How To: Deep Clean Your Shark Navigator

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Mid-week is usually a good time to break down and get serious about cleaning my house. I've recovered from the last weekend and Monday, and need to gear up for another one.

When it comes to cleaning, my Mom (who owns her own cleaning company) has me hooked on Shark products, especially the Shark Navigator. It's affordable, lightweight, and cleans like a champ. Another one of my favorite features? It is easy to disassemble to give it a good cleaning, because, let's face it, no matter what brand of vacuum you use, you always need to give it a good cleaning. I would say at least every 6 months, for me it's about every 3 (think two kids, a dog, a cat and a husband).

Here's my process:

Star with a filthy vacuum. Then gather several rags, cleaner of choice, scissors and a screwdriver (or something pointy to get into those tight crannies).

Go ahead and remove the tank and the main filter.

One you remove the dark grey piece that holds the filter, flip it upside down and you will find another.

Pop out the front piece and remove that filter as well. I throw these in the washing machine on speed wash with a teensy tinsy bit of detergent and a little bleach. Do not put them in alone, you don't want to ruin your washing machine with an excess of water. I usually throw in a towel or my other cleaning supplies (mopheads, dusters, etc).

 Detach the hose as well.

Lay it on it's back and grab those scissors! The scissors allow you to cut all the hair, strings, etc that have wound around the brush. Keep on clipping and pulling. 

Then I grab my screwdriver to scrape all the dust and debris that has plastered itself to the inside.

I washed off the brush bar with my cleaner, and then wrap it around the end of the screwdriver to scrub in the crannies.

Flip it over onto it's front and lets start scrubbing the outside. I start with the wheels as they are usually the dirtiest and then wipe down the rest.

Now stand it back up and clean off the front, top and handles. Make sure to get into the hose openings.

Now onto the sink! 

Spray the canisters with cleaner, scrub and rinse. 

 I lay the main canister out to dry on a kitchen mat.
 

 By this point, my filters have finished washing and I have thrown them in the dryer with a towel to dry. They dry very fast. In fact, they are nearly dry coming out of the wash, but you want to make sure they are completely dry. Otherwise all that dust and dirt you are vacuuming will stick to the filters and you will have a nastier mess than you started with.

Go ahead and reassemble and test it out!

 Can you feel the power??

Happy hump-day!
Xo, Natasha

Tips For Setting Up a Successful Party Table Spread

Greetings from snowy Wisconsin! We are currently being buried in snow here, so what else is there to do but blog?

This weekend we hosted a graduation party for my little sister who just completed her cosmetology license program at Regency Beauty Institute. With that in mind, I thought I'd share a few tips on creating a pleasing food spread at your next gathering!

Because we were hosting the party at my house, we had to be fairly creative with anything "decorative."  After all, this isn't some grand banquet hall, it's my dining room! And that means we have to clean up the mess! This is why it's best to simple make the functional pieces pretty.

I picked up these perfect black and white striped napkins at Walmart, along with the paper straws to match. As far as colors go, I used a lot of what I had on hand. I happened to have black, white and pink tissue paper, so I made a simple garland and used that as the jumping off point. Don't go crazy with too many colors and overwhelm yourself, but you definitely don't need to be matchy-matchy with everything.

I attached extra tassels to some pink chopsticks just for fun, and used wine glasses in varying sizes to keep the height of objects varied. You want your eye to move around the table! Flat spaces are boring!

The fabric tablecloth over the buffet table has hints of teal and gold to tie the party decor and my wall color together. Make the party match your house!

Let your food make a statement. The color and arrangements of the food you serve can be just as beautiful as any decoration you could buy, and you get to eat it! A tiered stand isn't just for dessert. It displays this selection of fruit beautifully.

Offer a variety of food choices. Meat, cheese and veggie trays are just important as chips, candy and snacks. Not everyone wants to eat junk all the time, and if you are having small children at your party, parents will appreciate being able to incorporate some healthy items on their child's plate besides just treats. I always make my own cheese trays, it's more cost effective and I can control the quality of the food I'm setting out.

Group your condiments together. Extras and fixin's become beautiful when placed on a gold charger.

We chose to offer a sandwich bar as well as snacks. Guests can build their own with choices of several meats, cheeses and spreads. Keep the food spread over several tables. It allows for better traffic flow.

 
Use your pretty pieces. Now is the time! This gold ice bucket is beautiful and funtional, and when else will I have an excuse to use it?

I hope you were able to take away a few ideas for your next gathering! Remember to keep it simple. The company is what really counts!
Xoxo,
Natasha

Recipe Quickie: Crock-Pot Italian Beef

Happy Friday! Sorry for the lack of stimulating and image heavy content this week, but I am getting ready for my little sister's Beauty School Dropout Graduation party this weekend! I also have two new couches being delivered today but that's another story (and another blog post).

But I won't leave you empty-handed! It's Friday after all! You absolutely HAVE to make this incredibly easy and delicious Crock-Pot Italian Beef. I love to make this on weeknights, or for big gatherings. Everyone requests it at every picnic, potluck, etc. My mom originally gave me this recipe and of course I tweaked it for our family. Enough chit chat! I present to you:

Ingredients:

Chuck roast
One 16oz jar of peperoncinis
One or two jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like it!)
One pouch of Good Seasons Zesty Italian dressing mix

Get your crock pot out and start with the peperoncini peppers. Empty half of the juice into the bottom of the crock pot. Place your roast in, same side up that was in the packaging. (This isn't that crucial but I like to do it cause this side always looks nicer). :) Start dropping in those peperoncini peppers! Sprinkle some on top of the meat, around the sides, whatever! Just make sure you empty all the juice out over the top of the meat. Now you can tear open that dressing mix and sprinkle evenly over the top of the meat and peppers. Lastly, we will cut up the jalapenos and toss them in. Cook on high for 4 to 6 hours, on low for 6 to 8. Before serving, meat will pull apart. I like to do this and give it a good turn through the juices so the seasoning is well mixed. Serve on hoagie rolls and enjoy!!!

Now my mouth is watering. Gotta run!
Xoxo, Natasha

Dollar Tree Drawer Liners

Good morning! I just wanted to really quickly share with you this little dollar tree gem: these pretty black and white toile drawer liners!

They are adhesive backed and VERY easy to place. They have a grid on the back with measurements so it's a snap to get them right! And I love how they look!

I bought two rolls because I wasn't sure how much one would cover in my kitchen drawers (they are extra wide and deep because they used to be for linens). They actually cover quite a bit! I will have to get one more roll to finish the last two drawers, but I was planning on getting more anyways once I realized how simple they were to use.

I also spray painted the old white knobs gold to match the solid brass knobs that are on the china cabinet. I will eventually just replace these with real brass as well, but in the meantime...

Hopefully you guys can find some great treasures at Dollar Tree, too!

Xoxo, Natasha

Ikea Hack: Gold Terrarium/Green House

Hi, guys! Sorry for the absence the past few days! I was battling an eye infection and am getting ready for my little sister's beauty school graduation party this coming weekend! But I do have a few new projects to share with you, one of them being this super-simple Ikea hack.

Last time I was at Ikea, I picked up one of these SOCKER Greenhouses:

Not a bad size for $19.99, and I love white, but once I set it up in the kitchen it just felt a little... rustic? Shabby chic? Which is perfect for my mom's house (we actually both love shabby chic), but in the current direction our home is taking, it needed a little glam.

Nothing a $3.00 can of gold spray paint can't fix. I used Rustoleum Bright Metallic (the absolute best gold spray paint out there).

The after:

Much more dramatic and expensive-looking.

This project does require a little patience as far as taking out all of the plexi-glass and getting paint into every nook and cranny, but such a simple thing can have such a big impact!

Xoxo,
Natasha

DIY Acrylic Standoff Frame

I recently had two issues: One, I needed some original house plans custom framed but custom framing is soooo expensive, and two, I really love acrylic standoff frames but they are also soooo expensive.

Pinterest to the rescue!

I first stumbled across Kristin Jackson of The Hunted Interior's tutorial, which led me to Dina from Honey and Fitz. Dina had the great idea of melting the acrylic to get your hardware in, but as far as the actual hardware used, I felt that what Kristin found was more than I wanted to spend (in fact I'd seen similar frames on Amazon for close to what she spent on hardware), but I really preferred that style over what Dina did. Dilemmas.

Amazon to the rescue!

I bought these:

And then I simply spray painted them gold.

I marked off where my holes were going:

And super heated a flathead screw driver that was the width of my screws. It really does push through like butter! Actually, it's more like margarine...

Get all your holes done (I clamped my pieces of acrylic together and went through both at once) and pop in your art and hardware.

Ta da!

 For a more detailed tutorial, I strongly suggest you check out the blogs I linked above!
 Xoxo, Natasha