Our New Beach House Cats

We adopted two cats this summer. I was scrolling through our local Nextdoor forum, and noticed that someone was looking for a home for their cats, as they were soon to be moving. I was a little shocked, at first, after all, who leaves their cats when they move? When I clicked on the posting, I understood.

Syd and Leo each weigh over five hundred pounds. They are not easy to move. The owners had moved them several times, but they were getting older, and it was time to find the cats a new family. I called them and made an appointment to meet the cats in their Seattle courtyard.

How to Decorate With Free Stuff From Craigslist

I love Craigslist. Especially the free stuff. I am forever amazed at what you can get, simply by going to get it!

I've seen good quality paint, gardening supplies, furniture, sports equipment, and toys. Recently, these were a few of the items I found listed on Craigslist one Saturday morning.

How to Make Garden Markers From Vintage Spoons!

Here is a lovely gift idea for yourself, or the kitchen gardener in your life!  These plant markers made from vintage silverware are so pretty.

(this tutorial contains affiliate links)

Through much trial and error, I have figured out how to flatten and stamp vintage silverware. There are probably as many techniques out there as there are people who do this type of craft. I struggle with wrist and elbow and shoulder issues, so after trying several of the different methods for making these garden markers, I realized I would need to work smarter, not harder.

How to Landscape Your Yard for Free

Let's face it. Landscaping can be really expensive. On  recent visit to my daughter's new home in Alabama we went shopping for trees or shrubs for her yard and I was stunned!  I thought: there has got to be a better way.

In our old historic neighborhood, we all shared our plantings and seeds. Whether we were saving rare old tomato seeds, or thinning our iris, digging up "volunteers", or removing old sod, we always offered our plantings to our neighbors first. The problem with a new neighborhood, is that no one has any old plantings to share -- but this doesn't have to stop you from getting previously loved plants!

Awesome Projects to Make With Recycled Newspapers

Continuing the Earth Day theme, here at House Revivals, I thought it would fun to share some ways to use recycled newspapers in our homes and our gardens.

Even if you subscribe to all your papers electronically, you probably have friends and neighbors who would be more than willing to donate their old papers to your recycling projects.

(This post is participating in the Blogging A to Z Challenge. N is for Newspaper. See the link in my sidebar.)

The Tiny Apartment Trend

Micro-housing is becoming a huge (or should I say "tiny") trend in real estate today.  It answers a need for affordable housing, especially in urban cities, where more and more people need to fit into a small area.

While there is controversy about creating large numbers of tiny abodes in some areas, and tiny housing should be thoughtfully designed, today I'm just sharing cool tiny apartments from cities around the country. Micro-housing is usually considered anything under about 400 square feet and it is not unusual to see micro-housing that is as small as 150 square feet!

How to Dress Up Those Plastic Nursery Pots

Last Saturday, after hitting all the architectural and building salvage yards in SoDo, I ended up at Home Depot. They have these sweet little potted primroses right now, in pretty pinks and corals and yellows for $1.25 each!

I picked up several, to add to my mantel, but I didn't have nice decorative pots to put them in -- actually, I don't really have space to store things like that in our little urban apartment -- so we got creative.