One of our readers, Natalie, asked an excellent question a few days ago. She wondered what type of paint you use on radiators, and what special brushes you might use. Thus far, we have only painted one of our radiators. We spray painted the upstairs bathroom radiator with Rustoleum’s High Heat spray paint (found at […]

We have a one-pipe steam heating system, which is highly efficient when it’s running properly but requires quite a bit of fidgeting & futzing. We spent many a night falling asleep to the clangs, gurgles and pings of radiators that were not well-adjusted before we figured it out all. What we’ve learned about steam heat […]

We’re working hard to earn a black belt in frugal winterizing. Living in Central New York, it’s a necessary skill – unless you’re willing to sell a kidney to keep the pipes from freezing. Everyone has their tactics. There’s the “layer-up” method, whereby you force everyone in the house to wear 3 pairs of long […]

This year, we bought 4 pumpkins from a campground in Ithaca. They were only $2-$3 each so at that price we couldn’t resist bringing home the biggest, bestest ones they had. But big pumpkins are thick and meaty, making them much harder to carve. Luckily, we’ve got a lot of carving experience. Back when we […]

Fall has always been my favorite season, and Halloween my favorite holiday. Christmas is cool and all, but it doesn’t involve costumes and candy so it really can’t compete.  I have an entire closet dedicated to Halloween costumes; I’m that girl at the party that obviously spent wayyyyyy too much time hand-crafting the perfect get-up, […]

I can’t live in my world of denial any longer…. it’s fall here in Central New York. The leaves are turning. Mornings are frigid. Fresh apple cider and craft fairs abound. It’s my favorite time of year, but with fall comes the threat of winter and  a list of chores that prepare our house for […]

Historically, what I’ve ever heard from people who have worked with contractors is about 90% negative. They’re messy, they’re never on time, they raise the price mid-project, they disappear for weeks, etc. I know many people dread working with contractors, but being on the flip-side of the coin I see the other side of things. […]

We’ve been living without a master bedroom closet for quite a while now. It’s become quite natural to walk down the hall to one of the spare bedrooms and rifle through the closet in there, using the entire bedroom as a changing area and place to pile up dirty clothes. It’s luxurious, really, having an […]

Old houses NEVER have mice in them. Of course not, how would they get in? Certainly not through the 8.3 billion little cracks and crevices throughout the house. And then were would they live? Definitely not in cozy little nests in your walls. Nope, never. We had a few mice keeping residence in our upstairs […]

When we gutted our stairwell and hallway about a year ago, we got rid of any door and window trim that wasn’t original. Basically, we got rid of a bunch of 1″x4″ boards that had been haphazardly nailed up. That left us with 3 doors and a window looking incredibly sad and trimless, and 2 […]