1st Place Home

One thing you are bound to find at a farmers market is interesting glass. In varying styles, shapes and sizes it all waits for you to go and find it. Though you may not be able to find a set of glassware, or even want to drink from what you run across, the pieces you encounter can work very well as vases. A cranberry pitcher is a divine holder for antique roses, or chrysanthemums. While, an old milk jug is a darling item to display large daisys or carnations.

Or, perhaps you are looking to place a flower in front of every place setting at an upcoming dinner you are hosting, then old shot glasses will fulfil this need. The history of glass is a very long and interesting one, and you can view a piece of it right at your local farmers market. Once you have found something that calls out to you, then you will be able to keep a little bit of that history alive by making use of it in your own home.

My Aunt Rita came for a visit last month, and she left me seeing things in a new light. She is one of those gals who can find five inventive things for an item you were sure was only useful for one reason. Where she came up with these tips I am not entirely sure, but man oh man is she informative.

For example, she told me that she uses toothpaste to clean the chrome fixtures in her bathroom. She also gets rid of lingering cooking scents such as shellfish or garlic on her hands by rubbing the toothpaste on her hands. Another handy usage, she relies upon it to clean up her tarnished silver jewellery. But by far, the most creative, and no it is not to eliminate blemishes, instead it is as an ointment to rid the sensation of itching mosquito bites.

I have asked her to start writing this bevy of trivia down. After we compile it, I plan to disseminate that wealth of info with all who will listen, because I think crafty ideas should be shared.

While marble is a gorgeous material, it can have some issues that might sway you from selecting it for countertops. As a porous stone, marble must be sealed properly, and sometimes even resealed, or it can stain rather easily. In addition, grouting must be done well or there may be consequences.

Being softer than other stones, marble is more prone to scratching and discoloration due to contact with heat sources. With this in mind, you can see why something like granite might be more effective when being used as countertops.

In sum, durability is definitely an issue if you are not one to be consistently cautious. Or, in the alternative if you have family members that have tendencies which are not in line with the care of marble, then take time to consider alternatives.

If you are short on storage space, and only need a temporary fix, then consider the area beneath your dinning room table. Many of us have a formal dinning room that we only make of use of on rare occasions. And so, it is an entire room that we are basically wasting when it comes to storage.

As such, this space can be reclaimed quite easily for as long as the dinning room table is not in use. Simply cover the table with a floor length cloth and very neatly pack boxed items underneath it. You get a well concealed place for a great deal of stuff, and nobody will ever be the wiser to your additional storage. Just remember to leave a bit of room for your chairs to be quasi pushed underneath too.

I have often thrown empty grocery bags directly underneath my sink after emptying them out. No, there has not been any container to hold them, and yes they have just floated around down there. But, that all comes to an end now that I have come across this super idea to help create an organized kitchen.

An empty tissue box is a great place to house leftover plastic bags. We all know we should recycle bags, but now we can recycle the tissue boxes too. So, things will be more manageable in my cabinet, and I will not cringe at the thought of a visitor opening the door. Nor will I have the bags oozing out at me each time I open the door. Awesome.