Concrete Under a Fire Pit: The Marks It Leaves
I have scorched concrete under my patio table right now. Actual permanent black moon shaped shadow, about eighteen inches across, exactly where the base of my fire pit sat for…
Fire Pits on the Beach: Sand Is Not a Free Pass
I was standing on a beach in South County a few Octobers back, at the point in the evening where the sky goes that particular shade of purple that makes…
Storage Beds and Mattress Fit
Okay so it’s a Sunday, I’m doing the most boring task known to man, which is stripping my sheets because I spilled coffee on them at 8am like an absolute…
Outdoor String Lights in the Living Room
My mom walked into my living room in February, took one look at the ceiling, and said, “Are those the lights from the porch?” Not a question, really. More like…
Using a Cracked Chiminea: Do Crack Sizes Matter?
My mom sent a photo to the family group chat last month of her chiminea, the metal one that’s lived on her patio since basically forever, with a crack running…
Patio Heaters and Canopies: Heat Rises Right Into the Fabric
The reputation here is that this is a nothing question. Ask anyone with a covered patio and they’ll wave a hand and say “of course you can put a heater…
Two Coffee Tables, One Room
I own five coffee tables. Not in one room, to be clear, I’m not running a furniture showroom out of a one bedroom in Somerville, but five, spread across a…
Rug Doctor on an Area Rug
I rent a Rug Doctor about four times a year, which sounds like nothing until you do the math on what that’s cost me since 2019, and I did the…
Billy Bookcase Without Its Back Panel
I used to hear “you can’t take the back off a Billy bookcase, it’ll fall apart” and just nod along like everyone else, because it sounds like it should be…
Chimineas and Charcoal: Heat and Clay
I checked the smart plug data for the porch string lights the other night, mostly procrastinating on grading, and worked backward from it to figure out how many nights I’d…