Dreams Ideas, Tips & Guides

Summertime means shopping time if you’ve got a kid heading to college in the fall. Whether they’re moving into the dorm or an off-campus apartment, a stylish, comfortable bedroom offers the home-away-from-home they crave.  Designing a space where students can study, sleep, and hang out with friends might be a tall order given the not-so-aesthetic design of traditional campus residence halls. But with some creativity and savvy shopping, it’s possible to help your student create the dorm room of their dreams without a price tag to rival the tuition bill.

Sterling, Scotland, known for its rich historical significance and stunning landscapes, is now home to a blossoming community of novice gardeners embarking on their horticultural journey with the help of GardenAdvice’s MyGardenTeam service. Among these enthusiastic beginners are clients who have recently developed a new vegetable plot and installed a greenhouse, aiming to cultivate a variety of vegetables and fruits. The Dream Begins: A New Vegetable Plot and Greenhouse

Collaborative post

happy_lark / Getty Images

So you’ve hit the jackpot at the thrift store and found the vintage sofa of your dreams at a deep discount. But then you spot something that could turn this scene into a nightmare—an ugly stain on the fabric that looks at least half as old as the furniture itself. With a bit of patience and the right cleaning technique, there’s an excellent chance you can remove the stain, revive the fabric, and enjoy your “new” furniture for years to come. Below, we're sharing six foolproof ways to remove stains from thrifted store finds.

Meet Addison Sapp, also known as DesignsByAdds: a biology major with a serious passion for dorm design, who transformed her Wofford College dorm room into an adorable space inspired by her South Carolina surroundings and the French Riviera, drenched in bright blue hues.

Radu Bighian / Getty Images

Hi GPODers! Imagine never having to pack up and leave the lake house after summer vacation is over. Today we’re in the garden of Peter and Geri Riendeau, who made that dream a reality. However, after finally settling into their retirement dream home they built on a beautiful lake in southern Maine, they were still hard at work. They spent nearly a decade creating the dream garden to match this slice of paradise.

With Elon Musk’s SpaceX scheduled—though certainly not confirmed—to fly to Mars sometime within the next decade, our thoughts naturally turn to agriculture on the red planet.

Better Homes & Gardens

From built-in wet bars to bar carts, the idea of an at-home bar has taken many forms over the years, with members of each generation putting their own spin on an entertaining-friendly, at-home bar setup. Enter the Gen Z version: the bookcase bar.

Collaborative post

Marty Baldwin

Summer snuck up on us, and you're currently wondering why somehow, all of your landscaping is brown or struggling, you're not alone.

Studio McGee

Does location still matter most? Should you remodel your home to suit your tastes, or for resale value? Are starter homes still a thing? We all have plenty of questions about the ever-changing world of real estate. In our Ask an Agentseries, we’re partnering with experts at Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate to answer your biggest questions about finding, buying, and selling a home.

Collaborative post

Collaborative post

James Carriere

Marty Baldwin

Paul Costello

Happy Friday, GPODers!

As the spring and summer sun arrives, it’s easy to dream of the fun you’ll have in your yard, from the barbecues and the cookouts to the cozy cocktail parties on the patio. But where there’s warmth, one very unpleasant and uninvited guest often swarms: mosquitos. 

You must be careful when you enter the backyard of garden designer Jeff Epping. No because you’re likely to trip on something but because you might be dive-bombed by a pair of nesting hummingbirds, or a bevy of butterflies, or any number of other pollinators that make this shady Midwestern garden their home. Jeff Epping is the principal designer at Epping Design & Consulting and the former director of horticulture at Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin. Given this background, it’s no surprise that his home landscape is something special. He writes about this beautiful space in his article, Design an Engaging, Naturalistic Garden in the Shade.

Starting a new garden from scratch can be daunting, but it’s also a fantastic opportunity to create exactly what you want. The vision I had for my new garden (two decades ago) was based on the many small English gardens that I was lucky enough to visit—not the gardens with impeccably maintained lawns and neatly clipped hedges, but those that had plants spilling out of every nook and cranny. Since its inception, the landscape has been slowly undergoing a transformation over the past decade, from a traditional shade garden to a more naturalistic one that embraces an ecology-first mindset. This evolution, however, hasn’t sacrificed the original intention of my dream garden—that it be a visually appealing space with plenty of activity.

Not everyone has the fortune of living in their ultimate dream home the first time around, and even if they do, their tastes and needs may change over time. So, it’s more likely that homeowners will find elements and spaces in and around the house that they feel can be improved and updated.

Ever dreamed of having a beautiful honeysuckle vine climbing up a trellis? Well, dream no more! Our guide is packed with Honeysuckle Trellis Ideas that you can use to grow your Honeysuckles.

Prime

Aldi

Not every home gets its share of sunlight. If you are someone who dreams of having indoor plants in dimly lit rooms – you’re in for a treat!

My name is El, and I have always been surrounded by plants. My original interest in succulents and the fun in propagating them led me to creating my dream indoor garden. Over the years, I began to collect more plant varieties, and I currently have over 250 plants growing year-round indoors. My collection consists of a wide variety of houseplants and succulents. Plants bring me so much joy and excitement, especially when I wake up in the morning and find new growth or a flower beginning to form.

Wayfair

The Home Depot

Collaborative post

Dream Pictures / Getty Images

Ah, the bathroom. This lowly, often overlooked spot in our homes is actually one of the hardest working rooms. If your bathroom has seen better days—we’re talking chipping tiles, constantly-running toilets, vanities with loose, grimy knobs—then we see a bathroom renovation in your future.