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Zombie Proofing Your Home

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Ready for a do-it-yourself home project?  You can zombie proof your house!  It may cost a pretty penny – what for the mechanics of pulling down the steel doors, stocking the roof with the proper defense, and (what was left out of this house) a court yard for raising your own food, but if the zombies come it would be well worth the investment!

From our friends at PopFi,

So how safe is this house?  Well, for starters, you can seal off the entire first floor from outside entrance using some heavy-looking movable block walls and metal security doors.  The only permanent entrance to the house is on the second floor, and that is protected by a removable drawbridge/gangplank type of thing that folds up perfectly into the profile of the house for maximum protection.

Here’s the before:

Zombie after:

Thanks, guys!

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Composting Made Easy

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If you live in an apartment or townhouse and want to preserve scraps for nature’s compost, then how do you do it?  Zoe Kyklos offers a great suggestion,

Simply place your vegetable scraps in a bag and place the bag in the freezer until the scraps can be returned to the earth. This practice will keep away insects and smells. Friends and family may have a place where you can return the scraps.

Kudos to people who make this effort to help return the bounty of the planet back to the Earth.

Photo by Ariana Rose Taylor-Stanley via flickr creative commons.

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Decoupage Table

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A friend of mine has a log cabin next to a bubbling stream.  If this isn’t idyllic enough, the inside has a long, warm kitchen with a long, warm table in which you could spend hours talking, laughing, and reminiscing.

The kitchen table is central in the comfort of a home.  It can be elegant or whimsical.  It can be plastic, metallic, or wood.  And it can be changed if you’re not feeling the love.

While the table featured at Ikea Hackers is a coffee table, you can gain inspiration for an interesting kitchen table right here.

The finish on this coffee table had a way of collecting and showing off dust, fingerprints, and crumbs like you wouldn’t believe. It was driving me nuts so I decided to decoupage the top to add color, texture, and dimension to an otherwise boring table.

I would suggest book covers, newspapers with significant headlines or photos, or magazine covers as a possible table cover. Click through to read the directions on applying the new table top and good luck!

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Video: Installing Moisture Barrier

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It’s been a few years since I’ve climbed under my house.  Okay by climb I mean “looked under it with a flash light” but still.  We do have a vapor barrier, but should double check to make sure it’s still in place.  If you need to install one, it can be done fairly drama free.  Here’s how.

Good luck!

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Basic Gardening Rules

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These ten simple steps are helpful for the aspiring gardener.  From Gardens Now, these basic rules of thumb may do some product pushing, but try to read past that … and go get your hands dirty!

Rule #3 – Plant your plants in the right place in your yard–sun-loving plants in the sun, shade-loving plants in the shade.

Rule #4 – Provide your plants with complete nutrition. Most fertilizers and plant foods don’t. Spray-N-Grow and Bill’s Perfect Fertilizer provide major and minor elements identified by botanists as necessary for plant growth and production.

One tip that was left off is to seek advice from other gardeners.  Hear what tips and advice they can give because they’ll know the local soil, how rocky it is, what does well, what doesn’t.

Spring is coming… just a couple more months!

Photo by Vasenka via flickr creative commons.

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Painting the Exterior of Your Home

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The wood on the exterior of our home badly needs some paint.  Right now the part that has not flaked off is white, but I wouldn’t mind changing the color to something different.  How do you pick?  The Minnesota Painting Company describes how to pick a color, how to match the architectural design, and how to find a painter on their recent post,

You can choose different colors to accentuate the specific architectural designs and elements. These colors should contrast with the background color and add emphasis and beauty to your home. You can choose darker shades to add emphasis and lighter shades to show projections. However, remember to avoid stark contrasts as it takes away from the aesthetic value of your exterior painting.

I’m thinking the color of a Fall leaf would go nicely with our brown brick.

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Fun Chair for the Whimsical

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My husband caulked around our windows yesterday and I have instructed him to check the weather-stripping around our front door. The message I’m getting is he doesn’t like being bossed around! However, caulking is a great way to save on your energy costs during the winter months.

I’d do the weather stripping myself, but my schedule is already full.  I might be able to handle a project like this, though!

A Domo-Kun chair made easy from Ikea Hackers.

This would be great for a college dorm room or young’ish adults starting out in their own apartments or houses.  Very fun, very whimsical!

H/T Brittney.

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Gathering the Coyote “Sample” Could be Tricky

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Any gardener knows that besides lack of water, the next biggest problem of growing your own food or flowers could be the wild animals that venture into your yard. Instead of you enjoying the harvest, the animals do it for you.

Whether it’s deer, squirrels, raccoons, possums, rabbits, or other wildlife, it’s maddening to go out to pick that juicy tomato you’ve watched grow for weeks only to find it half devoured.  There are ways to keep the animals out.  One old fashioned method is tying two aluminum pie pans together.  The concept is that either the clanging noise, the movement, or the shine will scare away the animal intruders.

My favorite solution of the day, however, is using coyote urine.  From Wovre,

Animals spray urine as a means of communicating to other animals. They leave the message “This is my territory, stay out!” Some messages are not as powerful as others. Chihuahua urine may not scare the deer away, but coyote urine sends powerful messages to all potential intruders! Using coyote urine to repel deer, raccoons, and other nuisance animals is easy and safe.

I suppose ordering it online is a better solution than the idea I had… like milking a cat.

Photo by Don DeBold via Flickr Creative Commons.

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