How to utilize the dead space in a closet

Hey there! Now that the garage is all decluttered and organized, I’ve been focusing more on the changes in our mud/laundry room again. 
I shared my plan for adding a ton more storage and other changes to make this room work even better for us a couple weeks ago. I’m so excited about these changes! They’ve already made a BIG difference in here. 
I’ve moved things around a bunch — including moving some things from the garage that just work better inside. I’ll show you all of that soon! This week I’ve been focusing on the closet we have in here: 
My dream was always to have a big closet in our mud room! When I saw how big this laundry/mud combo was going to be, I knew we’d have plenty of room for a closet. My favorite part is the OUTLET I had put inside. Game changer. 
Anyway,
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

Delicious strawberry pretzel dessert recipe

It’s strawberry season! This crunchy and sweet strawberry dessert is a hit EVERY time I make it! It’s one of my favorite desserts ever. I’m not a big cook so when I share something here you know it’s going to be good and easy. This is so yummy! It’s a perfect combination of sweet and salty, my favorite. 

A friend of mine used to make this every time we got together and it got to the point where I would request it. I finally asked her for the recipe and now it’s my go-to for summer get togethers. (But it works ALL year round!)
Here’s what you’ll need to make this Strawberry Pretzel Dessert: 

  • 2 cups crushed pretzels (make sure this is two cups after you’ve crushed them — I actually use a little more)
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 (8 ounce) package softened cream cheese
  • 1
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

How to install molding and add interest to basic walls

I’ve been working on this wall molding project for almost four months and it’s finally done!! Geesh. I started it right after I finished the HUGE wall of bookcases in the basement but I kept getting distracted by other projects that were brighter and shinier. 😉 
The mud/laundry makeover and the garage clean out and organization took up a couple of those months. And then I was just…well, tired from all of that. A couple of weeks ago I finally started up this panel molding project again. 
It took longer than expected because when do a project like this, one thing always snowballs into a million other smaller projects. Every. time. But I’m REALLY loving how it turned out and I’m also really happy I added all of the smaller projects. 
When I finished the wall of built ins down here, I knew right away that the other walls needed
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

THE cutest {cat} door ever!

I’m back with more progress on Project Add More Storage in our mud/laundry space! It’s coming together so beautifully! I’ve been adding storage, changing up storage and moving things around to make this room function so much better for us. 
Last I left you, I finished up the simple shelves at the end of the closet in that room: 
I love this little trick for using that dead space in a closet! 
Next up, I needed to add a little something to one of the closet doors. MANY of you have been wondering where we were going to put our litter boxes. Shortly after we moved in I added a DIY “curtain” and hid the kitty litter under the folding table: 
Folding counter with cat litter underneath
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Since then we’ve installed drawer base cabinets here instead (you can
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

Where to buy butcher block countertops {that you can bring home today}

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know I’m a HUGE fan of wood counters, or butcher block as it’s often called. I’ve used them in both of our houses in a number of rooms over the years. One of the most common questions I get is where I’ve purchased the wood counters I’ve used around our home. I’m sharing all of the places you can find them in stock (today!) at the end of this post.
I may be wrong, but I feel like it used to be much harder to find wood counters readily available for purchase. Maybe the farmhouse design trend increased the availability? Could be. Could be I was living under a rock all those years. 
I know some shy away from using wood counters, especially in a kitchen, but they can absolutely hold up to just about anything (heat is the
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

Easy DIY laundry shelf over washer and dryer

Well hello! The mud/laundry room changes continue, and this project is an oldie but goodie. This is the second time I’ve added a DIY shelf unit behind our top loader washer and dryer — I love them! 
This room is turning out so beautifully, but it has tested me! I’ve had problems with almost every DIY project I’ve worked on in here — I had to tear half of this one out and do it again. So many of the items I’ve ordered for the room have been delayed, and items that did arrive on time were wrong or not enough for what I needed. 
It’s been SO much fun. 😜 I don’t think I’ve ever had this many problems on a space before. And that’s saying a lot considering I’ve been at this for nearly 20 years!
Thankfully all of them have been worth it in the end! This
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

How to cut crown molding for easy installation

Do you ever putt off attempting a DIY project (or any project!) because you’ve convinced yourself that it will be super difficult? I’ve had that happen many times over the years, but I find that if I do my research and just TRY…it’s never as bad as I think it will be. Most of the time it’s the easy projects that give me fits. 😉 
Cutting and installing crown molding was one project I put off for years. I mentioned years back that I didn’t know how to cope or cut crown molding — so I always used corner pieces like these when installing crown: 

decorative corners for easy crown molding

I really liked them — they add some nice architectural interest. They fit right into the corners and make the installation of crown SO much easier. You just cut straight cuts and butt the crown up against it.
The only issue is the cost —

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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

Tips for making builder cabinets look custom

I’m nearing the end of my latest room makeover and I’m SO happy with how it looks! Just one more big project and a few small ones to complete before the final reveal! You can read about all of the big changes to our mud/laundry room storage situation here. 
Here’s a reminder of what we started with on this wall: 
We hid the kitty litter underneath and the top was supposed to be a folding table. Haha! There was rarely room to fold anything. As much as I have decluttered and organized in our home, we still needed a spot for many items around the house. A lot of them ended up on this counter! 
Then we had some upper cabinets moved from over the washer and dryer to this spot, and I installed four inexpensive drawer units on the bottom: 
unfinished drawer cabinets
They are the basic unfinished cabinets you can
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

The easiest way to tile a backsplash {Less mess!}

Whew, I’m almost done with my latest room update! I’ll share links to all of the projects I’ve completed in our laundry/mud room at the end of the post — just in case you missed one. Can’t have that. The tile project I’m sharing today is one of my favorites I’ve ever done — first of all because it was SO easy (I’ll share why in a minute) and because it is beautiful! 
I fell hard last year for the square, slightly shimmery tile called zellige. Turns out it was very trendy a couple of years ago…as usual I’m way behind on the trends. (And I’m fine with that.) It has a wavy texture that makes it look handmade…and usually it is! 
The real stuff is VERY expensive, but I really wanted to use it for the small backsplash in our laundry/mud room:
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security

The easiest plant for your garden {EVER}

I have found (literally) the easiest plant/flower EVER. It’s inexpensive, grows like crazy, doesn’t even need to be truly “planted”…and you can complete ignore it and it will thrive. Yesss! 
I found these easy garden tiles last year and can’t even believe how well they are doing. I had to share them with you! Oh, and they are perennials (which means it stays alive over the winter or come back after) and even look great in the colder months. I only wish I had known about them sooner. 🙂 
I discovered this easy to grow plant when I installed our cafe lights on the back patio last year: 
Our lights are industrial grade and heavy so we needed a way to secure the planters so they would hold the weight. 
You can see how we installed the cement filled planters for the outdoor lights here. I left some
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Categories: Home Contractor, Home Decor, Home Experience, Home Exterior, Home for rent, Home Improvement, Home Improvement Ideas, Home interior, Home security