Tag: sponsored

Shopping for Our Sleep Number Bed

This post is sponsored by Sleep Number^®.

I occasionally have restless nights, but for the most part if I’m tired, I can pretty much fall asleep as my head hits the pillow. I can sleep in a hotel bed, I can sleep on a couch instead. I can sleep in my kid’s room, I can sleep while fireworks boom. I can fall asleep in a chair, I can fall asleep anywhere! (That was cheesy. Sorry.)

Brandon though? Not so much.

He has a bad back, so he tosses and turns and is often awake at various points throughout the night (sometimes waking me up, too). When the opportunity to work with Sleep Number^® came up, I immediately thought that this could be great for him. He’s keeping up with our three kids all day, and that’s hard when you haven’t gotten enough sleep.

To find your ideal Sleep Number setting in the store, you lie on a mattress and they take it from 100 (most firm) down to a point where it feels most comfortable for you. There was a monitor above the bed showing pressure points on the body, and you could see them change as you either changed position or changed the setting of the mattress.

I would have guessed before this experience that I’d prefer a firm mattress, but I wasn’t really sure. Lying on the bed in the store, it felt fine at 100, but as we lowered the setting I realized I liked it to be sort of medium/soft. Anecdotally, 35 seems to be the most common Sleep Number setting, and I felt most comfortable at 40 or 45. Such a cool way to find what works for you! And like the beds, they also have a big selection of pillows and other necessities to choose from in store. (If you go to the Oakbrook location, Regina and Linda are both so sweet. They’ve been friends and coworkers forever.)

We ordered a new Sleep Number mattress to go in our bedroom, and our current mattress will go up into the guest room (that one is shot). I think Brandon is really going to benefit from being able to customize his side of the bed to his exact liking. It’s a fantastic bed for couples, so it should lead to better sleep for both of us.

I’ll report back again after we’ve had the mattress for a bit, and I’m excited to share that I’ll also have a Sleep Number mattress to give away! Look for that post to come soon.

June 20, 2017
Working on the Formal Front Yard

This post is sponsored by RISE’s AND not OR home and garden program, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.

I’ve been planning and working on the front yard! I’m still drawn to the idea of a parterre, but I think it may be better suited for the back of the house rather than the front. Instead, I want to incorporate some of those formal elements (namely symmetrical boxwood hedges), but I’ll likely be adding some grass rather than pathways. We can’t grow it in the back because it’s too shady, but the front gets enough sun and some grass would better fit stylistically with the neighborhood. That’s not to say I’m just pulling everything up and laying sod, though that is kind of what the house looked like in the not too distant past!

The previous owners lived here for decades, taking care of this old lady of a house and making improvements, and they left us a handful of photos from over the years. Here’s a couple from before and after the house had been painted, and then a shot of the house when we bought it and again last year.

The majority of houses in our neighborhood have a grass lawn and a few shrubs hugging the house, and our place was no exception. The horse hitching post was there, but the wrought iron fence wasn’t installed until some time after 2002, and the landscaping changed over the years too. Here’s a larger shot of the house when we bought it.

Lush! (And a little overgrown!) The plantings had been added to over time, bit by bit, and it shows. It’s a cottage garden — super charming and casual and appropriate for the house, but with little structure. And what have I come to realize I like most in gardens? Structure. Formality. Simplicity.

I don’t mind spending a full day tending to the garden. The way it’s planted now though, it takes several full days per week, every week from spring through fall, and it’s more than I want to keep up with. Many reactions to my idea of a parterre were along the lines of “oh, boxwood hedges need so much work” but I don’t think so. They need trimming, thinning, and shaping yes, and they’ll benefit from fertilizer and mulch to protect their shallow roots, but it’s a couple of labor-intensive days a couple of times a year, and then they pretty much do their thing. Plus, I’ve come to realize that my favorite garden task is trimming hedges — so satisfying to tidy them up!

RISE (Responsible Industry for a Sound Environment)^® recently put me in touch with a Master Gardener to talk about AND not OR — the idea of taking a balanced approach to caring for your garden or yard — which was so helpful as I’ve been planning everything. One of the first things he noticed was the Dwarf Alberta Spruce. “Is it doing well,” he asked? “They tend to get spider mites and need to be sprayed regularly to keep them healthy.” Oh! Well, no. It isn’t doing well — there are dead and brown patches throughout that I was concerned about. I checked it out after our conversation, and yep, that’s the problem! So now that I know what’s causing the trouble, I can save and care for the wee spruce.

Three Types of Gardeners

The AND not OR site has descriptions of three types of gardeners. There are the Picture-Perfect Planners, dedicated to even the most demanding of garden checklists with the perfect flower beds to show for it. The Saturday Savers have places to go and things to do, and yardwork shouldn’t get in the way. And then there are the Daring Doers, never shying away from a good DIY project. (I’m right there between the Planners and the Doers.) There are recommendations for tools, pest and weed control, plant selections, and more to fit each type.

Out front, I’m keeping my level of commitment to garden tasks in mind as I plan. I got started clearing the area and pulling up a ring of flagstone. I like the idea of a circular center focal point, but I didn’t love the execution, so I’m making some changes.

I mentioned before that a bunch of weeds had popped up on this side of the yard. I wasn’t sure what was growing, so I let it grow last year, and then everything got to four feet high without any redeeming aesthetic characteristics. Whoops! They’re starting to grow in again now. Brandon and I have been pulling things out by the roots. I’m focused on preventing them from coming back, and knowing how to get rid of them if they do. I’m still finalizing the plan, but the center area is where I’d like to add grass for another kid-friendly space. Then maybe another hedge along the side, with flowers nearest the sidewalk and foundation shrubs at the back? And keep the gazing ball or replace it with something more my style?

Boxwood Plans

I’ve been reigning in those boxwoods for three years now, so I had some questions about those for the Master Gardener I chatted with too. I explained that I had been rejuvenating them, but that they were still too large for my liking. Do I give up and rip them out (as had been suggested to me in the comments of previous posts)? And what if I’d like to add more? Start everything over from scratch, mix varieties, or stick with what we’ve got? We agreed that mixing varieties isn’t the best look in this case, so it’s really a matter of preference between the other two options.

Start Over!

I could pull everything and start from scratch with a more compact variety. English boxwoods take a hit with cold/wind, but Korean boxwoods do well here. (And Vardar Valley is a newer, promising cultivar. Apparently Mount Vernon has switched over after struggling to maintain older varieties.) It’s a slow-growing plant though, so the house would look pretty bare for a while. The aim here would be to replace what we have with a dwarf type, thus leading to less pruning needed over time.

Work With What You’ve Got!

I don’t know for sure, but there’s a Green Mountain tag left on the boxwoods that line the side of the house, and I’m assuming that they’re all of the same type throughout. It’s a recommended boxwood variety for our area (hardy and cold-tolerant). Mine are larger than I’d like, but they are responding well to my efforts in rejuvenating them and they can be brought back under control with time and effort. I want them at about 3′ and they want to be 4-5′ tall naturally, so they will always require more pruning than a smaller dwarf boxwood, but they’re mature, and happy and healthy where they are.

Master Gardeners are big on the ‘right plant right place’ concept, and I’m on board. In this case though, it really is a personal preference issue. If I wanted teeny tiny bushes at 1′ high, I could see starting over, but I’m going to keep trying to work with the boxwoods we have. And probably add more. (Feel free to agree or disagree in the comments — let’s discuss.)

I’m forming my plan with graph paper, doodling over photos in Photoshop and on my iPad for a better idea of how things will look, and referring to my favorite garden design books for layout ideas. For specific plants, the Master Gardener I spoke with recommended the University of Minnesota Extension site and it’s been a great resource. I’ve been outside working when I can (so rainy lately), and I’m eager to get to the planting stage. I’ll share more soon, once everything’s further along!

(P.S. Until I’m back with more… you can keep up with springtime spruce-ups on RISE’s Facebook page or Twitter channel. They’ll be sharing AND not OR tips all month. The idea is not to let OR limit the ways you can get the job done. Instead embrace AND – and have all the solutions you need to do what’s right for your family, home and lawn.)

May 11, 2017
Review: Indow Window Inserts

Indow provided two window inserts for review.

Most of the windows on the first and second floor are original to the house — single pane, wavy glass, and all. They’re lovely and historic and I would opt to preserve and restore rather than replace them. That said, they can be pretty drafty. We’ve improved the heating situation here since a tomato froze on our countertop shortly after we moved in (for real), but the kitchen windows were some of the draftiest in the house.

In years past, we’ve taped up window film. We went through the whole process of taping and shrinking the film with a hair dryer for each window and it works, but the installation is awkward and takes a lot of time. Plus it doesn’t hold up all that well over time. The film starts out being relatively unnoticeable, but the pressure of constant drafts makes the the windows look rippled, and once there’s enough slack, they’re noisy! Think plastic rustling and the thwack of the film being sucked backwards. Then when the weather warms, you rip it all down, hopefully not taking too much of your windows’ finish with it, throw it away, and do it all again the next year. Not exactly ideal.

I’d heard good things about Indow window inserts, so I was definitely on board when they reached out and offered to send a couple of inserts for review.

The inserts are edged in compression tubing to hold them in place that comes in three colors (white, black, or brown), and there are various options for different applications (like blocking drafts, noise reduction, light control, or adding privacy). The woodwork on our first floor is all unpainted, so I chose brown frames to blend in, and standard grade acrylic since I was primarily concerned with cold drafts.

Indow had an installer in the area (an architect who lives about five minutes away), so we set up an appointment for him to come out and measure our windows. They’re rarely square — especially in an old house — and he used a laser tool for precise measurements. If you don’t live in an area where someone can come out to you, Indow can send the tool out to you so you can do it yourself. Our installer came back with the inserts when they were ready and showed me how to put them up, though again, it’s totally doable if you’re on your own. It took five minutes! They work perfectly! And they aren’t noisy! They’re a serious upgrade over the window film we had been using, and obviously better than living with the drafty windows as-is.

I bought a little movable weather gauge our first year here because I was curious about the temperature differences throughout the house. I set it on our window sill before and after putting our Indow inserts in, and there was a measurable 20 degree difference.

HOORAY!

The compression tubing holds the insert in place without adhesives or hardware, and there’s no damage to the window frames. We’ve had our Indow inserts in all winter and they’ve been fantastic! They work, which is the important thing, but they also look good and stay in place. There has been the added benefit of some noise reduction too, even though we didn’t specifically choose the ones that are best at soundproofing. Far better than the rustle of plastic sheeting we had in the room before!

There’s a small ring in the bottom corner of each insert, so you break the seal with your finger and then give a little pull. (This is a weird analogy, sorry, but breaking the suction is like unlatching a baby.) Then you can store them and bring them back out as needed. Our windows are staying put even if we someday renovate the kitchen, so we’ll be using the inserts each winter for years to come.

Thank you, Indow, for providing inserts for review! Many people in the comments asked about pricing, so I’m updating the post with that information here. The price per insert for our windows was $262 excluding shipping and measurement and installation fees.

If you’re interested in inserts for your windows, you can find out more and get a free estimate from Indow right here.

February 27, 2017
With the Push of a Button

This post is sponsored by Legrand.

The first and second floors retained most of the original Victorian hardware but there was a mishmash of light switches when we bought the house, so we swapped them all out for brass plates with period-appropriate push-button switches. The third floor, however, had remained cobbled together. The paneled wood doors were different styles, sizes, and colors, and all had mismatched hardware. The lighting fixtures were blech and the generic white toggle switches were nothing special. My plan for the space has been to elevate the details, bringing them in line with the rest of the house so they would feel less like an afterthought.

I kept the white trim but painted all of the doors black a few months ago. The old doorknobs were replaced with brass knobs and mortise locks chosen to reference the ornate detailing of the original hardware downstairs. I also installed brass sconces and added black shades that look amazing with the black doors. With those upgrades taken care of, I turned my attention to the light switches.

Legrand offered to send my choice of their Adorne switches and wall plates, and I first thought about going with all white. The third floor is more modern and less period than the rest of the Victorian, but I do still want it to feel like it belongs. White didn’t seem right. The doorknobs that I installed are a sort of modern take on Victorian hardware, so I went with the Adorne Push Switch, which I figure is the modern version of the old style push-button switches on the first and second floors.

Magnesium gray switches and aged brass are a nod to the black and polished brass of the past. There are tons of styles and colors to choose from for the wall plates though, including a customizable option that can be painted or wallpapered. There aren’t any visible screws on the plates, so the overall effect is super sleek.

I turned off power at the electrical panel for the circuits I was going to be working on. There are instructions included with each Adorne switch or outlet, but the short version is to start by removing the old switch plate and switch. Pull the wires through the new backplate and screw it in, connect the hot wire and neutral to the new switch, then tighten the screws to hold them in place. I added electrical tape around them before pushing them in, but maybe that’s overkill? You push it into place until it clicks in, then do the same with the wall plate. Done.

I documented the whole installation on my Instagram Stories and saved the video. Apologies for the tight closeups, but I cropped it from a vertical to a horizontal format.

Some of those switches on the third floor had definitely seen better days. They’re so much better now!

Upgrading the details of a house, especially those that you touch and interact with daily like light switches, make such a difference. Our Adorne light switches feel modern, but also like they totally belong.

February 13, 2017
Upgrading Faux-Fresh Christmas Garland

This post is sponsored by Dunkin’ Donuts. Every espresso at Dunkin’ Donuts is freshly ground and brewed for each drink and combined with steamed milk and foam in each of Dunkin’s espresso beverages. As I put a lot of thought and care into decorating for the holidays, it’s nice to know that the macchiatos from Dunkin’ that I drink as I work on the house are crafted with the same care!

Popping in today with a quick tip for making your faux garland look more lush and real. I kept thinking that I needed a new garland to get the look I wanted, when really I just needed to take the time to make the one I have work.

I bought a bunch of inexpensive faux-spruce garland strands years ago. They were pretty thin so I tripled them up and added lights before draping the garland along our stairs, but I wasn’t thrilled with how skimpy it looked. I mean, it wasn’t a big deal — it still looked really pretty, but I knew it could be better.

We had fresh garland for our HGTV Christmas issue shoot, but we didn’t get to enjoy it for the holidays because the shoot was done in April! And in the short time that we did have the garland on the stairway, it had made a huge mess. With a cat, a dog, and three kids going up and down those stairs multiple times a day, anything that goes there is going to get jostled. Faux-greenery is far more hardy, so I took our so-so 30-foot garland that looked great but a little thin, and made it into something I feel really good about decorating with.

I already had most of what I needed on hand: our faux-spruce garland, florist wire, clear Christmas lights, and gold ribbon. I picked up some supplementary faux-fresh pine garland (that looks more like cypress to me, but I like it) and stopped off at Dunkin’ Donuts for a mocha macchiato before heading home to get to work.

I took the 100-light strand of Christmas lights off of our spruce garland and laid the whole thing out on the floor to determine spacing for the new pine garland. It was an improvement, but we still had more of the faux-spruce and I liked the added fullness it brought. I wired everything together, starting at one end and spacing the connections about 12″ apart. I then added the lights back in, wrapping them in around the center of the garland a bit more tightly and using an additional 50-light strand.

I used coated picture wire to secure the garland to the stair railing, then added decorative gold ribbon. I also added a huge blue and white oversized ginger jar to hide the cords. Terrible placement with the aforementioned three kids? Possibly. It hasn’t been much of a draw yet — fingers crossed, that continues to be the case.

Once you’ve got the base of the garland right, you can change it up. I had a few ornaments in there before, but I like the simplicity of just greens with clear lights. I may change it up from year to year though. It would be pretty with Christmas picks other greenery, winterberry sprigs, pine cones, or ornaments.

December 13, 2016
Up North, and the New NOOK

This post is brought to you by CJ Affiliate’s VIP Content Service. Thank you Barnes & Noble for sponsoring this post. While this was a sponsored opportunity from Barnes & Noble, all content and opinions expressed here are my own.

The newest Barnes & Noble NOOK 7″ Tablet just launched, and it’s their most affordable NOOK yet at $49.99. We received one a little early to test out, so we took it up to the Northwoods of Wisconsin with us over Thanksgiving.

We all gathered for Thanksgiving dinner and did plenty of sledding and playing in the snow while we were up there, but we also relaxed and read a lot. I got started with our NOOK by adding a few books for each of us from the NOOK store. The tablet is Android-powered with full access to the Google Play Store, so I added some of the kids’ favorite apps too. Eleanor’s current obsession is horses and she has been making an e-book about them. She even figured out how to add audio and narrated each page! I have two favorite excerpts: “horses are beautiful and nice and strong and helpful and they like you too,” and “woohoo woohoo go horses!!”

We packed light and each kid could bring two toys and one book. We were gone for four days though, so it was pretty handy to have the NOOK with more books for everyone when we wanted to read something else. Brandon and I had our titles on it too, saving a lot of room in our bags. The tablet has all kinds of features (front and rear-facing cameras, a 7″ LCD screen, expandable storage from 8 GB up to an additional 128 GB, and more), but it’s still nice and lightweight — super easy to pack or just slip in my purse.

The feature I appreciate most is that you can create up to 6 individual profiles. I can hand the NOOK to one of my kids and not worry that they’re accidentally going to get into my email or delete something that I need. Plus it’s easier for each of us to find what we’re looking for; nobody has to scroll through a bunch of books or apps that are on there for someone else.

(Are you loving my Northwoods props? Mr. Raccoon is such a help when I need to stand something up.)

The new NOOK would be a great gift for readers, and I love it as a tablet for the kids. It’s available now at Barnes & Noble.

December 5, 2016