Operation Home

If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, you know that I love and use Pinterest frequently. I’m not an every day pinner (for time reasons only), but the pins that I do pin are pinned for a reason (“pin” 4 times in one sentence. Yeah!). Over the years, I’ve tried many things I’ve seen on there, so I thought I’d review some of the wins and fails I’ve encountered. I’ve linked up the related pins in case you want to check them out yourselves. Just know that these are the pins that I decided to try, that happened to work for me (or not). I’m in no way an expert on these topics. These were just my personal experiences, so I thought I’d share. With that said, in no particular order….

Wins:

1. Cleaning the microwave by cooking diluted vinegar. I LOVE this. It makes cleaning the microwave almost a pleasure. Almost.

2. Keeping the shower clean with dawn dish soap + vinegar in a dish scrubber. This works so well. It keeps our glass shower door streak-free and gorgeous with minimal time spent. I literally just keep the scrubber in the shower and wipe down the glass and rinse before I get out of the shower each day. It takes one minute, tops! The same mixture makes my sinks sparkle, as well.

3. Vinegar to kill weeds. Kills ’em dead. Just don’t get it close to any vegetation you want to keep. I mainly use it for the weeds that come up in the cracks in our driveway or walkway.

4. Cleaning glass with hydrogen peroxide. I just screw a spray nozzle right into the bottle of peroxide (it loses it’s effectiveness when exposed to light, so keeping it in its original container is best). You’ll never see a more streak-free mirror… Just let it dry thoroughly before you judge. At first it looks streaky, then it fades.

5. Using chalk to remove grease stains from clothing. Check out this post for more details on that experience (which may or may not have involved a seductive butter container and weird, completely random doodles).

6. Recipes!!! Holy RECIPES!!! I have my “Food Glorious Food To Try” board which are the recipes I’ve got on reserve for a rainy day. Then, once I’ve tried a recipe, I move it to my “Recipe Box: Tried and True” board along with commentary for how it turned out and any recipe modifications made. This way, I can always go back and have all the details I need, right there at my fingertips.

7. Using tape to more easily determine placement of wall hangings. I demonstrated this technique in this post, but have used it many times since. It totally removes the guesswork and measuring needed to hang tricky objects.

8. Using upside-down command hooks to hang door wreaths from inside. This idea was carried out when I hung our frame wreath. The wreath was up for a good 10 months before I removed it and this hanging system worked perfectly the entire time.

9. Hemming jeans easily and undetectably. This is one of my favorites!! It’s a simple process and you seriously CANT TELL. It looks like the jeans were born that way. I just do this by hand… No machine needed.

10. ….

(Why, yes. I totally censored this cake with a sweet feathered hat. This blog is nothing if not random.)

I made a similar version of this cake for Joey. If you’re having a not-so-stellar “attitude week”, cake + apology makes everything better. He thought this was hilarious. (P.S. This link contains the uncensored cake. You’ve been warned)

Fails:

1: Using a pumice stone to remove fabric pilling off clothes. It really just made my shirt look worse.

2. Layering glitter nail polish between red for a neat iridescent color. Mine turned out looking like a lumpy red mess. I wish I would’ve taken a picture. It would’ve made a great “Nailed It!”. Maybe I just used the wrong stuff.

3. ANY of the hair style tutorials I’ve tried… Apparently, I possess ZERO hair coordination.

4. Using baking soda on my face for microdermabrasion. It left a gritty film that seemed to take a while to go away. I’ve since deleted the pin from my board, but here’s a link to the pin if you wanna check it out.

So, definitely more wins than losses (unless I’m blocking them from my memory. Which I might be. I’m sneaky like that.). Aside from this list, I’ve acquired infinite amounts of inspiration by scrolling through the eye-candy world of Pinterest. In home decor, fashion, organizing techniques… you name it. Plus, if I’m working on a DIY project and get stumped, it’s my go-to reference for tutorials and advice. In any case, I’ve definitely picked up some good tips by utilizing Pinterest and will continue to share my experiences as I have them.

So, have you guys tried anything that you’d like to share? What wins and fails have you experienced?

So, this week marks the one-year anniversary of Operation Home! Crazy, right??! In this time span, I’ve published 127 posts including this one. That’s 127 posts mostly containing craft/DIY projects that I/we’ve attempted, along with several decor posts and a few personal posts mixed in. This past year has been so rewarding thanks to this little blog. It’s been an outlet that I’ve been lucky and grateful to have, and it’s allowed me to meet some really cool people whom I would’ve never met otherwise. Plus, I’ve learned a ton!! Not only about blogging in general, but about DIY… I’ve taken on projects in the last year that I’d never tried before and might not have had the courage to do if it weren’t for Operation Home. So, thanks little blog and all of you lovely readers who support it! 🙂

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on updating Our House page in the bar above. It contains updated photos with links to the most pertinent projects within each space. So, check that out if you’re bored (or just, ya know, if ya just like me. Nopressure). 😉

I haven’t really posted a ton about our backyard since the inception of this blog. A few random posts here and there but not the full-monty, if you will. So, I thought an updated tour could be fun since the foliage has changed quite a bit. I mean, what could be more fun than watching plants grow? 😉

On that note, I’d like to take a moment to marvel upon the magic that is the Southern Wax Myrtle. The most amazing shrub I’ve ever come into contact with. Seriously, I’m about to justify this statement with pictures. Just wait. Wait for it. Okaaaay. Onward…

See, when we planted these guys in February of 2013, they looked something like this….

By September of 2013, they looked like this…

And now, one measly, piddly year later….

I know. SHUTTHEFRONTDOOR. They’ve flippin’ exploded!!!! It only took a year and a half for them to begin providing privacy above the fence line. That is, unless you count this from last September...

I was so excited about “all that privacy” provided by those two little branches. Heehee!!! I was such a kid. Now, I’ll admit…. there is one little runt bush that hasn’t quite caught up with the others, but he’ll get there. No doubt.

The wax myrtles were a generous housewarming gift from Mac and Pop when we moved into the house. (Need a housewarming gift idea? Buy a shrub. You won’t regret it.) And they seriously MAKE the yard. In these pictures, they almost look a little messy because it was so incredibly windy when I took these shots, but in person they’re lush and warm and bring such a cozy dynamic to the backyard. Our goal was to allow them to grow larger and then trim them into a privacy hedge. The plant beds that Joey created with moss boulders are still going strong and look amazing.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for this sad, sad live oak tree (seen in the back of this shot)…

It’s alive. Just not looking great. The brutal winter really took a toll on him. Maybe one day he’ll come back and be happy again (Ihope).

The other side of the yard looked like this last year after we’d planted a few crepe myrtles along the fence as well as another live oak tree (…who did remarkably well in the frigid winter. Way to take one for the team, tree!)…

And now that side of the yard looks like this…

So, not a ton different, but definitely more filled in. Sorry for the blurry pic. It was far too windy for my lack-luster photography skills.

The rosemary beds looked like this before…

And now…

And that’s AFTER Joey gave them a significant haircut. As for the porch…

We got a new umbrella, which makes the space so much more livable in the hot Texas heat. It’s from World Market in case anybody’s wondering. We need to get a better umbrella stand, since the umbrella is leaning quite a bit. It’s much heavier than our last umbrella since the rod is made of wood. It’s an aspect that I neglected to think about when deciding to re-use our old umbrella stand to save some cash. Sometimes, ya just gotta spend the money, I guess. I love the colors and simple pattern the umbrella adds to the yard. Plus, it helps tie in all of the colors from the conversation area nicely and provides much-needed shade over our newly waterproofed table. As an added bonus, it blocks out some of the surrounding roof lines from inside the house. Score!

Speaking of the conversation area, the space looks much the same from when I added the herbs and flowers. Shockingly, they’re still alive. Although there’s a chance that a few of them loathe me for adopting them (*coughcough*parsley!). They aren’t exactly thriving if ya know what I mean.

See??? You can see the one little runt shrub in the background of this shot. That’s really just a living metaphor for me standing next to my friends and family. I can totally relate. Just keep swimming, my little vertically-challenged friend! You actually have the option to keep growing, so run with it!

I apologize for the lighting in some of these shots. Our schedules as of late basically forced me to take these pics around dinner time… Not only was it insanely windy, it was pretty harsh lighting. I totally know better, but sometimes ya just gotta do what ya gotta do. Here’s a shot from earlier in the summer to demonstrate the actual colors on our porch…

It blows my mind just how much the shrubs have grown even since then!

Functionality-wise…

… the beverage fridge is the bomb. When we have people over we stock it with water, soda, beer, etc. it keeps guests from having to go in and out so much. Of course, it doesn’t look like anything special as of now. It *may* even be on the slightly fugly side. Especially with the *meh* concrete. But a few shelves above, maybe a little appliance paint? Or perhaps, a little wood facade… It could be a really cool little area.

In any case, I think we’ve (and by “we” I’m referring to Joey) done a pretty good job with the space so far, especially being that it started off here…

Joey’s really outdone himself with the landscaping, in my opinion. And despite me and my olive thumb, the majority of the plantings have taken off beautifully. I think it’ll be a really charming (and private) backyard once everything matures and blocks out the view of the surrounding neighbors.

Anyways, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Thanks for stopping by my humble little blog! I totally love ya’ll for it and hope you continue to visit for ANOTHER year of blogging! 🙂

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