Category Archives: Our Home

dwelling small – a simple recipe part one

June 13, 2013

Our Home

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cooking a meal in our teeny tiny kitchen can be nothing less than a pain really, and furthermore doing all the dishes that said meal creates can be just as daunting. recently, camden’s work schedule has had him home by dinner time which has made our craving to cook and eat at home that much more. on pinterest the other day i found this recipe (because this is where i find all my recipes apparently) for a one-pot pasta by none other than the one and only martha stewart and seriously, it’s brilliant. i sometimes find martha’s recipes to be slightly on the challenging side or more time consuming than they would appear but this one is completely simple, quick, and besides being a bit too spicy for camden’s taste (i would add about half as much red pepper flakes as the recipe calls for) it tastes utterly amazing. plus, with only one pot, it was beyond perfect for dwelling small.

dwelling small – last minute spring cleaning

June 6, 2013

Our Home

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we spent last night doing some very last minute spring cleaning. it turned out to be quite the project especially since we decided to flip our big area rug in order for it to wear evenly. i can’t tell you how good it feels to have a freshly organized and clean home. so you may understand why it only felt appropriate to share a few of my favorite cleaning products, not only for dwelling small but perfect for the small dwellers as well.
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^ i love this vacuum. it’s extremely small and light which makes it easy to store and use in a small home but it still works amazingly doing what it is supposed to do, clean. plus it’s sort of this lavender purple color which come on, is pretty awesome in itself.
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i have this thing about smelly cleaners mixed with living in a small home, well i hate them really. small places and strong smells just don’t go together. i like our home to smell clean but not like chemicals so i will only use cleaners with a lemon scent or with a light/no scent to them. i love these products especially for this reason. not only do they leave a pleasant smell behind but they get the job done as well. 
lemons: i like to slice up really small pieces of a lemon and put them down the drain with the disposal on. this gets rid of strange smells that have built up and leaves the sink smelling citrusy and fresh.
mrs. meyers clean day glass cleaner: has a fresh lemon scent while cleaning mirrors beautifully.
method wood for good polish: this works brilliantly on our vintage wood pieces. it helps keep them looking smooth and polished.
common good dish and common good all purpose: these products have the lightest and freshest smell of all our home cleaners and work just as well if not better. i especially love the common good all purpose cleaner. it works well on most surfaces and really makes cleaning up easy.
pledge dust, shine, protect: in my opinion the perfect duster, shiner, and protecter for almost any surface.  

dwelling small – fresh flowers

May 14, 2013

Our Home

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*or decorating with fresh flowers when your home is small and budget is even smaller 

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i love decorating our home with beautiful fresh flowers, especially during the spring and summer months but don’t always have the money or storage for pretty vases to display them in. i find myself looking for reusable solutions that look just as good yet more unique than the alternative. the key for me is to keep the flowers and arrangements simple, this way the overall look compliments itself. i also love using filler flowers as it helps keep the overall cost down while still achieving that effortless look i’m going for.
mason jars
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^^ mason jars: we tend to use mason jars for just about everything around our home and decided why not flowers too? i love the idea that you can purchase a dozen of these at the store for under $10 and have an end look that is enchanting with just a few elegant flowers placed inside. 
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^^ frappuccino bottles: i always hate throwing glass bottles away and reusing them as a vase for flowers works brilliantly. just peel away the sticky label, smother the sticky residue left on the bottle with peanut-butter, allow to sit for an hour or so, then rinse the residue off with a sponge and warm water. be sure to clean the inside well and you’re set.
soup cans
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^^ soup cans: i can’t take all the credit for this idea as i found it on pinterest, but it’s still a fantastic one nonetheless. i think a few flowers in one of these soup cans looks really sweet and i love the idea of reusing them. you can see how to prepare the can as well as the original idea here.
soda bottles
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^^ soda bottles: a few years ago after drinking this mexican sprite, i kept the bottle wanting to reuse it for something … anything. it eventually became the perfect vase for plopping a few flowers in and i really love the way it turned out.

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dwelling small

April 24, 2013

Our Home

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– function + form .. or multipurpose decor .. or because sometimes you just run out of space.

i have never been a particularly practical person because practicality doesn’t suit me … because … well why not? i have always had this slightly spontaneous side, making special trips for ice cream late at night, hours after we’ve been ready for bed or wanting to take vacations on the spot just for the fun of it. this can drive camden crazy at times. he who wants steadiness and consistency doesn’t always see eye to eye with spontaneity. however when it comes to dwelling small, pragmatic i sometimes have to to be.  in our current home we have had to give a few functional items a decorative purpose because frankly there is just nowhere else for them to go. i find, for us, this works best when keeping it simple … not cluttering walls with an overbearing amount of stuff but here and there, adding small functional things in a decorative way.

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dwelling small

April 10, 2013

Our Home

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as much as i try, i find at heart i am not the most organized of people. as you probably can imagine, in a small apartment, this can sometimes be a problem. my biggest problem of organizing grief takes place in the bedroom. my drawers eventually find themselves full of bunched up wrinkly clothing begging to be neatly refolded and nicely stacked away. camden and i decided this year, because of our downsized lifestyle, to simplify our dressers and closets a bit especially with the promise of warmer weather ahead. we have lately been going through our clothes and setting our warm winter pieces aside to be stored until next year as well as donating a few pieces we could do without. – and it’s helped. my drawers have stayed noticeably neater, plus it always feels good to do a little organizing and cleaning with this new beginning, spring.
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^ the eventual mushy clothes drawer.

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^ a pile to donate, a pile to store away ’til next year, and a pile to stay within my drawer.
p.s. i like to keep a few cooler weather pieces out since i find myself in need of them from time to time year round.

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and there you have it, nicely organized drawers ready for spring.