Sometimes the environmental cost involved with “green living” isn’t exactly what we expect. When I wrote about using reusable cotton or canvas grocery bags, as opposed to using plastic grocery bags, who knew that, scientifically speaking, the best choice was a reusable bag made of recycled plastic rather than cotton? Green living is often grey… Continue reading Green Living Is Often Grey
Tag: re-use it
Plastic Grocery Bag Alternatives
Ever since our first home exchange to Paris in 2004, I’ve been making a real effort to not use plastic grocery bags. While on our trip, with my starving family (they weren’t really starving but that’s how they were acting!) waiting in the car, I ran into a grocery store in Germany to buy a… Continue reading Plastic Grocery Bag Alternatives
The Bottom Line on the New Bathroom
So, now that our new bathroom has been completely done long enough to have dust bunnies gathering underneath the claw foot bathtub, I wanted to share with you the total cost for our bathroom re-do. But first, let’s review what we re-did: new sub-flooring and new Marmoleum flooring, a fourth foot on our claw foot… Continue reading The Bottom Line on the New Bathroom
Making An Old Screen New Again
This is a guest post from my dear friend, Annie Kip. Annie is sharing with us how to fix a screen and she makes it look very easy, too. Hello Go Gingham fans! Sara is a big proponent of making do with what you already have and she was the inspiration behind this project. I… Continue reading Making An Old Screen New Again
Fixing A Chair Leg – A Cautionary Tale
Hello, Go Gingham fans! The following is a "how to fix a chair" as well as a cautionary tale. I hope you would never fall prey to the unscrupulous fix-it folks who want to make you believe things are much more complicated than you can imagine. I hope you can see when someone is pressuring you with their "expertise." Perhaps… Continue reading Fixing A Chair Leg – A Cautionary Tale
How to Make a Waistband Smaller
When buying clothing second-hand, you don’t always get the best fit, especially if you can’t try the pants on first. This applies to hand-me-downs as well . Clothing can be almost but not quite the right size and you still want it to work. Knowing how to do a few basic alterations is really helpful… Continue reading How to Make a Waistband Smaller
Coffee Table Tale
Design Sponge posted recently about tray tables and I was admiring how practical and useful tray tables are. Then I remembered - I have a tray table – that I made. It’s the coffee table in our living room and the table base part used to be a bench. I don’t have the part that… Continue reading Coffee Table Tale
How to Fix String Bags
I love these string grocery bags that we received as a wedding gift many years ago. They’re nice because they’re small enough to be tucked in a handbag or in a pocket while out shopping They’ve held up really well over the last 22-years but were showing signs of wear and tear (thankfully, the years… Continue reading How to Fix String Bags
Bathtubs in Old Bathrooms
I’ve gotten several questions from readers about our claw-foot bathtub in our old bathroom so, I thought I’d address them here. The first question is about our tub surround that we have in our bathroom. Our tub surround is not a new-fangled “all in one tub/shower combo” that you might purchase at a large warehouse… Continue reading Bathtubs in Old Bathrooms
Laundry Chute Evolution
The final component of the bathroom re-do, the laundry chute door, was a real puzzle to figure out. We were really brainstorming about what to use – Brand new door? Custom made door? Build it ourselves out of wood door? Find a used cabinet door? A reader , Laurie, even had a great suggestion of… Continue reading Laundry Chute Evolution
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