Home ideas

A bad smell kept returning in a first-floor condo bathroom even after the most obvious source seemed fixed. The shower drain had produced a strong sewer odor, but cleaning it only solved part of the problem. What remained followed a much more specific pattern. About 15 to 30 seconds after the toilet bowl emptied, the smell returned, then took five to 10 minutes to fade. Reddit user u/kaytay3000 had already checked the toilet water, vanity, and ceiling vents while trying to trace it. The bathroom had been gutted and remodeled in 2022, while the 1960s condo still had its cast iron pipes. Cleaning the Shower Drain Solved Only Part of the Problem The homeowner tried bleach, baking soda and vinegar, a bottle brush, and then a commercial drain cleaner on the shower drain. After the last treatment, she reported that the lingering drain smell was gone. The bathroom still had an odor, though, and now its timing stood out. “It only happens when the toilet flushes,” she wrote. Water in the...

A plain faux pumpkin does not need to stay intact to work as fall decor. Debbie of Debbiedoo’s cut an opening around the stem, turning the hollow decoration into a container for a full arrangement of flowers, berries, leaves, branches, and small pumpkins. The project came from a reader who asked whether Debbie’s farmhouse cow stencil could work across the grooves of a pumpkin. She tested the idea on a medium-size faux pumpkin, then went beyond the stencil by opening the top and using the pumpkin as the base for a table centerpiece. Cut Around the Stem to Open the Pumpkin A hot knife made for faux pumpkins was used to cut a wide circle around the stem. Instead of removing a small cap as you might when carving a jack-o’-lantern, the opening takes up much of the top. The cut exposes the hollow interior and leaves enough of the pumpkin intact to support the arrangement. Since the pumpkin is faux, the same container can come back out for another fall season. Spray Ad...