Mean to Green (er)

Welcome to the new feature! From here on out whenever you see a blog entry with the Mean to Green (er) title there will be a little tip, or product review from yours truly. This will hopefully happen every week!


First of all lets start off with a disclaimer: First of all I am not an environmentalist. I am not an expert on all things environmentally friendly. I am just a person like you trying to do my part to help this planet that we all share. Some of you that may read this blog may be thinking "this isn't green! There is something else that she could be doing that is better!" My answer to that: There definitely could be! My belief is that if everyone did just one little thing that was better for the environment then we could make a huge difference. Not everyone has to become all granola and buy only organic or second hand clothes, slap some solar panels on their roof and bike to work to be more environmentally conscious. You can start slowly with a few little things around your house. These are the things I am going to share with you. Do with them what you will.

Now for my first Mean to Green (er) entry!

Today I thought I would start with something that I have been doing around my house for quite some time now. I originally got the idea from the Hyper Homemaker Blog. Don't bother going to google it. It sadly doesn't exist anymore. She does however have a cooking blog Good Things Catered . Check it out!

The first little recipe that I am going to give you can replace this nasty product:


Oh Comet, I don't even want to know how many nasty substances are in there, but you are no longer welcome in my home!

You can use these two little products to not only effectively clean your sink, but deodorize the drain, as well as keep the drain running clear so you do not have to use other nasty things like Drano.

That's right folks, just a little white vinegar and a little baking soda is all you need!

First start off with a dirty sink. (I can't believe that I'm posting a picture of my dirty sink, but here it goes!) I thought I would make it as dirty as possible and leave some flour in the bottom from baking.

Then pour in some baking soda:

Then you're going to add the vinegar:

This should happen:

Use your handy dandy little cloth or sponge, scrub your sink with that foamy baking soda and vinegar mixture. The baking soda is a mild abrasive, so it will gently scrub all the dirty grossness in your sink, and the acid in the vinegar disinfects and kills the bad stuff in your sink. For a quick little article about how effective vinegar is go here .

Then you are left with this:

Ta da! A beautifully clean (disinfected) sink and all you needed was some ingredients from your kitchen pantry. Who would've thought that our grandmothers all those years ago had a good thing going?

Now go and clean your sink!

Kitchen transformation

I finally got around to painting the kitchen this weekend. The weather on Saturday was craptastic, and Andre had to work all day which was also craptastic, so I decided to paint. I was using Benjamin Moore's low VOC paint 'Aura', so there was definitely a learning curve, but I am very pleased with the results. The colour that I chose with the help of their consultant works fabulously with the drapes that I had chosen, and compliments the counter, back splash and the main floor paint colour. The kitchen finally feels fresh, and bright now. A good thing in such a small kitchen.

To remind you all of what the kitchen looked like the first time we saw it:

It was blah and well...green, until I ripped off all that wallpaper:
Oh the wonderful orange paint that we found underneath. Along with about 25 nail holes that had to be refilled.

This is what the kitchen looks like at this exact moment in time:

I still have to paint all the baseboards and paint the trim around the window that has only been primed, but I'm just so happy with the kitchen I had to share. You can tell by all the added storage solutions that I am very short on cupboard space, and well prep space for that matter. Until we can afford a very necessary kitchen reno this will have to do. Until then my dreams consist of glossy subway tile back splashes, and neutral countertops...

Stay tuned for a paint review and comparison. Hopefully it won't be another two weeks in the making!!

Bye Bye Wallpaper!

For anyone that saw my house in all it's 70's/80's tackiness will know that quite a few rooms had wallpaper. The front hall, dining room, bathroom, kitchen and office all had wallpaper. After today the only room that is left with wallpaper is the office.

I had the day off today. After Andre left for work I was left wondering what to do with myself. I was very tempted to spend the day sitting around reading, but decided that I would tackle the kitchen. Sadly this room has been sitting half done for about 7 months. For some reason the fact that this room was incomplete didn't bother me as much as the others. That and I was completely undecided about colour to paint the room.

So after I kissed my honey good bye I got dressed, threw my hair in a ponytail and got to tackling the one remaining wall with wallpaper.

To refresh your memory, this is what the kitchen looked like when we saw the house for the first time:

(listing photos)

Unfortunately you can't see in much detail the wonderful green wallpaper and border that fully compliments the green trim, the green counter top, the green back splash, and the green knobs.

And this is what the kitchen looked like today after I finished taking down the wallpaper:

I know you all are so jealous of the now bright peach on the walls. (And complete lack of storage.)

The little bits of colour on either side of the window is the actual colour that I have chosen for the kitchen. I was at a total loss choosing the colour that would not only have to work with the green, but the new drapes on the window, and the colour that we have painted the entire main floor. After a fruitless trip to Home Depot I ended up at a local Benjamin Moore dealer. I needed help.

After about 15 minutes maximum, the wonderful consultant had helped me narrow down some colours and then I finally decided on "Desert Tan". I also chose their new Aura paint (I'm so not telling Andre that one gallon cost $70!). I had been thinking about trying a new low VOC paint, and not only does Aura fit the bill, but it's also a 3-in-1 paint, meaning it primes, can go over oil or latex paint, and it is scrubbable, which is much needed in a kitchen. The bonus is that apparently it dries super quickly, so it's ready for the next coat in only an hour!

So here are some close-ups of the new paint choice for the kitchen:

What do you think?

Unfortunately my work weeks are pretty busy, so I will not have any after shots for you all until I have a weekend free to paint. Hopefully that will be this Sunday, since Andre and I will be at my grandparents cottage for their annual summer BBQ all day Saturday.