bedroom remodel

Nothing like a total disaster to prompt unplanned home renovations! One random Tuesday in October, our bedroom ceiling caved in. Believe it or not, our insurance didn't cover this, so it ended up being our biggest DIY project yet.

Thanks to my handyman Dad and some help from friends and family, we were able to do the work ourselves. We created my dream bedroom and got a little creative with bead-board and trim work. 

 The process took a until spring because I basically shut the door and avoided thinking about it till after the holidays, but it was WELL worth the work and the wait!

 I love how the wall color turned out against the white.

 Even Bishop got a new space! :)

 Love this beachy look.

Hope you enjoyed this or got some inspiration!

vintage laundry detergent?

The woman in this vintage ad looks absolutely crazed about Tide's "oceans of suds":

Deranged housewife wielding her "new washing miracle"

Should we be crazy about popular store-bought detergents too or is there a better way to clean clothes? I am on a weird mission to find out...

In the 1920's, Americans used plain soap flakes in their spiffy washing machines that were only invented 12 years prior. Soap alone didn't clean clothes efficiently or perform well in hard water and left a nasty ring around the washer. (Fill in any witty 1920's phrases of exasperation you may know.) Laundry detergent as we know it was created in 1943 by Proctor & Gamble and was surely a lifesaver, worthy of all sorts of hilarious ads showcasing adoring fans. So what's wrong with it now?

I've been hearing so much about homemade detergent lately, but have avoided buying into it for 3 solid reasons:

1.) Grating soap with a cheese grater sounds like a real pain in the butt

2.) Homemade laundry detergent has become somewhat of an annoying trend. Almost like a cult of elitist domestic snobby-pants.

3.) I don't really have any issues with my current detergent.

I started by researching the ingredients for a popular detergent:

Homemade detergent is great for sensitive skin, babies or just a more natural lifestyle.

Is all that junk REALLY necessary to clean clothes well? After stumbling over all those huge words, I realized I DO have issues with store-bought detergent nowadays. Although my all-natural detergent did not include many of these nasty ingredients, I was paying a pretty-penny for it. Even if you believe all those chemicals are safe, it still seems a bit unnecessary when homemade detergent has as little as 4 ingredients at less than half the cost. I still really didn't feel like grating soap, but then I stumbled across this humbling gem:

ADVICE TO A 1912 BRIDE

Years ago a Kentucky grandmother gave a bride the following recipe for washing clothes (phonetic spelling and all) :

1. Bild fire in back yard to heet kettle of rainwater.
2. Set tubs so smoke won’t blow in eyes if wind is pert.
3. Shave one hole cake lie soap in boilin water.
4. Sort things, make three piles. 1 pile white. 1 pile cullord. 1 pile work britches and rags.
5. To make starch stur flour in cold water to smooth then thin down with boilin water.
6. Rub dirty spots on board, scrub hard, then boil. Rub cullord but don’t boil — just rench and starch.
7. Take white things out of kettle with broom stick handle then rench, blew and starch.
8. Spred tee towels on grass.
9. Hang old rags on fence.
10. Pour rench water in flower bed.
11. Scrub porch with hot soapy water.
12. Turn tubs upside down.
13. Go put on cleen dress, smooth hair with side combs, brew cup of tee — set and rest a spell and count your blessins.

Now that I feel incredibly lazy and ungrateful for my position in society, my multitude of modern conveniences and my grammatical education, I think I can grate some darn soap. As for homemade detergent-makers being an obnoxious cult..well...there are obviously a few good reasons why everyone is jumping on this bandwagon. I decided to make some stupid laundry detergent.

Here's the laziest recipe I found for powdered detergent:

2c. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

2c. of Baking Soda

2c. of Borax

1 bar of natural soap with no additives (I used Fels-Naptha laundry soap)

Just grate the soap with a cheese grater and then stir all the ingredients thoroughly. You only need 1-2 Tablespoons per wash load, so this will last for 80 loads of laundry....80.

Optional Fabric Softener:

White Vinegar (don't worry, it makes them soft and your clothes will not smell like salad)

Things to note:
- When I sat down to grate my Fels-Naptha soap, I was prepared for the long haul. I wore a plaid shirt, spoke in a southern drawl and channeled my inner Little House on the Prairie, but I easily grated a whole bar in 5-10 minutes. The soap is also a beautiful yellow color and smells fresh and clean. I'm weirdly excited to grate my next bar, but unless I just do one for fun, it's going to be a while.
- You really do only need 1-2 Tablespoons of this mixture...it's tempting to use more, but you just end up wasting it and needing an extra rinse cycle.
- I could not find the Super Washing Soda locally (apparently, it's sold at Walmart, but I refuse to shop there). I was able to purchase it through Amazon.
- Store-bought laundry detergent costs about 26¢ per load. With the ingredients listed above, this ends up being around 4¢ per load!

I don't know why I fought it for so long (other than the obnoxious amount of attention and popularity it received.) I have noticed no discernible difference in the freshness or cleanliness of my clothes when compared to my old detergent; it seems to work well! If you used a heavily-scented detergent, you might notice a difference, but the Fels-Naptha still gave it a light scent. So here's to grating soap and saving 22¢ every time you run the washer! :)

hiking trail or walkway?

It only takes 1 trip (pun intended) across this eyesore to realize that it is an absolutely terrible excuse for a walkway. Someone, sometime long ago, had the idea to nestle stepping stones at awkward distances between piles of large rocks. This person did not own a level and did not understand the function of a walkway. In less than a year's time, we've stumbled many times and twisted many an ankle just trying to navigate the ten feet from our driveway to the safe, level surface of our patio. Moving furniture in and out has been a joy, and trying to clean the path from grass clippings, ice, weeds or other junk is futile. And if you should ever forget to leave the outside light on at night, you might as well just fall down now.

The original genius path design...

When we began tearing it out, we really didn't have a plan for what to do instead, but we knew that bare dirt would be significantly safer than the current path (as would the path to Mordor). We were tired of worrying about guests and yoga students suing when they stumble across this treacherous obstacle and we already tended to walk around it instead. So, out it came...

We also decided to remove a treacherous strip of river rocks that was bordering the sidewalk all the way down. It was unnecessary and only served as (yet another) tripping hazard, harbor for grass clippings and home to unnecessarily large and terrible spiders. Plus, we wanted to move more rocks. ;)

The original area next to the sidewalk

Some progress removing the rocks to fill and plant grass

Together, it took us a few arduous days to load up all the rocks and relocate them to other areas.

Rocks removed, & peony bush was transplanted at an inopportune time (lower right)

If you're wondering, the small layer of rocks remaining along the sidewalk was left intentionally. We discovered a french drain underneath that is probably long filled up with silt, but just in case, we decided to keep it semi-covered with rocks to allow for drainage. Once we got all the rocks out of the way, it was time to transplant a few plants and then dig up the actual walkway.

As much as I like digging and gardening, none of this was really that fun. Thankfully, we only needed about 2 tons of topsoil to fill in our trenches. For now, we will plant grass even where the old walkway was. (When we're ready to add a new one, we won't be using the same angle to connect the patio to the driveway anyway.)

Filled in and grass seed planted!

Not quite done, but almost!

Turns out, I don't know how to plant grass properly. I would consider my thumb to be green, if I do say so myself, but I've never planted grass before and I guess I just assumed that...well, it's GRASS, how hard can it be? It'll grow if I love it and water it. I arbitrarily sprinkled some seeds onto my soil and watered it daily for about 2 weeks (using free water from our rain barrels!). I was excited when the baby grass started to sprout, until I noticed how sparse it was. Should I throw some hay on it? People do that, right?

Baby grass!

My loving husband (former landscaper of 5 years, but wasn't home when I "planted" my grass) lovingly pointed out that I probably should have poked the soil with some kind of tool I don't have and then spread peat moss over the top (also don't have) and covered it with something I do not have. Whatever. It'll still fill in, right? :)

Even if it's dirt and grass seedlings for a while, I'm still very glad to have the ugly, dangerous old walkway gone. I'm not going for an award-winning lawn, I just don't want to fall on my face. Stay tuned for updates and the new walkway installation to find out if it's a "do it yourself" or "do not do it yourself" project. :)

dirty yoga mat DIY

Yes, that's right! A DIY project on how to make your very own filthy yoga mat!

1.) Attend a hot yoga or Bikram yoga class

2.) Roll your mat up and allow it to fester until your next class

3.) Repeat

Although the above is totally accurate (and repulsive), this blog post is meant to help you avoid a dirty yoga mat. :) If you don't practice very often or are worried about damaging your mat, choose one of the following simple methods and clean that mat!

Every once in a while for a deep clean, it's usually fine to throw your yoga mat into the washing machine. (*Some mats recommend front load washers without the agitator) If you have a cheap mat, (like my first $10 mat that I tried to wash weekly) it will fall apart after a while. My poor little bright green mat hung in there for almost a year before my yoga instructor so delicately pointed out that she had little pieces of my mat on her mat. I was the only one in the studio with a disheveled neon green mat, so it was clearly my mat chunks. I hung my head in shame and set out to find a new mat and cleaning regimen.

Natural Fitness Yoga Mat

After some researching, I decided I wasn't quite ready to spring for a Jade mat. (Their cheapest mats run around $60-$70) So, being the frugal idiot that I am, I decided to trust the Amazon reviews and try a $50 mat from Natural Fitness that I'd never even laid eyes on, let alone touched. Saving my spare $10 for a trip to Chipotle, I happily ordered the all-natural rubber mat online, knowing that they would plant a tree when they received my order. Aww...how sweet.

Before I even got the whole mat out of the package, I could tell it wasn't for me. It just didn't feel right. (Don't you wish there was a yoga mat shop equivalent to Ollivander's Wand Shop!?) The mat was durable, but ultra thin, super heavy and not sticky at all, so it wouldn't even work for doubling up with a cheaper mat. I tried to force myself to like it for a good 3 months before finally purchasing another cheap sticky mat for $12, bringing my grand total $62, $8 away from a nice Jade mat. I still use the Natural Fitness one and am purposefully hard on it. I use it outside often and I throw it in the wash all the time, hoping it will soon be destroyed enough to justify purchasing a new mat.

ANYWAY, as for my other new cheap mat that doesn't like the washing machine, I decided I may as well at least use something natural, antibacterial and preferably cheap. So, I turn to...vinegar! Although the salad smell dissipates as the vinegar dries, I definitely hoped to tone it down a bit. 

If you're used to cleaning with vinegar, try this recipe:

1 part warm water to 3 parts white vinegar
About 9,387 drops of lavender essential oil

Simply mix together in a clean spray bottle, and use after each practice. Spray and wipe down both side of your mat. Be sure to dry it with a soft, dry cloth and hang somewhere to dry thoroughly. 

The cleaning part of this formula works very well. I'm just not sure how I feel about introducing any vinegar scent into my yoga studio. It's one thing for the shower to smell like pickles for a while after cleaning, but I don't like my studio smelling like pickles. Ever.

Another option for a deep clean is to put your mat in a bathtub with a few inches of very hot water (be sure to remove the cat, first, if you have one). Add about 3 cups of vinegar, stir it around and allow it to soak for at least an hour. Then, using a cloth or soft brush, scrub down both sides and rinse thoroughly. Hang it to dry. (Bonus: Your tub ends up cleanish, too!)

Squeaky clean yoga mat

Method Lavender - all purpose

A few more ideas: I've been in studios that offer Clorox wipes for post-yoga wipe-downs, homemade concoctions, as well as pricey eco-friendly mat cleaners made with unicorn tears and Fiji water. My favorite cleaner? I really enjoy using diluted Lavender Method. I buy the bulk re-fill size as an all-purpose cleaner to use all over my house. It smells amazing and does a good job without leaving any residue (when diluted). So basically, your favorite cleaner is probably fine, but when in doubt, just dilute it and use whatever you like!

*As a word of warning, most yoga mats do not dry in one day and can be very annoying and dangerous when slippery. Once you flow from a Downdog to a face-plant on an improperly dried mat, you may plan ahead next time to have a back-up mat or use a towel over your mat for your next practice.

However you clean your mat, just be sure to clean it in the first place! It's easy to forget if you roll up your mat after practice and stow it away, but it doesn't take long for a mat to stain or harbor dirt and bacteria. And trust me, there's nothing like the smell of a large, sweaty piece of rubber, so if anything, clean it for your fellow-yogis! Namaste :)

Latest post: Take a gander at the new upcoming classes, field trips and workshops. http://wholehearter.blogspot.com/p/wholehearter-yoga.html... wholehearter : class schedule

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bird house diy for lazy people

Pre-dried gourd

If you want to make a birdhouse, but you're far too lazy to build one out of wood, don't worry! Dried gourd birdhouses are a great option for you as long as you do not think you can dry your own gourd. (Trust me, it will rot. It will be slow at first, so you might think it's going to work, but then one morning you will wake up to a rancid mess. Apparently, once gourds are cut off the vine, they don't dry well, so buy a pre-dried gourd. And if you share a bank account, tell your significant other that you ordered a gourd so that they don't think your e-bay account was hacked by a gourd-loving computer nerd.)

Anyway, here is what you need to make a simple gourd birdhouse:

1 dried gourd

Dust Mask

A drill & 1/4" and 1/2" bits

Sharp knife, mini saw or pumpkin carving kit

Sandpaper and/or metal file

Paint, stain or spray-paint of choice
Clear polyurethane

Homeless Birds

WARNING: Do not attempt to drill or carve a gourd without wearing a dust mask. The dust from a dried gourd often contains mold, but even on it's own can be very dangerous to breathe and trigger severe respiratory symptoms.

Once you have your dust mask secure, start by drilling a few holes in the bottom of the house for drainage. (You don't want the poor birds to have soggy little bird feet.)

Plumbing system for the bird gourdhouse

Next, using the same bit, drill 2 holes near the stem for hanging. (You can cut off the stem if you don't want it, but mine will be the stem of a painted flower) Mark off where you want the door and using your 1/2" bit, drill a hole in the front for the opening.

Being sure your dust mask is still secure, go ahead and dig out all the junk that's left inside the gourd. You may need tweezers or something to help you get most of it out; there is a surprising amount of gross dried gourd guts...

Garbage that is apparently still inside a dried gourd

Once that's done, you can either sand the edges of your round door smooth, or if you're feeling ambitious, use your baby saw to carve a different shape. (Just so you know, carving a dried gourd is NOT like carving a pumpkin.) It is a very tough and does not take kindly to making smooth cuts. A good grit sandpaper or metal file is a big help here.

Post-whittling, cleaned out and ready to paint

Now that your door is done and the inside is cleaned out, sand and clean the outside to prep for painting. Be sure to plug the door with some newspaper to keep paint from getting on the inside.

I primed my gourd with white Rustoleum spray paint + primer, then painted it and sprayed it with 3 coats of polyurethane.

Add caption

Thread a wire, coat hanger or string through the 2 holes you made in the top to hang it from a secure branch. Now, patiently wait for a cute bird family to arrive and call it 'home!'

New 1 bedroom loft FOR SALE with sweeping views and great location! Must see inside! :)

UPDATE: I'm not one to crush dreams, but I do like to be honest. It's mid February here in Pennsylvania and my little birdhouse is starting to look a bit more...natural.

7 months later, I'm thinking I should have brought it inside for the winter....

I know I should have brought it inside for the winter, but I like to look at it and I couldn't tell if it really had tenants or just passing vagrants. We've had some pretty rough weather, but I still really thought that it would hold up. I guess it will be getting a spring makeover soon! :)

mini composter DIY

Building a large outdoor compost bin that will safely keep out critters, not be an eyesore and never be in scent-range is not always feasible. Churning a large pile by hand can be overwhelming and is hard work. Ready-made compost bins with easy-churn handles are easier, but will set you back anywhere from $100-$500.

Too lazy for this option                     -                             Too frugal for this option

 I really wanted to dabble in composting, but wasn't ready to commit to building or buying yet, so I've decided to start an adorable miniature-sized bin!

Why bother? Well besides the obvious, (creating your own free, organic, gentle soil fertilizer) I like to reduce and recycle waste and garbage when I can. Once the compost is ready, it's a very cheap and easy way to improve soil texture for better water retention and drainage, hence healthier plants. It's fun to watch things develop like this, so involve kids if you have 'em. Also, it's cool.

Here's what you need to make your own:

A clean miniature bin (cat litter bin, Tupperware, 5 gallon bucket with lid...etc)

Charcoal Filter (optional)

Spray Paint (optional)
Drill

Crap to compost

1.) I used an empty cat litter container for my bin. (Be sure that you wash your container thoroughly with hot, soapy water and rinse well.) Drill plenty of holes in the bottom of the bin for drainage and into the lid of the bin for airflow. The amount and size of holes will depend on your container, so just keep an eye on the moisture level of your compost and add more holes (in the bottom or sides) if things are too moist.

Cat Litter Bin with a bunch of holes drilled in bottom & top - Charcoal Filter shown in foreground

2.) My bin will be kept outside, but I decided to add a charcoal filter because I find the smell of rotting garbage offensive. I just duct-taped it onto the inside of the lid, underneath the air holes. These filters are the kind you can buy for a cat litter box at a pet store; they're very cheap, can be cut to fit any size and only need to be replaced every few months as needed.

3.) I also decided to spray paint my bin black to conduct more heat and also to make it look a little less cat-litter-bin-ish and a bit more compost-bin-ish. If you have a good shrub to hide your bin behind, you might not care. Or if you're going for that snoody, high-end compost look, you could spray paint it solid gold.

4.) Find a shady spot outside for your bin. (If the bin ends up in direct sun, your compost could dry out and not decay.) Add your crap and water as needed, stir it or roll it around every day or two and wait patiently for awesome, rich fertilizer!

The finished cat litter bin incognito

Currently home to 1 chopped banana peel, carrot shavings, dried grass and leaves, and shredded newspaper

Crap You Can Compost:

Green Materials (nitrogen):

Coffee Grounds/Filters, Tea Bags, Fresh Grass Clippings, Chopped Vegetable & Fruit Waste, Fresh Leaves or Plant Waste

Brown Materials (carbon):

Wood Chips or Sawdust (untreated wood only), Paper Towels, Shredded Newspaper, Dead Leaves, Dried Grass Clippings, Straw, Pine Needles

Crap You Shall Not Compost:

Inorganic material such as plastic, glass or that dirty cookie sheet you don't feel like cleaning, Meat, Dairy, Bones, Manure (herbivore manure is technically okay if you really feel like harvesting it), Weeds or diseased plants, Glossy Paper

A Few Tips:

• Try to have more brown than green in your mixture, by weight. Brown things are rich in carbon. Green things are rich in nitrogen. A healthy bin needs more carbon-rich material to allow oxygen to penetrate and decompose. Otherwise, you might end up with a soggy, smelly, slowly decomposing lump. If you'd like to speed the process a bit more, you can even add some soil and/or earth worms, but when in doubt add more brown material.

• The surface area of the crap you add effects the time needed for composting. By chipping, chopping, shredding, or mulching before adding to your bin, you will be helping the bacteria to more quickly break down materials into compost.

• Smaller compost piles or winter composting will take longer because the center of the pile (where the magic happens) will not reach and maintain as high a temperature. Compost is ready when it's dark brown, crumbly like dirt and has a rich, earthy smell...like decayed organic material.

• The pH of compost is slightly basic (or alkaline), so when it's ready, add to acid-loving plants (such as azaleas, hydrangeas or hollies) at your own risk. If you have plenty of coffee grounds in your compost, acid-loving plants will do well with compost.

I think a mini bin is a great option for small spaces or to help newbies get a feel for composting. I have no idea what I'm really doing, but I'll post trouble-shooting tips as needed. So before you splurge on that solid gold compost bin, try a mini cat litter bin. :)

the rain barrel saga continues...

If you read my previous rain barrel post, you might not yet realize that this DIY now qualifies as a "saga." When we left off, I was touting the ease and affordability of this little weekend project. Well, 2 weeks and 3 rain storms later, things are now a bit more complicated.

Call me naive, but I never had a rain barrel before, so I thought I had time before I would need to add an overflow valve. Boy, was I wrong! I did not realize that a 50 gallon barrel would fill up and overflow in a 5 minute storm, but it certainly did. We cringed at all the wasted water that immediately flooded our basement.

Maybe a normal person would have just said, "Okay, well I'll add the overflow valve first thing tomorrow and be done with it." But not us...we decided we would go ahead and get 2 more rain barrels and THEN we could worry about the overflow valve.

I bumbled around the plumbing department until I came across this 1/2" thick flexible tubing. I've seen this work for other rain barrel links on the interwebs, so I figured it would be fine for me. I dug up the first rain barrel and added some concrete slabs underneath so that it could sit higher than the other 2. (I do NOT recommend this arduous task...even 1/4 barrel of water is much heavier than it looks) But, once that was done, I just added a few little 1/2" holes, some caulking and a metal dingus on the inside of each barrel, and I was good to go...or so I thought.

Mother Nature laughed at our efforts. Again, according to the weather forecast, we were fooled into thinking we had time to add the overflow valve another day. Lesson learned: you can't just keep indefinitely linking rain barrels to avoid making an overflow valve. :)


At 2:00am, I woke up to torrential downpour, 3 overflowing barrels and a freshly flooded basement. I clearly had no idea what I was doing, but I was not yet discouraged. I am working hard renovating our garden and I was determined to harness this over-abundant natural resource! So, back to the hardware store I went. After some more scratching my head and bumbling around, I ended up with this junk:

3" male and female seals, elbow pipe and long drain pipe named "Charlotte," apparently.

I was worried about making a hole that large in the barrel, but I needed the water to drain quickly from the 3rd barrel to allow the other 2 to drain and not overflow.

Traced outline with chalk, drilled hole in center and sawed out to the edges to make a 3" large hole

Hypothetically, it worked. This is how the drain looks on the third barrel, heading down into the original flexpipe, behind a bush and underground out to the road.

Round 3 of drainage adventures...

We've thoroughly enjoyed the free water we've been using for the past week. Temperatures have been over 95º, so we've been watering most of our new trees, shrubs and baby grass twice a day and we still have almost 2 full barrels!




UPDATE: I'd like to say we lived happily ever after, but not quite yet. (Don't be afraid of this project because I'm making all the mistakes for you.) The first barrel (the one receiving the brunt of the water flow from a huge roof) still overflowed in the last storm. I added a 3" connection (like the overflow pipes) between the 1st and 2nd barrels as well as the 2nd and 3rd to allow it to drain faster. It was not easy to do since the barrels could not be moved (note the impeccable caulk job) but it should do the trick. Fourth time's a charm, right? ;)

The mistake(s) I made were mainly in relation to water pressure. If/when the downspout is ever at full capacity in a storm, then the connection valves need to be at least as wide as the downspout, all the way through. The rain barrel ideas and designs I looked at must have had no trouble using small tubing; for a smaller home or roof, it would have been sufficient, but we have a very large roof, heavy storms rolling through and a basement that has a propensity for flooding. Although the process was stressful, I'm still definitely glad that we did it. We will have tons of free garden water for years to come!


FINAL UPDATE! Almost a year later now and we are SO thankful for our barrels! We've planted tons of things since then and have used them weekly. In the winter, we syphoned the water out and reconnected the downspout to the drain. Our basement has also since been waterproofed and the flooding had very little to do with my barrel adventures.

I'd say the only downfall is the actual lugging of water if you have a large or steep yard. We have about an acre incline with some new trees up the hill, so we are planning to add some gutters and a barrel or two behind the shed. We won't get as much water from such a small roof, but it would be nice to have some up there as well. Love them!

rain barrel DIY

With all the planting and gardening I am always working on, I've been going through a LOT of water lately. With 5 baby hemlocks, 2 baby blue spruce, transplanted hostas, daylillies and liriope, plus tons of growing bulbs and seeds, I was not amused with our water bill. I thought that now might be a good time to invest in a rain barrel!

The first place I looked was....a rain barrel store. Yes, they exist and there is randomly one within 2 miles of my house. Go figure! They had plenty of rain barrels to choose from, but even the typical  barrels (sans hose bibs or anything special) cost upwards of $45. Although I know a barrel isn't something you have to replace often, I knew I could do better than that.

I looked around and found used rain barrels of various size and color at a local fleatique. (L&L Fleatique in Adamsburg, if you're local!) $14 for a 55 gallon barrel? That's better. Now to make it into a functional rain barrel with a spout that won't serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. Hmmm....

It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and it was certainly well worth my time and a few simple materials. Here's what I bought besides the rain barrel:

11/16 Drill Bit

- 1/2" hose bib

- Two 1/2" washers (one for the inside and one for the outside)

- One 1/2" lock nut (for the inside)

- One 11/16" hole cutting drill bit (be sure you get one that's just for wood since you only need to cut through plastic...otherwise, they're like $20)

- Screen for the top (this came in a large roll, but was only about $7)

- Adhesive caulking (I already had this)

Once you have all this stuff around, it's a quick project! Here's what to do:

 - Clean it: If you have a used barrel, I would definitely recommend cleaning it out. (Ours actually came with a few olives floating in their nasty olive juice from it's previous life. It was lovely.) I just used dish soap and a hose. Be sure to rinse it really well if you're planning to use the water for plants. Soapy water is harmful for plants.

- Mark a spot for the hose bib: Stand the barrel up and make a mark for how high you want the faucet to be. Keep in mind that you might want to be able to fit a large bucket or watering can underneath, but you'll want it as low as possible for optimal water pressure. Also, maybe estimate a few inches higher if you plan to dig out an area for the barrel to sit in.

- Drill hole for the hose bib: Lay the barrel on it's side. Using your new hole cutting bit, drill a hole.

- Establish threads in the barrel: Next, take your hose bib and thread it through the plastic. It will be a tight fit, but you don't want it to leak later. Be sure to keep it as straight as possible as you thread so that you don't make crooked threads. Once you get it in, go ahead and back it out.

- Add washer and attach hose bib: Now that you have the threads started, it will be easier to secure the bib. Apply caulking to one of the washers and place it over the hole, threading the bib back into place. You may want to add more caulk around the lip of the washer, just incase.

- The fun part: Crawl inside the barrel. :) Bring a flashlight, the other washer, caulk, a wrench and the nut. Apply caulk to the washer the same way, thread the nut on and secure it as tightly as you can. Add some extra caulk as needed, and then get the heck out of the barrel before your husband rolls you down the hill!

- Add screen to the top: Lay the screen over the lid and cut a square about 4" wider than the edge. Placing it over the top of the barrel, use the outer edge of the barrel lid to thread it in place. Then you can trim the excess screen.

- Put your barrel where you want it: You may need to dig a bit to level the ground, but just be sure that wherever you put it is stable. You're not going to want to try to move it when it's full and certainly don't want to worry about it tipping over.

- Cut your down spout: Cut your downspout so that it will end just above the screen of the barrel. This part can be challenging, if you don't have a good saw. I have a Sawsall that did the job, but I tried part of it with an Xacto knife, just out of curiosity. It was difficult, so if you need a saw, you can borrow mine. :)

For about $20 and 20 minutes, we're proud of this little DIY project...and you can guarantee our faces will be pressed up against that sunroom window watching the water pour in as soon as it rains.

UPDATE: We liked our first rain barrel so much that we decided to add 2 more! Getting 3 rain barrels to link and drain properly wasn't necessarily smooth-sailing since I had no idea what I was doing, but you can check out the process here and avoid making the same mistakes I did. :)