A Thing Or Two We’re Doing Besides Relishing Home Hacks
Behold: 26 improvements and small victories that made us happier at home last year—and some podcast + Secret Menu content in the same vein. If you enjoy this Secret Menu fix and want in, new subscriber money for January goes to GLITS, which supports the health and rights of transgender sex workers.
our things
Drinking out of a perfect glass.
Appreciating these construction tips as much as the women giving ‘em.
Developing a soft spot for extremely focused home retailers. First up: lighting supplies. Next: shelving.
Assembling the ideal wine rack, which you can put together in all sorts of ways and expand over time, too.
Accepting a deep affection for these food-storage containers after struggling to find them anywhere for weeks. Their sell: a small fridge footprint (what a turn of phrase!) that makes them ideal for soups, leftover grains, all that.
Feeling like a wifi wizard after hooking up this magical device that makes it go further and faster. Truly life-changing.
Existing one roll of double-sided tape away from giving a lampshade a wallpaper glow-up.
Guffawing at the beauty and thoroughness of this plant-care site.
Ceasing to feel shame about not knowing how to sharpen a knife; this wonderful $10 tool asks so little yet gives so much.
Hydrating from a glass filter pitcher that looks good on the table and refills like a breeze.
Locking away a few things.
Wading through a trove of design-forward and actually doable DIY furniture projects.
Sourcing expert answers to questions like “But what’s a good printer?” and “Which is the best podcast-editing software?”
Stashing a smart, single-cup coffee solution at the in-laws’ so nobody has to make a whole pot of decaf just for one.
Grasping at straws—er, starches—that might diminish the amount of sand that enters the house post-beach.
Clocking a major milestone: a muggy afternoon in the backyard with zero (zero!!) bug bites. Thermacell, take a bow.
Replacing a stained, fraying, always-askew kitchen rug with something that’s truly made for the task.
Making two laundry-related recommendations: this app (which comes in handy when deciphering, say, Japanese care instructions) and this stain remover.
Using an ~alt~ toilet paper that feels way better than you’d expect such a thing to.
Seriously leveling-up the old Zoom appearance, no ring light required.
Wondering which of life’s problems this couldn’t solve.
Upgrading to this mini steamer situation.
Approaching this pillow (and its potential to help a creaky, side-sleeping neck) with much skepticism…but, well, taking it all back.
Begging a wall outlet to work harder (please and thank you!).
Realizing a knife rest is, in fact, a thing. Why must spoons get all the pampering?
Acquiring a very clever divided hamper situation.
podcast
Flea and Wedding Registries (Slash Stuff We Want in Our Kitchens Forever)
What would we register for if we were getting married sometime soon? What would we buy if we just really wanted a tablecloth or new drinking glasses? Oh, we have thoughts. And, speaking of wish lists, how exactly do we get our hands on Flea’s Bees honey from the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist?
secret menu
What do you both have over your bed, and do you have suggestions for searching for this piece?
Claire: When I was a kid, my mom had a strict rule about not hanging anything over our beds that could injure us if it fell down while we were sleeping. I used to think this was a universally acknowledged precaution but eventually realized it’s just heightened levels of earthquake-awareness brought on by growing up in Southern California. Anyway, I’m 37 now, and though I no longer listen to everything she says, I do generally take a safety-first approach to life and interior design. Hanging a quilt is an obvious way around the you’ll-die-if-it-falls-on-you conundrum, and as discussed in a recent installment of this newsletter, there are so many good ones around these days. I also love the idea of a really giant canvas or framed artwork as a sort of headboard stand-in. Meaning: Lean it against the wall behind your bed, and you’ve got the tremor-proof equivalent of hanging art above your bed. It’s nice if the piece is as wide as or wider than your bed, but truly not necessary—the more important thing is that a decent amount of it is visible above your bed, so it works best with a low bed frame (or no bed frame at all). The other nice thing about this approach is that the art doesn’t have to be perfect or even particularly special—it just has to be suitable background imagery. At some point, I was pulling this off using a framed museum exhibition poster that I’d found on the street; if you don’t feel like waiting for the perfect trash-day discovery, hunting (with much patience) on eBay or Chairish is the appropriate alternative. Perhaps a piece like this? These days I have something a lot more sentimental: a slice-of-tree-trunk-as-headboard that my dad made for us when they had to cut down the tree that we’d gotten married under in my parents’ backyard. I mean! Can you even? Because I certainly cannot.
Erica: At my house, this felt like the perfect opp for a lone wall of wallpaper. Don’t sleep on those by Josef Frank, Voutsa, Studio Four NYC, Cole & Son, and Flat Vernacular.
There’s more where this came from in our Thursday Secret Menu emails—join the fun.
