Home Improvement

Window Sill Decor

Unfortunately, too many times we forget the details of our house. Small nooks and crannies don’t get paid any attention to and parts of the home go bare. Windowsills are one of those places. Which is a shame since there are so many wonderful, adorable ways to decorate them.
Check out some ways to decorate and dress up your windowsills and have them become more stylish than ever in just one afternoon!

Yellow colored window with sill decor.

Create a reading nook.
Are the ledges of your windowsill wide enough to hold a book? If so, you’ve got a perfect place to create a small, adorable reading nook. Add pillows for comfort and ease and maybe even a light for some evening skimming. This is such a relaxed way to dress up a larger windowsill and of course.

Reading nook window sill decor

Create a tiny garden.
Showcase your green thumb with beautiful, small plants in different types of canisters. Tea cans, mason jars, glass bottles or even some old-fashioned pots, there are so many possibilities. Add pretty, delicate and bright flowers or even some kitchen herbs to create an organic, natural beauty spot for your home.

Plants in old containers setting on a window sill

Create something eclectic and artsy.
Maybe you can’t decide what to make your windowsill become. Maybe you’ve got a lot of nick-knacks that have gone unused. Create something eclectic and interesting by adding it all together and forming a mishmash of beautiful, wonderful things that represent your home.

Window sill with colored bottles

Create a relaxing mood
Your windowsills become instantly more relaxing by adding some candles and lighting them in the evening hours. More light will come through and the glow will be perfect for a relaxing evening or rainy day.

Home Improvement, Home Maintenance

Paint Colors of the Year

When it announced “Classic Blue” as the paint color of the year for 2020, the Pantone Color Institute, a leading authority on color trends, said: “Instilling calm, confidence and connection, this enduring blue hue highlights our desire for a dependable and stable foundation … as we cross the threshold into a new era.” Really, it just looks blue to me.

But wait. Behr, Home Depot’s paint brand, declared Back to Nature, as the 2020 COTY (that’s shorthand for Color of the Year), “a restorative and revitalizing green hue that engages the senses.” Probably not the senses of smell and taste.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Moore & Co. chose First Light, “a warm, rosy pink that symbolizes an upbeat and hopeful start to the next 10 years.” Well, at least till next year’s color of the year.

Would the real Color of the Year please stand up?
The colorful fad frenzy started when Pantone came out with its first color of the year in 1999. The announcements soon became national news, prompting paint companies to name colors of the year and draw attention to their brands. Now we have nearly a dozen paint companies announcing their COTYs.

A lot of paint companies list several paint colors of the year.
Nobody in their right mind is going to repaint or redecorate based on one company’s COTY, which will change next year. So, what are we supposed to do with this information? Trends are at their best when they trip an idea, and let you see your space in new ways.

All rooms should have a color that is high in value and one low in value, (something light and something dark), a warm color and a cool one, a neutral and a spike — a punch of something surprising that energizes the space like a pop of green on one wall or behind a seating area, a deep blue, or a pink in the bathroom.

House Plants

Mealybugs on Houseplants

I had a message from my cousin about fuzzy bumps on a houseplant followed by three other calls. Mealybugs are clever little devils, they like to hide and then come in for the sneak attack. It seems like overnight there’s white cottony growth on plants that appeared out of nowhere. Getting rid of mealybugs on houseplants can be tough, but it’s not impossible!

Mealybugs are scale insects that suck the sap out of the leaves and stems of plants, resulting in stunted or deformed leaf growth, yellowing of the leaves, and leaf drop over a long period of time or if heavily infested. These little white bugs on plants are most commonly found on new growth, along the veins of leaves, and at the leaf joints, but they can be found anywhere on the plant. I have had them or African violets and cactus.

If the white bugs you see on your houseplants look more like tiny white flies that fly around when the plant is disturbed, then those are whiteflies instead of mealybugs. Otherwise, if they look like fuzz on your plants, those are definitely mealybugs so keep reading…

For my houseplants, I use insecticidal soaps that are available on the market (such as Safer’s Insecticidal Soap). Spray on plants. It is good for controlling aphids, whiteflies, mealybugs, and fungus gnats.

Neem oil is derived from the neem tree. Use according to label instructions. In addition to its insecticidal properties, neem is also a fungicide and has systemic benefits (meaning the plant absorbs it so it can control insects it doesn’t directly contact). According to the Environmental Protection Association, neem is safe for use on vegetables and food plants as well as ornamentals.