Author: By Marni Jameson
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At Home: Want the next generation to embrace old furniture? Try paint
At every talk I give on downsizing, the subject of handing furniture off to grown kids comes up. And every time I deliver the bad news: The kids don’t want your stuff. Invariably, parents moan and adult children cheer. “Don’t believe me?” I ask. “Just walk through any secondhand furniture store or visit Facebook Marketplace.…
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At Home: Best-selling novelist’s homes are the stuff of fiction
Walking into Breeze Inn or Ebbtide, two vacation rental cottages on Georgia’s Tybee Island, is like stepping into one of Mary Kay Andrews’ popular beach reads. And that is exactly what the New York Times bestselling author of 32 books intends. Literally the stuff of fiction, Breeze Inn is named after a hotel in her…
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At Home: Expert offers tips for how to choose a faucet
Every home has one. Many have several. You touch it every day. It promotes hygiene and hydration. Yet how many know what goes into making and, more important, choosing a bathroom faucet? Curious, I decided to get a better handle on these hardworking household fixtures and called Noah Taft, co-owner of California Faucets, the company…
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At Home: Where do you live and why? Is this the year for change?
A new year brings a clean slate, a fresh start and a sobering perspective: The gluttony has ended. The blooms are off the poinsettias. The holiday lights suddenly look stupid. And the number on the scale is real. What better time to take a wide-eyed inventory of, well, everything in our lives — our finances,…
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10 hostess hacks to make your food look better than it is
I’m not a cook. I do, however, love to entertain. Because having guests to my home typically involves feeding them, I try to compensate for my lack of culinary skills with stylish presentation. With a few hostess hacks, I can elevate the most humdrum potato salad from the grocery store deli, chicken wings from the…
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At Home: How does your herb garden grow? By making friends.
If your homegrown herbs are fizzling failures, the problem might their friend group. You think I’m joking. Turns out, and this was news to me, herbs are like people. Just as we have friends who bring out the best in us and foes who bring out the worst, just as we know people who make…
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At Home: 10 tips to iron like a pro
My mother knew how to iron. I should have paid more attention. I remember her standing over the ironing board, forming crisp fresh-smelling stacks of linens. I did not take further note because, back then, women’s lib was the rage, and I cottoned to the idea that ironing was a domestic detail I would have…
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At Home: Going from owner to renter takes some adjusting
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“Ugg,” came the text from my daughter, “I’m not used to having a landlord.” I could sense the steam coming through the phone, so I called. She unleashed a litany of frustrations: a towel bar falling off the wall, a ceiling fan not working, windows that won’t open, unsightly nail holes from the prior tenant.…
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At Home: 21 reasons to love being home
I owe my home an apology. I have been taking her for granted. Though she never fails to be there for me, I have not been there for her. Of the past 30 nights, I have spent only five at home. I have been traveling for vacation, for work, and to help an adult child…
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At Home: For whiter whites, try these tips from a stain pro
A Matterhorn-like mountain of household linens glided through the house as if moving under its own volition. The dogs watched warily. My husband stepped back yielding, giving the hulking mass the clearance it commanded. From deep inside the mound, a voice (mine) said, “I’m making our whites whiter.” At Home: Does your home say welcome?…