Product Review: LunchSkins and the Fuel Everest Sandwich Box

I'm a big fan of brown bagging breakfast and lunch for my day ahead at the office. But I started to notice just how many plastic baggies I was using to pack sandwiches and other goodies. Sometimes I'd try to save the cleanish baggies and reuse them but, let's face it, most of them got thrown away at the end of the day. So in an effort to do a little more reusing and a little less wasting, I started doing research on plastic baggy alternatives. I wanted to find something that was easy to clean and BPA/phthalate free. After some internet cruising, the options that seemed most appealing were LunchSkins reusable sandwich bags and the Trudeau Fuel Everest Sandwich Box. I decided to order both to see which one I liked best.

I chose one LunchSkin sandwich bag ($8.95) and two LunchSkin snack bags ($7.85). The smaller bag is the snack bag:

They seal with velcro and it's really easy to slide sandwiches into them (but you can also use them for other things, like leftover chopped veggies from dinner). They're also dishwasher friendly, which is great, but I've noticed that I've sometimes had to wipe them down after a wash 'cause not all the nooks and crannies got rinsed. I think perhaps putting them in the dishwasher inside out might help with that. 

I also ordered one Trudeau Fuel Everest Sandwich box (does this seem like an unnecessarily long name to anyone else?). I found varying prices for these on Amazon/Ebay but the average was about $8.50. Don't have a real-life photo of this one 'cause I think it's with Roberto at work:

The plastic construction makes it very easy to clean and it snaps close with one click. I've been pretty impressed with it and think I'll order at least one more in the future.

Overall, I've been happy with both products. At first they seemed a bit pricey, but if I think about how many boxes of plastic baggies we'd buy each year, we eventually come out ahead at the end of the day. And, hey, we're not putting as much plastic out there in the environment. I think it's a win win for sandwiches and mother nature.

New Lonny!

For those of us who loved the now-defunct Domino magazine, we can find a lot of the same style sensibility and delicious design photos in Lonny (which was actually conceived in response to the folding of the old Domino). The May 2012 edition of the online magazine is here! I thought I'd share some of its eye candy.

*All images are from the May 2012 edition of Lonny magazine:lonnymag.com

New Knobs (It's the Little Things)

I'm so excited about the newest hardware addition to our house. Two of these babies from Anthropologie:

We installed them on the folding closet doors in the master bedroom, which we had put in about two months ago (they were sliding doors before). They feel really sturdy (much better than the little wood knobs that came with the doors) and add something jazzy to an otherwise white surface.

Here's a little further out.

And further still!

The (Very) Slow Evolution of a Rock Garden

You may remember from this post way back in October and this post back in January that we've been working on a rock garden against the back wall of the house. Well, "work" is kind of an overstatement. We've been dragging our feet on it (um, I'm not really sure why) but with growing season upon us, we thought we'd better get things going a little before the bed gets taken over by weeds again.

Robert put down some weed barrier back in January but somehow little green buggers always find a way to pop up around the corners and seams. We thought a double layer of barrier and rocks would gives us a little more defense. So today we finally bought some rocks to fill in the bed. We got as many bags as my little Corolla could handle and were able to fill in about half the space:

We'll definitely need another trip to Lowe's to get more rock, but the exposed weed barrier should keep things at bay for another week or two.

Eventually I'd like the space to look a little something like this:

Once we get that first layer of small rocks down, I can start the hunt for some bouldery-type rocks and some good plants...

Making Your Own Household Cleaners

In an effort to be a little more green and a little less toxie, I've been experimenting with making my own cleaning products over the last couple of years. I started out making my own glass cleaner and just slowly added products as I found more recipes and ideas. They really aren't hard to make and can definitely save you some dollars. And the ingredients that go into them (for the most part) are common grocery store and household items: water, white distilled vinegar, baking soda, and liquid castile soap*.

Here are my favorite DIY concoctions :

glass cleaner (for windows, mirrors, shower doors)

• equal parts water and vinegar in a spray bottle
• spray and rub it down with newspaper 

all-purpose surface spray

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar
• 1 teaspoon castile soap
• 20 drops lavender essential oil 
• (put it all in a 32 oz. spray bottle)

For years we've been using the Method surface spray, which we've really like. It smells great is just generally a good product. But I've been experimenting with this recipe (which I found here on Young House Love) to try to match the feel and smell of a store-bought cleaner. Until recently, I hadn't been adding the essential oil 'cause I just didn't have it around the house. A trip to Whole Foods revealed just how expensive this sh*t is. Am I the only one who didn't know about this? A small 15mL bottle is like eight bucks. I bit the bullet and bought it—I figured I can get a few batches of spray out of it. And the lavender definitely adds a little something something to the mix.

soft scrub (for bathtubs, sinks, and fixtures)

•  roughly equal parts baking soda and castile soap 

The first thing I do with this is gauge the amount of surface area I'm trying to clean. Then I pour out some baking soda in a little mound right into the sink/tub/etc. I add about an equal amount of castile soap...

...and then just mix them together with my hand until the it has a pasty consistency.

I rub it over the surface I'm cleaning and then scrub it with a wet rag. Then just rinse off the remaining goop. It really does make your porcelain all nice and shiny.

There are tons of recipes you can find out there for natural household cleaners. These are just some easy ones that have worked for me (I've gotten a lot of my ideas from that post I mentioned above on YHL and from this book a friend gave to me). 

* You may have to trek it to Whole Foods to get liquid castile soap.

Dining Room Evolution

Now that the mirror project is finally done and I've added a few other touches, I thought I'd give a little "360 degree" tour of our pretty-much-finished dining room. First, here's how the room looked about four months after we moved in (in June 2009):

 And here's what it looks like today:

The most dramatic change was opening up the kitchen into the dining room (which entailed removing the built-in bookcase on the right and the shelf that ran across the bookcases). We also repainted the entire dining room/living room area (way back in June when we were smack in the middle of the kitchen overhaul). It went from that kind of salmon color to a nice gray, which definitely goes better with the espresso table and the medium brown kitchen cabinets. We actually replaced the door going out to the backyard during the summer of 2010—it was the only big project we did that year while we were saving up for the kitchen. Painting the back of the bookcase and adding a pendant light over the table were easy changes that made a big difference.

Here's another view of the room from the kitchen:

And remember that bookcase we removed? It found a new home on the other side of the room:

I knew we'd have to remove it to get the look we wanted for the kitchen, but I just couldn't bear to throw it out or discard it. The bookcases are original to the house and one of the things we loved when we first saw the place. Thankfully the contractor who took out our wall was able to cut off the bookcase in one piece and move it. Then he added crown molding around the top to make it look cohesive with the space. It was great to salvage the bookcase and keep some much needed storage and display space. It's where all of our board games, candles, and photo albums live:

And although it's not dining-room related, I have to say that hanging up this little coat rack by the carport entrance has kind of changed my life.

Instead of plopping down my bag and keys wherever, they go right on a hook. If you're thinking about getting one, go for it.

Here's a larger view of the entire area so you can kind of see the lay of the land:

So I would say this turkey (a.k.a dining room) is pretty much done in my book. I'm comin' for you next, living room:

Living Room Mood Board

Our living room is one of the last rooms in the house to get a little redesign treatment. We've acquired a new (well, hand-me-down but new to us) sofa and armchair since moving into the house, but that's about it. I'd love to bring in a sectional, an area rug, and some other accessories to finish out the room. Maybe something like this:

We're also thinking that we'd get rid of our super long Ikea coffee table (that I bought right after I graduated college) and replace it with an ottoman that has storage capabilities. You can see the extra long table in action here:

We also have these great mid-century side tables (handed down by a family friend) on either side of the sofa set that I would love to keep in the room (if they'll fit on either side of the sectional we end up getting).

The sectional will be the thing that sets for tone for the room, so we'll probably get that before we make any other purchases for the space. 

Source list for the mood board: 

Sectional: Macy's

Floral throw pillow: World Market

Lattice throw pillow: Etsy

Rug: Overstock (Thom Filicia)

Lamp: Overstock

Ottoman: Overstock