The weather was so nice here in New Jersey yesterday, that I just had to get outside and start some springtime gardening! The first thing I did was prep one of my backyard's raised garden beds to plant some peas. We hadn't planted our peas until yesterday because until then, we've had unseasonably cool weather, so I was afraid to plant them! To prep the raised garden, I weeded, loosened up the existing soil with a sturdy rake and added a layer of new topsoil from the garden store. When the kids got home, we dug a few 2-inch trenches for the peas, and planted our peas! From some Continue reading...
Mom Home Guide House Tour
I just love looking at online house tours of other mom bloggers' homes. One house tour I recently saw was that of blogger Jenna from SAS Interiors. I just love how beautiful her home looks, from her tidy and clutter-free foyer, to her modern kitchen with beautiful wood floors to the serene master bedroom. I wish my home was so masterfully designed! To me, my home is a work in progress. Over the past few months, I've completed a few home improvements, like making our home's mudroom/foyer area more functional, creating a fun study/media/play space for the kids and adding Continue reading...
Readers’ Favorite MomHomeGuide Posts
MomHomeGuide.com has been up and running for a few months now, so I thought I'd share with you some of readers' favorite posts! As a mom, I've been obsessed with how to turn my home's unfinished basement into a useable space for my kids to play in, and it seems that a lot of moms and parents have the same concern, because the posts I've written about how to fix up a basement on the cheap are the website's most popular stories! Mudrooms are also a favorite topic with moms -- we need an organized space to stash our family's shoes and coats without cramping our home's style! I'm still working Continue reading...
Sprucing Up a Storage Shed
With the weather so nice the other day, I decided to get some much needed home improvement work done. I posted way back in June about how I planned to get several DIY projects completed, including staining a weathered wood ramp that leads to our outdoor storage shed. My husband and I had the ramp for the backyard shed installed more than a year ago, and unfortunately, we never got around to staining and weather protecting the wood. So with the kids back in school, and the weather bright and sunny, I decided to tackle that project last week. I started out by purchasing a gallon of Continue reading...
Shade Garden Complete For Now
Thanks to my setback, where I accidentally sliced through a Verizon cable while preparing my side yard's shade garden, it took me longer than I expected to complete a new shade garden for my home. The garden is nearly complete now, except for a small patch that I've left exposed, without a covering of red garden stone, because I am still waiting for Verizon to come in, take out the temporary cable that they installed, and bury a new permanent cable . But, I am happy with what I've been able to complete so far. I've lined my shade garden with a red gravel, and have planted the bed Continue reading...
Day 3: A Setback and a Learning Curve
Progress on my home's new shade garden is slow and sure -- with only a few days left to my daughters' summer vacation before school starts, I've been squeezing in as many hours in with my kids as I can. Well, progress on the garden was going well, until I made a major mistake late last week. Many of us have heard the warning to "call before you dig" before setting a spade or any other type of shovel into the earth at one's home. I learned that lesson the hard way late last week when my spade sliced a Verizon wire. Even though I was only digging about 6 inches into the earth to remove the Continue reading...
Day 2: Planting a Shade Garden
Despite the light drizzle here in Central New Jersey, I managed to plant three boxwoods and my two perrenials (lilyturf varegata) in my newly dug shade garden. I am happy with the progress I'm making so far! I still have a lot to do. I'd like to mix in topsoil to my garden (I already mixed in a little when I planted the boxwoods and perrenials), add some small red gravel, and perhaps add some edging like these red brick pavers: My kids don't feel like going shopping today because of the rain, but I think we'll hit the garden store later today anyway! Continue reading...
Weeds Be Gone!
I spent yesterday at a family member’s house, so I decided to give him a hand and get some of the weeds out of the brick walkway that leads to his home. The walkway is covered with crabgrass and clover – so much so that the weeds look like they will soon take over the space. The problem is that this family member doesn’t want to use chemicals or a commercial weed killer on the weeds, so getting the weeds – which are quite large – out from between the bricks is very tough. I thought about spraying on some weed killer on and not telling him about it, but because he has pets who might inject Continue reading...
Feeding Finches in the Backyard
Until recently, I was a very sad birding enthusiast. I had a few birdfeeders in my backyard, but all they seemed to attract were noncolorful blackbirds and morning doves. That was until I purchased a very simple and inexpensive netted sock bird feeder ("thistle sack") from a local grocery store. Filled with nyjer/thistle seed, the sock has been attracted beautiful black and yellow Eastern Goldfinches (New Jersey's state bird) to my backyard daily. The birds are so colorful that it looks like wild canaries are flocking to my backyard. The great part about the new finch feeder in my Continue reading...
Privacy for a Chain Link Fence
For homeowners whose backyard backs to a chain link fence, lack of privacy can be an issue. Finding ways to create privacy for a chain link fence can be difficult. Such is the case with my home's backyard, which has a schoolyard behind it. The school's chain link fence separates the school playground from my home's backyard. The playground is filled during the day and some afternoons with children who are very curious about my activities should I venture into the backyard when the schoolyard is filled. (Luckily, the schoolyard is quiet and empty most weekends.) So, if I'd like to use Continue reading...