Kristin van Ogtrop's Blog, page 365
February 23, 2011
What I Like: Home Tours On Blogs
I love a good home tour. I remember when I was little I would frequently ask my mom if we could take a night walk so we could see inside of people's homes as we strolled. I know, funny to admit that publicly but I swear I wasn't a little stalker or a peeping Tom, I just loved seeing how people decorated their homes and I was only 8 years old! It's funny how this fascination stuck with me for life and today I'm still curious about how people live and work and yes, I still take night walks (this time with my husband) and I still look into windows as I stroll, from the sidewalk, and enjoy seeing how others decorate. That is why blogs that feature home tours of "real" homes that are pretty much shown "as is" really interests me. Tons of blogs have them including my own, but Apartment Therapy has some great ones, they have a very diversified selection from all over the country... Here are a very favorite rooms with links to where you can find information about the homeowners and the complete house tour. Enjoy!
Zoe & Nick's Cozy One Bedroom, Boston, MA. What I love: Yellow dresser. White chair with yellow fabric. Built-in cabinet in the dining room.
Dana & JB's Single Family Home, Milton, MA. What I like: Layout, color scheme, map over dresser.
Emily Schuman's Modern Rustic Home in Los Angeles, California. What I like: Built in bookcase and that it continues below the window. I also love the shelf of globes.
Jennifer & Nello's Hunter/Gatherer Home in Long Beach, CA. What I like: Mirror, horse portraits, yellow and white dresser used as a buffet.
Nelly & Samuel's Australian Beach Home in Watermans Bay, Western Australia. What I like: That gorgeous white living room with the dark floors and those gorgeous old windows and the beautiful lamp to the right of the sofa on the flea market style table. I adore that linen shade. The pendant in the room must cast beautiful shadows on the walls at night for a Moroccan vibe. Drool.
Erin & Ben's Cliff May Modern in Dallas, Texas. What I like: The blue hall table - fab! The chair is lovely too. The wall color with the crisp white trim is a great high low contrast.
Savannah's Sophisticated Studio Apartment in West Hollywood, CA. What I like: This cozy nook is wonderful, period. I like everything about it. Skull cushion, fresh wildflowers, wooden round table, fur on seating, art... Very young and fresh.
I think it's important to note that when you see a photo that you like of a room, try to pinpoint what exactly you like about it as I've done above. It really helps you to identify your personal style and also take away some great ideas for decorating your own space.
(images: apartment therapy)
February 22, 2011
Now You Can Eat Your (Angry Birds) Cake and Play It, Too
The game Angry Birds—with those infuriating green pigs and squawking birds—is simultaneously frustrating, fun, challenging, ridiculous, and utterly addictive. An extremely crafty and devoted father created an interactive Angry Birds cake—complete with working catapult—for one very lucky six-year-old boy. Watch the video below; it's adorable.
How to Recycle Crayons
If you have kids (or nieces and nephews) chances are you have an old box or two of crayons stashed somewhere in your home. Even if they are too worn down and broken to donate to a day care center or women's shelter, you can still recycle them.
To give your kids' crayons new life send them to Crazy Crayons, a program which melts down old crayons to create new ones in fun shapes. Read more about how the program got started here.
For how to recycle more common household items, see our a-to-z guide How To Recycle Anything.
Related:
Smart New Uses for Plastic Bags
How to Set Up a Recycling System
Creating a Child's Room to Encourage Organizing Skills
Organizing skills are learned. Some children take to organizing more quickly than others, but none is born with a calendar in one hand and a label maker in the other. Teaching children to be organized is an on-going process, and how you set up your child's room can help facilitate some of these lessons.
The most important thing to remember when creating a child's room is the height of the child. The average two year old is around 34" and the average 10 year old is about 54" tall. If you want your child to learn to put away her toys and put her dirty clothes in the laundry basket, you will want to make most everything in the room accessible to this height range.
I recommend using long, two shelf bookcases for storing books and toys. Group toys by type into baskets, and set the baskets on the shelves. Label the baskets with pictures and words describing what is inside the basket. These labels help with language development, and also show your child where the toys should be placed after playtime. A cushion can be added to the top of the bookshelf to create additional seating in the room.
Install clothing rods in the closet your child can reach. Have 10 or more extra hangers in the closet so there are always hangers available for your child to use. Have a small hamper for your child to easily input dirty clothes. Show your child how to care for his or her clothes so they last as long as possible, and have your child put away his or her clothing starting at age two (with supervision, of course).
For safety reasons, you will likely want to use higher shelving in the closet or on the wall to keep some items out of reach. However, your child should have display shelf space she can access. Help your child to display items of importance on the shelf, and work with him to rotate out objects when they're not as important any longer. This helps to teach your child uncluttering skills, which are just as vital as organizing skills.
Keep a bucket, box, or basket in the room for your child to place broken or unwanted items. Explain that she can put anything she has outgrown into the bucket, any toys that need to be repaired, or anything she thinks would be good to donate to charity. She might not use the space for years, but one day she might.
Can I play Angry Birds on my TV?
During my recent visit to the Consumer Electronics Show, I had the opportunity to find out how the way we will be engaging with our televisions will be changing.
Click on the links for more information about each product shown in this video:
Hisense Android TV
Samsung 3D Active Glasses
Toshiba Glasses-Free 3D
About Passive 3D TVs
Logitech Revue
Sony Internet TV
Intel Insider
As a member of the Intel Advisors, I received support from Intel allowing me to attend the Consumer Electronic show. Opinions stated here and elsewhere are my own.
February 21, 2011
Make Applesauce in Your Microwave
There's something about homemade applesauce that is just better than the kind that comes in a jar. And making it is easier than you think.
Here's the easy recipe for homemade applesauce you can make in your microwave:
In a microwave-safe bowl, combine 1 pound peeled and diced apples (Macintosh, Fuji, or Gala are best) with ¼ cup water, 2 teaspoons sugar, and ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon. Cover and microwave on high (power level 10) until the apples are tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Mash with a fork or potato masher.
Want more surprising uses for your microwave? Click here for 22 more ideas.
What's your favorite microwave shortcut?
Related:
Which Food Containers are Safe for the Microwave?
Well Hello Crate & Barrel
Crate & Barrel has a great selection of things for the home currently, including these gorgeous chairs -- have you noticed? I'm drooling over the mid century inspired white leather chair with that sleek chrome base because it would look great in my living room. I equally love the cobalt blue trimmed chair shown below, it's traditional yet very modern with that amazing lacquered frame. Whoever designed that honey of a chair was clearly very clever, it's such a hottie.
If you're not looking to have a seat in the living room anytime soon, have you checked out their selection of dining room chairs? I love this look because mixing chairs is all the rage. I bet it's "in style" to have funky mismatched chairs because people are tired of matchy matchy sets and furthermore, most of us cannot afford all 6 or 8 of our dream chairs and I think people just got tired of trying so new rules were made. Why not buy a few of your favorite chairs and then grab a bunch of others from flea markets and stores like C&B and mix them in? I mean, hey it's your home and YOU are in charge of your roost so why not do whatever you like!
By the way, the credenza is lovely, too.
I also LOVE their new sliding door units shown below. These definitely make my pulse quicken because I would love to have them in this long wall in my workroom that is crying out for something to organize my crafty bits in and on.
Here is a Holy Moly moment for ya, a few lovely office chairs that are ergonomic and beautiful. A rare combination in the world of usually horrible looking desk chairs but they do exist!
Ready for a few more of my finds before I wrap up this post? How about the Six-Slot Knife Block, the Morse table lamp, Lanai Placemat/Spring Blossom Napkin or the stunning Marlow Side Chair. I don't like cherry in my home so I'd paint Marlow a lovely pale mint, pale pink, medium gray, sunny yellow or white and make her a one hot little mama! Marlow reminds me of the Mademoiselle chair but a more budget-friendly option - Mademoiselle chairs are shown in THIS PHOTE from the home of By+Fryd who is one of my favorite bloggers with the most gorgeous home... That is how I imagine the Marlow if I bought one. Painted and pale.
Find any instant favorites from C&B for Spring?
(images: crate & barrel)
Announcing Our March Book
Hi, Bookies:
It was a tight race, but Emma Donoghue's Room: A Novel maintained its slight lead over The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks to win the poll. RealSimple.com Managing Editor Kathleen Harris, our March discussion leader, will be back later this week to say hello, so look for that and for Maggie Shi's final post on Half Broke Horses. Happy reading, everyone!
Are you reading this via an e-mail or RSS feed? If you wish to comment, please click here.
Tax Time: Start Now
For some reason, I always equate President's Day with taxes. I like to have all of my tax documents together and sent off to my tax preparer before we take our February vacation so I can relax knowing the tedious work is behind me.
Whether you use a professional to help prepare your tax return, online software, or go it alone, there's good reason to start the process early. Forms don't arrive on time, statements could contain errors, receipts for certain deductions get misfiled and you don't want to be chasing down paperwork days before the filing deadline.
Filing deadline this year is April 18.
The IRS announced last week they are now accepting 2010 returns. Unless you are totally on top of your game, you may not have even known there was a delay due to changes affected by legislation enacted in December. The IRS is urging taxpayers to use e-file instead of paper tax forms to ensure accuracy and to get refunds fast. You can do your taxes for free through Free File, which is brand-name software or online fillable forms. Free File is available exclusively at www.irs.gov/freefile and can be used by anyone who makes $58,000 or less.
As you get ready to do your 2010 taxes, keep in mind a few tips from the Illinois CPA Society:
Get organized. Start by pulling together all your paperwork including your 2009 return, W2 forms, interest income statements, documentation for charitable donations, and if you itemize deductions, receipts sorted by type and date.
Review documents, correct as needed. Don't assume important items like 1099 forms or W2s are correct. Check your address, your Social Security Number and other details. These forms should have been mailed to you by January 31st, so follow up if any are missing or incorrect. However, investment houses have until February 15th to provide 1099s.
Look for possible deductions and credits. The IRS website www.irs.gov is a great resource for details on current tax credits and deductions. IRS Publication 17 summarizes 2010 changes and offers guidance on which forms to use and how to file. There's even a section on "The 'What ifs' of an Economic Downturn" that addresses situations like job loss and foreclosure.
Double-check your work.
Stock up on accordian file folders and begin using them immediately for 2011.
If there's one tax lesson I've learned since opening and running my own businesses, it's that tax time comes sooner than you think. All it takes is one close call to get a disorganized procrastinator to rethink her tax strategy. This is one area where it truly pays to get ahead.
February 18, 2011
Have You Heard About Picclick?
Like many of you, the editors at Real Simple are big fans of shopping Etsy and Ebay for everything from home decor items, to craft supplies, to handbags, shoes, and jewelry. But sometimes, browsing those sites can be difficult if you're in a "I'll know what I'm looking for when I see it" mode. That's where Picclick comes in.
Here's an example of how Picclick makes browsing easier. This is what the search for tea towels looks like on Etsy:
Each results page shows 40 products, and there's pages at the bottom you can jump to. Here's what the same search looks like on Picclick:
Not only can you adjust the image size with the slider in the upper right corner, but you can scroll endlessly through the results. They just keep loading as you scroll down the page. Perfect for quick browsing. (Click on either of the images to see the searches on the site.)
You can also use Picclick for Ebay, Amazon, Plenty of Fish (a dating site), Yelp, AllRecipes, and Google.
Will you try this site? What's your favorite way to shop online?
Related:
Real Simple's Shopping Made Easy Awards
4 Websites That Help You Live it Up on the Cheap
