scrub

  • small improvements: painting the trim.

    I’ll try my best to manage expectations from the get-go: This is not a post about stripping your trim or unearthing your crown moldings or restoring your fluted door frames to their original glory.…

    January 19, 2021 12 Comments
  • eight gifts for a handmade hanukkah.

    Tomorrow is the first night of Hanukkah and in celebration, Rose thought up eight suggestions for simple handmade gifts to offer this year. All of these can be paired with other treats, offered solo,…

    December 9, 2020 8 Comments
  • life in a tiny apartment.

    Tip #196: Sign on the dotted line. In the past 48 hours I have been to the hardware store three different times. I’ve stretched the yellow tape measure and snapped it back into place…

    August 19, 2020 79 Comments
  • habit shift: safety razors.

    When I was ten I shaved my legs for the first time. In defiance of the arbitrary mandate from my mother that I was not to do so until the eighth grade, I borrowed…

    July 30, 2020 33 Comments
  • removing candle wax from fabric.

    At the time of writing I have three different candles burning because it’s January and this weekend’s brilliant sun and unseasonably warm temperatures have been replaced with the month’s hallmark dreary gray skies and…

    January 13, 2020 12 Comments
  • simple sustainable swaps for a new year.

    This post is sponsored by Grove Collaborative, an online marketplace committed to making it easier to find healthy and sustainable household essentials. For better or worse, I start every new year with a list…

    January 7, 2020 15 Comments
  • giving: a macrame basket.

    Just about one year ago, Rose Pearlman and I began collaborating on simple, useful craft projects that could be easily made from inexpensive hardware store materials and that can serve a practical purpose in your home.…

    December 9, 2019 3 Comments
  • giving: a corded rope.

    Just about one year ago, Rose Pearlman and I began collaborating on simple, useful craft projects that could be easily made from inexpensive hardware store materials and that can serve a practical purpose in…

    December 2, 2019 9 Comments
  • baby proof: kids’ art supplies.

    As a kid, I kept my most special art supplies in an old wine box, with a hinged top and a latch that always went askew. Watercolors and modeling wax and chalky pastels all…

    September 3, 2019 53 Comments
  • old chair, new seat.

    I made a new seat for an old chair this week. In a sweltering cobwebbed corner of my mom and dad’s attic, I found what I’d abandoned there years before: a small chair too…

    July 18, 2019 26 Comments