Showing posts with label do-it-yourself. Show all posts
Showing posts with label do-it-yourself. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
How to refinish an old table
I’ve been unhappy with my home office set up for a while. The biggest issue has been the desk space. It just hasn’t been cutting it for me. I had a table that I could use instead of the desk I was using, but it was in pretty bad shape. So I took on a project – refinish the table! And I did it with only $5 and in 30 minutes!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Remake Mondays – Office bulletin board
I’ve got this blank wall in my office, right between the door into the room and the (giant) closet. It’s right in the traffic flow when you come in the room, so I can’t put much furniture there. But it is the perfect spot for a big, bright wall hanging. So I made this bulletin board!
Monday, December 12, 2011
Ready, set, remodel!
About a month ago, we started on our home renovation. This is a serious renovation. The entire house is getting taken down to the studs, walls rearranged, electricity and plumbing re-run, and an addition. We’re not kidding around. When we do things here in Southern Indiana, we do them big.
I’ve been taking tons of pictures, and am going to be sharing these during Remodel Mondays!
We have been talking about this project and working on the plans for the house since May. All of a sudden, in the first week of November, everyone (except us) was ready to get started!
We had a week to get the house completely emptied.
I’ve been taking tons of pictures, and am going to be sharing these during Remodel Mondays!
We have been talking about this project and working on the plans for the house since May. All of a sudden, in the first week of November, everyone (except us) was ready to get started!
We had a week to get the house completely emptied.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Make your own... Laundry detergent!
I decided this week that I would try my hand at making my own laundry detergent. I have a small mountain of laundry from the "Move the Stuff in the Garage to the Basement" project, and we were about out of detergent anyway. So, I figured, what the heck?
I got this recipe from my friend Kim, who in turn got it from the Duggar Family website. (Remember them? They're the people with 8 million kids on that TLC show? Can you imagine the laundry in that house? Makes my mountain look very insignificant... Seriously though, if they want 8 million kids, more power to them.)
So I made a trip to Rural King to collect the necessary ingredients, and got rolling!
First, take a bar of Fels-Naptha soap...
(Next time remember to take the picture before I get started.) ...and grate it up. I just used a regular cheese grater.
Admire your finely grated pile of soap, and remember that it is not cheddar cheese. Please do not eat.
Heat 4 cups of water in a saucepan, and add the grated soap.
Stir constantly(-ish) until the soap is melted.
{As a side note, I added the whole pile of soap at once, and ended up with gloppy hunks of partly melted soap.
It all melted eventually, but it took longer than I thought it would. Next time, I would only add small amounts of the grated soap at a time.}
Take a clean 5-gallon bucket, and fill it about half-full of tap water. Grab your other ingredients:
...add 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Super Washing Soda to the bucket. Stir to dissolve the powder.
Then add the melted soap-soup to the bucket.
Stir it all together, and fill the bucket the rest of the way with tap water. (Be a little careful here, as the soap gets sudsy!)
Cover your bucket, and let it sit overnight to thicken.
The next day...
Take off the cover and stir your soap. Don't think about what it looks like...
...just stir it up really really well. The jelly-like soap will un-gel, and become more liquidy again, I promise.
This is actually double-strength detergent now. Using whatever dispensing container you want (I used the last recently emptied store-bought detergent bottle), fill your container with 50% new detergent and 50% tap water. Shake well before each use, as the concoction will gel again in the new container.
For a top-loading washer, use 5/8 cup of detergent per load.
For a front-loading washer, use 1/4 cup of detergent per load.
If you like scented detergents, you can add a few drops of essential oil to your detergent (10-15 drops for every 2 gallons). I would recommend adding fragrance to your smaller "working" bottles, not to the 5 gallons of stock!
I was able to buy all the supplies for this batch of detergent, including a new 5-gallon bucket, for less than $17. For TEN GALLONS of detergent. I have plenty of Borax and Washing Soda left over, so if I ever run out of detergent, all I will need to buy is a $2 bar of Fels-Naptha soap. Remarkable!
I have used this so far on some musty-smelling towels from the garage yesterday, and some "business casual" clothes this morning. So far, no complaints!
Printable recipe card:
I got this recipe from my friend Kim, who in turn got it from the Duggar Family website. (Remember them? They're the people with 8 million kids on that TLC show? Can you imagine the laundry in that house? Makes my mountain look very insignificant... Seriously though, if they want 8 million kids, more power to them.)
So I made a trip to Rural King to collect the necessary ingredients, and got rolling!
First, take a bar of Fels-Naptha soap...
(Next time remember to take the picture before I get started.) ...and grate it up. I just used a regular cheese grater.
Admire your finely grated pile of soap, and remember that it is not cheddar cheese. Please do not eat.
Heat 4 cups of water in a saucepan, and add the grated soap.
Stir constantly(-ish) until the soap is melted.
{As a side note, I added the whole pile of soap at once, and ended up with gloppy hunks of partly melted soap.
It all melted eventually, but it took longer than I thought it would. Next time, I would only add small amounts of the grated soap at a time.}
Take a clean 5-gallon bucket, and fill it about half-full of tap water. Grab your other ingredients:
...add 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Super Washing Soda to the bucket. Stir to dissolve the powder.
Then add the melted soap-soup to the bucket.
Stir it all together, and fill the bucket the rest of the way with tap water. (Be a little careful here, as the soap gets sudsy!)
Cover your bucket, and let it sit overnight to thicken.
The next day...
Take off the cover and stir your soap. Don't think about what it looks like...
...just stir it up really really well. The jelly-like soap will un-gel, and become more liquidy again, I promise.
This is actually double-strength detergent now. Using whatever dispensing container you want (I used the last recently emptied store-bought detergent bottle), fill your container with 50% new detergent and 50% tap water. Shake well before each use, as the concoction will gel again in the new container.
For a top-loading washer, use 5/8 cup of detergent per load.
For a front-loading washer, use 1/4 cup of detergent per load.
If you like scented detergents, you can add a few drops of essential oil to your detergent (10-15 drops for every 2 gallons). I would recommend adding fragrance to your smaller "working" bottles, not to the 5 gallons of stock!
I was able to buy all the supplies for this batch of detergent, including a new 5-gallon bucket, for less than $17. For TEN GALLONS of detergent. I have plenty of Borax and Washing Soda left over, so if I ever run out of detergent, all I will need to buy is a $2 bar of Fels-Naptha soap. Remarkable!
I have used this so far on some musty-smelling towels from the garage yesterday, and some "business casual" clothes this morning. So far, no complaints!
Printable recipe card:
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