DIY
Mr Chiots and I really enjoy doing things ourselves. We’re especially excited when we get to tackle a new project and can do something we’ve never done before. This weekend we’re redoing our main bathrooms. It was in very sad shape, the vinyl floor was torn and the cabinet was falling apart. We considered simply adding new vinyl floor, but decided we really wanted to learn how to lay a tile floor.
After looking at all of our options, we found these 1″ Hex Marble tiles that were only slightly more expensive than regular white porcelain. Since our bathroom is only 25 square feet, it wasn’t that expensive to buy enough to cover the floors.
On Thursday evening we tore out the old floor and got everything ready for tile and painted the room a pale robin egg blue. Yesterday we set the tile, today we plan on grouting, and tomorrow the new sink and cabinet will go in. If we were planning on staying here I would have put a heating system in the floor to warm in up in the winter.
Laying tile isn’t that difficult, but it does take more time than installing other types of floors. Now we have another DIY skill under our belts, next up wiring the upstairs and installing drywall!
What kind of DIY project have you always wanted to tackle that you haven’t yet?
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Old Timey Fun
Last fall I planted Fall Green Manure Mix from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. It was ready to cut a week ago, but I was waiting for Mr Chiots to do a little maintenance on my scythe.
I got this scythe from my dad, who got it from his grandpa Hatfield (his mom’s dad). He said that as a little boy he loved watching my great grandpa use it to trim the ditches and other areas on the farm.
It took us a while to get it adjusted to what we thought would be a good fit. Then it took us a few swipes to figure out the best method for cutting. All in all, it is much quicker than using a weedwacker or other power tool. 500 square feet was cut in about five minutes.
It was a great time figuring out how to adjust and use this old tool. It’s very old to be sure, quite a treasure to still be using it.
One of the reasons I garden is for peace and quiet, so I’m rather old fashioned when it comes to the tools I choose. I love using a push mower when I can, everything is watered by hand, soil is turned with a shovel not a tiller, leaves are raked with a rake. I also don’t really find that it’s faster to use power tools and they can cost a pretty penny.
What’s your favorite garden chore to do manually?
If you’re interested in reading more about Scythes, how and why to use them, etc. Head on over to Scythe Connection for some great reading!
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Rolling out the Welcome Mat
Ever since we moved in here at Chiot’s Run, there has been an expanse of lawn with no path that leads up to our front porch steps. I’ve been wanting to put in a path, but couldn’t decide what kind of material to use.
We have crushed gravel in the back but really dislike that it’s always getting tracked into the house. Concrete wasn’t an option because we wanted to use something native and natural. I finally decided to simply use some of the rocks I dig up all the time and inset them into the grass. (I have a few large piles of rocks in various places to harvest stones from when I need them).
I laid each stone on the sod then cut out the grass in the shape of the rock. I removed the sod and used it to fill a raised bed in the back and then laid the stone.
They’re set just at the soil level so that they can be mowed over easily. The grass should grow in around them and make them look like they’ve been there for a long time.
I plan on using my old Craftsman push mower to mow the path shorter than the surrounding lawn to emphasize it. It’s quite welcoming and definitely something I should have done a long time ago.
What’s your favorite kind of garden path?
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Non-Toxic Cleaning: Doing the Dishes
Here at Chiot’s Run we typically wash dishes by hand. My dishwasher control panel went out about a year ago and we decided it was faster to wash everything the old fashioned way. I mix castile soap in a foaming soap dispenser (see instructions here) and use a Twist compostable sponge. I also keep a parmesan cheese shaker with baking soda at the sink for sprinkling in any pots and pans that need a good scrubbing.
Like most people, I have a collection of various bottle brushes and stainless steel scrubbers for kitchen and household cleaning. They certainly come in handy for washing water bottles and hummingbird feeders!
Scrubbing the dishes by hand really doesn’t take much longer that loading and unloading the dishwasher, at least for us here. We wash them as soon as we’re finished cooking/eating and then they’re done. No saving up a sink full of dishes here – one of my biggest annoyances is dirty dishes on the counter. I don’t want to see them. Having the dishes all washed and put away right away is also a great benefit to hand washing, no waiting for hours for the dishwasher to wash and no noise either.
What would the non-toxic cleaning series be without a proper automatic dishwashing detergent recommendation? So I ordered a new control panel and a new seal from Repair Clinic and the dishwasher was fixed for a fraction of what it would cost to replace it.
Up until a year ago when the dishwasher kicked the bucket, I used Ecover Automatic Dishwashing Detergent and was fairly happy. I purchased a container of Tropical Traditions Detergent Detergent with Enzymes, but the dishwasher died before I could use it.
It was used for the first load and I must say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Tropical Traditions detergent*. The first time I used it I was amazed at how spotless the dishes came out. We have hard water and the dishes have never come out this clean, ever. I’ve washed a few more loads with it and it has performed just as well each time.
What goes in my rinse aid dispenser? White vinegar, citrus infused if I have it. Even with our very hard water, it seems to work just as well as the store-bought varieties at a fraction of the cost!
I do use the high heat wash setting on my dishwasher. Since our diet includes lots of butter, whole milk and other high fat foods, the high heat setting is needed to help dissolve all the residue on the plates. The low-temp simply doesn’t work.
If your dishwasher isn’t doing a great job cleaning the dishes, think about cleaning it. Once a year, we take apart our dishwasher and clean all the parts, this keeps it cleaning perfectly. I can always tell when it’s needing a good cleaning. This step is especially important if you don’t clean all the food off of your dishes before loading it. You’ll also extend the life of your dishwasher saving you money if you take the time to perform yearly maintenance.
Even though my dishwasher is now fixed, I’ll continue doing most of the dishes by hand. For me it’s a great way to get some down time, I really enjoy looking at the tulip hillside and the woods while I clean. There are claims that washing dishes by hand uses more energy/water, but I have not found this to be the case. My electric bit went down when we started doing dishes by hand.
Do you do dishes by hand or with an automatic dishwasher?
*Disclaimer – I do have an affiliate program with Tropical Traditions, if you click through my blog to make your first purchase they give me a gift certificate. Rest assured, I have been spending my hard earned cash and recommending Tropical Traditions long before they offered a program like this.
NON-TOXIC CLEANING SERIES
Stocking Your Non-Toxic Cleaning Kit
Learning to Love Castile Soap
Make Your Own: Foaming Soap
Make Your Own: Infused Vinegar
Make Your Own: Multi-Purpose Cleaner
Make Your Own: Color Safe Oxygen Bleach
Homemade Whitening Scouring Scrub
Friday Favorite: Charlie’s Soap
Friday Favorite: Twist Sponges
and more to come
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Burning the Midnight Oil
Mr Chiots and I were up late working on the kitchen. A few months ago we purchased some butcher block for the counters and finally had some time this weekend to tackle this project.
Here’s what our kitchen looked like yesterday morning:
Don’t let the photos fool you, the laminate countertops were in pretty shabby condition. Since our home has an open floor plan, there’s no hiding it.
We started this project after dinner last night, tackling the demolition of the old countertops first. We tried to salvage them, but in the end we had to cut through them to get them off. There was no way they were going to fit it through the door.
I like to take advantage of projects like this to do some serious cleaning, especially in those nooks and crannies, like the area under the stove. I don’t think I’ve pulled out the stove since we installed the hardwood floors 5 years ago. I found a good amount of cat hair, a few furry mice (the cat toy variety), coffee beans, and a few milk rings (also cat toys). I was actually surprised there wasn’t more under here.
I’ve always dreamed of having soapstone counters, but for now butcher block will do. This project wasn’t very expensive and it will make a world of difference. Stay tuned for photos of the finshed product, no doubt they’ll be featured in the non-toxic kitchen cleaning post coming up soon.
What’s your dream kitchen counter surface?
