Ask Anna

How to Organize Power Cords

Question “The challenge I have with power cords is how to keep them looking neat when you plug them into a wall outlet. I hate the sight of cords running from my desk to the wall plus I am always in danger of tripping over them.” Answer This is a great question because I think we all have this problem. Wouldn’t it be nice if everything were wireless? I’m sure someday soon we will be there but for now we’ve got to deal with those pesky power cords! Until everything has gone wireless, I have a few very creative ways… Read More

How to Update a Brick Fireplace

A friend of mine recently bought a house and was desperate to cover up the eye sore of a fireplace in the corner of her living room. Luckily she’s an artist and was able to come up with a really creative way for how to update a brick fireplace, without having to paint it. Personally I’m not a fan of painted brick but I loved her solution: concrete stain. This is super easy DIY project to update a brick fireplace, and it only takes about an hour to do two coats AND complete the whole project. How to update… Read More

DIY Coffee Table {Pinterest Inspired}

This is what my husband came home to last Friday night. My poor hubby, I’m always working on something. I had been on Pinterest and found this beautiful coffee table that I thought would look great in my living room. Don’t you think so? I think it’s an absolute beauty! Then I though, “well it would probably cost me a small fortune to buy it so I’ll just make one!” Seemed simple enough. But since I don’t really know how to build coffee tables I headed over to Ana White’s blog and found a… Read More

Pumpkin Decorating Without Carving

Fall is finally here, where I live, which means it’s time to start pulling out the fall decorations! I’ve been so inspired this year by all of the pumpkins I’ve seen online (mostly Pinterest) that I decided to get creative with my pumpkin décor. I made four different styles of pumpkins that I want to share with you, they are all very easy and cost hardly anything to make! 1. Here is what you will need to create this elegant, lacey pumpkin: small to medium size pumpkin (real or fake), white paint, paintbrush, decorative nylon/stocking, and a glue gun. First… Read More

The BEST Homemade Lemonade

A couple weeks ago some friends of ours had us over for dinner. I knew that they were going to be BBQing so I kept that in mind while trying to figure out what to take for a hostess gift. I thought it would be a great idea to put together a gift for fresh homemade lemonade, including all the ingredients and a fun pitcher for the hostess! Here’s what you need: A bag of Lemons A pitcher Wooden spoon Beautiful sunflowers, I bought mine from Trader Joe’s The BEST homemade lemonade recipe (below) All I did was place the… Read More

1 year Anniversary of “The Flood”

Today marks the one year anniversary, of what I refer to as, “The Flood”. September 29, 2010, exactly 4 months after we had moved into our current home, I came home to a flood that would forever change the way our home looked. Malea and I had only been gone for about 1 hour and when we came home our entire kitchen, laundry room, master bathroom and master bedroom were flooded. As soon as I walked in the door and heard water gushing I knew something was wrong. Because our house is an older home {built in 1965} the hot… Read More

Organizing Kids Clothes

I had so much fun making these tags for my daughter’s closet and I love how they just add a little unexpected bling, we all love a little bling right? :)Here is how I organize my daughter’s clothes for the upcoming seasons & sizes. As you all know kids have a lot of clothes and they grow in and out of them so quickly! I am seriously so jealous of my daughter’s wardrobe, I wish that every season I could get a whole new set of cute clothes, don’t you? When my daughter was younger I used to get… Read More

How to Clean the Kitchen Sink

Source Question: I always hear about how your kitchen sink is dirtier than the kitchen floor, your dog’s mouth, the toilet, and all kinds of gross places. I don’t have a dishwasher, so I was wondering what the best way to disinfect my stainless steel sink is so when I move my dishes from the soapy water to the empty “rinse” side of the sink, they’re not just picking up a million germs? I hate to clean it with bleach or cleaner because I don’t really want that on my dishes and silverware! Answer: It’s funny you asked… Read More