Do you ever get excited to do laundry?  Hmm.  For some reason, I’m having trouble hearing your kazoos and drum rolls.  Come on, people.  It’s LAUNDRY!  yeah!

Okay.  I confess I have only been excited about laundry once – the day I didn’t have to go to a laundromat because we finally saved up to get our own washer.  I really didn’t think I could get excited about dirty laundry ever again.  Seriously – laundry?  Yawn.  Gag.  Ehh.  And now… well now I might pull out a few kazoos for all of us.

Hilde filled me in on the greatness that is soap nuts.  Have you heard of them?  They’re often mentioned in the comments here on Making This Home, especially when I start talking about eco-savvy cleaning tricks (like chemical-free dusting, cleaning with vinegar, and all-around eco-cleaning tips).  I just didn’t know if I should take the plunge and try soapnuts.  I mean – cleaning my clothes with a pile of nut shells?  That really is nuts.

Or so I thought.

So here’s Hilde from right here in Germany, ready to give us the nitty gritty of all that is great about soap nuts because I imagine many of you are probably wondering about the little things as much as me.  She’s been using them for the last ten years!  So take it away, Hilde.  Tell us what you know:

I am a housewife in my mid-fifties  living in a village near Koblenz [in Germany] with my husband and sometimes one of my two grown-up sons. Since about twenty years, I have tried to live as eco-friendly as possible, which often means simply going back to the way we lived when I was a child (no car, cooking from scratch, having fewer clothes etc.).

Ten years ago, I started volunteering in a Fair Trade shop. Of course I had to be able to tell the customers about the things we sold, which was no problem with things like chocolate. But when we gor the soap nuts, my inner German housewife revolted. No way would I put some sticky brown lumps into my washing machine! But as I was the youngest of the volunteering ladies, I was chosen to try those lumps – and I never bought washing powder again.

Instead of a heavy container with a list of unpronounceable ingredients and some warning hints you get a drawstring bag made of unbleached cotton, containing three or four small cotton bags, a piece of paper and the soap nuts, or more accurately the empty shells. The piece of paper tells you what to do:

1. put between 3 and 5 half shells in one of the small bags
2. tie the bag tightly shut with the strings
3. put it into your washing mashine and wash as usual.
4. when the washing cycle is finished, take the nutshells out of the bag and put in in the compost

I have a front loader and usually chose the short cycle with 30 or 40°C (86 or 104°F), but I also have used the soap nuts at higher temperatures. The laundry was always clean, and very soft without using a fabric softener. If I have a load of whites only, I sometimes add a tablespoon of baking soda, but it isn´t really necessary. And since the laundry is without any fragrance, I sometimes add two drops of lavender oil directly on the bag for just the faintest hint of lavender.

And the costs? The price tag for my 1 kg bag says 12, 50 €.  One nut weighs about 1 g, which gives you about 300 loads from one bag of soap nuts, or one load for 4-5€ cents. And when the nuts are all used up, you get a reusable cotton bag!

Like I said.  Who knew laundry could be fun again?  I’m pretty sure you can find soap nuts at health food and organic grocery stores if you want to give ‘em a try.  Or have you tried them?  Loved ‘em?  Never heard of them?  Either way – I’d love to know your thoughts because as Hilde and I discussed between emails, really – who knew laundry could get so interesting?

Thank you a million times, Hilde.  And if you have any thoughts on laundry, now’s the time.  Please dish the dirt.  Air that dirty laundry.  We’d love to hear.

(Images both courtesy of Flickr)

Are you ready for March?  It’s certainly hit Europe with a big gust.  I was quite certain I was going to be blown right into German class this morning like a little tumbleweed back in the United States.  Winds have been gusting up to 90 miles an hour (145 km) in some areas south of Berlin.

I am excited for where March will take us.  The snow is disappearing.  Men in blue suits are scooping gravel off the sidewalks by the shovel-full.  Sweepers are going up and down the streets, collecting all the crumbs the snow has been hiding all winter.

And we’re spending the night with boardgames – the perfect way to start a new month and prepare for changes and new seasons.

I am thinking less stuff, fewer commitments that lack heart, and more passion.

Where do you hope March takes you?  Where are you marching on to this month?  The thought of spring is so uplifting.  A cleaned out garage?  Fewer piles of paperwork?  A special birthday cake?  Piles of board games on the kitchen table? What are your ambitions this month?  I love how inspiring the comments on this blog often are.  Thank you for sharing your inspirations and in turn, inspiring so many of us.  So really – what is it?  Where are you marching off to?

Images of Settlers of Catan – the German version.  Guys dig this game (even when a girl *me* somehow manages to beat them Every Single Time.)

A recent discovery of this old photo got me wondering (that’s my aunt cutting my hair over 20 years ago while my grandma sat by):

where does your family go for haircuts?  Are you an at-home kind of family?  Or do you make an appointment at your favorite salon or walk in to your local “chop shop”?  Sometimes, the way we decorate and organize our homes defines simplicity.  But when you get right down to it, the habits we create (or get brave and attempt for the first time!) really define simplicity far more.  They’re the way we live.

Our take on at-home haircuts is pretty obvious…

Well at least half-way.  I usually cut Martin’s hair in the bathroom or outside, depending on the season and where we’re living.  Gotta love keeping a few bucks in our wallet!  I go to locally owned little places for my own cuts these days (well minus a few self-chopping sessions I wouldn’t recommend).  In Berlin, they run around 9 euros ($12) plus tip.  Can’t beat that!

Where do you guys stand?  Do the thought of home haircuts leave your hair standing on end?  Let’s cut to the chase (and be done with my corny hair jokes!).  Let us know how you do the do.

Someone pinch me because I can’t believe our luck.  Janna and her husband purchased a 600 square foot (55.7 sq meter) one bedroom home in Portland, Oregon 3 1/2 years ago, and today Janna is sharing some of her wisdom in living small and creating a home that works for your family.  Yes – family!   Their home – built in 1925 – was in sad shape when they moved in.  But as you can see below, a lot of love (and a whole lot of hard work) has helped this couple create a home worthy of a standing ovation.

Here’s what Janna has to say:

We bought this house because it was all we could afford and it was actually IN the city, so we could walk or ride our bikes everywhere and we wanted a house with character. When I got pregnant, we were just going to use the dining room as the nursery, but halfway through the pregnancy, we found out we were having twins! So, my husband immediately started remodeling the basement (which we’d been using for storage and laundry – it was just concrete walls, concrete floor, very primitive). He finished when our twin boys were a little over a year old and so now we have a 1200 square foot house, which isn’t really that big, but feels like a mansion to us since we were used to living in half that.

There are two main ways we’ve found to live a clutter free life in our small house (1200 square feet, 2 adults, 2 babies and a dog).

1. Just don’t acquire very much stuff. This was easy when it was just the two of us, but when I was pregnant with the twins, we had to really make a conscious decision not to go overboard. There are so many products for babies out there and the baby industry really markets to parents’ fears that their child won’t be safe or won’t be smart without every last thing. We just decided that wasn’t going to be our way and we were very careful about what we brought into our home.

We borrowed much of our gear, so that once our babies were through with it, we could give it back right away (for example, they only used their bouncy chairs for the first six months). Also, we swap books and toys with two other families so they get new stuff every few weeks, but we are also getting rid of stuff at the same time.

And of course, we realized very quickly that even with twins, you simply don’t need all the junk that they sell for babies. In our bathroom, we have a plain container that holds two plastic cups, a few bath toys and their soap and washcloths. We store this container under the tub and use it as a faucet guard when our babies are in the bath, instead of purchasing a brightly colored baby shower caddy and hippopotamus faucet guard.

One other thing we did was let people know when they asked what we needed that we had a 600 square foot house (which it was at the time we had the babies; we hadn’t finished remodeling the basement when we brought them home from the hospital) and so we just didn’t have room for a lot. This cut down on the overboard of extra baby clothes, decorations, toys and trinkets.

2. Put it away right after you finish with it. Again, this was much easier before we had babies, but even now, I try to pick up toys and books and put everything back where it goes (they have a tendency to move furniture around right now) before we leave the house or they go to bed at night. It helps that everything has a place, so after I pay bills, I can immediately file them and we don’t have a stack of papers laying around or when I’m finished with reading a library book, I put it in the library book bag hanging on the coat tree. This also helps, because there are fewer opportunities for the babies to get into things (and cut their own hair or eat something they shouldn’t or break something) if we keep the house picked up.

Here’s my office nook. It’s just a little bump out in the already tiny living room, but I love it. It fits my second hand desk and garage sale typewriter perfectly. We put a mirror on the back wall to make it bright and appear bigger. It’s the perfect place to sit and drink coffee, read blogs, pay bills, etc…

What we love about living in a small house:

1. We can afford it (not just the mortgage, but also the heating bill and taxes).

2. It’s easy to clean

3. It’s more efficient and we are wasting less.

4. We love our neighborhood. Everything is walking distance (post office, bank, grocery store, movie theater, thrift stores, parks, church, restaurants). And anything else we need is biking distance (my husband’s work, the store where we buy diapers, downtown).

Three cheers to Janna and her family!  Are you as impressed as I am by her philosophy – especially on baby products?  What are your favorite parts of these corners of her home?  Love that desk?  How about that wonderful tub and old tile?  Talk about victory in using what you have to work with, huh?

Thanks for sharing with us, Janna!

And don’t forget – if you have a small space or simple corner in your home, toss around the idea of sharing it with us.  We’d love a looky-loo.

I met up with a couple of friends from German class today, and as I was sitting in the subway station (aka U-Bahn Station), I pulled out my camera.

Some subway stations are not the most luxurious places to pass time, but they are always interesting.  The people are always interesting.  The lighting is orangish against the green walls, making interesting colors.  And the smells?  Well those are interesting, too!

This subway station – Smariterstrase – is directly below Frankfurter Alle.  The street was the communist regime’s hight and glory of architecture in Berlin.  The most influential communists of Berlin lived along this street.

However I’m not sure if they took the subway.

Do you remember the first subway you ever took?  Where were you?  Where were you going?  I think my first trip alone was in America’s capital city.  So much like Berlin, yet so very, very different – especially compared to this subway stop.  Where has the subway taken you?

Interested in a few above-ground shots of Berlin – including professional crepe makers?  Take an armchair bike tour over at the Berlin Tour page.  Don’t worry – we do all of the peddling for you!

Small spaces certainly offer their own unique design dilemmas.  Not only do you have to fit your whole world into tiny rooms, but you also have to make it functional and as uncrowded as possible.  That’s no easy task!

I’ve rounded up some (frequently requested!) tips on how we are making our small home work and you can make your little space into your perfect and functional escape, too.  Enjoy!

1.  Everything should serve multiple purposes.  Our couch is a guest bed.  Our desk chairs are actually dining table chairs, so when we have guests, we can pull all of the chairs around the table for a seamless look.  When your home is small, you want to fill it with things that function in all of your everyday – and not so everyday – situations.

2.  Paint an accent wall. All but one of our walls are pale yellow, a color that really brightens our house during the dark, long days of Germany’s winters.  The wall behind our couch is a soft mocha brown.  The contrast adds depth and makes the room feel larger.  You become less aware of just how close the walls are when you add an accent wall.  The warm colors make the space feel comfortable.  Cooler colors would make the room feel distant.

3.  Pick glossier paint. Paint with a little shine makes the room glow instead of feeling dull.  Glossier paint is also easier to clean than a matt or dull color.  (Germany has two choices: gloss or no gloss.  The US typically has three: matt, eggshell, or gloss.  Pick eggshell for walls.)

4.  Go vertical. When you can’t spread out, reach up.  We can fit a lot in our little kitchen because our cabinets reach all the way to the ceiling.  Your eyes will be drawn up to the extended vertical space, which makes the space feel larger.

5.  Don’t be afraid of large art. We have two big el-cheapo paintings in our living room.  Both pictures are large views of a cityscape, so it feels like we’re looking out at a large, spacious area.  The blue of water and sky add to the sense of dimension in the space.

6.  Own an expandable dining table.  Our table is pressed against the wall, but it expands.  We can comfortably fit four people at our dining table the way it is.  When we need to, we can pull it away from the wall and add extensions to fit a lot of people.  To date, we’ve comfortably fit 10 around the Thanksgiving table.  (Though it did take our entire living room, and Martin sat on our step stool!)

7.  Don’t design for guests. Have chairs that suit your needs.  Don’t buy more.  When guests come, it’s okay to pull out a dining table chair because the truth is that you’ll spend more time at your house without guests than with them, and it’s nice to feel comfortable and uncrowded by furniture.

8.  Go digital as much as possible. We don’t have DVDs; we don’t need a DVD player.  It’s like this in so many areas of our life (here’s a whole list of how you can go digital).  As a result – less clutter!

9.  Buy because you like and want something, not because picture perfect homes have it. Love your home for what it is.  Don’t feel like you have to break your budget or cram just one more thing into your home to make it prettier.  Sometimes, having less is classier than anything else.  Create a home that you will love, not what others will.

So what do you think?  Any ideas pop to your head that I forgot to mention?  How are you cracking the case on living small?  Or do you secretly dream of finding your dream small (or big!) space?  Whatever it is, do share.  There’s nothing like a little small space sharing from the comfort of our own chairs in our own small spaces, you know..

And in case you’re looking for some serious small-space inspiration, check out this closet-turned-bright pink craft studio.  Or how about living in a little tipi?  I think this modern shepherd’s hut is entirely drool-worthy.