One of the first things we did in our new cottage is light a smudge stick. We brought this one back from New Mexico with us in May, and have been saving it for just this thing. Mostly, I just love the smell of burning sage, but it is a nice ritual you can do to “cleanse” a new house and make it yours. I lit the sage (you have to blow on a it a bit to get it burning and to create a nice smoke trail), and then I walked along the perimeters of each room, circling it with the sage stick. The idea is that you do so to “purge negative spririts.” It sounds a little woo-ey, but it is a nice way to kick off a new place. You can read more about smudging rituals here and here. Regardless of whether you believe the spirituality aspects of them, they smell divine and make great housewarming gifts. Click here to buy some ($4/each) from a store in Taos. No plane tickets necessary!

Does anyone know how to color grout in-between cermaic tile .. I have white grout now and it got dirty was wondering if have to scrape out old grout to redo it or just put down newer grout over the old grout. Thank You! — Judy

Thanks for your question, Judy. Yes, the common thought is you should scrape out the old grout before you put down the new stuff. It’s a pain, but not as hard as it sounds. Check out this how-to over at This Old House. They say the job can be done with a simple, pointy-tip bottle opener. Over at e-How, their advice is similar. It is best to match the new grout color with the old, but that doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t get rid of the old yucky stuff first.

We must say that we love the way the home design community is stepping up to create affordable, sustainable housing for New Orleans’ recovery. First there was the adorable Lowe’s Katrina Cottage Series, and now comes this amazingly chic, green house from the Holy Cross Project. Global Green, in partnership with Brad Pitt, and with sponsorship by Home Depot, held a sustainable design competition last year and selected this entry from Matthew Berman and Andrew Kotchen of Workshop/APD in New York as the winner. The house comes complete with water cisterns, solar panels, reclaimed wood floors, and more savvy things. Construction is already underway. Click here to read more about the houses and view the project’s progress.

I know you’ve probably seen and/or undertaken bigger projects, but here’s my little do-it-yourself experiment.

I found this chair on the street, walked by, left it, then went back and carried it home. I stripped the layers of gunky, yellow paint — I needed to get creative getting it out of the cut-outs, etc.  It took around four after-work night sessions to strip. There was a LOT of paint. My friend Curtis helped me with the cushion (I was clueless) — but in the end, it was easy. It would probably take one day if someone had the time to just sit there and scrape paint, and didn’t choke from the thinner. I the end, I stained it mahogany and then re-built the cushion and staple-gunned brown mohair (purchased at Zarin’s) and voila! I wouldn’t necessarily buy a chair like this, but it’s not bad considering it was cost me practically nothing. — Shawn T.

Chad and I spent our first weekend in our new, old cottage by the river. It was delightful. We have nothing in there but a couple of folding chairs and an air mattress, but that suits us just fine for now. This photo is taken from the air mattress’s point of view in the bedroom. The bedroom is small, but has amazing light. The most incredible thing was shutting off the lights at night time. Even though we have no curtains on any of the windows, the inside of the house was pitch black! It made us realize how bright our NYC apartment is, what with all those street lights down below. And the cricket noise was insanely loud! I had forgotten what that is like. We didn’t do much to settle in, expect give everything a good scrub on the inside, and tackle the overgrowth on the outside. Chad took on the out-of-control vine that had all but consumed the brick fireplace. Though the battle was tough and long, he eventually triumphed! Next weekend — paint shopping and the “real” bed arrives. — Angela M.

Our backyard looked like a dog run when the snow thawed this spring. Spotted weedy grass, muddy pits, and no spot to comfortably sit. Casey vowed to build a patio. “I’ll do it this weekend,” he said casually as he set out with a shovel and the book Patios and Walkways 1-2-3 from Home Depot. Forty hours later (hail to the hubby!), we have a splendid one to soak up the sun. Now all we need is an umbrella… — Megan K.

P.S. Check out Better Homes and Gardens online for a sand-based patio how-to with illustrations if you’re interested in building one similar to ours. And be sure to click through for a before picture and detailed process shots. (more…)

Here’s a question we got from reader Cori that’s got us stumped. What a design dilemma! See her plight below and weigh in if you have any suggesions!

Okay, my husband and I are in the process of moving into the main level of an old house. It has gorgeous trim and awesome french doors, but here’s a catch: To create more bedrooms, the owners enclosed one of the huge amazing doors with brown paneling, making the door much smaller than original. As of now, the owner wont let us remove the paneling, so we need a creative solution hide it. He mentioned that perhaps we could paint it the same color as walls, but I think that would look silly because you would still have the frame showing. Eeekk. What else could we do? I need help! Thank you so much. — Cori R.

I have a total of seven windows in my apt. Sounds like a lot right? Well three of them are situated a mere two ft. from the towering brick wall of the apartment next door and are therefore rendered useless in the realm of general window functions. However with space at a premium in NYC I decided I couldn’t let the space go to waste. Two of the windows hold air-conditioners but the third just got put to good use this weekend when I decided to put up a handy little window shelf for my books. I found the bright red brackets at my local Ace Hardware several months ago during one of my many trips while building the counter in my kitchen. I didn’t have a specific shelf location in mind when I bought them but they were just too cute (who doesn’t love red!) to pass up. This weekend I had a piece of wood cut to the dimensions of my window for a little under $5. I then decided instead of painting the not-so-great quality wood, I’d cover it with fabric using nothing but a scrap and my trusty hot-glue gun. Once it was screwed in and sturdy I lined up my books and sat admiring while I thought about what to do with the free floor space I’d uncovered by relocating my pile of books! — Erica P.

Yesterday, Jean from I Love Upstate emailed about a contest she’s having. She’s asking readers to submit logos ideas for her site and the winner will get a gallon of Benjamin Moore’s aura paint. Now, I haven’t had to paint anything in a few years, but a whole lot of it is looming in my near future. This stuff sounds pretty good. It features something called Colorlock — which means full washability in all sheens, eco-friendly and minimal odor, a ast one-hour recoat time. I’m not exactly sure what makes this more eco friendly than normal paint, but I would bet there are better, greener brands to be found. Any suggestions? — Angela M.

Peeing in the wilderness is one thing. Peeing in the wilderness of your own basement is another entirely. The one positive thing about our freestanding porcelain seat — besides entertaining speculation regarding the incontinence of previous owners and the fact that it incongruously sat next to the washing machine — was that it meant we had plumbing already. We just had to build a bathroom around it.

Click through to the next page to see Megan’s new bathroom and how they did it! (more…)