Tips
Project 5: Digital detritus. I like that you can do this project on the fly. Cleaning out your phone or tablet is the modern-day equivalent of cleaning out your bag in the waiting room when there aren’t any good magazines around. ◦First, imagine that your laptop, smartphone or tablet was destroyed. What would you be sad to lose? What aspects of losing it and starting over would make you feel relieved? You now have a guide for what to back up and what to ditch. ◦Photos can take a long time to organize but can be done in increments whenever you need to kill 10 minutes. Delete the ones that you don’t like or are repeats. Upload the ones you want to save to your favorite photo-organizing site or the cloud. Organize your digital albums and make sure they’re backed up. From now on, try to get in the habit of deleting unwanted photos the night after you take a big batch or right after you return from a trip. ◦Go on an “unsubscribe” tear. Sort through your clogged email in-box and unsubscribe from the sites that no longer interest you, over-eager coupon senders, dangerously tempting sales announcements, businesses that are always begging for a Facebook “like” or Yelp review and other digit...
Project 4: Kids’ artwork. Plenty more is about to come home from this year’s art classes, so you’d better make room.◦Designate the amount you can save — say, one plastic bin or one drawer or one large scrapbook’s worth. ◦Go through everything with your kids — keep the pieces that mean the most to everyone and toss the rest. You can document artwork with your digital camera or scanner as you go so you won’t feel as though the work you’re tossing will be gone forever. ◦Turn it into a project. Collect photos and scans in a digital book, create a scrapbook of original works or buy a bunch of inexpensive frames and mats to create a children’s art gallery wall. ◦Designate one bin or a large scrapbook and keep only what can fit. You can always keep copies of the rest digitally. ◦Make this curation process a yearly tradition when new art projects start coming through the door. Kids will be excited to show off their new works and be more willing to let the old stuff go.
Project 3: The kitchen. Out with the gazpacho and popsicles, in with the hot soups and cocoa. This is a project you may want to break down and work on over a number of days. ◦Clean out the refrigerator. Get rid of crusty condiments and expired foods and give the whole thing a good wipe-down. ◦Attack the cabinets and drawers. Look for mixing bowls, small appliances, gadgets, utensils and tableware you never use and put them in the donation box. Put summery items like melamine tableware, picnic supplies and tablecloths into deeper storage to make room for the slow cooker and school lunch supplies. Put the items you don’t love in the donation box. If you’ve been hoarding wrapped plastic utensils, give them to the next driver who delivers food to your house. ◦Organize the pantry. Take everything out, do an expiration date check and wipe down the shelves. For more detailed information about how to organize it, check out Get it Done: How to Clean Out the Pantry. ◦Make room on bulletin boards, and if you tend to post things on the fridge, attack that area too. Take everything down and put it in a neat pile with the recycling bin next to you. Review each invitation, certificate and to-do ...
Project 2: Makeup and toiletries. Work on this drawer by drawer, shelf by shelf, bin by bin. Begin with a wastebasket, a donation box and several shoeboxes next to you. ◦The shoeboxes are for grouping similar things together: first aid and pain-relief medications, the things you use on your face, hair products, dental items, everything you pack when traveling — you get the picture. You’ll eventually group similar items together when you’re putting everything back in an organized way. And from now on you’ll know where to find everything and when you need to replace something. When these items are kept haphazardly all over the house, you wind up with five half-empty boxes of Band-Aids you can never find when you cut your finger. ◦Check for expiration dates on everything from makeup to medicine. Toss outdated cosmetics, samples, nail polishes and razor blades. ◦While sun protection is important year-round, put away the all-over sunscreen sprays and sticky waterproof stuff you use at the beach or the pool in the aforementioned beach bags you’re going to stow. Again, check expiration dates. ◦Decide just how many samples swiped from hotels you truly need. Donate the unopened products y...
Find your total wattage. Here's a handy formula to figure out how much light your room needs: Multiply the length of the room by the width to find the total area. Multiply the area by 1.5; this is the total wattage you'll need to light the room. For example: If your room is 17 feet wide and 20 feet long, the total area is 340 square feet. Multiply 340 by 1.5, and you'll get 510, so you'll need 510 watts of total light to efficiently light your room. Tip: When installing downlights in your kitchen, use a mix of wide-angle downlights for ambient lighting and narrow-beam downlights for task lighting over your stove, sink and counters.
Determine the right number of fixtures. Once you have the total number of watts you'll need, divide it by the wattage of the bulb you'd like to use. This will give you the total number of recessed fixtures you'll need in that space. For example: If your room needs 510 watts of total light, and you want to use 60-watt bulbs (the average wattage of a can lightbulb), eight or nine bulbs should sufficiently light the space. Tip: LED downlights are growing in popularity as an alternative to halogen globes. But the wattage can be confusing on LED bulbs. For example, an LED with a wattage of 5 to 8 is equivalent to a halogen wattage of 40 to 60. Comparison details are typically marked on the packaging.
Space your fixtures evenly. You now know your wattage and the number of can lights your room needs, but spacing them evenly is just as important. Measure at least 2 feet off all your walls onto the ceiling to start. Aim to divide your can lights around the room evenly and leave at least 2 feet between each fixture. Of course these are general guidelines, and you may need to do some tweaking depending on the space. Focus on balance and don't worry if you need to remove or add a can light to get it right
Use a dimming kit. When installing or upgrading any existing recessed lighting, dimming kits are a must. Dimmer switches are a flexible and practical way to help control how much light is being used, saving energy and helping bulbs last longer. Tip: Avoid dimming all your recessed lights with one switch so you can dim lights by zone. Wouldn't it be thoughtful to have separate dimmer switches for each light over your bed?
Create a focal point. Illuminating artwork with gimbal lights can create a focal point in a room. Gimbal fixtures rotate, revolve and swivel, so you can focus the light exactly where you want it. Tip: Gimbal lights are also perfect for task lighting. When installing a gimbal light above a reading spot, sit in the chair while the electrician positions the light to make sure your head and shoulders don't block the light.
Paint the ceiling. Painting the ceiling the same hue as the walls can help to erase the shadow lines that visually define a space. A white ceiling against a darker wall immediately shrinks a space — your eye can sense the room's size right away. When the walls and ceiling are the same color, it's harder for your eye to tell where the room's parameters start and end, so the room looks larger.
Sliding Glass Doors The sliding glass door has got to be the most ubiquitous patio door. Made up of two framed glass panels that slide past each other, this door can be seen on contemporary, traditional and every style in between. Having said that, it really fits a contemporary aesthetic as the sliding operation and staggered planes are typically not quite right for traditional styles. An advantage of these doors is that the opening can be quite wide. While the standard door will be 5 or 6 feet wide, doors that are 8 or 10 feet wide are available. An important design consideration when selecting a sliding glass door is the frame size. The actual frame dimensions will vary considerably depending on the frame material. While metal frames, like aluminum, can be quite thin, vinyl frames will likely be thick. Cost. A sliding glass door will typically cost considerably less than a comparable French door. It has to do with operation and mechanisms. Simply put, the sliding glass door is easier to engineer and build and has fewer moving parts. So a sliding glass door can be had for as little as $500.
Planning. Give your back a break. Before you move any actual furniture, test your design on paper. Measure the room’s dimensions, noting the location of windows, doors, heat registers and electrical outlets, then draw up a floor plan on graph paper using cutouts to represent the furnishings. Or, better yet, use a free online room planner (I like the one from Jordan’s Furniture in Boston) to draw the space and test various furniture configurations. It’s less work and a lot more fun.
Wood framed mirror in the kitchen. Instantly create a homier vibe in the kitchen with the addition of a wood framed mirror. Large or small, propped on a shelf or hung from the wall, it all works. The key is to choose a mirror that looks as if it belongs in a living room or bedroom — something with a bit of warmth to it
Give mismatched accessories a cohesive look. Wondering what to do with the random assortment of vases, bowls and other trinkets unearthed from your attic? Assuming none are too valuable, try unifying the collection with a coat of white paint. When you are finished, group the items together in one spot (on a bookcase, for instance) rather than scattered throughout the room for the most impact.
Paint the front door. It’s far less commitment than painting the exterior and has more bang for the buck. While you’re choosing a paint color, consider whether you want to update the hardware as well — shiny new hardware can give your home a fresh look, and you can change the locks at the same time (always a good idea when you buy a house), so it’s a win-win.
Use this fail-proof produce storage method. Keep produce dry by taking it out of any plastic wrapping or bags it may have come in. But you don’t want to leave it exposed in the crisper, as it will tend to dry out. Instead, remove items like cauliflower from the plastic it comes in right away, and wrap it in a cloth towel before putting it in the crisper. This will prevent overdrying while still keeping mold at bay. (You can use paper towels as well, though of course that produces more waste, of the landfill sort.) Try this method and you’ll be amazed how much longer it lasts. I’d love to hear about your experience in the Comments below.
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