Adding a porch or deck to your home can open up a world of possibilities for outdoor living. A 2018 study by the National Association of Realtors and National Association of Landscape Professionals ranks a new deck in the top 5 of outdoor projects that adds value to a home. 81% of homeowners who have installed a new deck, say it makes them want to stay home and enjoy their space more than before the deck was installed.

When making the investment in a deck or porch, you want to work with high quality materials that will stand up to the weather and that is where composite decking materials shine. Whether you are installing a deck as a DIY project or hiring an experienced contractor, using composite decking materials are head and shoulders about traditional wood decks.

There is nothing more frustrating than cut flowers that wilt or droop too fast.. and one of the WORST culprits for premature drooping are HYDRANGEAS!  
It never fails, you can bring home perfectly perky cut mop head blooms from the florist or even cut your own in your back yard and within hours of putting them in water, they have fallen into a lifeless slump.  Wilted and droopy.  So sad.

These are some stems I cut in my own back yard. I IMMEDIATLEY stuck them in water, and within 2 hours they looked like this:

I have very alkaline soil.. so the hydrangeas from my yard are very pink.  If your flowers are blue.. you can actually make them pink by adding lime to the soil!  Alternatively, I could turn my pink flowers blue by adding acid to the soil (peat moss, sulfur or ammonium nitrate.)

Okay.. but what about the droopy blooms?

Fear not! Hydrangeas are actually pretty easy to revive.. even once they get to the point of where you think they cannot be saved.  Mine looked like they were near death.

Package theft from front porches has become an increasingly large problem in the U.S.  As many as 20% of people have reported a package lost or stolen from their front porch since 2017.  I live in California which ranks number 3 in the nation for porch piracy.

Law enforcement agencies are now encouraging homeowners to use package tracking and notifications, as well as tighten up surveillance of their front porches.  Just the presence of cameras can discourage package thieves from targeting your house vs. one which lacks security systems.

You may already know that my house has pretty much ZERO yard space.  I’ve written about the trials and tribulations of a small yard, combined with living through the California drought and so it may come as no surprise that when I wanted to plant a spring garden this year, i had to do a little bit of thinking outside the box.

I’m so excited it is finally Summer!  The kids are out of school and we’re able to slow down a little.  It also means that this month’s Power Tool Challenge, is all about SUMMER as well. 
This month I came up with an upcycle for the old side of the baby’s crib, which we are no longer using.  (He is using the rest of the crib!)

I’m pretty excited about today’s build because
1. It uses only scrap wood.
2. It went together super fast (like one afternoon.)
And 3. It involves holding my drink..  We can pretty much all agree the a cold beer or glass of wine close at hand is ESSENTIAL to summertime happiness.

25 Unique Wood Slice Holiday Projects

These are metallic acrylic (plastic) bowls or candy dishes.  I thought they were really cool, especially when they catch the light, and so I thought they would be the perfect front door decor! 
Instead of creating wreath out of them, I thought they would look good as a swag, similar to my scroll saw candy corn that I loved to much.

June is national Celebrate Outdoor month and I am always looking for ways to encourage my kids to get off the sofa and outside. It is often hard to pull them away from video games or electronics, so instead of fighting that battle, I’m using their favorite play things to my advantage.

The one toy my kids CANNOT get enough of is LEGO.  I’ve written about how much it means to me that my kids play with LEGO building sets just like I did as a kid, and even as they get older, they still love them!

Spring is almost here.. sort of.  But even if you are still under snow or suffering from cold temperatures, it is time to start gardening! Even if that means doing it indoors.

So today I want to show you how I made a simple little kitchen herb garden which is perfect either right on the kitchen counter, or even mounted on the wall.

The premise is simple, grow your fresh herbs right where you are going to use them: the kitchen.  And in this case I made mine to house the most common herbs we use in our cooking.