Got Water Spots? I’ve Got a Magic Powder
We have 2 large (8 feet wide by 4 feet tall) windows in our living room. Nice, but they’ve actually always been an eyesore since we moved in a year and a half ago because the previous owner apparently ran her sprinkler and let it hit the house. Here in Likely, this causes horrible water spots on the windows and you couldn’t even see through the bottom half of those windows! We’ve tried cleaning them with normal window cleaner and a few other solutions, but those didn’t take it off, and we kind of just gave up for now because we knew we needed something better. This has been driving Glenn’s dad crazy…almost every time he stopped by (he’s a UPS man so that is often!) he would say something about a product he heard about or asking us if we’ve tried something to fix it. Like I said, we pretty much ignored the problem and just kept the blinds closed!
Gross, right? We thought they were ruined and we had to live with them like this!
Now a few weeks ago Randy (Glenn’s dad) dropped off a little white jar of ‘stuff’ to clean windows, and we really didn’t think much of it. He does things like that all the time. We didn’t jump at the chance to try out this product or anything, it pretty much sat on top of our refrigerator for a week or so. So one Friday morning I’m making our bed and I stop to admire the view out of our sparkling-clean brand new bedroom window, wishing it was the same in the living room and then I remembered the little white jar. So I went out to the kitchen and found it, read the directions on the back, grabbed the materials I needed and went outside. I put some water in a stainless bowl, then you dip a sponge in to get it wet, dip that in the jar of white powder, and then go to work on the windows. I scrub a little circle, then grab a damp rag to wipe it off and in my amazement IT WORKED PERFECTLY!
Isn’t that a great view? We were seriously missing out and now we open the blinds every day! Our windows look brand new with very little effort and no harsh chemicals, thanks to a $4 jar of ‘magic’ powder! It’s called ‘Nothin’s Better Water Stain Remover’ (I’m not making this up) and it is worth its weight in gold!!
For you locals you can buy it at Carsten’s! 
Check out these results…before on the left, and after on the right.
See our little jar of the stuff out there? Love it! And to do both of our 8-foot windows and the storm door glass, it didn’t even take the whole 4 oz. jar. Next up is the camp trailer windows! You can use it on all kinds of surfaces (Glass, chrome, porcelain, tile, fiberglass, aluminum and stainless steel will shine and sparkle as new. Removes water, mineral stain, rust, scum, paint overspray, oxidization.)
I promise that I started the job, but as soon as Glenn noticed me out there working on the windows he came out to see how it was going. And took the scrubber from me because he had to try it. And he finished the job. Strangely, he does that a lot. I’m not going to complain.
Magic. Seriously. Go buy some now!
Do you have water spots? Do you have a ‘magic’ cleaning product you’d like to share? Please tell us!!
Read MoreHow Efficient Is Your Home?
Have you ever wondered where those chilly drafts are coming from? If your windows are sealed tightly? How well your walls are insulated? Or if you have a moisture leak somewhere in your home? Maybe you should try having an Infrared Energy Audit done on your home.
‘What is an Infrared Energy Audit?’ you may ask…well, a qualified and trained professional (such as David, shown in the pictures below) comes into your home and uses an infrared camera to capture temperature differences in various areas throughout your home. Throughout their training, they learn the key areas to look at; appliances, corners, windows, etc. He or she will take infrared pictures of your home, compile them, do the research and create a detailed report to send back to you. They’ll give you tips on how you can fix inefficiencies that they find, and make recommendations on the next steps that you should take. It might be as simple as caulking a seal around a window, or they might recommend that you upgrade appliances (only a recommendation, though, but they can really tell how much energy that fridge is draining!).
These first 2 images are both sides of the brochure for the company that David works out of — feel free to download it and check it out. It might answer a few more questions, or it has the contact info. for The Rider Group, who was great to work with. They are based out of Reno, Nevada. Download the PDF of the brochure here. I should be receiving their detailed report any day now, and I’m excited to share those results with you as well!
The overall process took about an hour and a half (our house is approximately 1400 square feet), and he looked at every window, corner, closet, doorway, appliance and wall – and he even went outside to take infrared photos of the exterior, roof, and windows.
He even let me follow him around to take pictures of him and ask questions.
I was very interested to know how much of a difference our new windows were making, how well sealed our doors were, and if there were any leaks around the wood stove that he could see.
This window (in my office) is not new…brr.
Harper’s closet has the trap door to access the crawl space underneath the house, plus it’s back to back with the bathroom, so I wanted to make sure things were nice and clean there.
“What is this stranger doing in MY room?!?!”
Lots of moisture, even on our new windows…but I don’t think it has anything to do with the windows themselves.
The color differences account for temperature changes, and there is a handy little scale on the right side of the screen that can tell you exactly how hot or cold something is.
See the studs in the walls? Very handy (but expensive) stud finder.
He also measured and counted all of our windows to account for the proper ratio of heat loss that we should be having in our house (square footage/area of windows). Again, I’m very excited to see the results that he’s compiled and I’m sure I’ll share them next week. To read more about Infrared Energy Audits, click here.
Have a warm and toasty weekend! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Read MoreJust a Quick Note…
Hey everyone!
I am just popping in really fast because I don’t have a chance to write a big post…we are getting an Infrared Energy Audit done on our house today so it’s cutting into my regularly scheduled time to blog – but I’m very excited about it! More on that next week!! Very interesting stuff…
But I have a few links to send you to…first – don’t forget – my Rosebud Cards giveaway is going on through the weekend, so head over there to enter for a chance to win your choice of 3 of their sweet cookie cards!
And secondly, today I have my very first guest post up on another blog! Michelle of When I Grow Up (an amazing life coach) is moving to her newly purchased home (congrats!!) and wanted to keep up on the blog in the process, and she graciously allowed me to tell my practical-to-creative-career path story. Check it out: Black Sheep. I hope you like it, it was quite a process to organize my thoughts and bang it out.
Black Sheep by dreamel. I love this image that Michelle picked for my post…
Also…I am proud to announce that Glenn started to paint the bedroom (in following my paint plan) and he likes it!! He really, really likes it!! And so do I…but I already knew that I would…muah ah ah ah ah!! More on that next week!
And as usual, have a GREAT weekend!!
xo, L.
Read MoreAdventures in Saving the Planet
As you might know, I try very hard to do my part in saving the planet. I know I could be better at certain things…i.e. I rely on my car waaayy too much, purchase more organic food options, compost, buy more organic clothing, etc., but I think I do pretty well in other areas. For instance, I use eco-friendly and chemical-free cleaning options (99% of the time – sometimes you need the chemical power, but not too often), I cloth-diaper my daughter, the disposable diapers and wipes that I do use are eco-friendly versions, we recycle as much as we can here, I buy organic food when the price is comparable or when it’s something that I feel I should purchase the organic version (with some foods it’s more important to buy the organic version and some you can relax with), but I really do a lot of research on eco-friendly product options how to live greener.
Well…there is one area of my life that made me feel so guilty in how I do things, so I decided to do something about it. Ready to hear what it is? It’s gonna blow your mind. Here we go. PRINTER INK. Yeah. If you’re like me, you go through a lot of printer ink with your projects. In design school, it was horrible. I would always have to make sure to have a few cartridges on hand, because when you’re printing all of the photos of products and reports/schedules for a project, I’d always go through a lot of ink. I go through a lot now with photocopying and printing projects for clients. And it can get expensive. But you have to have a printout with perfect colors because otherwise it really looks unprofessional.
I have a simple Hewlett Packard printer/scanner/copier that holds 2 cartridges; a black one and a tri-color. It has served its purpose well for me, but each cartridge is about $15. And they really don’t last that long. Plus keeping a big stash to recycle is a pain. So what did I do about? I finally decided to dive into the world of refilling my own printer cartridges. With anything you search for on Google, there are videos and how-to instructions about accomplishing this task. Looked easy enough. Then you can shop and compare prices. Like most of my office supplies, I bought a set of refills off of eBay; I do this because the prices are almost always lower than anywhere else, and they seriously arrive within a day or two. No Staples or Office Depot for me to pop in to around here – I use eBay. I’ve bought clipboards, file folders, hanging folders, pens, scissors, and now printer ink refills on eBay. If you click on the pictures you’ll see who I bought them from.
A black-ink refill kit and a tri-color refill kit, specific to my printer cost $10 with shipping and everything. I saved $20 and some plastic right there. Yes, I know that having things shipped to your house isn’t so eco-friendly (shipping truck emissions, etc.), but I try to buy in bulk whenever I can to help with this. I didn’t this time – I wanted to make sure it worked first – and I am very happy with how it all turned out, so I will be purchasing more kits in bulk next time – at least 3 or 4 of each. But I did buy both cartridges from the same eBay seller so that they’d be shipped in the same box.
Anyway on to my “Adventures in Saving the Planet.” The videos make refilling your own ink cartridges look easy peasy. It is, but as with most of my projects, my rookie attempt goes awry. My cartridges come in the mail, and I finally have a chance to sit down and get it done. I cut the packaging open, and cut right through the directions. Not good. I piece them back together, and realize there is a perforated tab on the back to prevent this. Oops. I finally figure out what I’m supposed to be doing and start with blue (or cyan) on the color cartridge. I pull the stopper off the top of the syringe and blue ink squirts all over my desk and all over my hands. I look down at my clothes…I’m clean – woo-hoo! Do not squeeze the bottle while taking the top off. I run and get some paper towels and clean up my desk, but my hands are now covered in blue spots. Oh well. I put the syringe into the correct hole and squeeze. Nothing happens. I pull it out a little and no ink will go into the cartridge. After trying for a few minutes I decide to let my handyman try it with his magic touch instead. I take the baby from him, put her to bed and when I come back I have a fully-inked cartridge – all 3 colors (cyan, magenta and yellow are done!) woo-hoo! Thanks, honey. He thinks that I was pushing it too far in. Who knows! I replace the sticker on the top with the new one that they provide (you gotta cover the holes) and the other plus is that there is still ink leftover in the refills. So technically I saved at least $50, not $20.
I try my hand out with the black one and I get it done – ALL BY MYSELF! I run the printer diagnostics on the computer to clean the cartridges, line them up, etc….I hadn’t done this for awhile (if ever) anyway – just to make sure they’re running smoothly. I print a test page with something I had to print anyway. Black prints great, but the colors don’t look right – mostly the greens. Hmm…I run another test page and it still isn’t right. Here is where I’m cursing that I wasted money with this and now I can’t print what I need to, and give up and go to bed. The next night, I run a couple a couple color copies of some things I needed, but I stay away from the ones with green in them. They look great. After trying the non-green ones, I get the courage to see how the green looks. Crossing my fingers and… it worked perfectly!! I’m assuming it just needed a little time to saturate itself or something, but my first attempt at refilling my own ink cartridges was definitely successful!! Except for the blue fingers.
Am I late on this one, or do any of you refill your own printer cartridges? I love that I saved so much money and plastic…plus I love a little DIY project – even if it does take a couple attempts to get it right. What else do you do to help reduce waste???
(images via eBay seller, linked to sources)
Read More{Likely Giveaway} Mio Culture Softbowl WINNER!!
After a great roundup of comments to win a Mio Culture Softbowl, random.org has chosen: Sarah as the winner!! She will be shipped a yellow “Beehive” Softbowl straight from AllModern.com and wants to plant a tree in it that is leftover from her recent wedding!! Congrats, Sarah!!
Don’t forget to visit a few of the 200+ stores which are part of CSN Stores, where you can find anything from modern furniture to kid’s chairs. And Sarah, enjoy your new Mio Culture Softbowl!! Thank you to everyone who entered my 1st giveaway – more to come soon!!
And Happy Fall, everyone!!
xo, L.
Read More{Likely Giveaway} Mio Culture Softbowls!
**This giveaway is no longer accepting entries. Check back tomorrow for the winner!**
Woo-hoo!! Likely Design (that’s me!!) is hosting it’s first sponsored giveaway!! Can you tell I’m excited? And I wish I could win it because I hand-picked the prize myself thanks to the generous folks over at CSN stores. If you haven’t checked out CSN and their HUGE variety of stores (over 200 stores – wowow!), I highly recommend it. This extra special giveaway is from my favorite site — so far — of the bunch: AllModern.com, which is a great resource for modern furniture at any price point, and there is quite a variety to choose from! You know how I love modern and mid-century modern furniture. And if you don’t, you should keep reading!
Alright, alright – to the PRIZE!! This giveaway (open to US residents only — sorry if you’re not here!) will offer ONE lucky Likely Design reader their… choice… of… a… Mio Culture Softbowl! Wha-what? What is a Mio Culture Softbowl? Well allow me to elaborate. Straight from their site.
“Designed as an alternative to energy intensive decorative vessels, SoftBowls provide function and beauty with a reduced energy footprint. Available in three different designs, they can be mixed and matched into fun groupings. Practical as storage containers, planter cozies or decoration, these SoftBowls will liven any home or office.
* Available in Beehive, Wobowl, and Swoop designs
* Made from 100% wool
* Renewable, recyclable, compostable”
As soon as I saw them, I just couldn’t help myself. Function. Check. Aesthetically pleasing. Check. Eco-friendly. Check. A little quirky. Check and check! They’re handmade in Philadelphia from locally sourced wool, molded by local crafts people using traditional millinery technologies, all to reduce their carbon footprint. Awesome. And if you have a chance, check out Mio Culture’s full website and browse their amazing wallpaper, lighting, and accessories.
Now what would I pick and how would I use it if I could win? (Obviously I can’t, but I’m excited for you!!) I really like the Beehive in Charcoal or the Wobowl in Pumpkin. I’d use them to hold my new embroidery projects that I’m creating as Christmas gifts, or to hold oversized matches by our wood stove. I might even put fruit in them and display them on the kitchen table!
How do you enter, you ask? Easy! There are a few ways and you can enter up to 4 times… (once each way, and leave a separate comment for each entry).
1. Leave a comment below (by Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 11:59PM PST) telling me how you’d use a Softbowl if you win!! And don’t forget to tell me which Mio Softbowl, and in which color you’d like if chosen: The Swoop, the Beehive, or the Wobowl!
2. Blog about my giveaway! Not sure what to say? Here’s a little blurb to copy and paste: “Likely Design is having a great eco-friendly giveaway sponsored by CSN Stores and AllModern.com, who carries everything from kids chairs to modern furniture. Giveaway ends September 20th!” Be sure to leave a comment below, linking to your post.
3. Tweet about my giveaway! Here’s a sample blurb: “@likelydesign is having a great eco-friendly giveaway! Enter by September 20th! http://trunc.it/20jyg“ Be sure to leave a comment below, linking to your Twitter page! And feel free to follow me: http://www.twitter.com/likelydesign!
4. Be my fan on Facebook!! Leave a comment here letting me know that you’re a fan — even if you already are one. You can find my page here: Likely Design.
Good luck and thanks for entering!!
xo, L.
Giveaway ends Sunday, September 20th, at 11:59pm PST. Winner will be chosen randomly via random.org and announced on Tuesday, September 22nd and will be contacted by e-mail. Open to U.S. residents only. Prize will be shipped to you directly from AllModern.com.
(images: via Mio Culture)
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About Me
I'm an interior designer and a draftsperson, but I live in the country. I like it that way. I'm also a firefighter's wife, mom to 2 cute kids, and a homeowner and I like that even better. But right after that is a pretty and affordable space...and I mean a REALLY affordable space. Because I believe good design can be for EVERYONE!
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