Dulcibella's Profile

Not pretty, but very functional: to keep things from falling off plastic hangers use rubber bands twisted around both ends of the hanger. It's easy and it works well. I suppose you could make it prettier by using colored elastics, but they shouldn't be too thin.

I have a fireclay sink we imported from the manufacturer in Britain. One caveat about them is that they are more fragile than other kinds of sinks. - Someone dropped a cast iron pan on the edge of mine and there's a chip out of it now.

I still love it, though.

You left out Mosquito and Lyme Tick repellent, but maybe that's just my backyard.

You can also buy stainless steel contact paper to give your appliances a stainless steel look. I think you can even buy very thin rolls of actual metal to stick on, but I didn't find it in a 2 minute google search.

Here's just one maker among many:
http://www.stainlesssteelfilm.com/Nickel-EZ-Faux-Stainless-Steel_c14.htm

Here is an old post from AT. about using fabric stuck to walls with starch in a bathroom.

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/flickr-finds-meg-and-rosss-upd-45518

I don't know how the outline of the tiles would work with this, and you couldn't do it in your shower, but maybe it could be made to work.

I can accept that quality costs money, although I also believe that quality can be found at different price points. But, here's the thing. Do you really want to live with any piece of furniture forever?

Long ago, my husband and I bought 'investment quality' furniture, and we inherited a few more things. It has lasted, but so has some of the cheaper stuff we bought when we first got married. And for a few years now I've been feeling a little oppressed by the heavy weight of Quality.

We also have a second home where everything is Ikea. I feel such a sense of liberation in this space. Nothing is precious. If something breaks, I fix it or get rid of it. If I change my mind, it's easy to let go of things to others who need them. I am not wedded to living with the same things forever and I like it. It makes me feel light-hearted.

Tastes change and styles change as you get older. You may not want that 10K sofa forever, no matter how much you love it now. I started out with a kind of Bohemian/ traditional aesthetic and now I'm all about clean lines and mid-century modern.

I agree about needing to be mindful, not just of the monetary cost of furniture, but of the social and political costs as well. Quality is important, but it's not synonymous with price or brand label. People need to educate themselves about what quality is, and then make choices according to their needs and what they can afford. Sometimes a bargain really is a bargain and you get good quality. Sometimes it's a waste of money.

I raised two children to adulthood without ever having a changing table. I used either a washable changing pad or a clean cloth diaper laid under them in their crib when I wanted to change them. So it was always clean and they were safe in their crib if I turned my back for a moment.

I don't much like dressers for anything and they seem particularly unsuited for kids clothes and paraphernalia, but if you want a dresser and want to change your baby on top, sure you can put some kind of changing station there. But to me it really seems less practical and potentially less clean than the way I did it.

love love love - the tiles, both kitchen and bathroom, the....

everything.

I have a bunch of these that I've saved for my grandkids to play with. I had no idea that they were a Cool Thing. We have a barn/farm set, a castle, a camper van. I forget what else. I definitely have one of those 'bully boy' figures and at least one dog, plus some royal people with crowns that came with the castle. They were and are fantastic toys and I'm sad to think that they aren't made anymore.

I freeze stock and buttermilk in 1/4 cup quantities in my muffin tin. When they are frozen I move them to plastic bags. This way I always have some when I need it.