Creating gifts from scratch is rewarding. Gifting something you have worked on with your own two hands makes it worth so much more. One of the best ways to give loved ones homemade gifts is by making a gift basket. DIY gift baskets are completely customizable and crafted to be perfect for the receiver. There
Search Results for: bathroom/towels/bath-towels
14 Inexpensive DIY Hot Tub Plans
A hot tub has been a long-held sign of status for homeowners. Being able to afford one meant you were probably doing pretty well financially, and having a hot tub adds value to your home. It might seem like a better deal to simply purchase a premade hot tub, but there are certain benefits to
21 Essential Off-Grid Tools We Love
We recently asked our Insteading Community and YouTube viewers if they had any questions about homesteading that we might answer. You all replied with some great questions, and gave us a lot of ideas on material we can pull together to help you! Watch The Video So for our first installment in what we hope
What Is Spilanthes?
Would you like to cultivate unique species in your garden that serve dual functions? Do you have toothaches and pains? Fungus infections? Are you in need of enhancing your digestion or immunity? Or are maybe just curious about plants that can serve these purposes? This probably sounds like an advertisement — but if you answered
๐ Tiny Houses
The more you find out about the tiny house lifestyle, the more questions you have. What you need is one reliable place to get basic answers. Then, if you need more info, links to sources you can trust. Our Tiny House Guide has both. We had a blast researching everything about tiny housesโfrom why people choose the
Tiny House Plans
When looking for blueprints and designs for building your tiny house, the search can be arduous and overwhelming. With all the options on the internet and in books it can be hard to know which ones are worth using. Look for tiny house plans that come with detailed instructions explaining how to construct the house,
Lessons In Self-Sufficiency Learned From Hurricane Irene
Insteading’s Michele Decouteau shares lessons her family learned from riding out Hurricane Irene on their New England homestead.
Mycelium Guide
What Is Mycelium? Mycelium is the vegetative part of a fungus. It is a network of cells living within and throughout almost all landmasses on Earth. More than 8 miles of these cells can be found in a cubic inch of soil (Source: Mycelium Running). Here’s an awesome close-up photo of soil with mycelium growing
Whole Tree Architecture
Whole Tree Architecture
Cob House Interiors
Earthy and warm, the inside of cob homes exude an incomparable charm.
Bark Walls
Bark walls
Kitchen Of The Future
“Energy-saving light bulbs will only take us so far. We need to push ourselves to rethink domestic appliances entirely, to rethink how homes consume energy, and how entire communities can pool resourcesโ says Clive van Heerden, Senior Director of Design-led Innovation at Philips Design. Philips believes the solution is likely to come from biological processes,
Tiny House Cost
Tiny houses vary widely in cost. The factors that are going to impact the final price tag of your tiny house are: The type of materials you use (natural materials, salvaged or new) The systems and features you chose (off-grid or on-the-grid) Whether you are building it yourself or hiring a builder If youโll be
Meet Farallon And Roanoke, Tumbleweed Tiny House Company’s Newest Models
You now have two more dream tiny home possibilities, as Tumbleweed Tiny House Company just announced two new designs. Both designs answer a common request from Tumbleweed customers: Give us a house with a downstairs sleeping area! The designs incorporate a downstairs flex room. The room can be used as a second bedroom for kids/guests
Sweden Has The World’s First Electric Road
The inevitable stop at the grimy just-off-the-exit gas station will eventually be a nostalgic memory. Tomorrow’s roads will fuel our electric cars as we drive over them. A new electric road in Swedenโthe world’s firstโemploys the magic of inductive or wireless charging. An induction coil embedded in the road sends out electromagnetic energy. A vehicle
Why Bar Soap Is Better For The Environment Than Liquid Soap
If you care about the environment, buy bar soap. The force behind this directive comes from Zurich’s Institute of Environmental Engineering. Scientists there assessed three categories of cleaners: laundry detergent, body soap, and surface cleaners. The goal was a first-ever life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of these types of products. An LCIA takes into account
Best Water Purifier
Not all public water supplies are thoroughly purified before getting to you, the customer. When you really want to be sure that your family is not ingesting harmful contaminants, invest in one of these water purifiers. A good water purifier will also filter out unwelcome odors that some public water has. Before we go over
Forest Therapy
Shinrin-yoku. Forest bathing. Forest Therapy. No matter what you call the practice, the goal is the same: for humans to use the forest as medicine. History of Forest Bathing Shinrin-yoku is a term that means โtaking in the forest atmosphereโ or, more simply, forest bathing. The practice was developed in Japan in the early 1990s
Engineer Turns Trailer Into Luxurious, DIY Camper
Bill Southworth took a 16′ trailer and turned it into the DIY camper of his dreams, complete w/ solar panels, extra large water storage, and satellite TV.
Living in a Dumpster, For a Full Year – Meet the New 1%
Environmental science professor Jeff Wilson believes that American homes have gotten too big. To prove it, he’ll be living in a dumpster. For a year.
35 Awesome Pallet Projects
Whether it’s because they’re an affordable option or they provide a rustic feel, pallets have become increasingly popular as a source of material for DIY projects. They can be adapted in the most simple or complicated ways, making them a great option for DIY newbies and veterans alike. With pallet chairs to pallet wall art
5 Unusual Benefits of Going Vegan (Warning: Poop Talk)
There are two types of vegans in this world: the ones who do it for the animals and the ones who do it for their own health (this one also includes doing it for the environment, which impacts our health).
Flooring Ideas: 18 Eco-Friendly Options For Your Next Home Renovation
If youโre doing a home renovation or are in the market for some new flooring, youโre in luck. Right now, it appears that just about every type of flooring company has some exciting option youโre bound to love. Before choosing your flooring there are a few things to keep in mind. First, be sure that
Eco-Friendly DIY Drain Cleaners
Why is it a slow or clogged drain always seems to occur at the worst possible moment? You’re busy preparing a dinner party, company is soon to arrive, and now you find the water in the guest bathroom sink doesnโt want to drain. What to do? You want something that will clear your plumbing problems
20 Types Of Succulents For Your Desktop Or Rock Garden
Generally, a succulent refers to a plant with chubby, fleshy greenery. The word on its own evokes a particular image, so if you think itโs a succulent, it probably is. The thick leaves are often plump because theyโre designed to retain moisture for these drought-tolerant plants. Most succulents are fairly low maintenance and produce flowers
Growing Gourds
To those unfamiliar, there may not seem to be much difference between a gourd and squash. Fruit-wise, they share a lot of similar attributes — cool shapes, hard rind, seeds hidden inside, and beautiful colors. But once you try to grow one, you will quickly notice the enormously long, trailing vines, the beautiful, night-blooming flowers,
How To Grow And Forage For Lady Fern
I am in love with lady ferns and tuck every variety into shaded crevices, niches, nooks, and crannies in my homestead rockery. Apple-green in the spring and a glorious golden-yellow in autumn, lady fern is one of the easiest plants to grow in moist, shaded locations. With hundreds of species of lady fern and dozens
25 Effective Bedroom Storage Ideas To Make The Most Of Your Space
Your clothes are scattered in the corner. Clutter fills your nightstand because youโre not quite sure where to put your piles of books and knick-knacks. The top of your dresser is a mess of disorganized jewelry. And inside the drawers, itโs tough to locate anything in the mixed-up socks and accessories. Needless to say, you
Stop Spraying Your Dandelions: 3 Simple Methods For Making Dandelion Tea
I find it a weird mix of sad and amusing that our current culture spends so much time killing dandelions. These nonnative lettuce relatives were brought to the United States from Europe for their very useful purposes as food and medicine. In a great stroke of what now seems irony, the grass was torn out
25 DIY Nightstand Ideas to Upgrade Your Bedroom
When it comes to bedroom dรฉcor, it seems the only choices are to buy a nightstand or accept the one that comes with a larger bedroom set. But what about DIY-ing your own unique piece? After all, nothing spruces up the dรฉcor of a space like a nightstand of your own design. So before you
Can I Compost Glass?
Learn why glass is not suitable for composting and how it can negatively impact the composting process. Explore alternative methods such as recycling and upcycling to safely and sustainably dispose of glass waste.
Perfluorinated Compounds
Perfluorinated Compounds
Human Urine As Fertilizer
A study out of Finland has found that plants fertilized with urine performed four times as well as nonfertilized plants and just as well as plants given commercial mineral fertilizer. Urine plus wood ash (collected from a wood stove) produced as well, yet with the added benefit of reducing the acidity of the soil. The
Raising Pekin Ducks
When you think โduckโ what image do you see? I bet for a majority of people, the endearingly chubby, orange-billed and white-feathered barnyard duck leaps (or rather waddles) into your mindโs eye. That duck is the Pekin. This duck breed is by far the most popular of the domesticated duck breeds, and its popularity has
5 Compelling Reasons to Turn Your Lawn Into a Meadow
Forget about that perfectly manicured lawn consisting of short green grass and nothing else. Boldly embrace biodiversity instead by turning that sterile lawn of yours into a mini-meadow or wildflower lawn of diverse proportions! The Earth will thank you, though your neighbors may raise an eyebrow or two. Let them. There is no better feeling
17 Effective DIY Dishwasher Detergent Recipes
Iโm probably one of the few people in this world who loves doing dishes — I love to load up the dishwasher and forget them, that is! Washing dishes by hand is an annoying and time-consuming task. And did you know it often uses more water than dishwashers? Handwashing dishes can use up to 27
25 Effortless Room Divider Ideas To Make Use Of Your Small Space
Whether youโre dealing with a huge open space or a make-shift living room in a tiny home, room dividers help to divvy up your home’s space. The easiest, cheapest way to divide your living area is to use a temporary fixture of some sort, but there are also lots of permanent ideas for those looking
13 Beneficial Chicken-Friendly Plants To Grow Next To Coops
If you’ve had chickens for long, you probably have noticed that they eat all day long. They peck and scratch at the soil and eat every last bit of our kitchen scraps and leftovers. Letting your chickens free-range, or giving them access to plenty of natural vegetation and/or rotating their grazing parameters, is the key
Earthbag Homes
Earthbag Construction, Sandbag Buildings
Sand Magnified
Sand grains magnified 110-250 times reveal each grain is unique. The tip of a spiral shell has broken off and become a grain of sand. After being repeatedly tumbled by action of the surf this spiral sand grain has become opalescent in character. It is surrounded by bits of coral, a pink shell fragment, a
Chicken Mites
Like many animals, chickens can play host to parasites that live on skin, in feathers, and around their living spaces. One such parasite is Dermanyssus gallinae, the chicken mite, a tiny pest found worldwide, that stresses chickens, reduces egg production, and can also transmit diseases. Finding parasite infestations in your birds is always scary, but
Living Off-Grid: What Itโs Actually Like
In our modern day, with cable TV shows banking off of the “weirdness” of living off the grid, the very phrase “Off-Grid” images of end-of-the-world preppers stocking up MREs and ammo, wild-haired hermits digging in the dirt for acorns and mushrooms, or maybe criminals attempting to elude capture. But if you visited our off-grid homestead,