five things we learned last week
Bright ideas we gathered from your comments.
1. Out with the baking soda, in with the coffee grounds. Debbie has a great solution for refrigerator odors: “The best odor absorber in a refrigerator is fresh coffee grounds. It smells really great, too.” Read the famed baking soda post and other ideas here.
2. Mandolines can be hazardous to your health. More than one reader commented that the mandoline was a gadget they thought they’d love, but… Elizabeth says, “Mine came with this piece that was supposed to prevent you from slicing your fingers, but it wouldn’t stay on the food, and I’d bang my fingers instead of slicing them, then I’d try without the piece and definitely slice them, and on top of all the physical injury, I could never adjust the various metal pieces to slice different sizes or shapes!” Read the harrowing and funny tales of the disappointing gadgets here.
3. There’s a lidded ice cube tray out there you like. Shannon suggested that Mary T. try the Orka ice cube tray: “The lid fits in snugly enough to be useful but no so tightly as to cause problems, and has little guides on top for stable stacking of multiple trays, and the silicone bottoms for the wells make it easy to get the cubes out,” while morte100 defends the OXO tray and thinks that Mary T.’s just using it wrong (which she freely admits may be true). Read and comment here.
4. Want a cool, modern sink on a budget? Melanie suggests this Dorchester vanity from Modern Bathroom. “We love the sink!!!” she says. “Really fun and easy to clean. We needed something compact and this fit the bill.” Read more about modern, affordable sinks here.
5. Movie sets continue to catch our eye. Our post on the bottle tree led growler to share, “You can see a beautiful example of a bottle-tree-filled yard (and I mean FILLED) in the movie Because of Winn-Dixie.” That reminds us of the movie decor post! Read all about making your own beautiful bottle tree here. (Spring will be here soon, promise.)
