If there is one element of college life that has not changed, it is the always utilitarian, ever-dependable dorm room, where students have been dropping milk crates onto the linoleum floor and unpacking their shower caddies for what seems like a millennium.
For college kids who move off-campus, learning to accommodate the styles and needs of housemates is good practice for life after school.
Dear Heloise: I think it was from your column that I learned to keep the door of my front-load washing machine open so that it could dry between uses. What a difference this has made in odor control. — Debbie Y. in Illinois
Irecently had an opportunity to work with a great organization in our community, the Uplift Foundation of Nevada (www.upliftfoundation-nv.org). It happened at the second annual Las Vegas GiveCamp, where local Web designers, graphic artists and others with technical skills spent a full weekend working with 26 local nonprofits, helping improve their online presence and effectiveness.
Trying to maneuver through the rules of the design world can sometimes feel like walking across a mine field. We want to categorize every product as traditional, contemporary, rustic, lodge, industrial, modern or French country. We are so concerned about those labels that we often second-guess our design decisions.
I have a teeny tiny room in my home that needed a big, bold touch. Instead of covering the walls in wallpaper, which we know is such a pain to remove, I opted for lovely blue and white watercolor print from my home décor fabric collection, California Dreaming. It has a great linen texture and makes the room feel so rich and cozy.
A century ago, every woman in rural America had a hope chest and a Mason jar collection. These coveted jars were brought into use over the August and September harvest season when the farm yielded its bounty. Early on she worked over a wood cook stove, but now a gas or electric range with air conditioning makes this job more fun in these dog days of summer.
Q: We have had these trees in our backyard for 15 years. I don’t know what they are. All of a sudden, one has a bare spot. What might this be? I enclosed a picture.
Not all game boards are for checkers or chess. Our ancestors played Parcheesi, backgammon and cribbage on boards that could be made at home.
I love to eat, and I love to laugh and talk with friends. So having people over to my home for meals is at the top of my fun chart.
Every day I troll through Pinterest to catch the latest and greatest gardening ideas. I gather the best in my Small Budget Gardening board, which has exceeded 6,000 vetted ideas I know will work well over time. It’s becoming a real crowd pleaser this summer.
