Buh-bye, brand names
Your bathroom’s an eyesore. You’ve got that unavoidable array of brightly colored plastic bottles, with a hoorah to every hygienic brand out there. And that Dial Vanilla Honey Body Yogurt? It’s a body wash, not a snack for the shower.
Fortunately for all us brand name stockpilers, debrandedhome.com offers us a more aesthetically pleasing alternative. All you have to do is go out and get some plain, plastic bottles (try the Family Dollar on Fifth Street) and buy your favorite extra body shampoos and skin tightening lotions in bulk (Sam’s Club and Integral Yoga both offer this). Or, check out the Debranded website for some homemade soap recipes! Next, you decide between Debranded’s two styles of labels to adhere to your new bottles (each set costs $9). Their messages are simple—shampoo, conditioner, hand soap, lotion and body wash. The vinyl waterproof stickers will ensure you’re not conditioning your hair with body lotion—gross.
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Debranded Home isn’t trying to replace other big name labels with their own recognizable design. They’re ready to help give tacky the boot, and of course save you a couple of much-wanted bucks.—Suzanne van der Eijk
Kit parade
Alas, hurricane season is upon us. And while Central Virginia is no South Florida, there’s a chance that fall or, for that matter, winter will, at some point, leave you in the dark. But take comfort, scouts; local vendors carry everything you need to be prepared.
How to stock your power outage survival kit:
Forgo the batteries and kill two, three—make that four birds with one stone. Blue Ridge Mountain Sports sells a hand-crankable contraption that is flashlight, radio, cell phone adapter and 12-volt output adapter all in one. Wind this bad boy for just three minutes and get power for an hour.
 Shine a light on safety: An emergency kit’s always a good thing to keep around the house. |
All that cranking may make you crazy if you’re short on juice, so keep tasty foodstuffs on hand from Integral Yoga’s wide selection of dried fruit, trail mix, and energy bars (I hear the KIND bars are good). Bottled water is key, and don’t forget a manual can-opener, just in case you need to crack open that can of beans that’s been collecting dust in your pantry.
Other worthy kit additions: headlamp plus batteries, blankets, first aid kit, matches, and heck, throw in some candles—just don’t burn the house down.—Kathryn Faulkner
Happy hour
We don’t know a better way to enjoy the fleeting days of summer than with a chilly and fruity glass of sangria. As it turns out, sangria is a perfect (and inexpensive) drink to serve at your next warm weather soiree. Instead of going to the liquor store to stock the bar, consider stretching your dollar and make a big pitcher of sangria.
While a good-sized bottle of booze will set you back upwards of $25, you can make a whole pitcher of sangria for closer to $15. Geoff Macilwaine, manager of the Wine Warehouse (on Hydraulic) says, “I’d make it with a wine that I’d like to drink by the glass.” For sangria, Macilwaine recommends a Spanish wine like Protocolo (just $7.69 a bottle). He says, “Look for a medium-bodied red Spanish wine that is not heavily oaked and has a soft-textured finish.”
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Recipes vary but most call for brandy (go for the airplane bottles—$2), ice, cut fruit (like oranges and lemons—about $4) and seltzer or lemon lime soda ($1) along with sugar. An added bonus: The fruit serves as a boozy snack.—Sarah Jacobson
We can see for miles and miles
It can be tough to decide to replace windows—it’s a big investment and a boatload of trouble. The decision’s a lot easier when the window in question is already broken and letting in the weather. Our house sported a bay window whose center section was covered only by a flapping piece of plastic. Any stiff breeze would rip it off, then we’d staple it back up. Et cetera.
We ordered a replacement at a local window shop. Though bay windows in theory are nice, this one seemed crammed into its second-floor spot, so we reverted to a flat picture window with double-hungs on either side. We are not rich, so we went for vinyl instead of wood (oh well), and low-e for the energy savings.
 The new dormer window is a big improvement, especially when weatherproofed, trimmed out and surrounded by new cedar shingles! |
Once the window came in and we safely transported it home, the real work began. Nothing’s square in our old house, so the saggy “rough opening” (in layman’s terms, the hole in the wall where the window would fit) had to be elaborately and creatively shimmed to make a snug fit for the window.
The best idea we had all day? Calling our friend Alex to come over and help us maneuver the beast into place. The window is approximately 8’ long and 3’ high, so it’s plenty heavy. With Alex’s help, we got it into the opening and nailed it to the sheathing on the outside of the house.
After crawling back inside through one of the double-hungs, we admired our new view: lovely mountains, seen much more clearly through low-e glass than flapping plastic.—Spackled Egg
Floral mode
This month’s surfer: Eric Lamb, A New Leaf florist
What’s on his browser: fusionflowers.com
What it is: A U.K.-based bible for all floral fashionistas. It’s jam-packed with European flair and a taste for the trendy.
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Why he likes it: Lamb says the site is great for developing high-end, artsy arrangements and keeping up with the latest developments in the flower world. The site offers great contemporary panache for your garden as well. Yes, Olympic torches lighting your backyard pathway are cool.