What are some of your favorite, easy, inexpensive home DIY ideas? :)
9 years ago
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What is your some of your favorite?
Comments (14)I love some of the bullyish spreading roses. Great if you put them in just the right area. Also 'Silver Dragon' Liriope is a thug and you have to constantly pull up new plants as it will spread several feet underground and then pop up. But it has such a lovely color and can quickly fill in for a nice effect. Plus you always have some to share, just keep it in check. 'Limelight' Artemesia is another one like this. You'll pull it up by the handful each year when it spreads out of its designated area and it benefits you to whack off the tips now and again to keep it from going to seed. But it can grow 2 or 3 feet tall or be cut at a variety of heights to fit your filler needs, and adds that great splash of yellow and lime green to the garden. I don't mind thugs if they have relatively thick stems and are easy to grip and pull up. I don't care for some of the mints though because they are so thin and frail so the stems break easily when you try to pull them. I'm still trying to rid one bed in particular of some mint though I can see that aggressive quality might have served me nicely in other areas if I'd thought it through a little better. Danielle...See MoreDo-It-Yourself Wall-O-Water
Comments (29)For a couple of years I had a garden spot away from my house, with no water supply available so if I wanted to supplement rainfall I had to haul gallon jugs of water. To make my watering efficient, when I planted my peppers & tomatoes in the spring, I dug down and buried empty gallon plastic jugs, one between each plant. I had poked 4-5 holes in the bottom of each, of course, and left the caps on until later in the summer. Once the weather warmed, and after a good soaking rain, I mulched the beds 4-6" deep with chopped leaves, being sure to cover the tops of the (so far empty and still capped) bottles to protect them from the sun since I had found that the plastic degrades and becomes brittle when exposed to the sun. (In previous years, just cultivating around the bottles inevitably resulted in my breaking the tops off by midsummer.) When the weather reached a point where I actually needed to water, I cleared the mulch away for the moment and poured a gallon of water into each buried bottle. I set the cap loosely back atop each bottle to keep the leaf debris from falling in and clogging the exit holes in the bottom, then pulled the mulch back up to protect the plastic. I did not care about how long it took for the bottle to empty-- it seemed like a gallon or two a week per plant was sufficient, and the best part is that by burying the bottles the water went right down to the root zone where it was most effective. As for using wall-o-waters, since I had gotten some free from a friend, I tried them last year with 3 really early tomato plants I started specifically to experiment with. While they survived a good bit of frosty weather, in the end the plants I had started weeks later and planted out a month after the first ones when the weather had warmed quickly caught up to the wall-o-water ones and all the tomatoes pretty much bloomed & set fruit at the same time & rate. So my conclusion is that it was satisfying to my eager gardener's soul to be out planting early, but it really made no difference in overall plant performance. I have found the same to be true with early plantings of such things as peas and salad crops, too. Early plantings may survive, but later plantings quickly catch up and may even surpass earlier ones that have been stressed by the weather....See MoreInexpensive Ideas to Customize House?
Comments (13)Ditto nightowl -- we managed to get a Harry Potter room under the stair landing (extra storage) and "fort" spaces in the rear of two of the closets. Anything that is a special "secret", for example if you have backing kids' closets consider a connecting small door. A floor safe or hidden "treasure drawer" for passports or your kids' lost first teeth (put jewelry and the like in safety deposit!). Between-the-studs broom closets or other storage. Someone in another forum was including a small between-the-studs door/tipout in a toilet room for feminine supplies. Plan with your builder/architect for the placement of vents, air returns, smoke alarms, sprinkler heads, etc. both to maximize function and so there aren't just a bunch of random holes and bumps in the walls/floors/ceilings. Consider small splurges for additional function. Our extended-stay visitors tend to comment on the hide-a-hose central vacuum, tapmaster (foot pedal for kitchen sink), and demand hot water recirculating pumps. In another house, it might be the way the sound system or electronics are integrated or hidden. Lighting on dimmers. Or would an outdoor sink/wash station near the backyard door be a welcome luxury? Also think about landscaping items -- would it make sense to give some trees a head start? Solar landscape lighting also can provide a big bang for your buck. Good luck!...See MoreWeek 135 - What's your favorite GW idea?
Comments (36)GW faves in my four month old kitchen: 1) My soapstone counters (Belvedere)-a hard, durable variety, with gorgeous green inclusions. So sensuous to touch! Four months later, and I still find myself petting them. 2) M.Teixeira, the soapstone distributor and fabricator. Friendly, accommodating, professional, and expert fabricators. They made the whole process seamless, despite having to hold my slab for many, many months. 3) All drawers, especially the pots and pans drawers under the cooktop-so convenient! 4) The large drawers under the main sink-contractor fought me in this, "You'll never know if you have a leak!" But, I love them! They hold so much...all my cleaning stuff, dish washer pods, plastic wrap, tin foil, wax paper, dish towels, rolls of tall kitchen bags, paper towels, blue scrubbie sponges, etc. Not having to deal with the big cavern under the sink, and aftermarket pullouts, is dream. 5) Miele Combi Steam Oven. Oh, how we love this machine! It cooks everything to a juicy perfection! Pork chops, chicken, fish...you name it! Veggies come out with just the right amount of crunch. Great for reheating, too. We use our microwave far less than we used to. 6) Surpah Over the Sink Mat. Handwashables drain into the sink. When not in use, it's rolled up and stored in the top drawer, under the main sink. 7) Bosch 800 Series dishwasher. Brilliant interior configuration-accommodates a variety of bowl shapes and sizes, love the upper silverware tray, it cleans beautifully, and is so quiet! Thank goodness for the red light that beams on the floor. Otherwise, I wouldn't know that it's on! 8) Double pail garbage pullout. So, so, so more convenient than the pail under the sink I used to have, and cleaner, too. A bonus...for some reason, there's no garbage-y smell, like it had under the sink. Also, with a recycling pail behind the trash pail, I'm no longer hoofing it to the garage, every time I need to discard empty glass, plastic or asceptic items. 9) Tray divider in cab above the double ovens. It's where I keep all the different pans and racks that came with the combi steam oven and the convection oven (both Miele), in addition to an assortment of trays. 10) A second sink. Though it's smaller than the main sink, I'm not going to call it a prep sink, since prepping takes place in both locations. In my wide galley kitchen, it's mighty convenient to have a sink on both sides of the kitchen, especially when two cooks are working at the same time. Thnaks to all who contributed these ideas, and so many others. I am eternally grateful for helping me create a beautiful, functional kitchen....See More- 9 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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