The to-do list for my home is a mile long, but near the top is the addition of a pergola. If you’re unfamiliar, a pergola is an architectural element originally used in ancient Greece and Rome to better define an outdoor space that’s gaining momentum in the current day. It usually consists of parallel colonnades that support an open roof of girders and cross rafters.
Pergolas are great privacy and shade solutions because, really, there are no rules. They can be built out of wood or steel, with a traditional or modern design or somewhere in between. Add fabric panels to the sides for additional privacy, let vining plants climb up to and cover the roof, add solar panels, or top it off with a plexiglas covering for protection from the rain. Your pergola can be freestanding in the middle of the backyard or built on top of a porch or deck, or maybe you’d just like to build one over your old concrete patio. See? Not many rules here.
I’d like mine to be similar to the second one below, but the wood painted white instead of black to keep the heat to a minimum during summer. Honeysuckle would climb all four colonnades and wind around the girders where it would mingle with strands of lights with edison bulbs. I’d have a few planter boxes on one or two of the sides that would blend in, and maybe a canvas tarp that could be attached to the four corners for shade on especially hot days.
Just like clockwork, I filed for my yearly tax extension yesterday.
See, I have a bit of an admission to make which is that I really hate numbers and money or any combination of the two. Design Crush has been a business for nearly ten years and an LLC for more than half of that, and I’m honestly just getting a hold on my books now. It’s always felt extremely overwhelming to me, and so I’ve never made the time to fully understand and grasp what was going on behind the scenes. Money in the bank? Great. Set aside enough of that payment for taxes? Done. And that’s basically the extent of what my plan has been until this year.
Accounting got to the point of being a constant source of stress, a point of mental wellness that needed addressing. So I reached out to FreshBooks after sitting in on one of their workshops, they made accounting seem both easy to tackle and far less overwhelming than it had up until this point.
I’ve teamed up with FreshBooks to bring you the story of my journey this year as I tackle the financial side of Design Crush – and what better time to start than Tax Day?
Let’s start from the beginning.
When I first logged into my free one month trial I was immediately impressed by the clean layout. One thing that’s always kept me away from other accounting software is the sheer amount of information being thrown my way visually. FreshBooks was actually designed to be simple to use for the self-employed and easy to navigate, and that’s actually what it is. It became apparent – quickly – that I was about to be far more streamlined as a business as soon as I familiarized myself with the system. (On average users save 16 hours per month!)
I played around backlogging invoices from January 2017 to the present, marking the paid ones off and entering the information of the brands I work with most often for future billing. FreshBooks helps you to create a professional looking invoice that includes your logo, as well as sends out reminders when one goes overdue – basically taking you out of the role as the bad guy. (I love this.) You can even personalize a thank you message that goes out once each invoice is paid. Now this feature is like magic to me, you can set up your account up to accept credit cards! *mind explodes* If you’d like to dig even deeper you can add additional charges for late payments and request deposits from clients. Everything can be automated, making invoicing as painless as humanly possible.
Invoicing features: customization, payment reminders, automatic late fees, accept credit cards, recurring invoices, flexible due dates, handle received invoices, discounts, deposit requests, preview before sending, multi-currency billing, multi-language invoices, duplicate invoices, automatic tax calculations
Next thing, I photographed receipts and uploaded them to mark as expenses. Being a visually-driven person, it really helps that I’m able to see both the actual receipt as well as the file in FreshBooks. Nearly all of the functions include a line graph spelling things out for those of us who comprehend information better in that form. In this case I can tell immediately how much I’ve been spending and how profitable Design Crush is at any moment. Goodbye shoebox of receipts and manual entry! My accountant is already thanking you because he won’t be receiving a handwritten list for my 2016 taxes. *cringe*
So, this is the start of my journey. I’m looking forward to sharing more of what I learn along the way as I step out of my comfort zone and tackle this neglected area of Design Crush. If you have any questions about FreshBooks I’d love to try and help get answers for you from their award-winning rockstars in customer service. In the meantime, you can sign up for a free monthlong trial right here!
This post sponsored by FreshBooks. All words and opinions are my own, as always. Thank you for supporting the brands that help keep Design Crush creating fresh content!
Heartbeet Kitchen is a celebration of sweet and savory recipes along with some other tidbits from author Amanda’s life in Minnesota. The recipes are based around seasonal vegetables and whole grains, as well as eggs and dairy from happy animals. Many are vegetarian, and all are gluten-free with a specialty in baking with alternative flours.
The Vanilla Bean Blog, aka Sarah Kieffer, is a site I’ve been following for several years now. Started as a way to document her family’s food history, it’s also a space full of baking recipes, kitchen moments with friends and family, occasional musings and reflections, and some poetry and prose – in another word, connection.
Salt and Lavender is full of delicious from scratch recipes that are also simple to make. Fresh, real ingredients play a big role, with not nearly as much salt as the name might indicate. Author Natasha provides a healthy mix of good for you foods mixed with a few indulgences.
The Almond Eater is the place where self-taught cook Erin shares the wholesome recipes created in her kitchen. Each one is double-tested before she shares it on the site. (Quiet admission: we also both live in Pittsburgh and have the same two major food dislikes – mustard and pickles!)
What to Cook Today is a newer find, there are just so many talented Minnesotans out there! Marvellina shares recipes she grew up with in Indonesia that have a heavy Chinese influence as well as local flavor – think lots of boldness often sweet, sour, salty, spicy, and umami all combined into one dish! Marv also experiments with plenty of foods from other continents though, if southeast Asian flavor isn’t your cup of tea.
I love ritual, and Purpur looks like it would lend itself to such things instantly. Roxanne Flick‘s conceptual graduation project to create a tea set inspired by the beauty of nature and art is stunning. Using the form and behavior of the flamingo, Flick designed a kettle, teacups, and sugar and cream bowls made from porcelain, oak saucers and an oak, glass, and granite table.
My default decor for Easter is fresh flowers and dyed eggs, aside from a big meal with family I don’t have a lot of tradition surrounding the holiday. Maybe that will change one day if I have a child, but in the meantime I love the few things I know I can count on being present. But if you’re hosting, looking for creative ideas to decorate eggs, or curious about treats for baskets check out the nineteen ideas we’ve rounded up!
Viva la feminism! No part of the human form should be taboo, and I love people and companies who stand for that thought in tasteful, tongue in cheek ways. Best of all, several of these shops donate a portion of proceeds from each purchase to organizations that give back!
Last month was a whirlwind, so we’re doubling down on DIY art projects in April – here’s the first. I want to bring the joy and carelessness of art class back with these projects, in other words nothing complicated and lot of free spiritedness. We can all remember using a pencil’s eraser to create a stamp, but today we’re using one to paint!
I love using household items to create, and with a pencil there’s no worry about messing it up because you can simply throw it away when finished if you’d like. Like all of our art DIYs this one is fast and loose, stick to a pattern if you’d like or be more abstract. Go monotone with one color or use the whole rainbow.
Supplies
• canvas panel, I used an 8″ x 10″
• craft paint
• pencil with fresh eraser
• palette or paper plate
I started by eyeballing the center of the canvas and creating the middle square that’s twelve dots wide by twelve tall, but if you’re not the greatest at visualizing measurements just get out your ruler and measure to find the middle. All of the other squares were built off of that initial shape and the number of dots used. With each dip of my eraser in the paint I was able to create about three dots before having to reload, so some of them are more opaque than others. I didn’t pay too much attention to keeping super straight columns and rows, and in hindsight I actually wish it had turned out a bit more carefree. This DIY was really cathartic because I loved the mindless repetition.
I can’t even name the last time I had a wall clock, but I’d put up one of these New Time wall clocks in a second. All six designs, including the two newest, are made of super durable cotton fiber that you can crumple and torture to your heart’s content. What’s more is they’ll hold their shape!
In my dream home I have an entire room as a pantry, a la Martha. But in the real world it’s about working with what you’ve got – whether that be a closet you can convert, a corner to build out, or a few existing cabinets that need to do all the heavy lifting. Or you can get creative, make it an entire wall of open shelving or a free-standing piece of furniture. Whatever the case, we all know food storage in the kitchen is a necessity, read on for some organizational tips and inspiration!
Keys to a keeping a super functional pantry:
1. Go through and clean it out regularly.
2. Use it for more than just food – serving pieces, cookbooks – if you have the space.
3. Have everything visible, or as much as possible. Risers work great!
4. Group like with like (cans, baking ingredients, etc).
5. Place the things you use most often at arm’s reach.
6. Think vertically as well as horizontally, store cookie sheets and serving trays upright.
7. Set shelves at different heights to use your space best.
8. Bring in baskets to collect dish towels and more.
9. Use glass containers to store dry goods, they’ll stay fresh longer and you’ll always know how much you have.
10. Take advantage of the inside of the door as well, it’s a great place to keep spices and food storage supplies.
