Lisa in Texas's Profile

I've done this with various materials, and a big minus is that anything heavier than contact paper adds weight to the door. Dishwasher doors are traditionally lightweight, and open slowly. A dishwasher door with a piece of bead board attached is heavier, and the door falls open very quickly---something to think about if your household includes small children or dogs.

After years of sleeping on a futon, I was persuaded to buy a "real bed". Huge mistake, and one that I rectified when the mattress recently reached its expiration date. I bought a nice, new futon with a foam core wrapped in cotton, and my back has never been happier. Bonus: it looks lovely and inviting in my bedroom, covered in handmade quilts and topped with pillows.

Great job!

Low water pressure in one shower---so low, that the faucets shut themselves off after a few trickling moments.

I have a rat terrier who wore me down with his little puppy whimpers, and has been sleeping on the bed since I got him 16 years ago, instead of in the crate I swore he'd sleep in. He's a bed hog, sheds constantly all over the clean linens, and paws at the top of the covers when it's cold so he can sleep under them. When he finally leaves this world, and I get my next pup, I will not cave---crate, not bed. I will happily trade the early morning cuddles for clean sheets, and the lack of a growling, immovable object in the center of the bed at night.

Get a buyer's agent who knows the area in which your interested. Ask each agent who shows you a house if they can act as your buyer's agent---a bunch of them will hem and haw, and those are the ones you should not use. The one who says yes right away, and starts asking you a bunch of questions about what you're looking for---that's the one to use. Mine ended up saving me a bundle, and gave me lots of tips about things that needed fixing in the houses we saw. I feel like I got the best possible deal thanks to him.

You had me right up until the duct tape.

Three cheers for grass-free---but seriously, that's just a rocky wasteland. It needs a few native plants.

To people who commented about taking clippings: wait until you see the resident gardener working in her yard, and ask---or, if it's city property, hit up the guys in the landscaping trucks, and ask them, rather than just helping yourselves. I caught my local city landscapers clearing out a large agave bed, and got myself a couple hundred dollars worth of agave pups for free, just for pulling over and asking if I could have some of what they were pulling out.

I garden in a hostile climate---icy in the winter, brutally hot in the summer, and very short spurts of mild temperatures in between the two. Very often, I buy transplants in those mild periods. Some herbs, like oregano and rosemary, I grow from cuttings rooted indoors, and transplant them. I've had very few successes with seeds---cilantro and chives took off, but nothing else.