I have slept with earplugs and a sleep mask (evil noisy neighbors bright light directly outside my bedroom window) and I actually sleep pretty soundly that way...once I manage to doze off. Soft m...

Shortly after I finally finished getting my bedroom perfect, I found myself planning a move...the bed is perfect, but now I have to deal with re-hanging all the artwork, anchoring a huge gilt-frame...

If I had children, I'd let them choose the colors in their rooms. I hated pink when I was a little girl, and preferred Hello Kitty toys in bright primary colors over Barbie. My bedroom was sky-blue...

Apothecary jars are your friend. They can hold seasonal flowers or fruit, Halloween or Christmas candy, ornaments, etc. - just change the contents to reflect the time of year.

My parents sometimes hid my brother's presents in the one place they knew he'd never look...the vegetable crisper in the refrigerator! I have a small sewing chest with a false bottom t...

Refinishing furniture can damage its resale value, but since they were $2 each, why not? I only keep the original finish if a piece is worth a significant amount of money as-is.

When I really can't take it anymore, I pop in a Christmas episode from one of my favorite BBC comedies and laugh the stress away.

A year after moving to a beach town where I lived on a street called Barefoot (no joke), I got a job selling shoes. I still find it funny. (I always knew I wasn't dealing with a Californian when th...

Hideous.

When I moved to my current place, phone reception was no problem...then my provider merged with another company, and I went from five bars to one overnight. They weren't willing to do anything abou...

I won't apply for an apartment that doesn't allow cats, allow me to bolt my bookcases to the wall (this is earthquake territory, after all), have dedicated parking, or prohibit smoking (asthma).

"A Place Called Home" by PJ Harvey...because I'm moving for the 7th time in 10 years.

When I was younger and starting to bake things from scratch, my muffins wouldn't rise. This happened several times, and my mom (who never bakes anything that didn't come out of a box or a tube) moc...

Something campy, colorful, and fun. Beyond that, I wouldn't put anything past Simon.

I don't have to...I have enough red and metallic decor that all I have to do is light some candles and set out some gingerbread cookies!

Whichever bags aren't currently in use are stored on the top shelves in my closet. If I didn't have those closet shelves, I'd clear out the top two shelves in my bookcase. BTW, it's a ...

Breakups have only ever prompted me to return anything of his I still had, shred the photos, burn the letters, and give away things he'd given me. My furniture, bedding, clothes, etc. have remained...

I manage a boutique, and I refuse to decorate the store before Thanksgiving. (We don't have large things like Christmas trees, so thankfully storage isn't an issue.) I usually don't bother decorati...

None of my friends smoke. Good thing, too, since I have asthma.

^I'm pretty sure it's a department-store-window diorama of the scene in A Christmas Story.