DIY

SO, I am pretty excited…

In just two weeks, I am teaching a class with Victor Burgos (the contractor I work with all the time) so that you can come and ask any kind of renovation question that you may have!! It is going to be a “stump the chumps” kinda evening, and I can’t wait to see what questions you have about beautifying your bathroom or kicking your old kitchen to the curb. 🙂

Below is the blurb as will be featured in the DelcoNewsNetwork Paper–

Have you been considering a bathroom or kitchen renovation, but not at all sure where to start, what to expect in terms of cost, or how to create a new space that is stunning and the same time oh-so-functional?? Planning Your Stunningly Successful Renovation promises to be a fun and informative evening where you can bring all of your burning questions about your potential home projects and have them answered by the experts– Erin Cochran of Revealing Redesign & Victor Burgos of Victor R. Burgos & Son, Inc. Builder/General Contractor.  Class is Thursday June 12th at 7:30 pm at the Locust Hill Professional Center 327 W Baltimore Pike, Media, PA. The class is FREE but registration is required.

Email me directly if you are interested in registering (erin@revealingredesign.com)! Hope to see you there!!

 

A couple of years ago I invited a colleague of mine over, a woman who is a professional gardener, to answer a few questions and give me a fresh perspective on the grounds around our house…

The advice she gave me wasn’t what I had expected at all, didn’t just pertain to gardening, and has forever changed how I look at my yard and my house. I am hoping it will help you, too. 

In those days, I had a large herb and perennial garden in a far-flung corner of our yard. It was fun to hike out there at times to visit–it did feel like another world–but it often was neglected and was off on its own for many days or weeks at a time. 

“Why do you have this all the way down here?” she asked me. 

I am sure I had a puzzled look on my face, and I probably muttered an answer that made really good sense to me at the time… something like it had sun, & didn’t that big flat piece of land need something??, and shouldn’t your garden be visible from the street so it makes the house look good??

“But it isn’t where you are all the time. You really should have your garden where you will walk past it each day and enjoy it as it grows and changes.”

Well, duh, right? HELLO. How did I miss such an important point of having a garden??? I had made it about being big, impressive, complicated…I had made it about everything but my enjoyment. 

SO, THIS IS YOUR ASSIGNMENT FOR THE MONTH!!  (even if you don’t have a garden…)

Now that summer is here, carve out a little space of your own where you can enjoy an outdoor view, a cool breeze, a potted plant…and put it where it is right there in front of you all the time so you actually USE IT.  A nice place to sit right outside your front door (even if you don’t have time to sit there at the moment) can make you smile as you leave your house to go to work in the morning.

And it will be there to welcome you home at the end of the day. 🙂

I feel very blessed since I now have two places–one right outside my front door, and one outside my kitchen door–that beckon to me to come outside and sit awhile, each with their own little garden that I enjoy whether I am sitting there or simply walking to my car on my way to an appointment.  The small beds are easy to tend to, and I have other things that delight me in the spaces too–like a bird feeder that attracts all kinds of feathered friends, or twinkle lights and candles that I can light in the evening. Heaven. 

Just about very day I enjoy these little spaces. Every day they make me smile–and that is what I want for you, too. 

 

HOORAY! We’ve made it!! It is the first day of Spring!!!!

And I am willing to bet that the only time you have spent on your front step or porch lately has been time spent shoveling….ugh and ICK.

Enough of that already.

It is time for an entirely different experience….

And it is time for our quick assignment of the month!!!

Grab your timer, your broom, and your best tune to whistle. I’ll meet you outside!

1. Set Your Timer–Just 15 Minutes: Once the timer starts, grab anything and everything that is still on the front porch that says “winter” (practically a dirty word at this point). No lingering pine cones, dead evergreens, decorations with snowflakes (what were we thinking?!?)–and for goodness sake, grab the snow shovel that is still propped there.  Put all of these things away wherever they go–either in the trash, storage or in your car to donate.
2. Sweep, Sweep, Sweep!!: Lift up the mat, pull out the porch furniture, get behind the pots… and sweep, sweep, sweep all of those old dead leaves and drab winter grit right out of there! YAY!
3. Hope You Are Whistling…it is required.
4. Just Before The Timer Goes Off– straighten chairs, and put things back in place. Be sure to step back and admire your work!

Congratulations! You have just created a more welcoming entry for visitors, for YOU and your family, and for the one who seemed to take so long in getting here– SPRING! 🙂

FOR EXTRA CREDIT: Stop at your local garden center and treat yourself to a happy little six pack of pansies. Plop them in your planters or in the ground near your front door. They don’t mind the cold, and will greet you with cheer and color from now until summer….

Remember these assignments are supposed to be fun not overwhelming! Set your timer, and have fun. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

I hope that this month’s assignment puts a smile on your face, as well as a song in your heart–whistling while cleaning is one of my favorites! 🙂 Hope you will stop by my page on Facebook and comment about your sweeping adventure. Have you “liked” Revealing Redesign yet??

Just yesterday I was at HomeGoods shopping for a client’s kitchen renovation–and, you know, you can find the coolest and funniest things in the kitchen gadget department…“OOH!” I thought, “A coffee pot brush! It is squishy, and… so SQUISHY! and….there is a handle! And it says it is ‘totally harmless’…FASCINATING. Oh, I WANT that! How squishy!”

But waitaminute…I have a question:

How many functions/tasks will this tool help me accomplish in my kitchen? Let’s review:

• Yes, I know it is squishy (clearly something I value).
• Yes, I know it would REALLY adeptly and harmlessly clean my coffeepot (since when am I so worried about the wellbeing of my coffee carafe??).
• Yes, I know it is innovative and neat-o…

BUT how many functions/tasks will this tool help me accomplish in my kitchen??? 

Why do I keep asking this same question? Why should YOU keep asking yourself this question as well? I’m going to tell you because…

You guessed it! This is our quick assignment for the month!!

This quirky coffee pot brush might distract me with dreams of a squeaky clean coffee machine….but it isn’t going to chop vegetables,  clear snow, help me change a lightbulb, or sign school papers as well. ALL IT WILL EVER DO IS CLEAN MY COFFEE POT–and it will take up a lot of space in the many days that stretch between coffee machine deep cleanings–am I right??

Storage space in our kitchens is a very valuable and limited resource. When we decide to have something take up some of this precious space, we need to do so with some scrutiny–making sure that the item has truly earned the right to be there. The question of how many tasks the implement helps us accomplish is a very important one, because as a general rule we should not have anything in our kitchen that only does one thing.

Did you just gasp?

Did you just run to hide your Mellon Baller??

Your assignment this month is to set a timer for 15 minutes and try to find at least three things that aren’t earning their keep in your kitchen. If it is something that is rarely or never used, or something that is so specific to one certain task that suddenly you see how ridiculous it is that you have been letting it take up so much real estate, let it go and free up some much needed space in this hard working room!

Remember these assignments are supposed to be fun not overwhelming! Set your timer, and have fun. Can’t wait to hear how it goes!

With all of the cold, snowy, bitter weather we are having (brrrrrrr), I thought it was a really good idea for us to revisit a homework assignment we had last year at this time…
 

Here are the three simple steps:

Step One: Pick a place in your house where you spend a lot of time–a spot that is visible to you most of the time that you are home… (the picture below is of my office windowsill…what I am looking at right now as I type this).

Step Two: Put a pretty vessel there with some with water in it…(anything will do–even a drinking glass from the kitchen).

Step Three: Plunk some pretty stems in it…perhaps ones that caught your eye at the grocery store as you did your weekly shopping.

TA DAAAAH! Homework done, and I bet there is a smile on your face. 🙂

At this dreary, drab, cold time of year, I think this simple and inexpensive task is the most important thing we can do around the house to brighten things up and lift our spirits.

HOORAY!

Be sure to do your homework! I know it will lift your spirits and help chase the winter doldrums away.  Once you have your beautiful blossoms, snap a picture of them and share it with me on Revealing Redesign’s Facebook page! (Have you “liked” Revealing Redesign yet??)

Do you remember Glinda the Good Witch telling Dorothy at the end of The Wizard of Oz, that the power and magic she was seeking had indeed been inside of her all along? Want to know what YOU have in common with Dorothy??

You guessed it! This is our quick assignment for the month!!

We don’t need any ruby slippers or magic wands (although that snazzy headdress/tiara thing Glinda wears is pretty darn spectacular…where can I get me one of those??). Nothing extra is required, because today’s assignment is so simple you really don’t need anything that you don’t already have. However, doing this month’s assignment has the power to change everything.

Here are the two things you need to do:

1. Notice one thing in your home each day that you are grateful for…

My heater just came on as I am typing this. I am very grateful for heat on this cold morning. Also, I love the way the sun is shining through my office window. So pretty. Look around you with an open heart and notice all of the gifts that  we can easily overlook as we all too often furrow our brow and wonder why our home doesn’t look like the latest Pottery Barn catalog.

2. Write it down.  

This week leading up to Thanksgiving we have a wonderful opportunity to “see” things differently. Taking the next step of writing down that which we are grateful for helps us to really take in all of our blessings. Next Thursday you will have a concrete list of at least seven things ( and I bet you will have many more than that) to read over and feel your heart swell with gratitude. You will be amazed at how much your house has changed in a week. You will see you had the power all along….

Extra Credit: Share this with a friend–Things are always more fun with a friend or partner, and knowing that you each are writing a gratitude journal will make it more likely that you will actually do it. Make plans to share your entries with one another on Thanksgiving–what a blessing!

Remember these assignments are supposed to be fun not overwhelming! I hope this week, and in future weeks, you will take on an attitude of gratitude. This simple shift in what we notice, what we pay attention to,  can change everything about our lives in our houses & in our lives overall, without a single dollar being spent or contractor being called…

What are you grateful for? I would love to hear about it….and SEE A PICTURE TOO!! 🙂  Be sure to join the conversation on Facebook (have you “liked” Revealing Redesign yet??).