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69 Genius Life Hacks to Improve Your Home, Garden, and Kitchen—Quickly and Easily

Improving your home doesn't have to be hard or expensive. Follow these brilliant tips, and you'll be living, eating, and gardening in no-sweat style.

Sunset

1 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Gather your accessories

Pull out all your vases, ceramics, and other favorite objects that share a theme (shape or color) and display them in a grouping to create a focal point.

2 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Go dark

Swap a ho-hum off-white lampshade for a black one. It’s like adding eyeliner to your room, defining and upping the drama. (Just remember that you’ll lose a little bit of light, so opt for slightly higher wattage in your bulb.)

3 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Swank up your salad

Add finely chopped preserved lemon to your favorite vinaigrette, then use a vegetable peeler on a chunk of parmesan to create beautiful, spiral curls to top it off.

4 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Weave in some texture

A raffia-wrapped vase, a wicker table, a sea grass basket, a rattan dining chair—whatever you choose, woven items break up the common textures in a room, bridging the gap between soft upholstery and hard furnishings or wooden flooring.

5 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Top-dress your plants

“A plant without a top dressing is like an unmade bed,” says Annette Gutierrez, owner of L.A.’s Potted. Adding a top layer of prettiness—crushed seashells, black river rocks, marbles, bark, tumbled glass, fuzzy moss—to your container plants will cover up a multitude of sins—and help the plant retain moisture.

6 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Gild your nest

It’s easy. Pick a metallic—like a lamp or the candlesticks here—and sprinkle it throughout the room in a handful of pieces. It will warm up the space instantly.

7 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Avoid oversalting a recipe

Squeeze in lemon, cider vinegar, or another acidic ingredient. If it’s a soup or stew, add a cut-up raw potato; it will help absorb the salt, and you can use it for something else once it’s cooked.

8 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Create an instant outdoor room

“People want to know how to create an outdoor room like it’s some big mystery,” says Gutierrez. “Throw a rug down to frame the space. That’s it.”

9 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Tidy up your bed

If your bed looks like Papa Bear’s—after he slept in it—you can fix it with more pillows and a method for putting them together. Here’s a foolproof formula: Starting with a solid bedspread (though it can be textured for interest), add two standard pillows in white (with or without colorful trim), three coordinating patterned throw pillows, plus a patterned bolster or lumbar pillow. To top it off, add a throw in a color that picks up on the patterned bolster.

10 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Get reflective

To create the illusion of a larger room, add dimension to a space, or create a new view, place a mirror in an interesting shape (like this octagonal) in an entry hall, above a fireplace, or in a recessed area that you want to spotlight. For a different look, group several small mirrors together.

11 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Give new life to wilted greens

What to do when the bag of greens at the back of the fridge has seen better days? Whiz wilted greens in a blender with chicken broth, heat till boiling, add tiny pasta (little shells or stars) and some shredded chicken, and you have a verdant green soup. If the greens are lemony (say, from leftover dressed salad), rinse them first.

12 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Refresh your houseplants

The problem: Your houseplants are losing their luster. The fix: Once a month, wash the leaves with a dampened cloth or soft sponge, supporting the leaf from below with your hand to prevent tearing. The bath will remove dust—upping pest-resistance and the plant’s ability to photosynthesize and keep that shine.

13 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Make over your coffee table

Four basic elements—a tray, a natural element, books, and a decorative object—can give your coffee table a wide range of looks. A tray (or even a beautiful slab of wood or a ceramic platter) is a must for coralling remotes and giving them a home. Next, add a natural element like a terrarium or potted succulent to the tray. Then set a stack of books next to the tray and top the stack with an interesting decorative accent: This could be a memento, a small sculpture, or a flea-market find—anything that hints at your personality or history.

14 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Add oomph to your bookshelves

First, “Take everything off the shelves and start fresh,” advises Katie Raffetto, who has her own design firm in San Francisco. Next, place books both vertically and horizontally, sprinkling the two methods throughout (pull the spines all the way to the front of the shelf so they look even, or turn so backs face the wall). Stand back periodically and look at the mix—and don’t overcrowd! “If you wean out, it will look so much more fresh and new,” Raffetto says. Next, add objects to fill in the holes: little sculptures, baskets, decorative boxes, ceramics. Try to keep them within a broad color or materials palette to make the whole look cohesive.

15 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Peel an avocado perfectly

Three steps: Cut in quarters. Pop the pit out. Pull off the skin.

16 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Conjure new orchid blooms

Usually if an orchid is recalcitrant, it’s not getting enough light. But you don’t want harsh light; rather, place it in bright, filtered light (think a window with a sheer curtain).

17 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Preserve garden tools

To keep them clean and sharp, place them, sharp side down, in a bucket of sand.

18 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Dress up your windows

Mount drapery high over your window—it’s more dramatic and brings the room up instead of down, says Krista Schrock of DISC Interiors in L.A. She also recommends neutral drapery to help frame the vista, a textured fabric to warm up the feel of a room, and a minimal drapery rod that returns to the wall so it doesn’t distract from the view or curtains.

19 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Pick the right size rug for a room

In a living room, all furniture legs in a seating arrangement should be sitting on the rug or, if that’s cost prohibitive, at least the front legs of sofas and chairs. In a bedroom, a rug should extend at least 18 inches beyond the sides of a queen or king bed so it doesn’t feel dwarfed by the bed. Remember: It’s always better to err on the side of too big than too small.

20 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Tend bar

Mason jars make excellent leakproof cocktail shakers. When you’re ready to strain the drink, simply offset the lid a bit and pour. Or, for the truly ambitious, use a solid lid for shaking and drill tiny holes (use a 1/8-inch drill bit) into a second lid for straining. (Mason jar lids also make for great molds when you want your crabcakes or hamburgers to look uniform.)

21 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Reimagine a rug

Have a favorite rug but nowhere on the floor to put it? Consider hanging it up rather than laying it down. That was a recent “try something unexpected” solution from Cary Fortin and Kyle Quilici of San Francisco design firm New Minimalism. “We used it in a master bedroom. It anchored the wall and elevated the rug to a piece of art,” Fortin says. “Then we used simple, clean white sheets and a clean white bedspread to add warmth to the space.”

22 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Pick the right size ceiling light

The bigger the room, the bigger the fixture should be. Try this formula: To size a chandelier as the focal point of a space (a foyer, living room, or dining room), measure the room’s length and width. Add those numbers together, and the sum (in feet) is the approximate recommended diameter of your chandelier (in inches).

23 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Steady a cutting board

Nick Balla and Cortney Burns of San Francisco’s Bar Tartine have a genius idea: Place rubber seals from swingtop jars under your cutting board to keep it from slip-sliding away. The seals are much more sanitary than paper towels or a mesh cloth, and afterward you can just toss them in the dishwasher.

24 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Clean a variety of nooks and crannies

An (unused, of course) toothbrush is ideal for cleaning the silk off corn, getting dirt out of deep shoe treads, cleaning jewelry, and the grout on tile floors.

25 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Accessorize like a pro

Group things in threes (or another odd number) and vary the heights (say, a tall lamp next to a medium can­dle next to a low stack of books). Think of decor as you do jewelry: Just as you’d never wear every piece at once, winnow down and watch how it elevates what’s left.

26 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Make the most of your living room

To avoid dead space, place something in the corners. Four good looks: a pedestal table topped with a stack of books or accessories. An indoor tree, like a Dracaena, ficus, or rubber tree. A pedestal topped with a vase or favorite object. A bookstand holding an open art book.

27 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Unleash a kitchen secret weapon

When you’ve got a hot dish to put on a wooden table and nothing to set it on, try this trick from California food stylist Karen Shinto: Line up four sets of chopsticks (still stuck together) spaced an inch or so apart. Voilà: instant trivet. (And if you’re missing a deep-fry thermometer, Shinto says, you can dip a wooden chopstick into hot oil; if bubbles appear around it, the oil is ready for cooking.)

28 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Style a single stem

It’s summer’s perennial problem: You’ve just clipped one perfect flower from the garden but can’t find a vase petite enough to show it off. Raid the kitchen cabinets for a shot glass instead (one with tall sides is ideal for supporting a stem). “With a single bloom, I usually like to go big with a protea or a peony,” says the designer and art director behind many of our life hack photos, Sarah Sherman Samuel (sarahshermansamuel.com). “I also like to single out large leaves like the monstera leaf.” She’ll spread her solo arrangements on window ledges, on top of a stack of books on a shelf or coffee table, or beside the bathroom sink.

29 /69 Sarah Sherman Samuel

Hang artwork right

Use this trick: Hold the picture up on the wall and scoot it down until the center of the frame is roughly at your eye level (split the difference if your home has both short and tall people). Also, think about how your room is used: Art in the entryway, where people usually stand, can be hung higher than in a dining room, where most people are seated.

30 /69 Harry Hartman / Getty Images

Polish your cookware

Mix 1 tbsp. salt and 1/4 cup of white vinegar and apply with a soft brush to keep your copper pots glowing.

31 /69 E. Spencer Toy

Define your space

Paint baseboards and molding a color that contrasts with your walls. It’s like contouring for your home’s architecture.

32 /69 CaiaImage / Getty Images

Fake a doorway

Hang drapery over doorways to soften transitions between rooms. Bonus idea: Accentuate the height of your windows or doorways by adding trim to the drapery.

33 /69 Thomas J. Story

Make grilled cheese extra-crunchy

Spread the outside with mayonnaise instead of butter.

34 /69 Ricardo DeAratanha / Getty Images

Go luxe

Make any sofa or chair look fresh by adding a fluffy Mongolian lamb pillow.

35 /69 Thomas J. Story

Optimize your view

Where’s your best view? Rearrange the furniture toward it and see how much more often you find yourself sitting there.

36 /69 Tim Macpherson / Getty Images

Sharpen an accent

Paint the interior back wall of your bookshelves. It’s a great way to bolster an accent color from somewhere else in the room.

37 /69 Dave Lauridsen

Flavor-bomb a burger

Add 1 tbsp. of fish sauce per pound of ground beef or turkey for added umami flavor.

38 /69 Thomas J. Story

Make pillows even plusher

Add down inserts to your pillows. It will gift them a plushness that adds instant luxe to a room.

39 /69 Iain Bagwell

Cook more flavorful broth

Add a piece of kombu (Japanese dried kelp) when you’re simmering the chicken carcass. It’ll add depth and body to the stock without noticeable seaweed flavor.

40 /69 Erin Kunkel

Save leftover wine

Keep on hand a few empty half-bottles. When you drink half of a 750-ml bottle, pour the rest through a funnel into the split, recork it, and store it in the fridge. With little air to oxidize it, the wine will keep for up to five days.

41 /69 John Granen

Dabble in the dark arts

Have an heirloom piece that feels tired? Paint it black, like this side table. Suddenly, its lines will appear more distinct and modern.

42 /69 Lisa Romerein

Leverage negative space

Use it to add weight or bring attention to a favorite object. By surrounding it with space, you will elevate a seemingly ordinary, humble object into art.

43 /69 oksix / Getty Images

Drizzle honey perfectly

Dip a fork straight down into honey, lift it straight up, and evenly drizzle onto your yogurt or toast—no globs.

44 /69 Dorling Kindersley / Getty Images

Trick out your wok

Put wood chips or other smoking ingredients (tea, herbs, spices) in the bottom of a large, foil-lined wok. Set a cake rack over the ingredients, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and heat until smoke begins to form. Add food, cover wok tightly with foil and its lid, and let it smoke. The food will still need to be cooked afterward, but it’ll have a nice smoky nuance.

45 /69 Honey & Mehta / Getty Images

Bake healthier treats

A half a banana works great as an egg substitute (aim for half a banana per egg) in cookies.

46 /69 Fotografia Basica / Getty Images

Make smoother guacamole

Use a pastry blender to mash avocados into guacamole (or to spread on toast).

47 /69

Cool hot food effectively

Instead of putting a bowl full of hot food in a larger bowl of ice and cold water—which risks water getting into the hot food—set a colander in the ice bath, then your hot bowl in the colander.

48 /69 Chris Clor / Getty Images

Pack a portable seasoning kit

Empty spice jars make a great weekend-size bottle of olive oil, vinegar, or mustard for camping or a vacation rental.

49 /69 William Reavell / Getty Images

Get corners extra-clean

Use kebab sticks to clean little kitchen corners and crannies, especially around the stove.

50 /69 Cultura RM / Carmen Troesser / Getty Images

Think outside the icebox

Wash grapes, then freeze in an airtight bag. They’re great for keeping cocktails or white wine cool without diluting.

51 /69 TetraImages / Getty Images

Chop herbs perfectly

Unless you’re a knife virtuoso, kitchen shears are much easier—and faster—to use to chop fresh herbs.

52 /69 Wolfgang Feiler / Getty Images

Prolong a kitchen staple

Add an apple to a bag of potatoes to prolong the spuds’ life.

53 /69 Alex Farnum

Reheat pizza right

Use a frying pan to reheat cold pizza. It will keep the slices crisp.

54 /69 Thomas J. Story

Prep parsley

Dry the leaves thoroughly before chopping; then they’ll sprinkle evenly, instead of in clumps.

55 /69 Ross Land / Getty Images

Peel garlic in a snap

Chef and cooking teacher Joanne Weir shared this tip: Soak a garlic clove in water for 5 to 10 minutes. The skins will slip right off.

56 /69 Staci Valentine

Plant a tomato

Place the plant deep and on an angle. Tomatoes will grow roots instead of leaves if their stems are buried.

57 /69 Thomas J. Story

Kick crunch up a notch

Toast nuts before using in a dish; the heat will bring out crunch and flavor.

58 /69 Thomas J. Story

Party without waste

Borrow a tip from Dana Gunder’s Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook (Chronicle Books, 2015): Plan on five to six bites per person if there’s no dinner following, and two to three if you’re serving dinner afterward.

59 /69 Thomas J. Story

Multiply plants

Instead of buying new plants at a nursery, root cuttings of basil, rosemary, geraniums, coleus, and so many more plant varieties in water.

60 /69 Thomas J. Story

Cut an onion without weeping

Pop the onion in the freezer for 10 minutes before slicing.

61 /69 Thomas J. Story

Streamline a gallery wall

Choose an organizing principle. Either all the frames should be the same style and color (varying the size and matte is fine in this case), or they should all be hung on the same horizontal or vertical axis.

More: 12 gallery wall styles for any space

62 /69 Lisa Romerein

Refresh stale tortilla chips

Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. The heat will re-crisp them.

63 /69 Iain Bagwell

Hull a strawberry

Insert a plastic straw from the tip to the top. It will push out the core and stem.

64 /69 Roberto Machado Noa / Getty Images

Peel a banana

Do it from the bottom up, and you won’t have to deal with the little “strings.”

65 /69 Creative Commons photo by Jeremy Noble is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Banish fruit flies

Squeeze a small bit of dish soap into a bowl of apple cider vinegar. It attracts and traps the flies.

66 /69 Paul Lee Cannon

Get rid of the lawn

Kathy Kramer, of Bringing Back the Natives garden tour, shares this tip for losing the lawn. You might have read about covering the lawn with plastic to solarize it. That actually kills all soil life—not the best way to start your new garden. Instead, sheet mulch it: Smother the lawn with layers of cardboard, compost, and mulch, which eventually decompose into well-amended soil, perfect for planting.

67 /69 Yunhee Kim

Keep spices at peak flavor

Because most ground spices lose their flavor after a year, buy whole spices and grind them in a coffee grinder (separate from the one you use for coffee grounds) as you need them.

68 /69 The Washington Post / Getty Images

Adjust overly sour food

Add a pinch of honey, maple syrup, or balsamic vinegar to balance the flavors.

69 /69 Thomas J. Story

Use overly beaten whipped cream

Take it all the way to butter (in the food processor, if you like). It will taste extra-sweet and fresh, and you can use the whey in a smoothie or soup.