The Spruce caught up with Ferdinand for a closer look at her apartment and how she’s managed to make the most of such a small space. The Origin: Living at Home to Save Money Prior to moving into her apartment, Ferdinand made some strategic financial decisions that set her up for a smooth moving experience. First was deciding to live at home with her parents while she saved money for the move....
If you do any kind of home remodeling—whether it’s as simple as painting your kitchen or as involved as a full-scale renovation—then Lowe’s and Home Depot are both a fact of life. Try as you might to religiously pick up mulch and plants at your local nursery, tools at your friendly Ace Hardware, and wood at your local lumberyard, you’ll likely have to come to these stores for something eventually....
Symbols often have several layers of meaning, and there is a lot that we can learn from them. They can also be incorporated into your home in many different ways. You can bring a feng shui symbol into your home through art or other decorative objects. The Symbolic Meaning of Mandarin Ducks Mandarin ducks are a type of water fowl that are especially acknowledged for their exquisitely colorful plumage. Their feathers are vibrant and considered the most beautiful....
Standard-size white clover (Trifolium repens) has been used with lawn seed for a very long time, but it sometimes begs the patience of lawn keepers.* Standard white clover can overcome grass species and crowd them out. It goes to flower quickly and attracts bees. Micro Clover Tolerates Regular Mowing Diminutive micro clover, by contrast, is shorter than most turfgrass species. It tolerates regular mowing and when a lawn is consistently mowed to 3", micro clover produces few or no flowers....
The mourning dove is a gentle, medium-sized bird with an overall buff coloration highlighted by black spots and dark wingtips. The back and wings of the bird are often gray-tinged, and an iridescent patch may show on the neck. Their soothing voice is easily recognizable, as is the slow whirring sound their wings make in flight.Mourning doves feed on seeds and readily come to ground and platform feeders, though they tend to be shy....
Fast Facts Scientific Name: Cygnus olor Common Name: Mute Swan, Cygnet (juvenile) Lifespan: 15-20 years Size: 56-60 inches Weight: 16-32 pounds Wingspan: 90 inches Conservation Status: Least concern Mute Swan Identification The mute swan is very distinctive with its long neck and white plumage, but several other swans and geese can look very similar. Knowing the field marks to check on this bird can help birders feel confident with its identification....
Portable induction burners like the NuWave PIC Pro come in handy for a wide range of reasons. They’re great for outfitting a mobile kitchen, whether that’s in an office or a cabin. They can keep a dish warm on a buffet table. They also can function as a much-needed auxiliary cooktop when holiday gatherings render your usual stovetop inadequate. Induction cooktops are the most efficient and safest cooking surfaces around because they heat the cookware directly and only the pot gets hot, not the surface around it....
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might want to consider hosting an open house rather than a formal dinner party. You can serve finger foods, and as long as you have enough space for people to stand and mill about comfortably, you don’t have to cut the number of people on your list. Read on to learn all the ins and outs of hosting an open house party with great success....
Builders often debate which is best for the two most common subfloor materials: plywood or OSB. Familiar to most people, plywood is a sheet material made from layers of wood oriented in opposite directions from layer to layer. OSB (oriented strand board) is a different form of sheet material. While the name may be unfamiliar, you probably recognize this material. OSB sometimes called “chipboard,” is composed of large flat flakes of wood arranged in many layers and sealed together with phenolic resins to make sheets....
Whatever their religious significance, there is no question that passion flowers are beautiful and strange, especially the species most commonly grown as a houseplant, P. caerulea. Passionflower vines have deeply lobed leaves with flowers that hang or peek out from the leaves. Some of the species have sweet and delicious edible fruit. Outside, passionflowers are grown on walls, fences, and trellises, where they are frequented by many varieties of butterflies....
Fresh culinary herbs can take a recipe from good to great. They add extra flavor, color, and nutritional value. They can also add an aesthetic wow factor when used to garnish a dish. Growing your own herbs can be a rewarding DIY project that also helps save on grocery bills. Ever start a recipe and realize you forgot fresh basil or parsley? An herb growing kit, like the Planters’ Choice Organic Herb Growing Kit, makes it easy to have your own supply of fresh herbs whenever you need them....
Styles of Stamped Concrete The stamping process uses rubber stamps or texturizing mats to imprint a pattern into wet cement. There are also ways to apply it over existing concrete if your slab is in good shape. These stamps are often designed from molds of the real material to get the appropriate texture. They can make your concrete resemble brick, cobblestone, slate, wood planks, and more. You’re even able to add large medallions and other custom accents to a concrete slab....
Quartz countertops have developed a reputation over the last few decades as high-end surface material. But the process of gaining respect has been slow. Even today, quartz counters compete with solid surface materials such as Corian and natural stone for space in kitchens and baths. While still a bit on the pricey side, quartz countertops have been coming down in price in recent years—pitting them squarely against their premium competitors....
Here are the things you need to know about garden fertilizers and how they are labeled. Major Ingredients Most commercial fertilizers are prominently labeled with a three-part number on the front of the package. The three numbers will be separated by dashes and may look sometimes like “5-10-5”, for example. This measurement refers to a percentage, by weight, of three major nutrients in the fertilizer product—nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, respectively....
Fire features like the Regal Flame Utopia Ventless Tabletop Portable Bio Ethanol Fireplace add atmosphere and ambiance without the expense or maintenance of a standard fireplace. The best indoor/outdoor portable fireplaces offer easy storage, filling, and plenty of atmosphere that only a fire can bring. It doesn’t hurt if they’re easy to light, too. I tested the Utopia to see if it looked as good as I hoped for a touch of class to my outdoor space....
Japanese Knotweed Removal by Herbicide Injection You may be aware that the herbicide, glyphosate is often used to remove Japanese knotweed. Glyphosate, widely sold under the brand names, Roundup and Rodeo, can be applied as a foliar spray (i.e., you spray it on the leaves) to stands of Japanese knotweed, using a pressurized garden sprayer. But did you know that glyphosate can also be injected into Japanese knotweed canes? Call it “death by lethal injection” for Japanese knotweed....
To add planting areas to your landscape, though, you need to deal with the turfgrass that currently makes up your lawn. Turfgrass species are bred to be tenacious and to spread, and unless you find a way to remove that grass, it is sure to pop up in your newly established planting bed, where it will lead to never-ending combat to remove it. There are several ways to remove or kill the grass to make room for garden planting areas....
The Shark APEX DuoClean has some unique features that distinguish it from the competition. Equipped with Zero-M Technology, the APEX automatically removes hair from the brushroll as you vacuum. With an advanced anti-allergen seal and HEPA filter, it’s also an excellent choice for allergy sufferers. The APEX is one of the most expensive Shark models on the market, so we wanted to put it to the test in our home....
Understanding Voltage Drop All conductors of electricity, including wires, impose some resistance to the flow of electricity. One effect of this resistance, also called impedance, is a loss of voltage. This is known as voltage drop and is represented as a percentage of the total voltage supplied at the power source of the circuit. If you measure the voltage of a circuit at the service panel (breaker box), you should get a reading of around 120 volts (for a standard circuit)....
