Have Pet Will Travel

Given that many of my clients share their homes with cats and dogs, I wanted to pass along this clever--and earth-friendly--pet bed idea from Kirsten Schueler, winner of Design Sponge's 2008 DIY contest. This is a great way to re-purpose a vintage suitcase. If you're a fan of the Ballard Designs look, consider creating one of these in a black, white, and pear green color scheme.

Files With Style

Looking for some incentive to get organized? M By Staples offers a line of unique office supplies to make your organizing projects more fun...and attractive! The file folders above, for example, come in packs of 12 for $6.99 and are available in 15 different designs ranging from pastels to earthy hues.

Cheap, Effective Hair Removal

Blogger's note: This post was updated in June of 2016 to include a current Amazon link.

My family shares our home with three dogs. Nina and Bella are pictured here in a rare moment of camaraderie. Like all dogs, our dogs love to play fetch, chase squirrels, and gnaw on bones...but their favorite pastime by far is shedding profusely on our furniture. No, we don't actually allow them on the furniture, but it's tough to stop them from using the side of our sofa as a giant backscratcher. Enter the FURemover, which can be purchased from Amazon for under $10. It's a simple rubber brush (the rubber feels like rubber bands) that you can use to remove pet hair from your furniture. Or, more accurately, to move pet hair from your furniture to your floor, where it can then be easily vaccumed up. Why use this instead of just vacuuming the furniture? Because it's faster, it's lighter, and it picks up hair that the vacuum misses. It's also completely washable and sanitizable. Incidentally, it can also be used to clean your car, scrub your dog, squeegee your windows, and wipe crumbs off of your table. Neato!




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Painted Faux Plank Floors

Is there anyone who hasn't at one time or another had their wall-to-wall carpeting in one room ruined by one of the three "P"s: Pets, Playdough, or the Previous owner's Poor taste (why, oh why did they choose Kermit green carpeting?) If you like a cottage look and you are working with a tight budget, check out this DIY article on the Home Envy website by Tool Girl Mag Ruffman. You will learn how to turn your plywood subfloor--yes, subfloor--into a really pretty faux plank floor. This photo, which shows Mag sitting on a bold red faux plank floor, is from the Home Envy site.