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Photo : Rawpixel.com ( Shutterstock ) Getting everyone together for holiday parties is a comforting practice as the weather gets chilly: Sharing meals and company can be the best part of the holiday rush, but finding a place for everyone to sit can be a challenge. Whether you’re fitting people around a table, or adding seats for evening cocktails, there are some simple solutions . 02:15 How to Steam an Egg Wednesday 11:19AM Before you run out to buy anything new, take a look around at what you already have. You might have an office chair you hardly ever use or a pair of stools pulled up to the counter that can be repurposed. You can use chair covers to dress up existing seats without adding too much clutter. If you get really creative, you can even use outdoor seating a cover . A picnic bench with a stretchy cover will add extra seating and no one will be the wiser. Add some stylish collapsible seating One staple for quick extra seating is the folding chair. These can be st...

Photo : Bozhena Melnyk ( Shutterstock ) Most houseplants need to be potted in a container with some type of drainage. If water doesn’t have a way of exiting the pot, it will settle at the bottom, causing the roots to rot, and eventually killing the plant. But what if you’re looking for something that’s so easy to care for that drainage isn’t an issue? In that case, you’re in luck, because there are some indoor plants that don’t require pots with drainage. Here are a few examples. Chinese evergreen (Aglaonema Maria) This houseplant grows best is moist soil, so a lack of drainage isn’t an issue. Of course, the idea isn’t for the soil of a Chinese evergreen to be soggy or waterlogged, but rather, to ensure that it doesn’t dry out: Something that may be easier to control in a pot without holes on the bottom. One potential downside is that Chinese evergreen is toxic to dogs and cats , so pet owners may want to consider getting a different plant. Spider plant (Chlorophytum comosum) Spi...

Photo : santypan ( Shutterstock ) Caring for houseplants might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Repotting is a simple step you can take to keep your indoor plants healthy by reinvigorating the soil and boosting available nutrients. You can also repot to transition a plant into a larger pot if it’s showing signs that it’s overgrown the one it’s in. Follow these steps to repot with confidence and tend to your indoor plants like a pro. To start , you’ll need some newspaper or waxed paper, indoor potting mix , scissors , your plants, new pots where necessary, gloves, and a spade for scooping soil. How to tell when it’s time to repot your plant It’s time to repot your plants if it’s been more than a year since it’s last been repotted, if the soil looks crusty or has mineral or salt buildup, or if the roots are growing through the drainage holes in the bottom of the container, indicating that your plant needs more room to grow. You don’t need to transition to a larger contain...

Photo : Savchenko Ruslan0212 ( Shutterstock ) The wallpaper on the market today is very different than what you would have found in stores a few decades ago. While there have been a range of improvements over the years, the one that stands out the most is that modern wallpaper is significantly easier to remove than its predecessors. And we’re not just talking about the peel-and-stick variety: More traditional types of wallpaper have been designed so that the task of taking them down isn’t one people tend to avoid at all costs. But what if you need to get rid of older wallpaper—the kind that gave wallpaper removal a bad name to begin with? Sure, you can hire a professional to do it, or rent dedicated wallpaper-removal equipment, but not everyone has the budget for that. In that case, here’s the easiest way to remove old wallpaper. How to remove old wallpaper To be clear: Removing old wallpaper is going to take time and effort no matter how you do it, but some methods (like this ...

Photo : New Africa ( Shutterstock ) Houseplants can add some some color and life to an otherwise dull space. But even if you’re making sure that they get plenty of water and sunlight, you may notice that from time-to-time, some of your plants may start to look a little lopsided. If that’s the case, you probably need to start rotating your house plants . Here’s how to do it. Why you should rotate your houseplants Unlike some of their outdoor counterparts, only one side of a houseplant is directly facing the sun as it comes through the window. In order to correct this, plants naturally start growing towards the sunlight—even if they managed to sprout in the shade. This is a process called “phototropism,” and here’s how it works, per Liz Baessler of Gardening Know How : “Every plant contains cells called auxins, and their growth rate determines the shape of the plant. Auxins on the side of the plant that receives full sun grow shorter and sturdier, while auxins that are on the shadie...

Photo : New Africa ( Shutterstock ) Using houseplants to add a bit of greenery to your bathroom isn’t anything new. B ut more recently, there’s a trend that takes it one step further: Growing plants directly inside the shower. But it’s about more than making your shower into a spa-like sanctuary. Certain plants don’t just survive in the shower—they thrive in there, thanks to humidity levels higher than the rest of your home. Here are a few examples of plants that would be very happy residing in your shower. The best plants to grow in the shower In addition to the humidity, don’t forget to take the amount of natural light in your shower into consideration. Even with the humidity, if a plant needs a lot of direct sunlight, and your shower isn’t near a window, your foliage won’t flourish. Depending on the layout of your bathroom and shower, there are usually multiple places to keep plants, including on a windowsill, hanging from the shower head, or in a small container attached to ...