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(Image credit: Christine Han)

As this timeless trio of olive oil, lemon, and fresh parsley prove, the simplest upgrades are often the very best.

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This Weekend: Change One Thing & Make a Better First Impression

(Image credit: Melissa DiRenzo)

It may look like a front porch, but it’s also my office and an extended living room. I feel at ease here, sitting on a loveseat made from willow tree branches, with my laptop computer resting on my legs as I write. Friends visit and we watch the fireflies light up against the trees come evening.

Although I love spending time here, and consider it much more than just a front porch, I am careful not to abuse this space — especially since I am on the main drag of my town. Sadly, some people fall into some etiquette black holes when it comes to their own porch behaviors.

Here are five basic rules everyone should really abide by.

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Growing up, I couldn’t imagine the sun beating down more intensely anywhere else in the world than it did during those summers on Long Island. After an hour playing baseball in the street and shouting “CAR!” every 10 minutes, I would retreat to a folding chair on my front porch.

The porch wasn’t grand. It didn’t wrap around the house or include ceiling fans like I had seen in movies, but when the heat and ever-changing street sport rules became too much, I could remove myself from the game yet still keep close watch and shout from the comfort of my front porch.

I would eek open the front door and tiptoe into the house to grab an orange Fla-Vor-Ice pop from the pile of rainbow-colored treasures in our freezer. My siblings and I always fought over the orange ones. My grandmother had to dole them out like WWII rations. The blue ones were always the last to go, lingering among frozen microwave meals until someone got too hot to care what flavor it was supposed to be.

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Yesterday Apartment Therapy posted this gorgeous house tour from Australia. This Scandinavian-inspired space is minimal, modern, and furnished in a black-and-white palette. There’s a lot I could say about this space, but I was most drawn to the kitchen (of course) and these gorgeous lamps that make a big statement in a relatively lackluster space. These lamps turn the kitchen into a warm, inviting space. While initially I assumed they were expensive, I was surprised to learn they are actually available at IKEA.

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Fresh Peach Soda

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If you have yet to bite into a fresh peach this year and have its juices run down your arms to your elbows, you’ve still got time. Sweet peaches are arguably the best part of late summer, and inhaling as many as humanly possible is an important responsibility. But after you’ve eaten a handful from the peck, head into the kitchen to pull even more love out of the stone fruit with one of these seven recipes.

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From Apartment Therapy → A One-Size-Fits-All DIY Project That’ll Keep Your Kitchen Drawer Organized Forever

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Whole-Wheat Plum Crumble Pie

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Plums hitting the farmers market stalls may be a sign that summer is winding down, but not before you get your fill of the juicy stone fruit. Often overshadowed by peaches, plums — whether red, purple, or yellow— deserve equally as much praise. So do yourself a favor and pick up a peck, eat as many as possible straight from the hand, and get into the kitchen for the rest.

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Go to a farm stand or head out on an Pick Your Own excursion and you may be faced with a difficult question: bushel or a peck? Besides both being rather fun, rarely used words, I honestly don’t know what each term means, so I usually just smile, nod, and point to what seems like the amount of peaches or apples I am looking for. Of course, they do mean specific sizes — here’s what they are and how they are different from each other.

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It’s kind of unfair, how over-the-top the summer bounty is in August and how utterly bleak things can get in January. Yes, you can purchase tomatoes and raspberries in winter, but we all know nobody’s being fooled by those silly styrofoam props that look like the real deal but neither smell nor taste like anything. And don’t get me started on the texture.

So how do we stretch the abundant sunshine of August to the darkest corners of January? The answer is simple: We can it up!

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Mason jars have come a long way from their humble canning origins, and it’s not hard to see why. These glass containers, which come in a variety of sizes (and even colors, if that’s your thing), are just inherently useful. In fact, if you have a kitchen that’s in need of some organization, they can be your best friend.

Here are eight ways you can lean on these household staples to keep your kitchen in order.

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