Working Out What Mattress I Actually Need
Della walked into my bedroom on a random Tuesday, took one look at me flat on my back on top of the comforter with my knees bent and my hands…
Square Rug, Round Table: Does the Shape Fight Back?
I own eleven rugs. Eleven. Across a one bedroom condo with, generously, five zones that could plausibly need floor covering, which means I’m carrying almost double the inventory the space…
Foam, Spring or Hybrid: Where I Landed
I was on my hands and knees in the back bedroom, wrestling a fitted sheet over a corner that had somehow lost its elastic entirely, when the mattress underneath made…
Daffodils and Tulips Sharing a Vase
My mom walked into my kitchen last week, saw the daffodils sitting in a jam jar next to a bunch of tulips I hadn’t put in water yet, and said,…
Electric Patio Heaters Indoors: A Different Kind of Risk
I own five electric patio heaters. Five. I said the number out loud to myself while writing this and had to sit with it for a second, because that is…
Repainting Wardrobe Doors: What Paint Holds Up?
My wardrobe doors get touched, grabbed, kicked open, and slammed shut somewhere around forty times a day in this house. I actually counted once, out of boredom during a rare…
Sizing a Console Table Without Guessing
I’ve measured the same gap in my hallway five separate times since February. Same tape measure, same eleven and a half feet of wall, same result every time, and I…
The Right Moment to Buy a New Mattress
I’m on the floor of my own bedroom at six in the morning with a tape measure, trying to figure out if a platform bed I’m building is going to…
Outdoor Rugs Out in the Weather All Year?
I was out on the back steps hanging a load of towels on the line, the cheap collapsible one from the corner store that always tips over if you clip…
Actually Using a Fire Pit on a Deck, Not Just Owning One
Ask ten people whether you can actually put a fire pit on a deck and you’ll get two answers, both delivered with total confidence, both slightly wrong. Half of them…