A toilet hack

This post has absolutely nothing to do with potty training, though I'm sure I could find a way to tie it in (I'll spare you.)  I can also guarantee that this will be the last time I show you photos of our toilet.  You're welcome.

So I had read somewhere about a dual-flush (you know, one that uses less water for liquid waste) kit that you can easily retrofit to your toilet in under ten minutes.  No tools required!  It seemed too good to be true, but honestly I wasn't sure if we should get one since we rent and don't pay for our water.  Well, when we happened to walk by them at Home Depot on a paint run, Kraig could not resist.  He seriously was not going to walk away from them without one in his hand, despite my argument that it wouldn't save us money.  Obviously, Kraig is more of a tree-hugging hippie than I am because the water savings was enough to convince him.  Such a good man.

He was almost too excited about this kit.  Seriously.

So here he is getting all set up.

And a before shot of the throne before he fixed it up.

Buh-bye old flusher handle!

 I really meant to take more photos of the process, but he was done with it so quickly that I missed the whole thing!  Anyway, here is the brand.  It's only $20!  Supposedly it will save 15,000 gallons of water a year for a family of four, and save on average $100 a year.  Hey, we're about to have a family of 3 boys, if you know what I mean...

In under ten minutes- with no tools!- it was finished.  We let Owen have the first flush.  

Top button is for liquid waste, bottom button is a regular-powered flush.
The low-powered flush uses less than a gallon (.79 to be exact) per flush- half of a regular low-flow toilet which is 1.6 gallons.

It was really as easy as they said it would be.  Kraig is still really excited to show it off to visitors.  

Other water-saving ideas:

Drop a water bottle or quart-sized milk jug filled with stones or water into the tank of the toilet.  It will offset enough water to save a few gallons a day!  

Flush less.  Yup, you know the old saying. 

Don't use the toilet as a trash can (i.e. used kleenexes, etc).  This goes along with flushing less :)

Check for leaks or "running" frequently.

The finished product

We are so very happy with how our table and chairs turned out.  

 It looks completely different in our dining room, but it seems as though it always belonged this way.  It's much brighter and a lot more our style.

My favorite part is the distressed details.  Okay, I also love the fabric.  But look at this:

At some points you can see all 4 layers- the bare wood, the previous dark stain (which I think adds a nice contrast), the white primer, and the new yellow.  Love it.

Kraig thinks the table turned out especially wonderful.  Ah, thank you, sir!

All in all, it was a really great project to take on.  We had a lot of fun doing it, really, despite the tedium at times.  

So here is what we did in some sort of detail:

We sanded, but ditched that plan early on.  We used Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x coverage White Primer (it's a bonding primer, meaning no need to sand the previous finish).  Kraig sprayed 2 coats of the primer within the recommended time frame (2 hours I believe) and then started with the paint (You don't want the previous layer to cure before applying the second, so plan on doing them one right after the other to ensure a good bond)

The paint is also Rustoleum Painter's Touch 2x coverage in satin finish strawflower.   We applied 2 coats of this as well.  It's important to do thin coats as opposed to one heavy coat to reduce buildup or drips.

I distressed with a very fine sandpaper by just rubbing lightly on corners and edges until I got the look that I wanted.  It was really easy.  I also wet-sanded the top of the table to be sure it was really smooth before applying the gloss.  There were some rougher patches on the chairs that I sanded as well before the gloss.   I used a combination of tack cloth and wet cloths to remove any and all dust in between stages and after sanding.

The finish is Rustoleum Painter's touch 2x coverage clear gloss on the chairs and Rustoleum Varathane Interior Heavy-use crystal clear polyurethane (in a quart) on the table.  We started out brushing the gloss on the chairs but it was super-tedious.  When I accidentally spilled half the quart on the grass, we decided to just finish the chairs with a spray version as opposed to brushing (though we did brush on one last topcoat to smooth it out.  Confused yet?)  The table finish is very smooth and we love it.  I'd recommend brushing everything with a clear finish, honestly, but we're happy with our chairs as well.

We did 4 coats of gloss on the top of the table, 3 on the rest of the table, and 3 on the chairs.  Whew!

For the chair upholstery, I measured and cut each piece, allowing for a few extra inches on each side for folding.  I folded each side under for a more finished look before stapling, and I mitered the corners as well.  With this particular pattern it was important to keep it straight and line it up just right, but everything was really just done by hand and eye.  No fancy tools involved :)  I didn't even use a straight edge, I just cut along the pattern lines once I measured.  It was really quite easy.

Kraig sprayed a stain repellant on the upholstery before attaching the seats to the chairs.

And voila :)  We were finished!  It took a few hours of work each day for about 5 days.  I wouldn't say it was "easy" but it was very rewarding work.

Our first refurbishing project

We bought this cute little table and chair set off of Craigslist the day we moved to Portland.  It's served us well, but it is by no means a quality set of furniture.  Specifically, I think the finish on it was one of those stain-and-sealant-in-one types, because wow did it ever chip and scratch easily.  

It was in DIRE need of a new paint job.

Check it out.

Chairs, before

We started out by lightly sanding.  This was a giant pain in the butt, even though our end goal was just to rough up the surface, not remove the old finish.  I can't imagine if we'd had to get down to the bare wood.  

Kraig: "Take lots of pictures of me doing work"

I did a little research online and found that we could just buy a bonding primer that would not require us to sand first.  Winner!

We promptly stopped sanding and made a trip to Home Depot to stock up on supplies.

I'm slightly embarrassed to show you this next photo.  Here is the table before we primed.... 

Scratched, burned by the iron (thanks Kraig!), ruined by moisture.  What a piece of work.

 I think you'll agree that it needed help, and fast.

Kraig did the painting because it was spray paint (hello toxins!)  

Primed and ready for paint!

It took a lot more primer and paint than we thought.  Another trip to Home Depot to pick up (a lot) more paint, and we were set.

Here's a chair after a few coats of yellow paint.

Beautiful!

I planned to distress each piece, so here is another photo pre-distressing.  I love the detail at the top of the chair.

Owen loved "helping paint" (i.e. he could run around outside while there was no painting going on, then we were relegated into the house. 

Meanwhile, I got to work on the upholstery.  We loved the contrast between the cream-colored seats and dark wood in the original piece, but clearly the near-white cushions showed the marks of a toddler....

So we bought a beautiful blue and white print to re-cover them.  We also purchased a can of stain repellant.  Live and learn!

I worked on distressing the chairs once I was finished with the seats.  I love, love, love how it turned out!

They weren't finished yet, though.  Don't let me fool you!  That chair is not sealed and that seat is not screwed on :)  

So I got to work on sealing the table and chairs once they were all adequately distressed.  (It was a no-odor varnish and I applied it outdoors.  Safety first!)

I had a little "helper" for this part.  Thanks, Bear!  Also, do you like our spray-painted lawn?

I'll post with the products we used and more detail about our methods along with a finished product photo soon :-)  Overall it was a very fun project!

Homemade deodorant in 5 minutes or less.

A lot of people get weirded out when I mention that I make our deodorant.  Well, I've been doing it for almost 2 years and you haven't complained that I stink yet, have you?

I get weirded out by conventional deodorant (and other conventional cosmetic products), so we're even.

Then I tell them how amazing it is- seriously, the best deo I have EVER had; absolutely no odor after wearing it in the heat, and I've tried MANY deos.  I've even tried men's deodorant because it's "stronger".  Yeah, well I still stunk.  Just keepin' it real.

Usually the reply is "I don't have time to make my own."

You guys.  I hate that response.  *stepping on my soap box*.  It takes 5 minutes.  Maybe less, I'm being pretty generous here.  Seriously.  And once you have the ingredients there's really no excuse.  No excuse, I say!  I'm sure everyone has baking soda and cornstarch in their house.  So go pick up some tea tree oil and Vitamin E oil (both at Trader Joes- I'd recommend getting these items there because their prices are SUPER CHEAP, and hopefully you already shop there for some things), then go get some coconut oil (at any old grocery store, usually near the other oils/shortenings but might be in the "natural" section).  Bam.  That's it.

I use a plastic container from LUSH cosmetics- it used to have "Ocean Salt" in it, but now it's the perfect container for our homemade deo (yes, Kraig and I both use the same one and we both smell AMAZING).  We use two different essential oils, tea tree (from TJs) and Eucalyptus (from a natural food store- fairly easy to get here in PDX but in Ohio you may have to look around... then again the eucalyptus oil isn't necessary.)

So, first things first.  Gather ingredients and make sure you have a container.  Luckily our container is the EXACT size we need.  Providence!

 Next, you need to evaluate the weather.  Strange but true.  If it is over 70 degrees, there is a good chance your coconut oil is melted or at least quite soft.  If it's under 70 degrees, it's likely pretty solid so I'd highly recommend busting out a tiny saucepan.  I always use a saucepan because our temps don't get all that high, at least not enough to turn the CO into a liquid.  Chunky coconut oil = chunky deo.  Bad.

So I heat the pan on low-med and pour in my oils (recipe below) then turn off the heat. You don't need to cook your deo, you just need to melt the coconut oil.

Then I add the other ingredients, mix thoroughly, and pour into container.  Since it's liquefied I let it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours until solid, or you can just keep it in the bathroom overnight.

That's it.  It probably took me a whole 3 minutes and I carefully measured (definitely measure but don't beat yourself up by being ultra-exact.  It's going on your armpits, for crying out loud.)

Ahh, beautiful homemade, non-toxic, super-effective deodorant.  It's AMAZING, I dare you to try it and tell me otherwise.

You may be wondering how we apply it.  With our fingertips, silly!  It's a pretty soft formula, especially in the warmer months, so we just get a pea-sized amount and put half under each arm.  Then we wash our hands, of course.  It's really not as weird as it may seem at first....

THE RECIPE:

Sayward’s Homemade Deodorant Recipe

1/3 cup Corn Starch

1/3 cup Baking Soda

10 drops of Antibacterial Essential Oil (tea tree, lavender, or eucalyptus)

10 drops of Antifungal Essential Oil (tea tree, peppermint, sandalwood, or eucalyptus)

2 tablespoons Vitamin E Oil

3 tablespoons Coconut Oil

Some helpful notes:

This recipe lasts a good 6 months and that's between two users.  If you can't spare 3-5 minutes once or twice a year, I'll gladly buy your cancer stick  conventional deodorant for you!

Another great thing about this deo is it won't stain your clothing.  No more yellow pit stains!

Finally, if you have any irritation (everyone's skin is different!) just increase the coconut oil by a little and decrease the baking soda.  Play around until you get a good formula for your skin type.  You can also decrease the tea tree oil, add lavender instead (soothing), or any of the other listed essential oils.  Like I said, we do half tea tree half eucalyptus, but you can do all tea tree if you only want to buy one essential oil.

(PS.  Trader Joe's tea tree oil doesn't have a handy dropper like some oils... so if you have a mL dropper or 1/8 teaspoon it will come in handy here.  The equivalent is 10 drops ~ 0.5mL ~ a little less than 1/8 tsp.  If you use all TT oil, you can measure up to 1mL or just under 1/4 tsp.  Less is more, though- seriously, essential oils are potent and can irritate if used in too concentrated a solution).

*disclaimer, it is not an anti-perspirant.  This doesn't bother me because anti-perspirants are really bad for your skin (some say it increases breast cancer risk).  Anti-perspirant deos have an aluminum compound in them, and besides just being an awful thing to apply to one's skin, it also blocks oil glands- that's how it keeps you from, well, perspiring and that is bad.  Sweat is good, and this deo blocks any odor, so it's really just a little wetness.  Anyway, I haven't used an A-P deo in years because it caused really painful, really awful cysts (blocked oil glands!)  


You can check the safety (or toxicity) of your deodorant here.  My old deo was a super-natural, super hippie kind and it still got a "moderate risk" grade.

Price:  This is hard to gauge since I use the same oil bottles for a long time and for many different uses, but I'd estimate this is no more than a couple of bucks.  And in my experience it lasts longer than a deodorant stick....  But the up-front cost will be about 15-20 dollars.  Again, the oils will last a LONG time (years and years) if you only use them for this purpose.

More brews!

So far, Kraig is keeping up wiht his goal to always have a homebrew in the works.  He even has his brewing schedule mapped out for the rest of the year.  What a fun hobby for him to have! 

I must say though, I am a baker and baking is precise with just a little teensy-eensy bit of room for error or experimentation.  But baking doesn't intimidate me like it does for some folks.  Brewing?  THAT is intimidating.  I feel like my husband is a mad scientist when he's brewing.

Check out these photos from the first day of pale ale brewing (there are two rounds of fermentation before racking (bottling) followed by bottle conditioning.  This brew will be ready to drink in about 2 weeks or so (4 weeks from original brew date)).

 Carboy and funnel, sanitized and ready!

 Owen gets excited about making beer.  

 Yeast from Hopworks brewing co., and Kraig's notes and recipe.

 Apparently one needs to drink beer in order to make beer!

 Whole grain crystal malt

 Everything is boiled...

 and precisely measured.

 Hops!

 boiling malt

 Calculating original gravity, IBUs, and he can also figure out the estimated alcohol content

Primary fermentation!  That's some happy yeast!

Adventures in homebrewing

Homebrewing equipment is terrible exciting for toddlers.  Don't worry- we sanitize everything before use. 

 Performing.  Maybe playing a sax?

Little Urban Homesteader

Owen loves all the little projects that we have going on around here.  He likes to help water our "garden" and he "helps" Kraig with his homebrewing.  He's taken quite an interest in our CSA boxes each week (usually he's most interested in the fruit).  He really enjoyed helping me shuck some peas- and it's true what they say about kids being more likely to eat food they've helped prepare.  He LOVES peas now.  He gobbled up half of them before we were finished! 

He decided to help our neighbor in her garden as well.  She has little-to-no yard space- all raised beds and edible plant life in her tree lawn, front lawn, and back yard (there is a small area of grass back there).  It's impressive!  It looks sort of like a jungle- all sorts of fruit trees and bushes intermingling with flowers and edible plant life.  I love it!  Everytime we walk by her yard I think about how silly it is to cultivate and care for grass when you can't eat it and it's not all that pretty to look at :-)