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Basics of Creating a Harry Potter Bedroom While your home is probably not an old stone castle-like Hogwarts, you can recreate the feeling with painted walls. Start with a light gray painted base, then use a sea sponge to stipple deeper shades of gray, brown, and moss green over the surface until you achieve the look of aged stone. The Gryffindor dormitories where Harry slept had wooden flooring. Though you don’t see the other student dormitories, presumably they are the same....

Toys for Tots is a nationwide charitable organization, organized by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, whose offices coordinate donations in each state. Toys for Tots gifts are given directly to individual families, as well as to nonprofit organizations that assist people in need. A local Marine in your community is in charge of organizing the Toys for Tots campaign. Toys for Tots collections occur from October through early December. To donate, purchase a new, unwrapped toy for a child between the ages of newborn and 16....

Identifying the Entry Point An ant’s scent trail inside a home usually leads from a crack or gap in a wall or floor, and ants are often seen near baseboards along the floor. Other entry points might be unsealed holes to the exterior, including plumbing entry points. Usually, the trail continues in a fairly straight line toward a food source, such as an area of crumbs or a sticky spill. It might also be a pantry, food cabinet, or even a small appliance with food residue....

Getting New Feeders As any backyard birder knows, a single bird feeder is rarely adequate once you get hooked on feeding the birds. Whether you are choosing a larger feeder to accommodate more birds, getting different types of feeders for different types of birdseed, or just adding more feeders for a growing flock, it is important to choose a style that will be attractive to birds. Characteristics to consider include:...

Identifying Asian Cockroaches Asian cockroaches are often mistaken for their similar-looking counterpart, the German roach. Both species of cockroach adults are about 13 to 16 mm long, light brown, and have two visible parallel lines behind their heads on the pronotum. Because the Asian roach feeds primarily on plant material, it does not pose quite the same danger of disease transmission as other species, especially the German roach, which is primarily a garbage feeder....

Powdery mildew can be treated early on with fungicides including potassium bicarbonate, neem oil, sulfur, or copper. Home remedies like baking soda and milk can also be successful treatments when applied properly. Affected portions of your plant should be removed prior to treating powdery mildew, and additional steps like improving air circulation and specific watering techniques should be applied after treatment to prevent reoccurrence of the fungus. Powdery mildew fungi can be found anywhere, but conditions favoring it include high relative humidity at night, low relative humidity during the day, and temperatures of 70-80 degrees....

The first place to start is to determine what to sell, either online or by hosting a garage sale, and what to give away. If you lack the time or want to help the local community, you can forego selling your things in favor of donation. It’s up to you; either way, someone else is benefiting from your things and keeping it out of the landfill. Once you’ve allocated the items for donation, make sure that each piece can be used, that it’s in good condition and that it’s been well cleaned....

There is a great deal of variety within the Rudbeckia genus, and most of the 25 species are true workhorses with very few problems. Fast-growing black-eyed Susan is easily the most commonly known Rudbeckia, with its daisy-like flowers with large seed heads. It also has the scratchy, hairy leaves that are characteristic of its genus (this may not be one of its best features, but it does help keep pests away)....

This is a native plant that is often found in large colonies in moist meadow areas and along river banks, and it will behave similarly in the garden, though you’ll need to plant several specimens so they can cross-pollinate and produce seeds. Blue-eyed grass is usually planted from potted nursery starts in the spring, or it can be grown by seeds directly sown in the garden during the fall or started indoors in late winter....