5 Natural Bug Repellents

With one week left until Memorial Day, the weather's finally become consistently warm, folks are opening up their windows, doors, and pools and letting the fresh air into their homes. With that nice air also comes those pesky bugs. You could go out, buy a can of Raid and spray those harmful chemicals around your home. You could bust out your trusty fly swatter and take care of those buzzing bothers.

We've found some solutions that work better for a few reasons. First of all, they're all natural solutions. Second, they're typically found in your pantry or refrigerator. And third, rather than just killing the bugs once they're in or around your home, they repel them to begin with, creating an overall bug free zone. (Okay, fourth, the bugs get to live. Embrace your inner monk.)

• Essential Oils: Using essential oils such as lemon, orange, clove, peppermint, and mint around the home will deter most bugs as they are turned off by strong odors.

• Garlic and Pepper Powder: Most bugs avoid both garlic and pepper; therefore, sprinkling the powder around the key areas in the home helps keep the bugs at bay.

• Cucumber Slices and Ants: As summer approaches, ants flock to kitchens on the hunt for food crumbs. Ants are appalled by cucumbers; therefore, the cucumber slices work best when placed near cracks or other areas where ants may enter the home.

•Crushed Mint and Flies: Small packets of crushed mint helps to repel flies.

•Lemon Peels and Moths: We love the fresh, citrus smell of lemons and prefer it to using cedar blocks in the closet to keep moths from destroying our clothes.

Still longing to swat some flies? Fjorn has a Flyswatter that only temporarily paralyzes your bugs so you can move them outside. How friendly.

PORTFOLIO: The Groft Project

Today I'm bringing you an extra post while I've got a few quiet minutes - some photos from our most recently completed new home - built for the Groft family. They had an extra large bill to fill - their new space had to accommodate a separate in laws quarters that would offer each family privacy without going over budget. The home was contracted by L. L. Lawrence Builders - a local company who's built homes in Pennsylvania for over 20 years, and as their kitchen supplier, we offered a few budget friendly ideas for their kitchen space - which can quickly become the most expensive feature in a home.

By using Laminate and Vinyl Flooring throughout the house, instead of hardwood, the Grofts saved quite a bit. Children tend to be hard on most forms of flooring - but they Groft's saved themselves that headache in choosing easy to clean, scratch resistant Laminates in the major traffic areas of their home.

The countertops might fool you - they're not solid surface or natural stone. They're laminate! Wilsonart has a slew of fabulous granite knockoffs and combined with a beveled edge, you'd be surprised how hard it is to tell the difference. The cabinets are from our favorite "karma friendly" cabinet manufacturer , Bertch Cabinet Manufacturing. I call them karma friendly because they're some of the friendliest vendors we've ever worked with, and I'm a firm believer that happy employees make happy customers.

Enjoy and tell us what you think! We'll be posting all new finished jobs as soon as we complete them, so look forward to new job photos soon. We're working on some really fun projects

How to Make Your Kitchen Look Good on the Cheap

New cabinets and countertops aren't the only way to help your kitchen look newer, current, and hip. You might just need a few good-looking accessories. We've got a couple to share with you, and they're things we've had our eyes on for our own kitchens.

These earthenware mugs and pots are available from Urban Outfitters. Definitely not your typical designs, but that's what makes them so eye catching. The few classic solid colors and sleek lines make the pots well worth the price ($16) as well as the mugs ($5).

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Then there's these awesome cutting boards. Each piece of wood comes with its own imaginary setting. You might see a putting green or a ski slope for instance. At least that's what Karen Olze and Gisa Wilkens saw when they made these. They're made from acacia wood, and come in a couple of very grin-worthy styles. Sleek Identity has them for $36.

Nick Paul is a glass-blower based in Chicago. You can find his work on his Etsy page, where he showcases an array of recycled beer bottles which he first blows into useable, permanent drinking glassware. After that, what better packaging could you use than the six-pack carton the bottles originally came in? Not only a fun product to make, but a fun excuse to drink a sixer!

Be sure to check out all the selections over at Nick's Etsy page.

The last product to spice up your kitchen today is your most affordable bet. It'll just take a little work on your part, but definitely adds a punch of color into the mix. What am I talking about already? Post-It Notes!

Design*Sponge had David Stark write a DIY column on their blog a a few weeks back, and the focus of this project was Post-Its bring a bold statement to the most legendary canvas in your kitchen: The Refrigerator.

It's all just a matter of measuring the space on your fridge door to see how big of a grid you can fit, planning out your design on a piece of old-school graph paper, and then get going!

Be sure to check out the Design*Sponge article for all the details.

If there's anything you've seen or even done yourself to make a statement in your kitchen, let us know! Hit us up on our Facebook page or leave a comment below.

What's a Land Carpet?

Europe

If you've ever had a window seat on an airplane, you've probably been mesmerized by the patterns of the land zooming by way down there.

Austrian designer Florian Pucher was so intrigued by these multi-colored grids that he took it upon himself to start creating rugs inspired by the sky-high views of the land far below him.

Africa

It's a fun little limited edition project Florian's put together. The rugs are hand crafted and made from New Zealand wool.

USA

Tulip Fields of the Netherlands

It's no doubt a different concept than we're used to for rugs and carpeting, but I've always liked looking from an airplane at the seemingly random shapes and colors below.

Check out these rugs and more of Florian's work on his website.

Renovation Inspiration

It's been a while since we posted a before and after, and I don't quite know why, because I sort of love them. To take a ugly pink bathroom and turn it into something modern and downright good-looking is inspiring in a way. It definitely inspires us (making spaces look nice is pretty much our job).

Today's B&A(s) come from Stefanie at Brooklyn Limestone by way of Design*Sponge. Stefanie and her husband have been renovating a 100 year-old Brooklyn Limestone for quite some time, and they really outdid themselves in every room. Such a large project is a really great undertaking, and these guys succeeded in every sense.

If you'd like to see more, check out Stefanie's blog or the link for Design*Sponge is below.

Design*Sponge � Blog Archive � before & after: stefanie’s brooklyn limestone

What's Cooking: Sausage Rolls

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I wanted these little treats in my belly as soon as I saw them. Nothing beats meat wrapped in carbs dipped in ketchup, right? That might be an American way to look at it, but this week's recipe comes by way of Design*Sponge and is actually a typical Australian dish.

I'm pretty sure every culture finds a feast in meat wrapped in bread. We have hot dogs for instance. A few Danish exchange students I used to hang with in college made me and my roommates a delicacy that was called something like "Snogbrod", which we made on a campfire was basically a hot dog on a stick, wrapped in dough. All of it cooked right there on the fire.

The recipe can be found here: Design Sponge Sausage Rolls

Enjoy!

Another Use for Granite

On such a warm Friday, you're lucky you have us to cool you off with our Cool Find of the Week. This week's cool find is made of granite, exactly like the granite countertops we carry in our showroom (shameless plug, I know). Designer John Pawson showed this heavy shelter off at last week's Milan Design Show:

The thing about our Cool Finds so far that we haven't intentionally been posting is that they've all been recycled products. I don't try it really. I blame it on the fact that recycling has become such a big part of everyone's lives that more people are thinking up new ways to recycle both everyday objects as well as the things that are just left over.

It just so happens that this house is made from 99% recycled granite. Pawson worked with stone craftsmen of Italy to find a way to use cast-off stone which costs millions of Euros to dispose of.

Many of the intersecting planes or fissures are also lit up to add another touch of beauty to the already impressive walls of granite, and the ceiling offers a lengthy skylight right down the middle. It's just very cool to see structure like this made completely out of beautiful stones. But maybe we're just being granite nerds.

House of Stone Made Out of Recycled Granite Debuts in Milan | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World