The Hidden Outdoor Trash Can – Let's Begin!

Special thanks to National Hardware for sponsoring and providing materials for this project! All opinions are 100% my own.

Man, oh man… this week has been an absolute terror on my back. But, it was totally worth it, because I got started on a project I'm really excited about:

What you're seeing here is the frame that will be installed near the garage on the side of the house - the one that will become the wood screen to hide the ugly eyesore that is my outdoor trash can. But, before it can go in, there are a number of other tasks involving lots of physical labor that I'm going to have to knock out this coming month.

Here's the plan:

• Decide on a spot on the site of the house (near the garage) for a flat surface on which to place the outdoor trash bin and recycling bins – done!


• Dig down into said spot, compact the soil – nearly done!


• Lay down crushed gravel & compact


• Create a form for a concrete slab & pour


• Build a wood screen (that's where the decorative hardware & this post comes in) – nearly done!


• Bury the wooden screen next to the new slab/pavers


• Stain the wood once it's had some adjustment in the elements (PT lumber needs a few weeks)


• Clean up the surrounding area with new plants

In case you weren't following along this summer (which by the way, you can click here to do that), the general problem that I'm trying to address with this project is that the very noticeable trash bin given to me by the county doesn't have its own designated spot when it's not sitting out at the curb. And since it has no home, it sits in my driveway most of the time. With all of the work I've done on the exterior over the years, turning the corner onto my street and seeing this in my driveway just takes all the fun out of the curb appeal progress. Meh.

I absolutely hate the way the trash just sits out and wanted to find a new place that would keep it out of view - but I know myself. If I had to lug it to the opposite side of the house or drag it behind the backyard fence, I'd get lazy and wind up still putting it in the driveway far too often. “Just this once” would turn into me forgetting about it, and I'd leave it in the driveway until the following week when it needs to go to the curb again. As we've seen with the entryway closet makeover that I posted about earlier this week, a project's value is only as good as it manages to fit with my daily habits (or it will just keep getting messy again). So I needed to find a practical option. I decided that the garden on the side of the house (on the right side in the picture above) was perfect.

I picked a spot about six inches back from the corner of the house and began plotting out the space. The entire area is going to be about three feet by five feet, and I'm going to learn how to do something new in the process: how to - and hopefully properly - pour a concrete slab.

Why a concrete slab?

I decided on a concrete slab as my solution for two reasons:

1. This doesn't need to be overly fancy, and paver materials are slightly more costly; wood is also an option as I've seen some ideas on Pinterest use, but I wanted something that would have a slight slope for me to more easily stash the trash bin away.


2. I'm using this project as an introduction to laying a concrete slab. I have plans to build an outdoor shed in a corner of the back yard, but this is a much smaller scale where I can get used to the steps and wrap my head around the kind of labor involved.

Once the slab is in, I'm also going to install a screen in front of it to hide the bin away from the street view, thereby helping the curb appeal. I got started on digging out the space for the slab, aiming for about six inches in depth before I'll go about building the frame:

This process, in and of itself, is pretty tedious. So to keep my motivation going, I also decided that now would be a good time as any to build the frame for the screen. I would have built the whole thing including the attachment of the front panels, but my tube of outdoor adhesive dried up and I didn't feel like going to the hardware store for the fourth time in a single day. Thus, the frame it is!

As you may have seen me mention in another post earlier this week, I've been working with National Hardware this summer. They've been great at supplying me with the materials I need for projects like this (and their sponsorship helps me budget the rest of the supplies that aren't hardware, so win-win). Here is what they sent me:

The bin itself is just shy of four feet tall, so I cut down lengths of pretreated (PT) ground contact (GC) lumber to five feet each, anticipating that it would get partially buried into the ground. In between each vertical support, I also attached horizontal cuts to complete the frame.

Materials List

• 5 – 1 x 4 x 8 pressure-treated (PT) “ground contact” (GC) lumber (read more about the “GC” rating below)


• 4 – corner braces in black finish


• 8 – corner plates in black finish (in hindsight, I think replacing four of these with two T-plates is a much better idea)


• ¾” interior/exterior self-drilling lathe screws

Cut List

• Cut all 5 pieces of PT lumber down to 5' each


• Use the leftover scrap to cut 4 pieces of 24” each

Notes

• In hindsight, I would have replaced four of the corner plates I used for two T-plates instead; originally, I believed I was going to create more of an L-shaped screen with a front panel and a side panel attached at the corner, so I would need to create two identical panels each using four of the corner plates. But as I began to dig out the area for the slab, I realized that it would be a lot better of an idea to increase the overall width of the front panel to five feet and nix the planned-for side panel altogether. So, I'm recommending that if you try to repeat this same project on your own, you can spend less money and get a more stable frame by going with T-plates in the middle.


• Finding screws that are short enough to use with 1x4s outside that also have a wide enough head to catch the heavy duty plates (the plates do not come with accompanying screws) turned out to be tougher than I thought. I found some lath screws that were marked for indoor/outdoor use, so I went with it. And bonus, they were self-drilling, which was great! You could also modify this plan to use 2x4s instead of 1x4s, which slightly increase your options for screws to use.

A Note on Outdoor Lumber

Using pressure-treated lumber, or PT as it's often labeled, is the way to go with this project. But what you might not know is that the rules for what can and cannot be used for your outdoor projects have been changing. A new standard went into effect this summer, which says that for things going into or coming in contact with the ground, such as decks or posts, you need to be using what's called “ground contact” (duh) pressure-treated lumber, which is abbreviated on labels with a GC marking. You'll be seeing more and more of this in stores as the stock of old PT lumber is depleted.

The project came together pretty quickly. Building the first frame on the left side was tight and secure, but I had a lot more difficult of a time (for whatever reason) getting purchase on the screws that went into the horizontal pieces on the right side of the frame, so they are flexing where I don't want them to flex. But if you do this project and use T-plates in the middle instead, you should have less of an issue. Plus, once things are secured into the ground and the front panels are also attached (the front of the design will look similar to the A/C screen I installed earlier this year), I expect everything to come together nicely.

One part complete, many more steps to go. I think I'm going to grab some ibuprofen and some exterior adhesive so I can get those front panels on, but details on the cement slab, the dig, the pour, are all coming soon! Have a fantastic weekend!

The post The Hidden Outdoor Trash Can – Let's Begin! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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Entryway Closet Makeover

Special thanks to National Hardware for sponsoring this project and providing materials! All opinions are 100% my own.

Have you ever started a project with a full, totally plausible plan, and then everything just kind of fought against you?

You're not alone. It happens to me all the time.

It happens to me because I'm constantly trying new ideas (well… new to me) around the UDH. I see someone else's cool plan, I think, hmm, I could totally use that/do that/build that, and then I give it a try, and I sort of meander as I go until things makes sense again. Sometimes, it goes off without a hitch. Most times, I am like one endless series of emotions - inspired, frustrated, stubborn, frustrated again, and finally, victorious. And at least once or twice per project, I might trip over my dog just to keep things interesting (whyyyy is she always under my feet?).

Anyway, that's the story with my entryway's closet makeover. You might recall when I started working on it back here. The plan was to take something I wasn't really using at all and customize it to something more in line with my daily needs.

It began as a standard shelf and closet pole – which seems perfectly fine, and it is… except I wound up never really using the hangers in there. Or even the storage, since the top shelf provided so little of it. Honestly, if there were a top ten list of home items that lazy girls (like me) hate using, hangers are definitely on that list. I would start off with neatly hung jackets I use all the time, and then slowly, things would whittle themselves down. For whatever reason, I just couldn't get the hang of making this work for me. The result was a mess.

I would make half attempts to get it in order, and then I'd let it get messy again. Ultimately, it was time to find a way to make it more functional with my daily activities. I needed a way to quickly hang up coats and accessories. I needed a place for Charlie's leashes and toys. And I needed a place to stash various objects I use for exercise: my yoga mat and towels, my softball cleats, etc. without everything being in a visible pile at my feet.

For starters, the thick MDF shelf above the pole wasn't so bad; it just needed a coat of paint. And since I didn't like the curve of the edge on the front, I just flipped it around and used some iron-on veneer edging to make it look more crisp.

Then, it got a fresh coat of white paint - spray primer to make the first step as lazy as possible, then a foam roller for a smooth paint finish. I replaced the cleats of the shelf support (originally just cheap baseboard flipped upside down) with new lumber and primed/painted it white to match. Then, I added several of these sleek, black robe hooks sent to me by one of this year's blog sponsors, National Hardware. I knew right away that being able to quickly add things to a hook rather than having to use a hanger would match my habits muuuch better!

The closet door was painted white as well, and I added two more hooks for Charlie's leashes and harness (convenience WIN). As you can probably tell from some of the lighting in these photos, the whole project went down over the course of a few days, and most of it took place at night (the days were mostly pre-occupied with backyard gains where daylight was more of a factor).

The next goal was storage. This was solved by a sweet little trunk setup, built into the floor area. All it took were a few pieces of scrap wood to support the lid, and I cut down some thin plywood (primed and then painted white) to establish the box of the container. The floor stayed the same.

The top of the lid was 3/4″ hardwood plywood, cut to fit and then stained with some Modern Walnut and poly'd (since this is for a closet and doesn't need to be perfect, I used a spray instead of wipe-on… generally I use wipe-on when I want to be more careful with even coats and consistency of the sheen, but it's a personal preference thing). I again used some iron-on edge banding to hide the plywood edge and make it look more like a solid piece of wood.

Here's where the frustrating part of the story comes in: the dry fit of the lid went perfect. National Hardware supplied me with some semi-concealed chest hinges, so I used a Dremel to help embed them into the new storage area and fit them against the rear support of the new lid.

But I really could have used some help holding it into place while I screwed things in, because try as I might, the lid would inevitably shift a little and the lid would no longer close smoothly as it slid against the wall. Part of it is because the drywall is uneven and I went for precision, which I should probably know better by now with this house. Still though, I wrestled with it a few times before ultimately thinking hey, this is a closet… done is better than perfect, and I've got six other things I need to get a move on for fall. So, I called it quits for now and am just happy that it will open and close, which lets me store a lot of items without them looking cluttered. 90% of the problem is solved, so I'll loop back around to this issue sometime in the next century. Promise.

Now for the fun part: let's take a fun look at the before…

And here's the after! This little nook by itself doesn't get much light, so the added white paint really makes a big difference.

The top section before…

And after! The baskets were stolen from other  places in the house (originally Homegoods and Target), but they are pretty well suited for this space.

The floor area before (sorry, I know it's fuzzy)…

And finally, after. SO MUCH BETTER.

Plenty of storage and a place for everything in a tight little spot. I have a feeling that things are going to stay plenty more organized going forward. When considering that this is the very first space in the home to make a first impression too, I'm relieved to have figured it out!

As part of my partnership with National Hardware, there is still one more project left on the to-do list that they have sent me parts for. Here's a sneak peek:

What about you? Is there an area of your house could use more storage?

Special thanks to National Hardware for sponsoring this project! All opinions are 100% my own.

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Oiling the Kitchen Bar!

These photos are super soothing. Watching a piece of butcher block - especially walnut, which is what these are - go from bare wood to richly oiled is pretty darn awesome. Wanna see?

This post contains affiliate links, which support this site at no cost to you. For more on this, see my disclosure page.

In case you missed the last few posts about this area of the house, the gist is that I decided to install a casual bar-slash-shelf thing against the wall (the one that divides the kitchen from the dining room) with a leftover piece of walnut butcher block that I had from my kitchen renovation. I tried in vain to find a picture from waaaaay back in the day for this area so you can see what it really looked like to begin with, but this was the best I could find for now:

Here's the original mock-up I did for the space, which also includes the knock-off light fixture I did earlier this year:

Since I am trying to create a more comfortable eating area just outside of the kitchen and lead guests out to the back yard (which has taking plenty of work this summer in its own right), I don't want there to be a big table in the way that blocks traffic flow from the sliding glass door. So, I took a few Ikea shelf supports I liked, spray painted them black, and screwed them into the studs on the wall (you can also use heavy duty wall anchors if the centering is off). Then, I cut down the remaining piece of walnut that I had in my garage down to about half its width (so roughly 13 inches) and fit it against the wall.

Using finer and finer grits of sandpaper (you want to start with a lower grit like 180 and work your way to 240 and then 320), I sanded down the surface to get it super smooth. I also routed the edges to a slight curve, similar to how I did the rest of the kitchen. Out of curiosity (which you may have seen on Instagram stories a few weeks ago), I tried out a new finish on the underside to seal it and test how the grain looked (General Finishes High Performance), but ultimately, the color wasn't as rich as it was with the mineral oil and beeswax mixture I used for the rest of the kitchen counters. So, I went back to what I know and like to use: Howard Butcher Block Conditioner.

As you can see, the oil really brings out the grain when it soaks in!

For the first few coats, you slather it on and just let it do its thing. I typically apply a thick coat at night and let it soak, then wipe off any excess in the morning. With the first few treatments, there really isn't any left over in the morning, but once you can see it begin to build up, the wood is better protected from damage and moisture (water will start to bead up on the surface instead of soak in). I will have to periodically retreat it the same as I do with the rest of the counters, but the color really stands out once the wood is treated this way. I especially love the color variation at the end closest to the doorway that leads to the dining room:

bar stools: Joss and Main

You'll see a slight gap as I did this so that I didn't wind up slathering thick coats of mineral oil along the painted walls, but I'll be screwing it in soon. It's heavy and not really going anywhere, so there's not much to worry about. :)

I didn't have time to switch lenses to make the room not look wonky when looking at the whole wall, but here's as best I could do for now. It's a great new addition to the kitchen. I still need to add some art, crown, update the sheers, and switch out the outlet so I can put the cover back on, but it's definitely looking more my style than what this area looked like in the listing photo from 2009:

Breakfast nook – Kitchen – 2009

There you have it. Onto the next!

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, The Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. Creating with my suggested methods, materials, and tools is under your own risk. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don't know how to do something! Read my complete disclosure here.

The post Oiling the Kitchen Bar! appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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Not Sure What to Do With Your Exterior? Stroll the Neighborhood

The house's exterior has long been a challenge for me. It's something that is perpetually on my to do list, but it just never feels as satisfying to get it done like it does for me to do something indoors. Perhaps that's why it takes me so long. Can you relate?

House's exterior – 2009

Sure, I'm getting it done little by little. Repairing siding. Figuring out what to do with the garden beds or the air conditioning unit off to the side. Making sure squirrels don't ruin it all.

Sometimes, just for idea's sake, I like to wander around my neighborhood with Charlie and see how other people have decorated the exteriors of their homes - the colors they use, the flowers that seem to grow well in their yards, etc. I think of it like a cheat sheet. And since my neighborhood is one of those kinds of subdivisions where they used a random mix of five or so different plans when the whole thing went up, I can easily find a few that have my exact same layout.

For the sake of privacy, any license plates or house numbers have been blurred out in these photos.

Why Your Neighborhood Stroll is Just as Important as Pinterest

1. It gives you realistic goals.

While lots of my neighborhood is still in its revamp phase (some houses are clearly owned and loved and getting made over; some are still in the same state of disrepair as this one was when I moved in), these two houses pictured are the go-tos for comparison. The one above is one of the first that gave me the idea of making the trim pop with more white. And since this house is exactly the same as mine in terms of windows, shape, etc., I have a much easier time visualizing it than comparing to a McMansion I found on Pinterest. And in terms of a budget, the comparison helps me to make better decisions on whether I'm going overboard on an upgrade (such as tech improvements that won't really help me attract a new buyer when I inevitably sell).

2. It gives you color scheme ideas.

Since my roof has a reddish tone and not a gray one, I couldn't use the color schemes pictured, but the updated trim does make the house look more crisp. Winner, winner… breakfast for dinner (I know the real phrase; this one's just more my style).

3. It lets you see some ideas you hate… and avoid doing them.

I'm not crazy about boxy hedges - it's like the house just got a flat top haircut. Which is why I don't have them in front of my place, but that's just my style, and it's okay that they like what they like (I'm sure it's also really easy to maintain). I love the the addition of their shutters, though. And sometimes when I really struggle with picking out plants that will grow well in my yard, it's awesome to see when someone's more mature plants are thriving (saving me the time and expense of being wrong).

The house below has more trees to contend with, so I like that they draw a little more attention to the house with some exterior decor. Its placement is something I never would have even thought of, so I like it for being unexpected. I don't think I'll be adding one to the front of mine, but I do think something on the stone accent on the porch area would be neat.

4. It reminds you to keep going.

I keep telling myself that baby steps are fine. Go simple, do one thing at a time. Especially since there's never a shortage around here of something that needs to be fixed, needs to be updated, needs to be trimmed, needs to be weeded. And since that list is always growing, I can at least appreciate that since these homes are just a short walk away. If I ever feel like I'm making no headway at all, someone else at least has a clue. And it's doable.

Back at it with progress this week (one or two new things started; one or two things getting finished up!), and I'll have some pics to share of the new kitchen bar all oiled down. It looks just as good as I first imagined! What are your goals for this week?

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, The Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. Creating with my suggested methods, materials, and tools is under your own risk. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don't know how to do something! Read my complete disclosure here.

The post Not Sure What to Do With Your Exterior? Stroll the Neighborhood appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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How to Replace a Wheelbarrow Flat Tire

Funny how your current projects will push you to get really old items off your to-do list. In this case, it was finally replacing my wheelbarrow's always-flat tire with a universal, no-flat version.

This post contains affiliate links, which support this site at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting the partners that make the UDH possible! For more info, see my disclosure page.

Every year, I have had to re-inflate this tire. Then I get overzealous and weight it down too much or leave it without use for too long, and I come back to a flat tire. After the backyard sinkhole project, I faced another flat yet again. But enough was enough. I had a whole driveway of dirt to scrape off (my talent on the backhoe did not extend to being able to get every little speck off on its own), so things needed to happen asap before rain starts washing everything into my garage!

1. Remove the old wheel

Getting the old wheel off proved to be easier than I expected (why do I wait so long to do this simple crap?). I loosened up the hex nuts with some simple pliers and was able to get them the rest of the way by hand.

2. Keep track of small pieces

Once the wheel was off, I carefully placed things aside… or into the dirt, whatever. Point is, I didn't want to suddenly need a piece and find it missing, so I put everything in one spot and took a picture for reference just in case (sometimes, remembering that you need to take pictures for the blog comes in handy!).

I snapped off the labels of the new tire before taking this picture, but here is the info on the tire. I went with a “universal fit” flat-free one that is supposed to “fit most wheelbarrows and lawn equipment”. Yeah… about that…

3. Mount the new tire in place

The new wheel kit came with extra pieces to fit on either side of the new wheel, which keeps it from slipping around. It's kind of one of those things where you might wind up with extra pieces you aren't sure you need, but you just have to keep trying until the wheel seems centered from either side.

4. Make sure there is clearance

In full disclosure, my new tire was a tiny bit larger than the existing one, and for a minute, I thought I was going to have to go back to the store cursing, “fits most wheelbarrows my ass.” But once I adjusted the front piece (which was off-kilter already for whatever reason), things worked out just fine… but barely.

And now, I have a tire that won't go flat while I'm filling it with load after load of dirt. I'm decidedly less excited about this part as I was when it first arrived, I have to say.

I guess sometimes to do the big things, you've got to do the little ones. What are you accomplishing this week?

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, The Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. Creating with my suggested methods, materials, and tools is under your own risk. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don't know how to do something! Read my complete disclosure here.

The post How to Replace a Wheelbarrow Flat Tire appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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How I Work From Home Without Feeling Isolated (or Unemployed)

As many freelancers like myself might be over-eager to tell you, working from home is both incredibly awesome and horrible at the same time. Studies have shown it makes you more productive, it can make you happier, it cuts out that annoying commute, and of course, pants are almost always optional. But, depending on your personality, it can also be a challenge when distractions take your focus, you miss speaking with others on a daily basis, or you work much longer hours. I've also noticed that with zero extra room to separate life and work, it can make for a much messier and cluttered home if I'm not careful. Over time, I found a number of daily or weekly habits that help cut out some of the bad habits that keep me a little saner and keep the walls from closing in.

This post is sponsored by Oreck, but all words are 100% my own - especially the embarrassing overshares.

Make Coffee My “Me” Time

Before I truly start my day, I have a tiny routine: do the face/teeth thing, grab some laundry from my bathroom (though not every day), and go downstairs to make a pot of coffee, which is stationed just outside of my laundry room (don't even get me started on designing your house for your routines… it makes things so much easier! On second thought, I'm going to write a separate post about this pet peeve of mine). I don't set the automatic timer on the coffeemaker most mornings because I like the freedom to sleep in if I need it, but this is my time to sit down and update the day's to-do list. Lately, I've been doing this at the new kitchen bar area, and it's quickly becoming a favorite spot to have a few moments to simply reflect on the day ahead. I choose one task that's the most important and mentally prepare myself to focus on that until it's done.

Actually Get Dressed

Most of the time, I wear workout clothes. Georgia weather is ridiculously hot and humid, and it makes no sense to constantly go in and out of the house while working on a project if I'm drenched in a pool of sweat because of my jeans. So while I look far different from the pencil skirts and dress pants I used to wear when I worked in a legit office, I still make getting dressed a part of my day because it makes me feel more like I've mentally separated from home life… even if I'm literally not even walking far enough to hatch a Pokemon Go egg.

Work In A Home Office and Nix Distractions

For a while, I contemplated adding a TV to my home office since I like to have background noise when I write. But eventually, I realized that my TV would be more of a distraction than a help, so I passed on the idea and am instead considering one for the guest bedroom when I finally give it the makeover it deserves. But again, the actual distance isn't as important as creating a distinction from feeling on the clock versus lounging around at home.

Check My Finances

This is because I have compulsive habits and pay my own bills, but paying myself is a part of my life that can make me very, very nervous. Tracking receipts, separating regular expenses from business-related ones, etc. all contribute to making me stress out a little, so regularly seeing numbers I'm pleased with by doing a quick check - both in personal accounts or professionally-related ones - is a way to reduce that anxiety. I also need to know when paychecks are coming in, which can vary from week to week and in the amount, so I can be on edge especially if one of them is later than it's supposed to be (those of you who have worked in sales or commission-based jobs are already familiar with this kind of budgeting). I do one quick glimpse, make adjustments if needed, and feel instantly calmer.

Clean Something

I regularly talk about how much I hate cleaning - because I do. I despise it. I megaloathe it (you Scrubs fans already know the reference). But, I can't deny that when I do it, I feel a certain weight lifted off my mind. Working from home adds another element to it that all of my work paperwork and supplies are kept in my house as well - and since I regularly get items shipped in for blog stuff, that can add up to a lot of boxes to break down and receipts to file away. So, if I make more habits to keep things tidy as I go, it feels less overwhelming. Things feel more productive and less cluttered - both literally and figuratively. And fighting that boxed-in feeling is one of the most important things I can do for myself when working from home. So whether it's a load of laundry or making a trip to Goodwill with crap I don't need or attacking Charlie's overwhelming dog hair problem, if I can do at least one thing each day, I feel less like I'm sitting in a home of my own filth and get a chance to focus.

Which brings me to my next tip…

Create Some Breathing Room

I try to mix up my projects so that I'm working outside a few times per week, but on days where I simply have to be inside (such as when I'm editing photos, writing new posts, answering emails, doing design work for clients, etc.), it's important for me to keep my workspace healthy enough for me to be in. I have seasonal allergies and asthma, and I'm kind of stubborn about it. I know that it's really important for me to keep a cleaner home simply for the sake of my own lungs… and when I don't, I can really feel it! To combat things like pet dander, pollen, mold spores, dirt that Charlie tracks in, and plain ol' dust (both saw- and the regular kind), I wear a particulate mask when I'm in the garage and rely on hypoallergenic filters inside, such as with my A/C unit and vacuum. Speaking of, check this baby out:

A couple of weeks ago, Oreck sent me their new Elevate Conquer Vacuum to try out. I've tried out the bagless ones before, but I prefer bagged versions because it eliminates the chance of dumping things back into the air when things get tossed into the trash (and Charlie sheds so much!). It's got a great filtration system and easy to maneuver around furniture (convenient, since I rarely remember to push stuff out of the way when I do quick cleaning jobs). It even lights up. I plan on keeping this baby upstairs for the carpeted bedrooms, but it's got a nice push button on the handle that can adjust to hard floors if I need to pick up between rooms in the upstairs hallway or clean the rugs downstairs.

It also came with a handheld version, which is pretty nice considering that my old canister vac bit the dust (pun-intended) just a few short weeks ago, and I was facing having to purchase a new one for the staircase. I'm kind of digging the shoulder strap feature since it allows me to go up and down without having to also hold onto the vacuum as I climb steps. And even though it's really small, this thing has some strong suction power! I may actually have a snowball's chance of keeping up with her fur and making sure her dander doesn't wind up in my lungs.

Force Myself to Socialize

If I'm spending eight (*cough* ten *cough * twelve, but who's counting?) hours every day working in the same place I go to sleep at night, it can get rather boring not to see another person or talk for days on end. Sure, I text friends, I monitor blog comments, I socialize on Twitter, that kind of thing… but for an extrovert like me, there's really no substitute for speaking words directly into someone's face (at a comfortable personal-space distance, of course). And despite her adorable nature, Charlie isn't much of a conversationalist. So once I realized that working from home was going to be more of a permanent setup, I used a few online tools like Meetup.com to find excuses to get out of the house - a girl's craft beer club, a running group, etc. Each week, I now have more social events than I know what to do with, and I love that it even helps me to explore more of Atlanta than I ever did before.

Add a Nightly Routine Too

Since I'm usually already in workout clothes anyway, I often just take off from whatever project I'm working on (whether it's finished or not) to make it to a running club event or whatever. Once I get back home, I do a similar unwinding routine like I did at the start of my day. I usually shower and eat dinner, then watch a little TV. It's hard to not get back onto the computer sometimes because I get inspiration to write at night, but I try to at least have some kind of separate activity to help me signal to myself that it's the end of the day. I refuse to check emails again until the morning and I feel much less weight down by the lack of work-life separation.

Do you work from home?

If so, do you have any tricks that help you keep a balance? I'd love to hear your ideas!

P.S. Huge thanks to Oreck for sponsoring this post. I make it a point to only work with and review products I like and actually use, so for more on that, you can see my disclosure page or this post to learn about how I make those decisions. All opinions (especially ones where I admit I don't wear pants sometimes) are, of course, 100% my own. #ElevateYourClean #CleanAndHealthyHome #OreckElevate

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, The Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. Creating with my suggested methods, materials, and tools is under your own risk. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don't know how to do something! Read my complete disclosure here.

The post How I Work From Home Without Feeling Isolated (or Unemployed) appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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The Fall Project Preview

You guys, HOW is it September already? Oh, right, I know how… because the whole of August went by in a blur. Between working on the giant backyard project, speaking at the Haven conference, and the other small projects I've been working on, I've barely had enough time to sit down. I'm also trying to get my butt into gear for some OCR and 5k races this fall, but more on that later (I've got some running gear I'd like to recommend to you in a future post, so that's coming up).

Last week, I spent a few days up in New York (fourth visit in two years!) with one of my annual blog sponsors. I danced in a kick line with the Rockettes, decorated a cake at Carlo's Bakery (sorry, I didn't meet the Cake Boss himself, but I did snag one good pic with Mauro and learned how to drape a cake in fondant… and turns out, my artistic abilities can be translated into edible form), and got a few more glimpses of the Hearst Tower (I love this building!). It was an adult field trip basically, but I really enjoyed it and got to see a few blog friends that I met during last year's orientation.

We're just a few weeks away from the first official day of fall, but I can already feel it in the air. Pine straw is already falling all over the back yard, which probably means it's not too bad of a time to start thinking about putting in some grass seed. I just spread a bag shortly after finishing the grading project (final post comin' at ya soon), and some of it is already starting to grow in!

Fall has a tendency to kick things up a notch around the UDH. I suppose it's just that the weather becomes a little less unbearable (Georgia summers = practically hugging the sun), but it's also just that things start to get so exciting. There's a palpable buzz. For a moment, I thought I might be making it all up and just getting a little optimistic about the months ahead… until I actually looked through the list of things I did around this time last year.

Last Fall's Accomplishments:

• Recapped my trip to Black Feather Farm (parts 1, 2, and tiling Kit's bathroom shower… because I can't just visit someone else's home and hang out, apparently)


• Replaced my front doorbell and hardware


• Added fall flowers to the mailbox


• Added hanging planters to the front stoop and planted mums in the front garden bed


• Repaired the exterior siding


• Trimmed and pruned trees in the front yard


• Finished up with the skim coat in the kitchen


• Battled (and nearly got my ass kicked by) a squirrel


• Added LED lights to the garage


• Made the best Katy Perry costume ever


• Painted the kitchen walls


• Bought a new Christmas tree


• Installed tile in the master bath (which I still have to fix, ugh)


• Created a couple DIY scrap wood magnetic bottle openers (great DIY gift idea)


• Made a new tree skirt for Christmas

So, yeah… I suppose that in the span of three months, shit is going to change quite a bit. So, I might as well just set a few goals to know where I stand this coming year.

2016 Goals

• Make a new Halloween costume (topping last year is going to be tough, IMO)


• Finish the kitchen bar oil job


• Add some art above the kitchen bar


• Make progress on the crown molding


• Fix the master bathroom floor tile


• Build Charlie a dog feeder (I am sick of how she turns over her food bowl… time to do something about it!)


• Figure out the back yard design


• Seed the backyard lawn


• Add lighting to the back yard?


• Put in a few slabs for the future backyard shed and the area where I want to hide my trash can


• Fix the part of the fence that dad broke with the backhoe (yep… that happened)


• Teach myself something new


• More tutorials!

What are your fall goals this year? More tutorials coming later this week (writing them as we speak), so stick around!

While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy & effectiveness of the information displayed on this website, The Ugly Duckling House is for entertainment purposes only. All tutorials and demonstrations are not intended to be professional advice (nor substitute as such), and I make no guarantees as to the procedures and information here. Creating with my suggested methods, materials, and tools is under your own risk. Please ensure you are following proper guidelines with anything used, and seek professional advice if you don't know how to do something! Read my complete disclosure here.

The post The Fall Project Preview appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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