Campus Cool

For many households, this upcoming weekend is a BUSY one! College students are heading back to campus.

Keeping students organized in the space that today's dorm provides can be a real challenge.

Today's student housing is more like a super-sized apartment building.

Back in the day, this was my residence...at a very small school. The "Halls" were originally built either as small mansions (in their day) or multi-unit buildings that were later acquired by the school and outfitted for student housing.

Here's another residence hall from the college I attended.

How accommodations have changed!

While browsing the latest PBTeen and Ikea catalogs, I spotted some really fun AND practical items for back-to-school.

I totally need this fuzzy ball chair BTW!!

If you're sending one off to campus or the classroom, I hope you've had some fun with the process.

There are no students in my household; however, I did find that some of these products will be very helpful in working with my sellers and staging clients to prepare their homes for the upcoming Fall housing market. Even if the potential buyer does not have children, it's really best to show a home that doesn't have any rooms that can be a haz-mat zone (A.K.A. a tween's or teen's room!).

Have a great weekend!

(all decor images are from PBTeen)

It isn't EZ being GREEN!

"It's a cruel Summer..."

I know Bananarama wasn't singing about plants when they did that song back in the day, but it's been a Summer of tough love for landscaping.

Here in the NoVA area, we had a cool, soggy Spring that would NOT end.

Then...there came the 2 weeks of the HHH (Hazy HoTTTT Humid stuff). That's really MY kind of weather, personally. Yes, I know I am a party of ONE!

And, the past couple of days have propelled us into mid October weather.

All of that has not been kind to our plants. If your impatiens are limp and leggy, it's time to replace them. Get rid of the spent plants. Even if you're not planning on putting your home on the market, it's time for some landscape maintenance. Your neighbors will appreciate your efforts as you cut back those spent blooms and brown bushes.

I had to trash some very dead arborvitaes just last eve. "Tree of Life"?? - Not on my porch...anyway!

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There are still many evenings left to enjoy whatever your outdoor space is. Don't let dead plants spoil the mood.

Happy planting.

Need help sprucing up your space? Let's chat about it!