We showed you a while ago how we painted french doors. If you missed the posts, you can find it here and also here. Now it's time to show you the end result. It was a time consuming process but it was worth it. The entrance to our living room is now finished. We installed french doors, new trim and hardware.
Most people hate cleaning their fridge. It's difficult to move all the jars and containers around to get it clean. It's nice to have a clean, fresh smelling fridge. We got tired of wiping it with paper towel and started washing it the old fashion way. Here is our quick, easy and the most efficient way of cleaning the fridge.
You will need:
- dish soap
- paper towel
- dish sponge
- dish cloth
- multi purpose cleaner - we recommend environment friendly cleaners
- 30 minutes of your time
Here are the steps:
Wait for your fridge to be almost empty. This way, you will not have to remove all the groceries to get started. We shop weekly, so by Sunday, there is not much left in our fridge. It looks pretty much like this.
It's been a hot summer and after a busy day gardening and working around the house, there is nothing better than the satisfaction we get from our work. We can't imagine having a backyard without trees, shrubs or perennial garden. We treat our backyard like our private resort, where we can relax and enjoy the nature.
Our flower urn was showing its age, so it was time to restore it and give it a fresh new look. We use it throughout the year, so the weather conditions damaged the paint over the years. In the summer, we use it mostly in our backyard. This is from last year. You can tell the urn is starting to show damage.
In the fall, the same urn becomes our front door sinamey arrangement with fresh pumpkin.
So here it's how to give an old urn a great new look for less then $10. First, we sanded it to remove the old paint as much as possible especially in the most damaged spots.
Next, Joe used a black spray paint to apply a first coat. Make sure it's done outside in a well ventilated area. Always wear a mask and protective glasses (gloves are also a great idea).
Cover all areas with paint and then let it dry outside according to the manufacturer's instructions. If the first coat doesn't cover the damage, apply a second coat and let it dry.
Unforgettable Florida Road Trip by George Christodoulou from onetravel.wordpress.com
A road trip can be extremely fun and exciting. There’s nothing like spending five to ten hours in a car with your buddies while you drive down to your favorite vacation spot. My recent road trip from New York to Florida was certainly a trip to remember. Excited about the idea of riding in a car for several hours, I could not wait to get the trip started. Approximately two hours in and I was already tired and ready to reach the time share. Worst of all, my friend had create a tape of his most recent collection of favorite songs. There is nothing like hearing “On the Road Again” 16 times in a row. Truly, that song never gets old, and the idea of being on the road certainly made listening to it for 30 minutes straight all the more scintillating.
Okay, so the actual ride to the timeshare was a bit nightmarish, but it was well worth it. The house was beautiful and featured two rooms, two bathrooms, a large living room, a dining area, and a well equipped kitchen. I looked forward to preparing some meals for my friends. I enjoy cooking and I hardly ever get to show off my skills since I only cook for myself. The first thing we had to do was take a trip to the local Walmart to stock up on the necessities. In case you were wondering, going to the store with a group of 8 people can be disastrous. Nobody was willing to take control and make decisions so we ended up spending hours just trying to figure out what to purchase for the week. At the end of the day we were tired, but how can anyone pass up taking a dip in the pool? We pushed our bodies to the limit and decided to hit the pool. It was a refreshing way to end the day.
The rest of the week all followed a simple schedule. Either we headed to Universal studios for a day of rides and roller coasters or we stayed at the house and enjoyed swimming, working out, and relaxing. Universal Studios was a great experience. There were so many types of rides I had never experienced before. The 3D rides featuring movies, comic books, and television shows were a lot of fun. I’m not sure which one was my favorite, but the Simpsons ride would definitely be at the top of the list. There’s nothing like being put into a giant baby’s mouth, or falling down to hell to be rescued by Professor Frink. All in all, the activities were entertaining and enjoyable. The end of the week neared and we had another long ride back home, but I did not mind this one as much. Everyone was tired and ready to go home and sleep so it was quiet and relaxing. We even met up with a friend living in South Carolina for breakfast. When we finally reached New York, I was exhausted so I jumped into bed and ended my wonderful adventure.
George Christodoulou is a travel blogger for the onetravel.com (Offering cheap tickets) blog. He loves to travel and hopes he can move to Cyprus one day when he is done traveling the rest of the world.
We love the sound of water in our garden. It's very relaxing. There are many options in water garden design to choose from, depending on your budget and the size of your garden. You can even install a great wall fountain on your balcony if you live in a condominium.
For small outdoor spaces or balconies, we recommend wall fountains. It's very easy to install it. Basically, it has a hanging mechanism just like a picture frame. When we bought our wall fountain, we added extra support on the bottom.
For any garden, regular fountain is a great option. We love to watch birds having a bath on a hot day. This fountain is on our front yard, nice way to welcome guests to our home.
Pond requires the biggest space, budget and maintenance but it's the best in water gardens. You can add floating plants or fish if you like. Check out our post on how we built the pond. If you have questions, let us know and we will be happy to contact you. All the hard work is so worth it when we sit outside and enjoy our garden.
We also love to visit botanical gardens when we travel. They usually have amazing water gardens. This one was in Montreal, Quebec.
Do you have a water garden? We would love to hear from you.
Happy Canada Day!
Enjoy your long weekend and celebrate Canada's 143rd birthday. We plan to enjoy the great weather, spend time outdoors and catch up on some gardening around the house. Here are some pictures from our trips in Canada. Happy 4th of July to our friends in the States.
We have been renovating our house room by room, and this year it's finally time to get the bedroom done. When we bought the house, we painted the bedroom but didn't buy new furniture at that time. Just recently, we decided to sell our old IKEA bedroom set, so that we can start designing our new bedroom. Pottery Barn is our biggest inspiration, so this is what we came up with using technology. As always, this is just an idea, we can get the furniture much cheaper.
Bedroom by Blueloom on Polyvore.com
It was about 1:45 pm this afternoon when I felt the earthquake for the first time in my life! I was at work, sitting at my desk when suddenly everything around me started to vibrate. There is a construction going on not far from our building, so I thought maybe it's the heavy equipment causing it. Then, my co-workers asked if I felt something. Then Joe called me from work. He works about 30 miles from my work. My friends got calls from family in Montreal, Ottawa and Michigan. The center of this earthquake (magnitude of 5.0) was at a depth of 12 miles, northeast of Ottawa. We are in the Greater Toronto Area which is only 4-5 hours away. Nothing has happened, it was just weird. I have never experienced an earthquake before. They were predicting tornadoes for this afternoon, no one mentioned the earthquake.
Apparently, people in Ohio, Michigan, New Jersey, Connecticut and New York State felt it. Tell us if you did.
Today is my birthday. I'm the summer solstice baby!
I love summer and gardening, so I wanted so share some of the flowers from my backyard with you. If you click on each picture, you can save the full size and use it as your desktop wallpaper.
And happy birthday to everyone born on June 21!!!!
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