it was time to paint. Builder’s beige, be gone! One bedroom is now Lettuce green, the other is Mythical purple (my fave), and the bathroom is Cucumber green all by Sherwin-Williams Duration Home. We left the hall Aesthetic white which was the original color because is goes down into the foyer which is also that color.
I got busy last fall and during the holiday season, so I didn’t get much done during that time. Ok, I got nothing done during that time. Winter was going to be my work time, but a little car accident got in the way of that, too. Well, enough is enough. It is time for this to be complete so we can start on the basement. I had a look in my head that I wanted for the bedrooms, especially the purple one. It all starts with a silver metal bed, but they are sooo expensive. The good Lord was looking out for me because my wonderful MIL, J, said that I could have the metal bed she used as a child and paint it any color I wanted. Oh. My. Goodness.
So that’s where this how-to post begins. Here is the bed before I did anything to it:
I sanded it and then scrubbed it down with dishwashing liquid and warm water. Next, I sprayed 2 coats of metal primer on it and let it dry thoroughly. Then I got to the fun part: Krylon Brushed Metallic Satin Nickel spray paint. It turned out just like I wanted it to!
Next stop: more furniture!
Almost Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, Photography, tagged Home, Photography, Rver, Wordless Wednesday on November 23, 2011|
Almost Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, Photography, tagged Farm, Home, Kentucky, Wordless Wednesday on November 9, 2011| 1 Comment »
Thoughtful Thursday: How-to Edition
Posted in Home, My Thoughts, tagged Homemade Liquid Hand Soap, How-to on October 13, 2011|
For this edition of Thoughtful Thursday, I am going to show how to make another “homemade” version of a household product that I usually buy. If you read the last TT post, you will see that I am trying to reduce C & my exposure to chemicals and fragrances at home.
I like using liquid hand soap instead of a bar for just hand-washing because the bars always seem to get gooey and nasty. Even when I buy the plainest liquid soap I can find, it always has a long list of ingredients that don’t really seem necessary. Guess what? They are not!! This recipe has all of three ingredients and that is all it takes. The basis for this is from the website Tipnut, and the only thing I changed was to leave out the honey, but I may add some next time to try it.
1 bar of soap (I used Dove Unscented for Sensitive Skin, but I need to find an all natural organic soap to use.)
1 tsp. vegetable glycerin
water
Grate the bar of soap into small flakes. Pour into a blender. Add 1 cup of boiling water and blend until smooth. Add the glycerin and stir to combine.
Allow the mix to cool for about 15 minutes and whip again. Add about 3 cups of water to this and pour into a container. Allow this to cool with the top off of the container. The soap should thicken when it cools. I really like this recipe, but I used a too much water in mine so it was little thin.
I will definitely try this again!
Almost Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, Photography, tagged Kentucky, Nature, Photography, Wordless Wednesday on October 12, 2011|
Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Home, tagged Wordless Wednesday on October 5, 2011|
Thoughtful Thursday: How-to Edition
Posted in Home, My Thoughts, tagged Homemade Laundry Detergent, How-to on September 29, 2011| 5 Comments »
C and I are both sensitive to fragrances and chemicals so in an effort to reduce our exposure to these, I have been researching non-toxic and natural cleaning methods for our home and clothing. Also, I switched our bathroom cleaners to non-toxic brands and started using a steam mop on the hardwood floors (which is an awesome piece of equipment). If you have hardwood floors, go get yourself a steam mop. You won’t be disappointed.
Tide has always been my favorite clothes detergent, but it is expensive even with coupons. I used to use the powder, but since we have really hard water that does not dissolve the powder very well, I switched to liquid. In reading about alternative cleaning methods, I found that there were many people making their own laundry detergent, either to save money or to lessen chemical exposure to I decided to give it a try.
Since I didn’t know if C would be allergic to one of the three ingredients, I only used it to wash towels this week to test it. So far so good! The towels were also pretty clean, but I did notice that it did not remove some tomato sauce stains from one dishtowel, but I left out the bleach I usually use for that, also. This “recipe” came from the website Our Greener Acres, which is full of ideas on healthier and more natural living.
(Note: This recipe is for a full batch of detergent, but I just made a half a batch to test it so the pictures won’t quite correspond with the text.)
1 bar laundry soap (I used Fels Naptha)
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
Water
Start by bringing 4 cups of water to a simmer on the stove. While the water is warming, grate the bar of soap.
Once the water is simmering, add the soap in small batches. Don’t put it in all at once or it will take a very long time to melt. Once the soap is melted and the mixture is smooth, add the washing soda and borax. Cook until dissolved.
I saved an old Tide jug to use. Pour this mixture into the jug and fill it up the rest of the way with warm water. Leave a little room because you will have to shake it up to use it. Let is set for several hours with the top off to cool.
When I washed the towels with it, I almost couldn’t get it to pour out of the container because it was so thick but I may not have let it cool long enough before I tried it. This detergent smelled nice but it wasn’t overpowering so I hope that it gets our clothes nice and clean because it was easy and cheap to make. I will keep you updated on the results.
Wordless Wednesday
Posted in Fun, Home, Pets/Animals, Photography, tagged Cats, Ellie, Home, Pets, Photography, Siberian Husky on September 28, 2011|
Picture Perfect Cooking 