Thanksgiving Centerpiece Ideas: Poppies and Posies
Design*Sponge
If you are looking for a beautiful DIY autumn centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table, check out this step-by-step guide and prepare to wow your guests.

Consider This! A Multi-Course Plated Thanksgiving Dinner
The Kitchn
“Sure, it’s traditional to pass huge platters around the table in one merry food frenzy at Thanksgiving. And, yes, we’ll be busy enough just getting all the food prepared, so why throw in the extra step of multiple courses and plating food individually? We’ll give you two big reasons why we’re thinking about doing this.”

Thanksgiving Specials Across the U.S.
Open Table
If you’d like to be giving thanks for not having to cook, check out Open Table’s guide for where to eat on Thanksgiving Day.

101 Head Starts on the Day
New York Times
“For cooks, most Thanksgiving problems are brought about by the sheer number of dishes competing for the stove: It’s not easy to roast a turkey and sweet potatoes for 20 at the same time. The best solution is to make food in advance, like one of the dishes that follow.”

It’s Thanksgiving; We’re Doomed
City Room Blog (New York Times)
If you feel like Turkey Day might make you crazy, you’ll like these Thanksgiving stories from psychiatrists. Don’t forget to check out the numerous comments for tales of Thanksgiving disasters, which might make you give thanks for a relatively normal celebration.

Let’s talk kitchens and the wonderful, painful process of remodeling them. The finished projects can add a lot to a home’s value, and to your enjoyment of it, but the actual remodeling can be a huge pain. Luckily, some experts have tips!

RemodelingGuy.net offers some tips for those preparing to start on the kitchen remodeling adventure. Our favorites:

• Budget, budget, budget. We really can’t emphasize this enough: For any remodeling project, if you don’t set a clear budget well ahead of starting, you will find yourself disappointed and frustrated. Budgeting helps you keep your expectations in check, forces you to educate yourself and prepares you for pitfalls that might crop up along the way. Make a budget.
• Create your team! Unless you are a building professional, you won’t be able to do this all by yourself. Find experienced professionals you can trust. The National Association of the Remodeling Industry is a good place to start in finding someone to remodel your kitchen.
• Get your permit. Seriously, don’t forget this one. Follow the rules and your kitchen remodel will have a decent chance at going smoothly.

Since we’re all on a budget. Calfinder offers some good ideas for ways to bring the cost down, namely choosing energy efficient appliances and long-lasting countertops. It’s important to remember that spending as little money during the actual remodeling might not be the smartest move. For instance, an ENERGY STAR-rated dishwasher that lowers your water bill over the years is probably a better buy than the cheaper water hog.

With a little planning, your kitchen remodel can add many years of enjoyment to your home.

It’s hard to believe, especially with the unseasonably warm weather in much of the country, that Thanksgiving is almost upon us. For most people, the Turkey Day feasting and festivities aren’t a last-minute impromptu deal. There are traditions to be upheld, food to be made and occasionally even some family holiday squabbling to be soothed. So you’d better be organized!

Better Homes and Gardens has a great Thanksgiving countdown checklist. It’s pretty exhaustive, but here are a few of MLuxe’s favorite tips:

• Don’t forget to order your turkey, especially if you are getting a special bird.
• Make sure you have enough in the way of plates, cups, silverware, etc. Don’t have enough place settings of your fine china? Use the everyday stuff for the kids, or ask your guests to bring some of their china. It will look eclectic and chic!
• Think of something — anything — to keep the kiddos occupied. If it’s warm enough, how about touch football or Capture the Flag? If it’s an indoor day, make sure you have some good board games and DVDs around.
• Set the table the night before — it will take some stress off your day-of preparations.
• Lastly, don’t forget to defrost the turkey with time to spare!

What are your favorite Thanksgiving preparation tips? Does your family have any special traditions? Let us know in the comments!

Photo courtesy of tuchodi on Flickr

We like to think of our gardens as an extension of our home. And just like any room in the house, sometimes you just want a few new things to brighten it up. For your reading pleasure, here are some fun products and ideas that can liven up any outdoor abode.

The Lluna planter by Serralunga is a cool modern planter as you can see:

But if you find yourself needing a cold drink instead of more greenery, this planter obliges. It would work well for a large backyard soiree!

Speaking of that garden party, if you are looking for a use for the empty beer bottles you stashed in the planter/ice bucket, look no further than Design*Sponge’s bottle garden idea.  It’s an easy idea for a really cool garden…and it’s a great way to re-use without recycling!

If the bottle garden inspires you to find a way to re-use objects in your garden, then consider Re-Nest’s idea to turn your chandelier into a planter. Where the bulbs would be, you put small pots of flowers instead. It’s unique, funky, and classically quirky.

What are some fun ideas you’ve tried for “re-decorating” your garden?

All images are from blogs linked to above

If you are feeling especially crafty, and want to give your bathroom an inexpensive new look, consider sewing your own shower curtain! Our friends at Design*Sponge show us how.

You can do either a patchwork curtain (a great way to empty out your scrap bag!) or a solid one. If you have a basic knowledge of sewing, this is a great way to get crafty! Here’s what you will need:

• Fabric: five yards for a solid curtain or one to two yards of seven different fabrics
• Thread that matches your chosen fabric(s)
• Scissors
• Pins
• Tape measure
• Seam ripper
• Iron
• Sewing machine
• Optional: cutting mat, rotary cutter and straight edge

Once you’ve gathered these things together, you can begin! Check out Design*Sponge’s post for extensive instructions.

With just some time and a little know-how, you can give your bathroom a whole new look!

Image courtesy of Design*Sponge.

With flowers beginning to bloom, it’s time to think about what to do with your garden’s bounty — or the bounty of the florist shop! Design*Sponge has some cute ideas for how to arrange flowers with the aid of a tea pot.

Sarah Brysk Cohen of Blossom and Branch gave Design*Sponge the tips. They’re perfect for spring floral arrangements for bridal and baby showers, Easter brunch or just to add a little flair to your home. Here’s how to go about it:

• Find a teapot! Use what you have, or hit up an antique store for a unique find.
• Clean the flowers.
• Cut the stems at the appropriate angle.
• Start with your main bunch of flowers (Brysk Cohen uses roses), followed by smaller blooms and foliage (mint and jasmine in this case). Let some of the herbs and vines flow over the side of the for a casual springtime look.
• Place your flowery teapot anywhere where your house needs a spot of spring!

Check out Design*Sponge for more floral arranging tips and pictures.

Image courtesy of Design*Sponge and Maggie Harkov Photography

‘Tis the season for spring cleaning. As you’re organizing and cleaning out closets, you may find boxes of old slides. What to do? That technology has long since passed into oblivion, but slides can represent many cherished memories. How do you make use of them without letting them sit in a box?

Inhabitat has an idea: make them into curtains! Unlike many DIY projects, the final product looks cool and modern–easily something that could fit in in the family room or front doorway.

And it’s simple: buy some aluminum chain rings, gather your slides and grab a small drill. You’ll be organized and decorated in no time!

Images courtesy of Inhabitat.

Moths: the bane of our bedrooms, the scourge of our sweaters. What can be more annoying than taking a sweater out of a drawer to discover the tell-tale hole of the moth? If you have a cedar chest or cedar closet, your battle against moths has gained a formidable weapon. For those who aren’t blessed with a cedar closet and don’t want to invest in a cedar chest, there are some good options. Re-nest gives a run-down of moth prevention without resorting to toxic chemicals and foul-smelling mothballs.

The first thing you should do is wash your clothes thoroughly. Moths are attracted to the skin cells, oils, etc. that we leave behind. It’s best to wash clothes in hot water to kill moth eggs and larvae. Please remember that wool should be washed in cold water only to keep it from shrinking. The Laundress has a tutorial on how to properly hand-wash wool sweaters.

After your clothes are clean, prepare their resting place: vacuum and air out the closet and consider wiping out drawers. The best way to store clothing though, is in airtight containers. If you have the space, try freezing clothing!

Incorporate the old standby of cedar. You don’t need a whole closet; look for cedar balls or planks to keep the moths away.

As we head towards spring, hopefully these tips will help keep your seasonal clothing safely stored and moth-free!

Image courtesy of ehoyer on Flickr

The food we prepare and eat leaves us with certain scraps that we don’t know what to do with. Yes, making coffee and fresh orange juice is tasty and healthy, but what do you do with the leftovers? Re-Nest tackles some issues that kitchen gourmands may wonder about…

According to their experts, when you are done with juicing your own fruits and vegetables, there may be lots of pulp left over. As easy as it is to scrape it into the trash, there are a few alternatives: mix it into pancakes or breads, use it as a base for a sauce or, if you truly can’t do anything with it, compost it.

For disposing of coffee grounds, you have even more choices. If you’ll be hitting the shower after your morning coffee, mix your coffee grounds with soap for an exhilarating exfoliator. You can also use the grounds to scrub your hands to get rid of food odors. And if there are unpleasant odors in your fridge or car, or on your pet, those leftover coffee grounds will do the trick.

Now that you’ve properly disposed of your morning coffee and OJ, there’s always the matter of the newspaper. Recycling  it might be your usual earth-friendly course, but if you are a crafty knitter, consider making yarn from it when you’re through reading.

Good morning and wake up to a green day!

Image courtesy of How can I recycle this on Flickr.

“Clean your room!” It’s a refrain that parents often throw at their children, but when you’re an adult, it can be tempting to concentrate on cleaning the more public areas of your home.

Unfortunately, keeping your bedroom fresh and clean is one of the most important household tasks you can do. Because a good portion of your time in there is spent unconscious, you want to make sure that dust and dirt don’t interrupt your slumber.

Apartment Therapy has listed some great ways to get and keep your bedroom clean and orderly. Here’s the plan:

• Take 10 minutes to clean. Pick up, dust and wipe and make sure everything is in its own place.
• Clean and organized the closet. Yes, you can shut the door, but don’t you want to be able to find all your clothes and shoes easily? An organized closet is a thing of beauty, but it might take a little time to get there. So carve out anywhere from an hour to an afternoon to really get organized. Don’t forget about all the great closet organizers available!
• Control dust! This is especially important for asthma or allergy sufferers. This may involve anything from removing carpet to washing sheets in hot water.
• Make homemade linen spray to keep your bedroom smelling great.

Visit Apartment Therapy for more tips on keeping your bedroom clean all year long!