Author: Katelyn Thomas

For some reason, an unexpected snow day doesn’t fill people with a burning desire to rehab their family rooms. They do tend to wish they had the fireplace sleeve put it, but they don’t actually do something about it. No, they tend to go play in the snow with their kids, drink tons of cocoa and then go off four wheeling with their friends. Two snow days in a row? That starts people thinking. You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew, though. When there are two feet of snow on the ground, you don’t want to have to call in reinforcements. Here are ten snow day activities you can do around your home that won’t have you calling for the plumber if you mess up the repair:

• Check for drafts. A blustery snow day is the perfect time to find out whether windows are well caulked and to discover if the doors need weatherstripping.
• Test how much energy different appliances are guzzling with a watt checker.
• Change out your old light bulbs for energy efficient bulbs.
• Organize your pantry and box up any items that you aren’t going to use that are getting near their expiration date to give to someone else.
• Fix every squeaky door in the house.
• Wax the edges of old fashioned drawers that don’t slide well. Tighten screws on drawers that use drawer slides.
• Mend that pile of broken things you’ve been meaning to super glue together.
• Repair chips in wooden furniture with wood putty or stain crayons.
• Install that  safety bolt and a sensor on the door leading to your pool that didn’t get put up last summer. Then, hop online and buy a surface sensor to put in your pool when spring rolls around.
• Sort out your linen closet and give old linens you don’t want anymore but are in good shape to a local charity. Put the ones that are in bad shape in your rag bin.

Still need something to do? Pull out your bread machine if you’re running low on bread and make your own. We made some chocolate bread and are waiting for it to finish up so we can taste it. Hopefully, it tastes as good as it smells.

Photo: K. Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Ten Household Chores for Snow Days

When you go to look at a home, you sort of assume there will be some basics – light, cleanliness and water in the pipes instead of all over the floor.  Unfortunately, whether you are looking at million dollar properties people are still living in or a five thousand dollar property that has been repossessed, these things aren’t always going to happen. The thing is, realtors should be ready for anything, but I have only met a few who are really prepared. So, it is up to the buyer to be prepared for all the bizarre stuff that could happen when you are house hunting.

When I go to look at homes, especially foreclosed properties, I bring along a house hunting tool kit. The items in my kit include:

• Good, sturdy flashlights.
• Rubber boots in case I want to head into a dark, iffy basement.
• Gloves.
• First aid kit.
• Screwdriver and wrench just because you never know when you’ll wish you had them.
• Hand sanitizer and hand wipes.
• Face mask in case I suspect there might be some mold.
• Camera.
• Notebook and pen.
• Walking stick to test floors and stairs before I step on them.
• Rags.

Now, if I am looking by myself, I don’t need stuff like the rubber boots or walking stick. I say it looks like too much for me to handle and move on. But if I’m looking with someone who wants to take on a big rehab, I do sometimes need the extra gear.

Do you have a house hunting kit you use?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

House Hunter Tool Kit

In my family, we’ve been buying fewer presents and spending more time and attention on wrapping the gifts we buy. We like to add a little ornament to the package or use a decorative reusable shopping bag as a tote to hold gifts that are individually wrapped but work as a set. Sometimes, the extras end up costing pretty much, though, so I was excited to see a lighted bow tutorial from Alison Lewis that uses just a few items – saran wrap, hot glue and some LEDs.

The whole process involves a few simple steps:

• Make a loop bow just as you would with regular ribbon.
• Get your hot glue gun and go back and forth with the hot glue over the surface of the bow. You should do this over and over again.
• Add your lights.

It is hard to believe those few simple steps help you create such an amazing decoration. I’m looking forward to making a few of them as gift toppers. I also think they’d be a nice addition to a wreath that was sheltered by a porch overhang. Make sure you watch the video the whole way through. At the very end, she turns out the lights to show you how the lighted bows look and it is just spectacular.

(If you have problems with a really choppy video and no sound, click on the little HD is on button on the right hand side of the VIMEO player. With HD off, it plays very well for me.)

Photo: Alison Lewis

Post from: Blisstree

Lighted Bow Tutorial

The holidays are only days away and you still have so much to do. As you begin a frantic last-minute rush to find the last few gifts on your list, to buy all the goodies for your holiday open house and to clean everything in sight, don’t forget these time-saving holiday preparation tips:

• Take advantage of giftwrapping shortcuts. Some stores, such as Boscov’s, offer free giftwrapping services on items customers buy in the store. Many shopping malls team up with Boy Scouts or other organizations to wrap gifts for a small donation. If neither of these options work for you, don’t be ashamed to use gift bags.
• Get rid of the clutter fast by designating a storage container for each room and quickly tossing everything that doesn’t belong out into the container. Put the containers in the closet or under the beds and then deal what the contents after the guests are gone.
• Simplify your plans. Do you really need ten different appetizers for the open house? Will Christmas be ruined if you make sugar cookies from the refrigerated store bought dough? Will guests truly care that you didn’t put fresh liners in every drawer?
• Set up shopping bags and fill each of them with all the items you need to take to another person’s home over the holidays. (Just make a note of refrigerated items to add to the bag at the last minute and clip it to the bag so you don’t forget to grab them, too.) This really saves a lot of time and frustration, since you have the items right there instead of having to remember that you wanted to pass on that mystery book to Aunt Jillian after you get to her house.

Do you have any last-minute holiday preparation tips?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Last-minute Holiday Preparation Tips

While most identity theft takes place when you’re shopping at the store or opening phishing emails, there are other ways that identity thieves use to collect the information they need. Protecting your identity should start at home.

People who swipe mail from mailboxes to help them in their quest to steal a specific person’s identity aren’t just a Lifetime movie phenomenon. I know of at least one person who had her identity assumed by a person who lived nearby. The person went as far as checking her mailbox every day before she got home and swiping anything that could help build the false identity. She was able to swipe a library card and check out a big stack of books and DVDs and stole quite a few other pieces of mail, too. If you have a mailbox that is accessible to anyone who bothers to yank open the little door on the front, you may want to consider getting a box with a lock on it that has a mail slot for deliveries to keep your mail more secure.

Another place identity thieves target is the trash can. If you have any bank account information, credit card statements or other documents with sensitive information on them, run them through the shredder before tossing them out. You should also think twice about recycling your junk mail. If it looks like a credit card offer or anything else the least bit sensitive, shred it.

A final thing to consider is putting any items with sensitive information on them away when someone is visiting, even if you love and trust the visitor. You don’t want to find out about someone’s new life of crime the hard way.

Do you have any tips for things you can do at home to protect your identity?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Safety – Identity Protection

You set up your Christmas tree a few days ago. Doesn’t it look nice? All those pretty lights and sparkling decorations just transformed the room and everyone is suddenly obsessed with what you’re putting under the tree. Now, all you have to do is…Was that a tinkling crash? Oh, no! Well, looks like the first thing you need to do is put the glass ornaments higher up on the tree so your curious toddler and playful pup can’t knock them down! Here are a few other things you should consider:

• Keep any falling needles off the floor. Babies, kittens and puppies might decide to check out the taste and that isn’t a good thing, whether the needles are real or artificial.
• Don’t let pets or toddlers near the tree. You may want to put a portable playpen around the tree until Christmas day to guard against speedy toddlers getting to the tree before grown ups can catch them.
• Make sure the tree is properly secured in the stand. A big, fully decorated tree is very heavy. Having a tree fall on you would really hurt!
• Keep any light cords out of the way so people won’t trip on them. If you can’t run a cord along a wall or under a carpet to the outlet, tape it down so there aren’t big loops of wire on the floor.
• Avoid putting any candles near the tree. An open flame and dry branches are not a good combination.

Do you have any tips for Christmas tree safety?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Christmas Tree Safety

In a tough market, a house needs to be in tip top shape to sell. Even one little nitpicky thing can have potential buyers hurrying back to their cars to check out the next house. So, you’d assume everyone is doing his or her best to keep the house immaculate, right? That’s not always the case. Perhaps the potential sellers don’t really want to move or maybe they’re just overwhelmed. Whatever the reason, I’ve seen a whole lot of houses that have given me some wonderful material for a list of ways to make sure your house doesn’t sell.

• Leave dirty dishes in the sink. Not ordinarily dirty ones. Make sure they’re covered with old food and a little colorful mold. To top off the appealing display, leave smears of something not quite identifiable on the countertops. You get bonus points if you have something like a failed sprouting experiment on the counter, too.
• Make sure your toilet isn’t very clean and leave the seat up. Encourage someone to do his daily showering, shaving and tooth brushing routine without cleaning up. Nothing says, “Don’t buy my house!” like dirty undergarments on the floor and beard stubble and toothpaste globs in the sink.
• Tell the kids it is okay to play hooky on days the realtor will be showing the house. Suggest they slouch around looking angry and slightly violent in dirty clothes. Give them a raise in their allowance if they curse more than a stand up comic while the realtor and the prospective buyers are there.
• Don’t worry about repairing the door after someone broke in. It creates a nice, welcoming feel.
• Be sure all bedrooms have unmade beds and more outfits on the floor than in the closet. To really ramp things up, make sure the walk in closet ceiling has been replaced by a tarp and leave a note telling the realtor you are taking care of the leaky roof.

To really heighten the shock value, you should be sure to only bother with these things in houses that say “Shows well” or “Will go fast” in the realtor’s notes. He or she will be so embarrassed that the potential buyer’s time was wasted that you’ll probably be rid of the realtor and all future buyers for good.

Seriously, though, am I the only one who sees this kind of stuff when I look at houses? I’m not talking houses for rehab, which I’d expect this stuff in. I’m talking the ones listed as being in move in condition.

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

How to Make Sure Your House Doesn’t Sell

You’ve got a big blank wall? Really? I would love to have just one. I was looking for space to do modified push ups the other day and…But I digress. If you have a big boring wall and you don’t have several thousand dollars to drop on a big, big piece of art, try one of these quick fixes:

• Put a grouping of smaller objects on the wall. A few mirrors, a set of matted photos with matching frames or a group of interesting vintage plates can have the same impact as a large piece of art.
• Make your own oversize art. A piece of foam board, hot glue, picture hanging hardware with sticky backing and a big piece of fabric can combine to make a gorgeous piece. Simply stretch the fabric over the board and hot glue the fabric edges to the back of the board. Add the hardware and you’re done.
• Use wall decals to make a focal point. A favorite saying or some bright geometric shapes can liven up the space.
• Hang curtains on a rod to make a faux window.
• Paint or stencil a design on the wall to make it an accent wall.

How do you spruce up a blah wall?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Five Quick Fixes for a Blah Wall

I was browsing through T.J. Maxx the other day and happened across the coolest thing in the clearance aisle. (Disclaimer: I am not much of a baker. If you are, this may not be either cool or new to you, but I was very excited.) Natural Elements has a ceramic muffin pan that is both microwave and oven safe. So, if you want to whip up…Oh, brownie muffins, for instance, without turning on your oven, you can. This means muffins in the summer without heating up the kitchen.

We used our pan last night to make strawberry cheesecake muffins in the oven. They turned out perfectly. I still need to make some microwave cupcakes to test the pan out, but it was very easy to wash and nicely non-stick on the areas where the batter dripped out of the cupcake liners and onto the pan. I really like that the pan is not Teflon and still is very easy to clean. I have been so not a Teflon fan ever since I found out that just cooking with your Teflon coated pan and overheating it could kill your little birdies. Anything that takes out a canary cannot exactly be good for my kids to be breathing, either.

Do you use ceramic cookware?

Photo: K. Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Natural Elements Ceramic Muffin Pan

An under the sea bedroom theme can be a lot of fun to put together. It is perfect for your Little Mermaid fan, but is also ideal for kids who like fish, diving, or the idea of treasure hunting. You can opt for just a few accessories or you can really pile on the fun.

The most important part of your theme is the paint. You’ll want several shades of blue. The ceiling should be the lightest color and the bottom of your walls should be darkest. Water is lighter near the surface and darker as you go further down and less light shines through. For a super easy mural, add decals of colorful tropical fish, a boat wreck or a spooky octopus to the walls.

You can just look for cute bedding like this mermaid set for your child’s bed, but the room will look even more like an under the sea themed space if you get creative and make your own clam shell shaped headboard to use with a bed frame. (It would be fun to build a bed that looks like a boat wreck for a boy’s underwater theme, but that’s beyond my skill set and the beds I did see were not wrecks and insanely expensive!)

Accessories should be in keeping with the theme. Starfish based lamps, a chair fit for a mermaid queen and a mirror surrounded by little shells would go perfectly in a girl’s room. A boy would love the same lamps, but would prefer a darling little pirate ship rocker and a pirate’s chest toy box.

Photo via amazon.com

Post from: Blisstree

Under the Sea Bedroom Theme

I know. You’ve heard it a million times. Test your smoke alarms. But have you actually tested them or did you check it off that mental to do list because you planned to test them?  Alarms are only as good as the batteries you have in them. If they’re dead, the alarms are worthless.

It has always been important to have working smoke alarms in our homes, but the economy has made them even more essential. A Baltimore man who perished in a house fire may have done so simply because budget cuts slowed down emergency personnel response times. The firefighters had to come from a firehouse that wasn’t closed instead of the nearby firehouse, which was closed for the night to save money. If you hate to test your alarms or seem to always forget to do so, consider having several hardwired alarms installed in your home to back up the battery operated models.

Another important alarm for your home is a carbon monoxide detector. These detectors can alert you to dangerous leaks or malfunctioning equipment. We installed ours shortly after we discovered that my grandparents had a close call with a faulty water heater. They had no idea that carbon monoxide was filling their home. Fortunately, the water heater started to leak and the service person they called in discovered the gas problem in time.

Do you have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors? If so, do you test your battery operated models?

Photo: K Thomas

Post from: Blisstree

Home Safety – Alarm It

You would not believe the number of homes I’ve looked at that are filled with black mold. Part of it is that a repo issue. When a bank forecloses on a home, it tends to turn off the electricity and other utilities and winterizes the home. This means the sump pump isn’t running. So the basement gets all damp and gross. Then the dampness travels to the first floor and mold starts to grow, helped along by grime on cabinets and other things. Then it creeps up to the second floor. And if you’re really lucky, the roof leaks and you get mold coming down from the top, too.

If you see fuzzy walls and the home wasn’t decorated with flocked wallpaper, you know you’ve got trouble right away. But what if someone buys a repo, fixes it up without adequately fixing the mold and resells it to you? If you are feeling generally icky and seem to constantly be getting sick and your home has had water damage in the past or you suspect it was a repo, you may want to have it tested to rule out toxic mold.

Have you ever had to deal with toxic mold in a house?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Safety – Black Mold

You want to redecorate your home, but is red still in? What about blue? If you go with that dark teal color, will you be able to find accessories on the shelf? The folks at Pantone do a pretty good job of predicting hot color trends in home decor and have created 9 different palettes of trendsetting color groups for 2010. (They say there are 8 groups. I guess they don’t count their Tinged Neutral palette as a color group.)

You’ll be happy to know that blue and red are in, but they come in different shades than in past years. I saw an orangey red tomato and a peacock blue design on their 2010 home interior guide cover.

The color groups are:

• Greenmarket – Literally draws inspiration from markets, which explains the tomato. You can see the palette colors for this group, Gatherings and Galaxy at Apartment Therapy. This is my favorite palette, which is odd, because I don’t use very much red in my home.
• Resourceful – Sort of the “Mother Earth” palette with a bit of sky thrown in. You can read in depth descriptions at Home Intel.
• Transformations – Reminds me of Victoria magazine or Easter. Includes pink and lavender.
• Ambiance – Pretty modern palette – lots of grays and silver pink.
• Gatherings – The inspiration for this palette comes from Africa.
• Galaxy – The sky, the earth and the sun all provided the inspiration for this palette. I think it would be perfect for anyone living on the waterfront who is in need of a home decor palette.
• High Definition – This one starts with basic black and white and then throws in some very bright colors.
• Pastiche – Hmm. How to describe this palette? Maybe like someone had an ice cream sherbet fight and when it was over, your house was super colorful. I could see this one in a kids’ room if you use restraint.
• Tinged Neutrals – Tans and grays. Tans and grays. Nice and restful. I can see this one in a lot of model homes.

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Decor Color Trends for 2010

I brought my trash cans in from the curb and saw a discreet little card about tips for the holidays. I opened my newspaper and a greeting card from my carrier fell out. My realtor sent a little calendar in the mail. My letter carrier, who always gives great service, seems to be putting her all into the job. I haven’t seen my lawn care guy recently. No need to cut lawns with snow on the ground. However, a card is probably going to appear in my mailbox and day. And then some people have the house cleaning service, the kid who shovels snow from the sidewalk, the pool guy, the house sitter…How do you decide whether to give someone a holiday tip and how much should you give?

Well, you’ll be happy to know that you don’t need to tip your realtor. He or she just wants to be sure you remember who you used to buy your current home in case you decide to resell it and would be flabbergasted to receive a tip. And, while your mail carrier may really, really deserve a tip, he or she isn’t allowed to accept it. According to Emily Post, you can give your carrier a small, inexpensive gift, but may not give a gift card or any form of money.

However, your private trash collector employees, your newspaper carrier and all the other folks who provide services for your home would be happy to be tipped. Emily Post has an entire set of guidelines for what to give different people and also talks about what to do if you can’t afford to tip.

If you do decide to leave a tip, just remember that it is best to give it in person or to mail it to your service person’s address. My garbage disposal service company asked that any tips be sent to the staff at the office address because thieves are finding and stealing their tips and this type of thing probably is not limited to my area!

Do you tip the people that help you care for your home or do you feel that they’re just doing their job and don’t deserve a tip on top of the money you already pay for services?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Tipping People That Help You Care for Your Home

My sister wants a maid for Christmas. Just to come once, clean her house from top to bottom and get everything really nice for the new year. She wants her to come the day after the kids go back to school from the holidays. Honestly, it isn’t a bad idea, though it will probably cost $400 or more for someone to come out once and clean an entire house. There is something really appealing about starting your new year out with a nice, clean house instead of spending two weeks getting it all back into shape yourself after several weeks of children, friends and family scattering toys and crumbs about. I’m not sure how it would go over as a  gift for someone who didn’t ask for it, though.

I do think that this is definitely a gift that not everyone can give. If you’ve ever commented to your daughter, daughter in law, or wife that her place could use a good cleaning, you probably don’t want to give a maid as a gift in case she feels that the maid is your idea of a second cleaning hint instead of the thoughtful gesture you meant it to be. If your wife knows you could care less about the dust bunnies under the bed, but you gave her a toaster oven for her birthday, she’d probably feel a bit like the romance was gone if her next gift was a maid. So, you should probably think about how the gift could be perceived before calling your local house cleaning service.

Would you feel offended if someone gave you a day of housecleaning for Christmas or would you throw your arms around the gift giver and emit cries of joy?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Should You Give Moms a Maid for Christmas

I talked about decorating the bedroom for the holidays, but guest bedrooms are a bit different than family bedrooms. Just like with regular bedrooms, you’ll want to switch out bedspreads and do a few other basics, but an important part of getting a guest bedroom ready for the holidays is adding plenty of homey touches to the space.

• Start with the bed. If you already dressed the room up a bit, you probably have that cheery holiday spread on it. Add a cozy holiday afghan at the foot of the bed. A guest who gets chilly in the middle of the night will appreciate being able to get warm without wandering the house in search of another blanket.
• Add a basket of holiday extras, like a few holiday books from popular authors like Janet Evanovich and a favorite Christmas DVD, to the nightstand.
• Dress up the bed tray for the holidays with an artificial Poinsettia flower or a few plastic ornaments.
• Top the stack of guest towels off with new holiday slippers and a gingerbread scented soap.
• Tuck a cozy chair into a corner and stick a holiday pillow on it. If your guest prefers to curl up in the chair to read or watch a movie, he or she can do so in comfort.

Do you add any special touches to the guest bedroom over the holidays?

Photo: SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Five Ways to Decorate the Guest Bedroom for the Holidays

You’re rinsing dishes and the ring slides right off your finger. You turn off the water right away, but you’re too late. It is down the drain. Now, it is gone for good, right? Maybe. But, since you turned off the water instead of letting it keep running, there is a chance that your ring didn’t wash completely away. A little “U” shaped pipe may have just saved the day.

Photo: SXC

According to Popular Mechanics, this “U” shaped pipe, also called a P-trap, is actually designed to keep sewers from sending a nasty smell back up the pipes and into the kitchen or bathroom. (No, I have no idea why they call something shaped like a “U” a P-trap. Although when you see it installed, I guess it sort of looks like a “P” turned sideways.) It just so happens that, while it is busy keeping gases at bay, the trap also tends to catch small items, like rings, instead of sending them straight down the pipes.

Now, the catch is, you have to open the trap to see if the ring is there and this can be a messy job. If you have old, fragile pipes or you get all nervous when someone hands you a wrench, call a plumber. Otherwise, get a bucket, some rags, a pipe wrench and your favorite plumbing gunk or tape. Stick the bucket under the trap, unfasten it from the sink pipe with the wrench, empty the excess water into the bucket and look for your ring. If it is there, take some time out to do a happy dance. If not, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll never see the ring again. Now, use your gunk or tape and the wrench to put it all back together again, use the rags to mop up any spills and get yourself a small vintage flower pot or another cute container for the counter right beside the sink so you can put your rings in a safe place while you’re rinsing dishes.

And would you believe I found a step by step video that shows you exactly what to do? Here it is:

Post from: Blisstree

How to See if a Ring You Lost in the Sink Is Gone for Good

For children, snow days are magic. It is like someone waved a wand and turned that dreary rain to fluffy bits of fun. For a busy mom, the sight of snow brings a momentary feeling of wonder and then…Oh, no! Snow. Wet boots. Wet gloves. Tracks on the floor. Runny noses. Icy driveways. Cars to sweep off and sidewalks to shovel. School delays or even closings. While all of those things are pretty much inevitable, you can manage them a bit better if you are already prepared for snowy days at home.

• Set up a portable drying rack in a spot close to the door and put a piece of plastic under the rack to protect your floors. Put a boot tray under the rack or close by. As people come in the door, have them put their wet things on the rack and their shoes on the tray. Have dry socks and a towel to mop up snow blobs on hand.
• Create a comfort station complete with cocoa in an insulated jug with a spout and soup in a second jug, crackers, marshmallows, cups, spoons, napkins and bowls in an area that allows for easy clean up. This alleviates a lot of traffic through the kitchen and a lot of requests for cocoa ten minutes after everyone but one person turned down the offer.
• Put together an activity bin of snowy day activities and crafts for your kids. Consider adding things they can do if the power goes out because of ice on the lines.
• Make sure you are prepared for bad weather with fresh water, powdered milk, a loaf of frozen bread or ingredients to make fresh bread and a few spare rolls of toilet paper so you can avoid the dangerous last minute rush to the store that people in less snowy areas tend to do.
• Check to be sure your generator or other alternative power source is ready to go at a moment’s notice. (Don’t forget safety. Leave that generator outside and make sure it is ten feet from the house before you fire it up!)

What do you do to get ready for Winter weather?

Photo: Rodolfo Belloli/SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Prepare a Home for Snowy Days

Where is your Social Security card? What about your car title and your child’s birth certificate? The fact that your diploma is awaiting framing in a desk drawer or the only photo of great great grandma that is in existence is sitting in the unscrapped photo box until you figure out what to do with it doesn’t seem to be a problem. And, hopefully, it won’t be a problem. However, if the worst happens and there is a house fire, it will be a problem. A big problem. Protecting important documents is an essential part of home safety.

Some people scan their important documents into their computers and save a copy in a zip drive or other portable device that they can give to a trusted family member to keep or that they can store in a bank. This is a nice backup for originals, but it isn’t a substitute for protecting the real thing. The DMV and many other places require original documents.

One of the simplest ways to protect documents from fire is to put them in a fireproof box. The majority of people shove their boxes under the bed, but, in a one story house in a flood zone, you may want to look for a higher location so the box doesn’t float away if a few feet of water rushes through the house.

Photo: Chris Eyles/SXC

Post from: Blisstree

Home Safety – Protecting Important Documents

Generations of people have loved aprons, from frilly little numbers to serious barbeque models. They keep clothes from getting ruined by a splatter of grease from a frying pan or batter dripping from a mixing spoon, which makes them ideal for people who are whipping something up in the kitchen while wearing their party or work clothes. While they did fall out of favor for awhile, they’re back in again, especially if they are either vintage or handcrafted.

For those who have drawers stuffed with beautiful vintage aprons and still have the urge to collect more, there are a few fun ways to use these versatile items to decorate the kitchen.

• A few half aprons can be tied side by side and attached to a curtain rod to make a fun valance.
• An apron with beautiful embroidery on it can be folded to fit a shadow box and used as a piece of artwork.
• If it has been torn, permanently stained, or otherwise ruined, you can use an undamaged part of an apron to make a potholder or tea towel.

Do you have any creative ways to use part of your apron collection in your kitchen instead of keeping it hidden away in cupboards?

Photo via amazon.com

Post from: Blisstree

Aprons in the Kitchen