Quick question: is it just me, or is everything becoming smartphone-enabled these days? What’s next, a smartphone-enabled dog collar?
Kidding. They totally have about fifteen varieties of those already. No offense to the gadget-loving tech nerds out there (#fistbump from a fellow nerd of many things), but I personally think I fall a little further down the scale between “Early Adopter” and “Waiting Until the Duct Tape Peels Off” in terms of when I replace technology. It’s not that I don’t think gadgets are cool; it’s just that I hold a much tighter grip on my wallet and am unwilling to part with its contents until something is close to breaking—or completely broken with no hope of repair.
There’s usually only one exception that convinces me to fight my normal instincts: products that make my life a little safer and less stressful.
Did you ever read the children’s book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, as a kid? I didn’t, but one of my ex-boyfriends used to accuse me of thinking that way every time I left the house (I eventually looked up the story on the internet, which also means I then spent that evening giving him crap for the analogy). But, I had to admit that he was right: just as we’d head out of my neighborhood, I’d audibly worry about whether the doors were locked. That the dog wasn’t able to get into the trash. That I’d unplugged my flat iron and wasn’t about to come home to a smoldering pile of ashes thanks to my vanity (I’m exaggerating, but he had a valid point).
I first heard about Nest Labs back in 2011 when a bunch of bloggers reviewed their energy-saving thermostat and went on and on about how cool and convenient it was for being able to program it from their phone. I hesitated to buy one, thinking that more than likely, there would be a few upgrades and a new version would eventually come out with added features and a better app (coughcough, every other piece of technology ever). And sure enough, their 2nd generation version was exactly that.
This thought process, of course, clearly only applies to tech gadgets. As the eldest of two sisters, I am not at all applying this to people. (So don’t even try it, Emily.)
Anyway, when the same company came out with the Nest Protect smoke and CO2 detector in 2014, I figured that the same thing would happen and there would eventually be a 2nd generation version. And a year later, there is—and that’s why we find ourselves in a giveaway situation.
Recently, TotalProtect Home Warranty has been running a promo this summer that gives homeowners a complimentary Nest Protect with a qualifying TotalProtect Home Warranty plan (a retail value of $99). And just because they seem to love this new smoke and CO2 detector regardless, they offered to give away a Nest Protect to one of you guys!
I haven’t had the opportunity to install one for myself yet, but given that this thing has some pretty nifty features, it seemed only right to get the giveaway started as soon as possible so that one of you amazing readers could try it out for yourselves. Some of the key features include:
Spoken alarms (none of that annoying beeping at 2am… a real human-sounding voice will literally tell you “head’s up” that your battery is dying)
Battery or wired options available
It tests itself (admit it—you know you forget to do this)
If there is smoke or CO2 detected, it tells you which detector (so basically, which room) it was sensed from
Can detect both slow- and fast-burning fires (as much as I love Ikea, did you know that today’s use of particle board and foam in furniture makes a room burn faster? Yikes!)
Smartphone control (including hushing the alarm if you burn the toast and don’t feel like getting on a ladder) and alerts, even when you’re away from home (so less worrying)
Not to mention: it looks one hell of a lot sleeker than the giant urinal cake design that most of the competitors have.
Let’s get on with the giveaway, shall we?
Prize: One (1) Nest Protect Smoke & CO2 Alarm
Number of winners: 1
Giveaway ends: Wednesday, Sept 2 at 11:59pm
Eligibility: U.S. residents only
To enter: I’m using Rafflecopter to run this giveaway (just because it makes things a lot easier to pick a winner), but since you know how I like to have a little fun with giveaway comments, I’d like to know: What was the last thing you accidentally burned? Your hair… the carpet… the roof of your mouth?
Late in 2013, I was offered the opportunity to fulfill a fantasy of mine and experience what it might be like to be one of those incredible DIY designers on TV. The chaos, the budget constraints, the extremely tight time limit… all of it seemed both completely nuts and like something no one would ever be dumb enough to allow me of all people to do. So when SheKnowsTV came calling and offered me a chance to be a designer on an online season of Homestretch, I eagerly said yes… assuming that at any minute, they’d figure out their mistake and send me on the first plane back home.
During the experience, I also met a really great couple with a simple need for finding extra space in their teeny, tiny laundry room. It took a lot of hard work, but it became what is still one of my proudest projects to date, and I was very anxious to share all of their laundry room makeover pictures once I got back home.
The thing is, I had to wait to share pictures of all of the final makeover photos until the episodes were cut, so the recap post about it got pushed to the back burner. And once I started moving on to other projects at home again (plus holidays), it just never seemed to fit into my schedule to talk about it anymore… even after doing a second season on a different room with another couple!
Recently, there’s been a new opportunity to look back at this project (and the second season project) and do a proper recap since I don’t want to bore you with my kitchen makeover details until the walls are finished and painted. So for today, I thought I’d start with some highlights and behind-the-scenes details about what it was like to be behind the camera. This post will get WAY too long to cover it all in a single overview once I go over the nitty gritty of all the design decisions, so I’m breaking this apart so that you can first know the details leading up to the design, and I’ll cover some tips about how to cram a lot of organization into a tiny room in another post coming later this week. Enjoy!
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Filming
As it turns out, I was totally right about the nuts part of what it is like to be in front of a camera for two straight days, with nonstop filming, with lots of interruptions thrown in because of things like re-shots, on-camera interviews, and having to stop working with loud power tools because microphones and saws are apparently mortal enemies (#themoreyouknow). It was easily one of the most intimidating things I’ve ever done, and I felt like I was on the verge of tears at least half the time (I may not have made this obvious, but I have a LOT of anxiety about being in front of a camera, which is why I’ve been Periscoping recently to get more comfortable with it). So before I get into the makeover, I just wanted to add that the SheKnowsTV crew was amazing… and despite the growing lump in my throat over embarrassing myself in front of an entire crew of my complete ineptitude, they gave me exactly the kind of help I needed to get through it and keep saying yes to everything they threw at me.
Two days? Sure! Even though I’ve never once completed a project in two days, let alone understanding the start-stop-start chaos of filming the process. And let’s do all of that learning in front of a camera.
Just $2,000? Sure! Even though I have never really ever budgeted for a total room makeover from top to bottom, let’s see what happens.
Point is, as a DIYer, I usually kind of wing it. I do tons of research to feel prepared-ish for whatever it is I’m about to take on, but most of the projects I do on this blog are things I have never tackled before. That’s part of where the fun comes in, but it’s also what takes more time and makes me 100%, without a doubt, completely not an expert. And if you’re going to be in front of a camera and expected to teach other people your DIY skills, the fact that you know you’re not going to fill these “expert” shoes is… well… wholly terrifying. Especially when they are pitting you against another DIYer who, despite being an amazing blogging friend I’ve known for years (which did help to make me feel more comfortable agreeing to it), is a freaking badass builder to boot. And someone I’m sure you’ll recognize.
So, that’s the situation I found myself in. And less than a week later of signing the contract, I was sent off to Scottsdale, Arizona for filming. I was greeted at the airport by a private driver (which I’ve never done before that point, so I thought was pretty neat).
I was sent to an amazing resort hotel (that I got about an hour each night in to enjoy before passing out because of the long filming days).
I sat in a makeup chair like a person who gets their hair and makeup done (what?!).
I wore a mic pack in my shorts and wires had to be snaked up through my bra (and before you go thinking that the mic guy has a cool job getting to stick his hand down women’s shirts, remember that he’s also the guy having to insert, position, and remove the boiling hot battery pack in your shorts/underwear just so in the Arizona heat). I had to do some really bad acting and pretend like everything I said was for the first time because the camera crew needed multiple takes. And, hardest of all… I had to look sane.
Do I seem like the type who can pull that off? Nope.
The Design Process: Setup
It was a long learning process in terms of filming, but they prepared me for the design part as best they could. While it often seems in these shows like the designer doesn’t get a chance to see the space before they jump into the design, that’s only partially true (at least in this case… other shows probably do it differently). Before my flight, I got to do a Skype call with one of the homeowners, Heidi, and get a feel for what her challenges were with the space and what her style is like so that I could start getting some ideas. What I didn’t fully get though was the true size and dimensions of the room… just pictures, really:
Basically, this “room” wasn’t a room at all. It was more like a passthrough closet that served to house the washer and dryer in between the garage and their enormous kitchen (I later found out that they gave Sandra first pick of which room she wanted to take on, and this one became mine after she chose the other house). Which meant that a majority of the things that a laundry room is usually reserved for spilled over into other spaces.
Nowhere to hang, store, or organize.Nowhere to fold!
All in all… not an ideal design plan.
As much as moving walls to give them more ample folding and hanging room would have been nice, it would not have been finished in two days, so anything I did was going to have to be contained in a space where I could literally touch my fingertips from one wall to another (and in the show clips, I actually used my body as a measuring tape to demonstrate how small of a space we’d be working in!).
Before flying out, I did a sketch of what I thought the room could ideally look like—you know, without actually seeing the house and knowing my space limitations and being completely unfamiliar with what I could do in the span of two days with filming interruptions (so, not super realistic). I still have the sketch, and I might even frame it as a fun little keepsake:
The Schedule
Timing was tight. On the day I would fly in town, I was expected to swing by the homeowners and check out the space for a few minutes before shopping for every supply I’d need for the entire project. The next day (Day 1) would begin filming at 7AM with hair and makeup, and the following day (Day 2) would end with final room shots before the crew packed up at 7PM.
Let me repeat the most important part of that: for this project, I was expected to buy every piece of wood, every can of paint, every screw, every tube of caulk, every piece of tile, and every finishing item of decor in a single day. As a DIYer, I’ve never done such a thing, nor could I actually imagine such a concept in my mind without getting a migraine. I was promised that one of the PAs on set would likely be in charge of making repeated trips to the nearby home improvement store if I needed an extra item of this or that, so I didn’t feel nearly as much like vomiting as when I first read those words, but still.
Prior to flying out, they arranged to have the tools I thought I’d need rented and delivered to the home (the homeowners had a handful of smaller supplies as well, but most of it needed to be rented or purchased). It worked out great, but there were hiccups with learning how each one of them worked compared to the brand I was used to using back at home. There were a lot of “D’oh!” moments caught on camera as I tried to unpack everything and figure out where all of the buttons and pulls were (I’m actually still curious as to why the bumbling DIYer film reel didn’t make it to the final cut… I’m sure it was entertaining).
I was also told by the producers that I would have a few interns on hand to delegate smaller projects to (I guess they assumed I had some crafty ideas in the works, which I didn’t), and that the homeowners would jump in for painting and prep (no reveal stuff of course). There really wouldn’t be any people on set with a lot of DIY or building experience (there were a few people in the crew who had done a couple of projects on their own homes, but not to the level that I did, and their job was to actually film stuff), and the rest would be up to me. Gulp.
The Crew
Upon arriving into town, I dropped off my bags at the hotel and then met with the SheKnowsTV folks. After a short meet and greet, they gave me the keys to a shopping van and a production assistant, Vanessa, who would basically serve as my second-in-command throughout the shopping and filming. The theory was that if I wasn’t around to make a decision (which happened a lot more than you would think between camera interviews and working on 6 projects at once), there would be a second person who knew exactly how the whole room was supposed to come together and give guidance (in addition to helping the crew do filmy things).
There would be more interns and PAs joining later on the next two film days, but she would be there for the entire process. When I first met Vanessa (above, left), I’ll admit that I hugely underestimated her resourcefulness mostly due to how young she was and her lack of any DIY background. And I really, really kicked myself for having done it after experiencing that same exact attitude so many times in the DIY world. But folks, she became indispensable—super creative, always on top of things, and could not say more good things about her ability to roll with whatever came our way.
And even though the producers promised that I wouldn’t have a lot of help, the rest of the filming crew turned out to be incredible, too. They were constantly joking around and laughing at inappropriate things, which put me at ease quickly. I mean, if someone starts throwing around potty humor right from the start, you are pretty much guaranteed that they are the laid back sort. As the clock counted down to the finish, nearly every person—including hands-noticeably-down-my-shirt Sound Guy—pitched in to give these homeowners a finished room.
And speaking of finished, part of the intimidation I felt was in knowing that no matter what, this was someone else’s home I was working in. A home they paid for and were proud of and needed to be functional—not something that could be tossed aside as soon as the cameras stopped rolling. So I felt a lot of pressure to make sure that the room was more than just “TV ready”—it needed to be actually done. Paint drips needed to be cleaned up; hinges needed to work. There were things that I wound up running out of time to do, such as sealing the stone backsplash, but I was overall pleased that I didn’t feel I left these homeowners (who were even nice enough to make me beer cupcakes, for shit’s sake) with something that would fall apart the second I stepped back on a plane. The crew seemed to understand this right away, and never once made me feel like I needed to compromise how I wanted to finish the project just to suit their schedule. Even though I was largely supposed to do the project solo (which would not have gotten done with all of the filming delays), they readily jumped in with a wet paper towel or pointed out a splotch. And it really, really helped.
Shopping!
Okay, so enough about the filming, right? This is a DIY site, if memory serves. So let’s get down to the beginnings of the actual makeover details.
My flight landed in Phoenix the morning before Day 1 of filming, so my first task of the first day was to grab the shopping van with Vanessa and visit the homeowners to take measurements. I was hoping to get a real feel for the room before shopping for supplies and decor.
Um, yeah. After taking as many measurements as I could think of, I found out from the homeowner that their laundry setup had the dryer hookup on one side of the passthrough and the washer hookup on the opposite side. The big problem here was that it meant they were forced to take up both sides of the tiniest space in their house with appliances—which left very little room for storage. So, I asked SheKnows if they could arrange for me to have a handyman during the first filming day to move the washer hookup to the dryer side, letting us stack the two together and open an entire half of the nook for storage, folding, and hanging space. They priced it out so that about $400 came out of my total $2,000 budget, and I set that amount aside to be left untouched while I went shopping for everything else. Another item I had to track down: a stacking kit for the washer to sit on top of the dryer (which will come up again in an interesting twist).
One of the first stops for ideas was Ikea. I was hoping to have at least one cabinet with a door to conceal ugly laundry detergent containers and other miscellaneous items that inevitably get shoved into laundry rooms. The other side of the tiny 3-foot-wide space would be for a couple of attached open shelves (see my sketch). But the hard part was finding a ready-to-assemble cabinet that would be deep enough to optimize the space I had (I could have done a standard shallow upper cabinet, but when every square inch is precious, you try to push the boundaries to get something that works better for the space). So, I did the thing that came naturally: I got on the floor in Ikea and started brainstorming for how I could hang a deeper base cabinet on the wall.
I was confident enough in my building abilities that I could have theoretically built a custom cabinet to the size and depth that I needed, but I also knew that the last thing I wanted was to teach myself how to build a cabinet (for the first time) with cameras in my face (and without a Kreg Jig). I had enough room in my budget to simply purchase a cabinet, so my thinking was that I could hand this project over to interns to build the next day and assemble while I did demo and other things. It turned out to be the right move; even though I had a decent plan in my head, I knew all too well how a DIY project can take more time than expected, and I wanted to give myself as much wiggle room as I could by delegating as many projects as possible (and since these even came with instructions, I wouldn’t have to supervise or teach).
As for the other side of the passthrough, the washer and dryer would be stacked (which needed a stacking kit and was thankfully in stock at a Lowe’s nearby), but there was a small 9- or 10-inch gap that would be created on the side if we pushed the dryer to the leftmost wall. I considered building this custom too, but Vanessa spotted some narrow cubbies across from the cabinet section, and I started seal-clapping over the thought that I could again turn this into a handoff project for assembly on Day 1.
The rest of the shopping day was packed with rushing from store to store until they all closed, and Sandra and I met up for a post-shopping-day powwow at one of the few restaurants that was still open to say hello (we ran into each other at Ikea earlier in the day, but we were both in a hurried rush to get our supplies and let the early panic sink in).
I never thought I could actually be exhausted from shopping. I was clearly wrong.
Just popping in to give you a hint at what’s coming next week:
What you’re seeing here is a pile of damaged and rotting siding. Which means that I FINALLY scraped up the cash and found the right guys to tackle some of the biggest pain points of the house’s exterior!
This project has been on the to-do list for five years. And even though I’ve made my own attempts to address some of the easier-to-reach problem areas on my own (like the garage), I always knew there were some areas that could be better handled by a pro, like the band around the chimney. Little did I know the horror that was lurking underneath!
It’s true that in DIY, things often look worse before they start to get better again. And I am happy that I can finally pull up into my driveway without half-painted windows. I can finally look forward to fewer issues with woodpeckers and pine straw. It’s always easier to look back and wonder why I hadn’t done these things sooner, but the answer is almost always the same (and also true for most homeowners): I have way, way more time than money.
I need to do some additional landscaping before I can take “after” shots of the progress completed (just because I think my overgrown hedges will ruin the oohs and aahs), but I thought it would at least be fun to go ahead and show you some of the scarier snaps I took of the whole (super rainy) process.
Happy hour weekend, folks. I hope you have a productive one!
I hope you didn’t mind the interruption over the past week, but some big new changes were being implemented around the site!
I shared a bunch of sneak peeks about a week ago on Periscope (@uglyducklingDIY), but after months of working on various ideas tearing me in every direction, my new blog design is up and running (with a new logo too!).
You may have seen some hints that this was coming when I started using new fonts for images such as the poison ivy post earlier this month. As you can probably see now, they were done in anticipation of matching the new header and fonts.
In a word, I’m thrilled to finally have this in place. It’s a BIG change compared to the old design, but I like the departure and injection of the new while still keeping some elements I wanted to hold on to (like the duck logo getting some nice wood grain at the top). And even though a hint of messy and disheveled has always been a part of this site (because—well—I’m the author of it, and that is simply a part of who I am… a hot baked crunchy mess), I felt it was time to go a little cleaner now that the house is less of the 1980s pit that it used to be. Updated house, updated design—makes sense, right?
As my own blog designer, it can be a little tough to settle on a concept and commit to it, which is why my personal blog designs take a lot longer than they usually do for my clients (you wouldn’t necessarily think that would be the case when it’s two voices vs. just my own, but going in a single direction and providing guidance is a lot easier than being 100% judge and jury for a new design… especially a logo!). My biggest issue is usually committing to the design long-term since I know how easy it is to change the code on the back end; the urge to make another tweak is often too tempting to ignore. But now I’ve finally settled on something that doesn’t frustrate me every day, so I think this one’s a keeper.
I won’t bore you with too many details of how I go about building these things, but the House Tour and Project Gallery were concentrated on for getting some new features structure-wise (I try to focus on ease of use as a visitor and what I like to see when I visit other blogs as a reader). There’s also whole new concept for the home page to make things a little cleaner and more compatible for mobile visitors (Tip: if you have a blog, it’s a good idea to take a look at the popular screen sizes of those who visit your site and compare to other data points in your analytics for where problem areas might be). Now that I have these things more of the way I’d like them, perhaps they’ll be easier for me to keep these other pages updated.
Another new feature I decided to bring back from older blog days is a list of things I love down at the bottom of the site. Too often I get bogged down in what’s yet to be done around the house, so I never really take the time to point out trends and items that I’ve been window shopping lately. Even though what you’ll see in this section is largely affiliate-based (which just means that if you clicked on it and purchased something, I’d get a few cents for referring you to the item), these are all items I would really like to spend the million dollars I don’t have on decor items each week. I also stuck it at the bottom for the same reason… it’s just there if you wanted to browse and check it out without leaving the site (most of you don’t hang out at a site’s footer anyway, so this was my way of making it more visually interesting). No joke, at least one of the things you see in the snippet below is in my home as we speak (I want all copper kitchen things!). So I’m basically saying this is addictive and I’m apparently a bad influence on my own self.
If you see something going a little wonky in the next couple of days, try to ignore it for the next week or so… there’s a good chance I’ve already caught it and am just waiting on my brain to work out the fix for it (unless you can’t actually access the site or something… definitely let me know about that!). There is still some testing on mobile devices that need to be completed now that things are live too, so there are probably going to be a few adjustments coming for that as well. Not unlike the usual way DIY shenanigans work, if you think about it.
I hope you guys like the new changes. Of course, I know that some folks will simply not like it because there are those that hate change in all its forms, and that’s ok. But to me, it’s kind of like staring at old wallpaper. Sometimes you just have to switch things up and get it the hell out of there because you’re sick of looking at it all the time. I’ll be back to the usual DIY mess tomorrow. Happy Monday!
My dad is highly allergic to poison ivy. So whenever he comes over to help me in the yard, like when we got rid of a the English ivy a couple of years ago, he reminds me to keep an eye out for anything that could potentially be dangerous to expose myself to. Which, well… happens a lot when you can’t do all of the projects at once and the yard takes on a life of its own.
Thankful it doesn’t look like this anymore!
Having never experienced a poison ivy rash before myself, I’ll admit that I’m not much of an expert on the subject… but his frequent reminders have taught me a few things that I thought would be helpful to pass on to you this week while I’m still in “finish-the-kitchen” mode (Little bit o’ trivia: most of these pictures were taken before the trees came down, so this post has been in my Draft mode for a while!).
In short: these are the basics of how to identify poison ivy, prevent exposure, and treatments for ivy rash. Enjoy!
What to wear
I would say this in general for yard work (um, for the sake of not having insects fall down your shirt), but the best way to protect your skin from poison ivy is to wear protective clothing. Long sleeves, long pants (or jeans), sneakers, and a hat are all good ideas. The Georgia heat fights me on this, so I don’t always cover up completely, but you get the idea.
Where to look
Poison ivy can grow pretty much anywhere, both in vine form and shrub (or in my neglected yard’s case, giant shrubs). It likes to hang out where it’s protected, such as along the edge of a forest or field or in a sunny area. The one Dad and I identified was exactly in this type of spot in my yard.
Poison ivy is typically a grouping of three leaves — the one on the end usually has a stem; the other two leaves do not. Some vines are hairy or appear to have a thick coating of fur, but you can usually spot them when they snake up trees.
The basic shape of the leaf also tends to look like a folded up glove, where there’s a nub-like shape on one side (as if it’s a thumb and fingers pulled tightly together). Dad even makes the motion as he points to them. Every time.
Rhyme Time
Identifying poison ivy seems to be a rhyming game for most gardeners. Dad was an Eagle Scout, so he used this one: “Leaves of three, let them be.” This is often loosely interpreted since Dad will pretty much avoid anything that looks anywhere close to three leaves or a vine that could be poisonous (can’t say I blame him; if you were as allergic as he was, you’d be cautious too).
Other rhymes are also often used, so I’ve listed a few easy-to-remember ones below (and added my own personal grading scale for how much of a dork I feel like saying these):
“One, two, three. Don’t touch me.” A- (Meh, it’s silly, but not so bad)
“Leaves like mittens, will itch like the dickens.” D (“Dickens?” Probably only okay to say if you’re Colonel Sanders.)
“Hairy vine, no friend of mine.” B+ (Ok, yeah – something hairy and growing in my yard should raise an eyebrow or two.)
“Ragged rope, don’t be a dope.” D (Using the word “dope” in a sentence just makes me think I’m stuck in a Saved by the Bell episode.)
“Longer middle stem, stay away from them.” C (Simply because this is probably the one you’d forget the most often… “dope” may be dumb, but recall is important.)
Prevention Tips to Ward off the Itch
In addition to wearing protective clothing, there are a number of other things you can know and do to help prevent these irritating vines from growing in your yard, getting in your house, and generally f*cking your day up:
1. Treat yo’self (and your tools). Poison ivy rash is not contagious. But urushiol oil (the component in poison ivy, poison oak, and poison sumac that causes the reaction) can stay on anything you touch for weeks, which could re-expose you and trigger the rash over and over (as it did, unfortunately, for this hilarious blogger). Wash your garden tools (and everything else that might come into contact with poison ivy) regularly.
2. The floor is made of lava. After working in the yard, as soon as you walk into the house, make a beeline for the laundry room and strip down to your skivvies. Put any clothes that may have come into contact with poison ivy directly into the wash. Then, march up to your shower and lather up. You want to get that oil off as soon as possible, before you touch anything.
3. Fido gets a bath, too. Wash your pets (and their toys) if you think they’ve been exposed. Most pets don’t react to the oil, but it could still be on them. If you then pet them or they rub up against you, you could be in for an unexpected rash later.
Treatment Tips (for Your Yard)
Even the stem of the poison ivy plant can cause a rash. Cutting them or ripping them out puts the oil on your tools and gloves, which can then get on your skin. So the most common recommended way to treat these plants when you find them is just to put brush killer on them, let them die, and then clear them out once the spray has had a chance to do its thing.
Treatment Tips (for You)
If you’ve been exposed to these itch monsters, it may take a few hours for the oil to start itching or for the rash to appear. But as much as you might be tempted, the advice is the same as with chicken pox: don’t scratch.
A cool, damp rag may help the itching subside (Dad says he prefers a scalding hot shower, but that sounds like it would itch more to me). Calamine lotion or a steroid cream may also help relieve itching. If it gets really itchy or blisters, head to a drug store clinic like Walgreens. Tell them you’ve been exposed and ask for an oral steroid or shot. There’s a chance they’ll be hesitant to do this (according to an unnamed source, wink wink)… so, I’m not saying to lie that you’re allergic… but you might have to be resourceful if your skin is extra sensitive.
If it Gets Really Bad (As in, Oh Sh*t, I Shouldn’t Have Touched That)
Head to the emergency room if you did something stupid, like rub your eyes or go to the bathroom and didn’t realize you had the oil on your hands. Ouch. It may be Mother Nature, but she’s a moody broad and will sometimes try to kill you with poison (it’s in the damn name, after all, so it’s not like she’s really hiding it). So if you start to spike a high fever or the rash turns nasty, you may need a doc.
Also, not everyone is contagious to the oil. The consensus seems to be that you have an 85% chance of developing an allergy to the sap. I am happy to report that I didn’t have a rash from poison ivy the entire time I’ve worked in my yard (knock on wood), but that doesn’t mean squat. It could be that I’m a special snowflake in the 15% group (unlikely, considering my dad’s sensitivity), or it could be because I heeded Dad’s friendly advice and headed right for the shower when the yard work ended. I’m not eager to get a rash anytime soon, so I’ll leave the exposure experiment for another day.
Got any of your own prevention or treatment tips? Maybe an awful (but funny for the rest of us) story about accidentally touching your nether regions with poison ivy? Come on, I know someone has to have done it. Hope these tips helped!
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