Top of a Headboard: Yes or No?
My sister in law Dana walked into the guest room last spring, stopped dead in the doorway, and said, “Ben. There’s nothing up there. It looks like you’re mid eviction.”…
Top of a Tall Bookcase: Styling Without a Ladder Every Time
Everybody talks about the top of a tall bookcase like it’s dead real estate. A place you fill because you have to, not because you want to. I heard it…
Top of a TV Stand: What Sits There Besides the TV
I currently have fourteen objects on top of my television stand. I counted them this morning, out of what I can only call morbid curiosity, and then I stood there…
Sides of a TV Stand: Lamps, Plants and Storage
I own fourteen things right now whose entire job in life is to sit on either side of my TV stand and look like they didn’t cost anything, when at…
A Rug That Actually Protects Hardwood Floors
Okay so here’s the thing everyone assumes about area rugs: that just having one down is basically an act of floor protection. Like the rug is doing the wood a…
Metal Bed Frame: What Goes Under It
I reach under my bed frame roughly four times a week, which sounds like an oddly specific thing to track until you realize it’s basically the retrieval rate for one…
Wall Colors for Rooms With Light Brown Tile
I’m sitting on my kitchen floor at eleven at night holding four paint chips up against my bathroom tile, phone propped against the cabinet filming because apparently I can’t do…
Tall Glass Floor Vase Ideas
My sister Corrine walked into my den back in March, looked at the six foot glass vase in the corner with a single dried palm frond drooping out of it…
The Vase Habit That Keeps Tulips Fresh
I bought a bunch of tulips from the guy who sets up outside the hardware store on Layton every March, back when Milwaukee is still gray sludge and everyone’s desperate…
The Water Change Habit Most People Skip
I own fourteen vases. Fourteen. I counted them properly last weekend, out loud, standing in my kitchen with a mug of coffee going cold, and got to fourteen and just…