Three Interior Design Rules Everyone Should Know

While you may not be an interior designer yourself, there’s no reason why your home shouldn’t look like you are. Even if you live in a rental, there are a few simple things you can do that will completely transform the look of your home. Here are three interior design rules that everyone should know.

  1. Move slowly. It’s very tempting to buy furniture all at once when you move into a new space, but that’s actually one of the most common interior design mistakes. Be thoughtful about the things that you incorporate into your home to ensure that you like them a few months (or years) down the line. Even if this means living with a bare living room for a while, it’s almost always worth it.
  2. Avoid buying sets or furniture all in one place. If you purchase furniture in a set or buy an entire room’s decor from one store, it’s always very easy to tell. To avoid creating a monochromatic room that looks like a child’s bedroom, mix and match materials, colors, and textures from a few different sources.
  3. Don’t fight against the quirks. Many spaces, especially rentals, have built-in architectural details that you simply can’t change. Rather than trying to hide them or “fix” them, purchase furniture that works with your home’s little quirks. For example, add a window seat against a bay window to maximize the views rather than covering it with a large sofa.

6 Basic Interior Design Rules [Suite]
The 3 Principles of Interior Design [HGTV]
The 7 Rules of Interior Design [Zillow Blog]
5 Rookie Mistakes You’ll Never Make Again [Apartment Therapy]

Unique Museums in Houston, Texas: Don’t Miss ‘Em!

Houston is a modern American city, filled with forward thinkers and groundbreaking artists. Take advantage of the modern amenities with a visit to two of the most unique museums the city has to offer. One will have you shooting through space, while the other will have you cruising down the highway in a shoe-shaped car!

Space Center Houston
Blast off with an interactive tour at Space Center Houston, the official visitor center at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. This cutting-edge facility will have your imagination running at the speed of light by immersing you in the wonders of space technology. Hands-on exhibits put you right inside of a replica of the International Space Station, and you can even make reservations to have lunch with an actual astronaut, prepared by an award winning catering staff. After lunch, feast your eyes on a full-scale replica of an authentic space shuttle. This innovative museum is every kid's dream!

Art Car Museum
Houston's Art Car Museum, also known as the "Garage Mahal," is a unique art museum dedicated to car-related contemporary art. Here, you'll find sculptures that include a car shaped like a high heel, covered bumper to bumper in delicately placed seashells. There are no limits to the ways in which each car has been transformed into artistic masterpieces. Check the calendar for special events, or stop by during gallery hours for this modern display of art on wheels.

Clever Uses for Mayonnaise Outside the Kitchen

You might think that you need to cut out mayonnaise in order to maintain a healthier lifestyle. While that may be true when it comes to your diet, mayonnaise has a number of creative uses in other parts of you life. Here are some of the most helpful and creative ways to use mayonnaise.

  1. Fix cracks in wood furniture. It seems unlikely, but mayonnaise is a great tool to fix cracks in your older furniture. Smear it over the crack and let it sit for a few days, and the oils will cause the wood to swell and fill in the space where the crack used to be.
  2. Condition your hair. You can splurge on the priciest hair mask at the beauty supply store, but few things work better than regular old mayonnaise. Coat your hair in mayonnaise and let it sit for a few minutes under a shower cap before thoroughly rinsing.
  3. Remove crayon stains from walls. If energetic children mark up your walls with their crayons, let mayonnaise soak on the stains for a few minutes and they’ll wipe right off.
  4. Clean tar off of your car. Smear mayonnaise on any parts of your car that are covered in tar, sap, or other sticky substances. Let it sit for a few minutes and then wipe the area with a clean cloth.

20 Uses for Mayonnaise [All You]
11 Home and Beauty Uses for Mayonnaise [Reader's Digest]
9 Surprising Non-Cooking Uses for Mayonnaise [Every Day]
10 Unexpected Home Uses for Mayonnaise [Wise Bread]

3 Uncommon Uses for White Vinegar

If you want to make some steps toward a more natural, chemical-free household, a good place to start is with the cleaning products you use. Simple white vinegar makes a great replacement for many of your most frequently used cleaners and beauty products, and it’s completely natural. Check out these uncommon uses for white vinegar!

  1. Static Remover. To remove static cling from your clothing, add 1/2 cup of white vinegar to your washing machine along with your usual detergent. The acid in the vinegar will work against the static.
  2. Sweat Stain Remover. If your white t-shirts or gym socks are riddled with unpleasant sweat stains, don’t throw them away quite yet. Soak them overnight in a solution of one cup white vinegar and boiling water, and rinse them out the next morning to find your clothes clean and bright.
  3. Teeth Whitener. Brush your teeth once a week with white vinegar, and you’ll be left with pearly whites in just a few applications.

45 Uses for Vinegar [All You]
150+ Household Uses for Vinegar [Reader's Digest]
1001 Uses for White Distilled Vinegar [Vinegar Tips]

Love to Cook? Master These Must-Know Knife Techniques

If you love to cook, you know how important it is to use the proper cutting techniques in every recipe. Many people don't know the proper names of these techniques, however, which often leads to using the wrong one. Here are three important types of cutting that are essential for everything from entrees to desserts.

  1. Julienne. To julienne, you want to cut vegetables or other food items into stick-shaped pieces that are long and thin. Start by cutting the item into a square, then slice it into rectangular-shaped pieces lengthwise. Repeat the same step on each of the rectangles until you're left with pieces that resemble matchsticks.
  2. Chiffonade. This type of cut sounds fancy, but it actually just refers to cutting herbs or thin leaf vegetables. Roll the herbs up into a tight tube, then roughly chop across with a sharp knife. It doesn't matter how the cuts look, just that the pieces are small enough to sprinkle throughout a dish.
  3. Dice. Dicing is similar to chopping, but it creates entirely uniform pieces for dishes like stews or fruit salads. Begin with a rectangular shape and continue to cut it both directions until you're left with uniform pieces in the size that you desire.

Knife Skills: Different Types of Cuts [The Culinary Cook]
Top 10 Knife Skills [How Stuff Works]
Perfect Your Knife Skills With This Chef's Guide to Knives [Lifehacker]

Essential Beauty-Enhancing Products You Already Have at Home

The next time you want to try a new beauty product, you might want to start by browsing your kitchen cabinets instead of heading to the drugstore. Many common foods and oils can double as creams, scrubs, and skin treatments! Here are a few beneficial beauty products that you likely already own.

  1. Tea bags. Instead of investing in a pricey eye cream to get rid of those dark circles after a night out, use some tea bags instead. Soak two green tea bags in warm water and lay them on your eyelids. The caffeine will shrink the appearance of blood vessels, while the antioxidants reduce inflammation.
  2. Oatmeal. Make your own face treatment by using your favorite breakfast oats. Place a handful of whole oats inside of a washcloth and secure it closed with a rubber band. Soak the whole thing in a sink of warm water until the water turns cloudy, and then splash it onto your face. This will create a protective barrier on the skin that seals in moisture and provides anti-inflammatory properties.
  3. Oranges. Use oranges to get rid of pesky dry patches on the skin. Squeeze half of an orange into a bowl and mix in 1/4 cup of granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of olive oil. Rub the other half of the orange on dry knees or elbows to loosen the dead cells, and then rub on your homemade scrub to slough them away.

Have A Spa Day…At Home! 10 DIY Beauty Treatments! [Seventeen]
Our Favorite All-Natural Home Beauty Treatments [Fitness]
Crazy Beauty Tricks That Really Work [Whole Living]
6 All-Natural Beauty Fixes [Woman’s Day]

Public Domain/Public Domain

Two Helpful Apps for Expecting Parents

You keep up with your baby’s development with regular doctor visits throughout your pregnancy, but you want to stay informed in between visits, too. Innovative pregnancy apps help to provide a bit of extra peace of mind for expectant mothers, and they enable you to follow along with the incredible ways in which your baby is growing. Here are some of the best pregnancy apps for your mobile device.

Pregnancy & Baby
This app, developed by the creators of the popular "What to Expect When You’re Expecting" pregnancy brand, offers access to a wealth of parenting news and tips for keeping your baby healthy. A daily tracker shows a countdown to your due date and uses everyday objects to illustrate the size of your baby, and it also personalizes information based on your pregnancy progress.

My Pregnancy Today
View your baby’s growth and development in real time with the My Pregnancy Today app. Accurate, realistic illustrations detail what your baby looks like and help you to better understand your pregnancy, while an interactive checklist provides helpful tips for health and nutrition. There’s also a home screen widget that enables you to visualize your baby’s growth by comparing it to common objects, like a pumpkin or a poppy seed.

Having Everyone Over to Watch the Big Game? Check Out These Football-Themed Recipes!

The only thing better than seeing your team score the winning touchdown? An excuse to indulge in some utensil-free finger foods! These game-changing recipes promise to keep mouths happily snacking during the big football game—when they're not busy yelling at the TV, that is!

Cheesy Pull-Apart Bread [browneyedbaker.com]
Requiring only a loaf of bread, some cheese, garlic, and scallions, this quick and easy recipe is good in a pinch. Simply cut a grid pattern into a loaf of bread, drizzle a garlic-oil mixture over top, then pop it into the oven. After the bread has toasted, remove it from the oven, tuck cheese into all of the crevices, then continue to bake until it's golden-brown. Your guests will get a kick out of pulling the gooey, cheesy bread bites away from the loaf.

Homemade Pretzel Dogs [thefoodcharlatan.com]
This recipe creates the quitessential party snack: pigs in a blanket. These pigs, however, are tucked into made-from-scratch soft pretzel dough for a salty, savory snack your guests will love. Serve them with a bowl of yellow mustard for dipping.

Peanut Butter Football Dip [crazyforcrust.com]
For the football fanatic with a sweet tooth, this dessert dip doesn't disappoint. Cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla extract, and chocolate chips are combined to create a decadent dip, which is then molded into a football shape. Serve the dip with mini pretzels for a salty-sweet treat.

Sweet Recipes for Tres Leches Cake

If you haven’t heard of tres leches cake before, you’re in for a real treat. This traditional Latin American cake combines a simple sponge cake with evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and heavy cream to create a moist, delicious cake that’s unlike any other type of dessert. Here are two delicious ways to prepare a unique tres leches cake.

The Pioneer Woman’s Tres Leches Cake [The Pioneer Woman]
The Pioneer Woman’s Tres Leches Cake recipe involves a homemade sponge cake that’s already moist and delicious. She recommends drizzling the three milk mixtures all over the entire cake once it’s cool, and she even proposes the option of adding rum to give the cake an even more distinct flavor.

Tres Leches Cake [Allrecipes]
With three layers— cake itself, the filling, and the topping—this Tres Leches Cake uses a traditional recipe that makes it taste just as sweet and delicious as the original. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top to add a bit of extra spice to the rich, creamy flavor.

Train Your Brain With These 3 Apps

When trying to get healthy, there are countless smartphone apps to help keep us on track. These apps let you track your calories, workouts, and even give you healthy alternatives to junk food. While it's important to keep our bodies in shape, it's also important to keep our minds in shape. Check out these great apps to help keep your mind sharp.

Lumosity
Enhance your memory and attention to detail with Lumosity. This app designs a training program just for you to improve your brain function through games. You'll feel like you're just playing a game, when in reality you're exercising your mind.

Clockwork Brain
Improve your problem solving skills with the wonderful games designed by Clockwork Brain. Sprocket the Robot guides you through creative games with a steampunk design. Have fun while enhancing language, memory, logic, and more.

Math Vs. Brain
Keep your brain sharp by solving a few math problems a day. For every problem you solve, you earn a star. When you can't figure out a problem, just use a star to unlock the answer. You can keep playing and challenging your mind.

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