If you have a ground-level deck or patio and would like a bit of privacy, consider building a living wall. It can shield you from the neighbors, surround you with flowers and provide fresh herbs just steps away from your kitchen or grill. The planter boxes are easy to build, and a drip irrigation system provides automatic watering all summer long—no worries about missing a day of watering or losing all your plants when you go on vacation.
Built with composite decking and hidden fasteners, this maintenance-free backyard deck is designed to go together fast and to fit in anywhere in the yard, without footings or ledger boards.
Grillzebo
You can entertain and feed your guests without ever having to leave your shish kebabs unattended! If you’re looking for outdoor bar ideas or DIY gazebo plans, this “grillzebo” is perfect. It’s big enough to accommodate most standard grills but small enough that it might just fit on your existing patio. Customize your own grillzebo with lighting, grill accessory storage, wine glass racks, or built-in coolers.
Your Home Improvement Calendar for Paint Projects by Season
We’ve been fairly housebound going on about two years now (mind = blown). So if you’ve found yourself daydreaming about new projects to improve and refresh your home again, you’re certainly not alone. You’ve also come to the right place. Here, our top three projects per season, at every level of difficulty. Think you’re up for the challenge?
Spring: Functional Workspace
Even if you don’t have a dedicated office, you can still have a beautiful and functional space when you’re working from home. Turn an open wall into your own personal study and give it a pop of color to make it come alive. Start with KILZ 2Ⓡ All-Purpose Primer to hide any unsightly scuffs or marks and provide excellent adhesion for your new topcoat.
If Shelves Could Talk
Finally give that book collection the attention it deserves with a statement backdrop that speaks volumes. In fact, consider it a hop on the “emotional escape room” bandwagon. Yep, folks are using everything from calming colors to crystals to create rooms in their homes that elicit their most tranquil selves. So don’t shy away from a shade that brings you joy, no matter how strong—simply prime with KILZ RestorationⓇ Interior Primer, which blocks heavy stains and odors to restore even the toughest projects.
Flavorful Cabinets
Give the heart of the home an inviting refresh with one of our favorite kitchen trends: two-tone cabinets. After priming with KILZ 3Ⓡ Premium Primer, brush a darker color on the lower cabinets to draw the eye upward, creating taller-looking ceilings and a grander visual effect. It’s also a great way to infuse character into the room, and if you’re torn between a rich color palette or soft neutrals, you can have both.
These beautiful budget-friendly ideas will work for even the tiniest layout.
So you don’t have a sprawling lawn or a home surrounded by manicured acreage. But what you do have is a patio, a porch, a rooftop, a deck, a balcony — or even just a window. And in even the smallest among those spaces, you can create a beautiful, peaceful environment that conjures the joy of the outdoors with an array of small garden ideas designed to maximize space cleverly and creatively.
In even a windowsill or a stoop, you can plant an herb garden that is fragrant, visually appealing, and adds flavor to your food (while saving costs). On a balcony or porch, you can add a compact fountain or other water feature, plus wind chimes, string lights, and a hummingbird feeder to bring sensory pleasure and charm to your everyday experience of home. And if you have even a small outdoor garden, you can transform it into a delightful retreat with seating and a shade structure, plus abundant flowers and foliage in pots, on shelves, in hanging baskets, in garden boxes, and right in the ground.
Let these small garden ideas and products inspire you to make the most of your outdoor space (or even natural light indoors if that’s what you’re working with!) to make your own home into the lush paradise you deserve. (No green thumb required.)
These little bunnies turned out so well! I love their sweet, little squat bodies. They were super simple to make. In fact, we are planning on making a whole bunch more to gift to my nieces and nephews.
I know you have a few spare toilet paper rolls kicking around your house. Let’s put them to good use.
The first step is drawing the ears on your toilet paper rolls. Find the side of the toilet paper roll that has the smoothest surface, this will be your bunny face side. Two loops for the ears and a line all the way around. Now trim off the excess and round out the Easter bunny ears.
Next up is painting the bunnies. What Easter colours do you like? You could totally go for a grey bunny colour – that’s more realistic. We decided to paint our cheerful Easter pink, yellow and blue. It will take a couple of coats of paint to get the coverage you like. Set them aside to dry completely.
Now it’s time to add the details. We cut the white inner ear pieces from white card stock and used double-sided tape to adhere them in place.
We painted the eyes, nose and mouth on the bunnies using black paint and a paintbrush. You could totally use googly eyes, but I liked the idea of painting the faces on.
We used colourful cardstock to wrap around the bunny’s bodies. I like the idea of giving them colourful outfits, like the Easter Bunny my daughter had her taken with when she was a baby. Finally, finish off the bunnies with pompom tails…of course! Use a glue gun to adhere the tail in place.
I thought about giving these bunnies feet, like our toilet paper roll love bugs, that would look cute too. Add all the details you like. Have fun
WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR TOILET PAPER ROLL EASTER BUNNIES?
Well, Easter is all about hiding chocolates. What if you placed bunnies around the house and filled them with chocolates. They also would make a lovely addition to the Easter dinner table. I have other plans for our bunnies. They’re going on a new spring wreath!
Crafted By Jen of Kitchencounterchronicle.com
Source: Cute Easter Bunny Paper Rolls – Easter Crafts for Kids (kitchencounterchronicle.com)
After waiting out the cold winter months, your green thumb is probably itching to get back into the soil. But before you pull on your garden gloves, here are a few signs to look for that indicate when to start planting a garden.
1. Your Last Frost Date Has Passed
The first step in deciding when to start planting a garden is determining your garden growing zone. Once you know what zone you live in on the USDA Hardiness Zone map, you’ll have a better idea of when the last frosts are for your area. As a general rule, seeds or seedlings should go in the ground at least two weeks after the last frost date.
2. Your Seed Packets Tell You It’s Time
Armed with your hardiness zone, the next indicator in deciding when to start planting a garden can be found on the back of your seed packets. Based on the days to germination and the days to harvest listed on your seed pack, you can determine when you need to sow seeds or start them indoors.
3. Thawed Ground
Another sign to check for is the soil condition. If the ground is still frozen, it won’t make for successful planting. Checking for workable garden soil is pretty simple: Take a walk around your planting area and squeeze a handful of soil into a ball with your hands. If it sticks together or is dripping wet, it’s not workable or ready. If it falls apart easily, it’s a sign it’s nearly time to plant.
4. Warm Nighttime Temperatures
Just because you’re seeing some warm daytime temperatures doesn’t mean your garden is ready for planting. It’s essential to look at nighttime temperatures, too, before transplanting any seedlings to your garden. Ideally, you should plant warm weather plants when evening temperatures no longer dip below 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
5. Warm Soil Temperature
As the weather outside begins to warm up, the soil also steadily grows warmer. Checking your soil temperature is another method you can use to determine when to start planting. Seeds planted too early may not germinate right away or at all and can be disturbed before they get the chance to do so. Seedlings also need the proper soil temperatures before being transplanted to ensure survival.
To measure your soil’s temperature, use a garden and compost thermometer. The soil should be at least 60 F to 65 F for spring planting. Take measurements three times throughout the day — morning, noon and late afternoon — to get a more accurate average temperature range.
6. More Sunlight Hours
Keep an eye on your garden area where your growing beds sit and clock how many hours of sunlight it receives throughout the day. Most warm weather plants, like squash and tomatoes, require six to eight hours of full sun daily. Once the area starts to get closer to six hours of steady sunlight, you’ll know it’s about time to get planting.
7. Your Seedlings Are Ready
If you start your seeds indoors, it’s also vital to look to your seedlings for signs it’s time to begin planting. Most seedlings should have at least two sets of true leaves before being transplanted into the ground. Don’t forget to factor in time for hardening off the plants when you begin your garden preparation.
Watch for a few signs that your garden is ready for planting — no single one should be the only indicator. A combination of these signs, coupled with experience, can help you determine the best time to start.
