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8 Creative Places To Store Cookbooks Other Than Your Kitchen Counter
The holidays and coronavirus have many of us cooking more than ever, but kitchen fatigue can easily settle in. Need some inspiration for tackling a new dish, from ratatouille to creme brulee? It might be time to crack open those cookbooks.
Even in this digital age where recipes run amok online, nothing beats those glossy pages of a physical tome filled with gorgeous dishes. This may explain why most homeowners have a bunch of cookbooks—and often wonder where to put them.
Leaving nice books out in the same place where you fry up the morning’s bacon is a recipe for nastiness.
“Cookbooks on the counter can get pretty gross, so if you don’t have a shelf for them, try and dedicate an out-of-the way space to keep them clean,” says Karen Gray-Plaisted of Design Solutions KGP.
The key is to find a place that’s out of the way (and
8 Fun Ways To Fill a Blank Wall (Other Than With Snoozy Pictures and Mirrors)
Few decorating challenges are as hard as filling blank wall space. Many default to family photos or souvenir pictures from recent travel. But after a while, staring at wedding portraits or the kids when they were little isn’t that inspiring.
Break out of this rut! Plan a wall gallery in at least one room that’s different from all the rest.
Darla DeMorrow, author of “Organizing Your Home With SORT and SUCCEED,” urges her clients to look beyond straight, flat items and go for depth and meaning.
“Make the focal point something that’s three-dimensional or vintage or personal—or all three,” she suggests.
In fact, if you can hang it up, you can make a wall display that’s creative, colorful, or just plain fun.
For some inspiration, here are eight things you can mount and admire in your home that go beyond pictures and mirrors.
1. Greenery
Sure,
U.S. Home Prices Surge to 6-Year High in September, Case-Shiller Index Shows
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
The numbers: The cost of buying a house rose sharply again in September and by one measure hit a six-year high, a Case-Shiller index showed, signaling that prospective buyers are unlikely to find better deals any time soon.
A measure of home prices in 20 large cities rose at a 6.6% yearly pace in October, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller price index. That’s up from 5.3% in the prior month.
Wall Street economists had forecast a 5.4% increase.
A broader measure by Case-Shiller that covers the entire country showed a similarly large 7% increase in home prices over the past year, marking the fastest 12-month gain since 2014.
Home prices have actually risen faster during the worst pandemic in a century instead of getting cheaper. Rock-bottom mortgage rates and a flush of people leaving cities during the pandemic for more space in the suburbs
Fannie, Freddie Overseer Looks to End Federal Control Before Trump Leaves
Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post/Bloomberg via Getty Images
WASHINGTON—The federal regulator who oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is pushing to speed up the mortgage giants’ exit from 12 years of government control but has yet to reach an agreement he needs with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mark Calabria, a libertarian economist who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has made it a priority to return Fannie and Freddie to private hands, a goal shared by Mr. Mnuchin. How that is done could affect the cost and availability of mortgages backed by the companies, which guarantee roughly half of the $11 trillion in existing home loans.
Completing the complex process before President Trump’s term ends on Jan. 20 is a long shot, and President-elect Joe Biden is considered unlikely to continue the effort. But Messrs. Calabria and Mnuchin could succeed in taking steps
How To Stay Warm While Working From Home This Winter-Without Spending a Fortune on Heating
As the cooler weather sets in and people continue to work from home, keeping your home warm throughout the day has never been more necessary. But continuously running the heater can rack up a big heating bill.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected that most U.S. consumers will spend more to heat their homes this winter than last year, as more people remain home to work and attend school due to the coronavirus.
Keeping the heating bill down without sacrificing warmth is possible, though.
“Energy-efficient home upgrades can really add up and have a big impact on your family budget,” says New Jersey–based celebrity home improvement expert Anthony Carrino.
Bundling up in a blanket works for those days when you don’t have meetings, but when it comes time to look professional on a Zoom call, you’ll want to make sure your house doesn’t feel like an icebox. Here are
10 Shocking Facts About Jasmine Roth That’ll Rock Your World
Jasmine Roth is reality TV’s latest home renovation darling, and for good reason: While she got her start turning boring, cookie-cutter houses into custom masterpieces on HGTV’s “Hidden Potential,” she’s also pitched in on the “Brady Bunch” house, won “Rock the Block” in 2019, and helped numerous homeowners fix their failed home improvement projects on “Help! I Wrecked My House.”
Clearly, Roth is a rising star, and though she’s quite open about her life and her family, there’s still a lot more to this home design-construction-renovation whiz than meets the eye.
Curious about what you might have missed? Brush up on these surprising facts about this Jill-of-all-trades.
1. She started building things as a kid
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0n97Q-gdAV/
As a child growing up in rural Virginia, Roth spent much of her free time with her dad, a DIY carpenter. Working together in the family garage, they built treehouses, playhouses,