From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

*This post has been sponsored by Church & Dwight Co., Inc. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

It’s probably pretty obvious that I’m passionate about good design at home. I try my best to carefully consider just about everything that we bring in through the front door, making sure that it’s something that will add to our space—not detract from it. Big box stores know me by sight at this point because returns are sort of the norm for me. If it’s not a good fit, it goes right back to the store!

And, while it might be a little more information than you need this early in the morning, that logic even goes for cat litter! For years (and I mean decades), I’ve always used the same run-of-the-mill cat litter. Our cats—both our current trio and the kitties I had growing up as a kid—have always used clumping litter from one specific brand, so that’s what I kept up with into my adulthood. Then, very randomly a few months ago, I decided to make a switch.

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

I decided to stick with clumping litter since I didn’t want to throw our gals for a loop, but I had gotten so sick of the layers of dust that would build up in the room where we kept the litter box that I was drawn in by the 100% dust-free formula of the new Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter from ARM & HAMMER™.

It has now been two months since I bought the litter from the pet aisle at Kroger, and I’m a true convert. It really is 100% dust-free, so you can breathe easy. Plus, I no longer have to wipe down nearby furniture (ew!). This litter reduces airborne dander and other nasties when you scoop, and it’s free from heavy perfumes—having just a light hypoallergenic scent.

I know I’m getting a little wordy, but I wanted to make sure I introduced the story as thoroughly as possible. Today’s post is sponsored by the company behind ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter, but I had already made the permanent switch over to their product long before I received an invitation to be a partner with them.

Anyway, to celebrate our partnership, I decided to go really big by turning an ugly closet in our basement into a dust-free pet zone. See the before/after photos below, and make sure you take advantage of Kroger Pickup to find extra savings for yourself!

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

The closet in question was in our basement under the stairs. We hadn’t touched it since moving in four years ago, so it still had the same stained bare drywall, raw concrete floors, and dusty old shelves. I’ve always just used the closet as a hideaway spot for boxes filled with craft supplies, and, of course, our extra cat litter box. It worked, but it was far from pretty. Like, really far.

I’ve wanted to give the closet a facelift for years but since I only ever went in there to scoop litter or grab an armload of craft supplies, I wanted that facelift to cost me very little money and take very little time to pull off. While I could have skim-coated the walls to make them smooth and rebuilt the shelves to look nice and custom, I just didn’t want to get that involved. My main goal was to retain the function but make it a small space I wouldn’t mind wandering into from time to time (read: that wouldn’t make me scowl and want to run right back up the stairs).

After lots of brainstorming, I decided on this plan of action: (1) paint the bare drywall white, (2) spray the exposed pipe on the left a nice modern matte black, and (3) cover the raw concrete with fun patterned peel-and-stick vinyl tile. I also thought I’d bring in some faux greenery and rattan textures, plus a new-to-us vintage rug to help breathe personality into the space. The finishing touch was an upgraded white litter box and a pet house for the corner of the closet.

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

Honestly, the hardest part of this entire makeover was the painting. It’s difficult to avoid covering your entire body (and head of hair) with paint when crouched down in an awkward closet like ours, so I was a mess by the time both coats of paint were done. The difference in the closet, though, was worth every ounce of effort.

As you can see, I didn’t patch up any of the seams or cover any holes in the wall—I just painted right over the bare drywall as it was—but the fresh white paint helped hide all of the old water stains and brightened the closet, too. I could have stopped there, but I wanted to tackle the floors before bringing in any accessories and storage boxes.

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

Can you believe the difference that new peel-and-stick floor made?! The new vinyl tiles helped finish off the closet perfectly, and made a bigger impact than I could have ever anticipated. The best news of all is that I was able to lay it down right over the exposed concrete floors in less than an hour with John’s help.

Truth be told, the instructions on the box of tiles said to prime any concrete surfaces before laying them down but since we barely ever actually stand on this floor, I figured it was okay to skip that step in the interest of time and energy. If you plan to use the same type of tile in a higher traffic area of your home, definitely make sure you follow the installation instructions and prime your floors first. I just wanted to bring that out into the open before I got lots of questions in the comments! Despite the lack of primer, our tiles are holding up just fine so far.

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

The final step in this closet makeover project was to bring in the accents and décor. I spent an hour or so tweaking every detail, and now I finally feel like it’s perfect. The best news of all is that our pets love it, too. The closet has been done for about a week at this point and whenever I can’t find one of our cats, I almost always discover them lazing around in their new hideaway.

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

Of course, the ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter is another big hit in this project, but I already knew that was going to be the case. The modern rounded litter box I found online was the perfect way to contain the litter, and the litter itself has done an excellent job containing what goes on inside the box (TMI but true!). It also comes in 2 sizes (14lb. and 19lb.), perfect for any household!

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

Can you believe the before-and-after difference? That one photo above is a tiny bit of a stretch from the truth because I Photoshopped the ugly pipe out just to see how it might look but even with the pipe, the freshly designed room still takes me by surprise. I’m kicking myself for not doing the project sooner, but I’m glad that it provided the perfect opportunity to team up with a brand that our household already uses and trusts.

Grab your own box of ARM & HAMMER™ Cloud Control™ Clumping Litter in the pet aisle at your local Kroger or Kroger banner stores, and don’t forget to find savings using Kroger Grocery Pickup. Now, shout out in the comments below with any questions you might have or tell us about a closet you’ve been meaning to make over in your house!

From Basement Closet, To Dust-Free Pet Zone | dreamgreendiy.com + @armandhammer #AD

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Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

One of the more frequent requests I get over on Instagram when I open up the floor for blog post ideas is a quick rundown of interior photography tips. I am, by no means, a professional photographer, and I just learned as I went over the past eight years of documenting our home for Dream Green DIY. That said, I’m more than willing to share all of those tricks I’ve picked up along the way.

If you’re interested in a deeper dive, I would suggest investing in an online course that will give you more in-depth instructions for taking better photos. It took me at least a year to feel confortable enough to shoot in manual mode on my camera, but I haven’t looked back since I made the switch. I feel like shooting in manual mode gives you so much more control over your photography, and opens the door to tons of creativity, too.

However, I don’t really feel comfortable enough to teach you how to actually go manual. The good news is that these tips I share below (specifically for shooting in low light interior spaces) could be the perfect stepping stone to take you into manual mode on your camera.

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Choose Your Time Wisely

I think it’s pretty safe to assume that you’ve heard shooting interior spaces with natural light is your best bet for a crisp, clean, bright image. So, with that in mind, choose your photoshoot time wisely. Get to know the times of day when it’s best to shoot a certain room.

For example, I know that I have to shoot any master bedroom photos between 8:00am and 10:00am because that’s when the sun shines through the side windows of our house. Conversely, the office and guest room, both on the opposite side of our home, get the best light after 6:00pm.

No matter where a room is in your house, there’s always a “best” time to shoot it based on the natural light it gets (with the exception of window-less spaces, of course). Observe the rooms in your house over the course of a week and make note of the optimal times to shoot them so you can get the brightest images possible.

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Turn The Lights On

For those rooms that don’t have any natural light to speak of (ex. a window-less bathroom or laundry room), you’ll have to make do with overhead artificial lighting. I used to think these types of spaces just weren’t photograph-able because of the lack of natural light, but I’ve learned over the years that artificial lighting can work to your advantage if you know how to edit the photos in post-production.

Our bathrooms are the number one culprit in this category. Neither one has a window, so I have to rely entirely on overhead fixtures. I shoot the space with all the lights on to ensure as much even lighting as possible (although you won’t be able to avoid shadows entirely, unfortunately), and then I tweak the photos in Lightroom after the fact.

I think the biggest thing to be prepared for when shooting low light spaces using artificial light bulbs is an overall “off” color tone. It depends on the temperature of your bulbs, but your photos will probably look really oversaturated and unnaturally orange. To fix this, I actually use the auto white balance setting in Lightroom. With one click, I can often get rid of all the orange glow from the photo, but it does sometimes overcompensate by turning the photo very blue.

After auto-balancing the color, I can make tiny tweaks to the image (adding back some warm tones, increasing the purple to desaturate it a little more) until it looks soft and inviting. All this to say that overhead lighting really can be your pal!

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Use A Tripod

Now, let’s say you have a space that has natural light to speak of, but not very much of it. These types of spaces are perfect for a tripod since you can slow the shutter speed way, way down in order to allow the maximum amount of light to get into your camera. I know I’ve just officially gone into “Manual Mode” language, so feel free to rely on those first two tips mentioned above until you’ve had time to take a course!

For those of you who already use this mode and feel comfortable manipulating the shutter speed on your camera, I couldn’t recommend a tripod more. There’s just no way you could hold a camera steady enough on your own. I also feel like a camera remote is a necessary investment since any movement on the camera at all when using a slow shutter speed (like your finger pressing the trigger) could result in a blurry photo.

Here’s how to do it. Set your camera on the tripod, situate it in a place to capture the spot you want, set your camera on a 2-second delay timer controlled by your remote, step back, and press the button on your remote to engage the timer. Don’t move or even breathe until that shutter closes back up! I’ve literally taken a step too soon toward the camera before the shutter was closed, and gotten a blurry photo because my feet made the floor (and camera) shake just a little bit. It’s that sensitive.

Ultimately, a tripod is the ideal way to maximize small doses of natural light when photographing a space.

Tips For Photographing Low Light InteriorsTips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

Bump Up The ISO On Your Camera

Again, this trick will have you branching out into manual mode on your camera, but it’s the method I use most often these days to combat photography in a dark space. If you bump up the ISO on your camera, you’ll be able to increase the sensitivity of the image sensor so you can get brighter images, even in low light interior spaces.

The only caveat is that you’ll decrease the quality of your final image. You’ll end up with a slightly grainy photograph. Some photographers do this on purpose to achieve a bit of a vintage effect on their images, and I personally love the look, too! It’s just something to keep in mind when you start manipulating the ISO on your camera.

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

This is a topic that I could clearly go on and on about, and I was so excited to find out that it interested you guys, too. Photography is never something I thought I’d have the opportunity to get into, but this job opened the door for an ultra deep dive down into the craft. I consider it a lucky perk since it’s now one of my favorite things to do on a weekly basis.

Feel free to leave any lingering questions below, and if you have an online or in-person photography class to recommend, do tell in the comments!

Tips For Photographing Low Light Interiors

*I earn a small percentage from purchases made using the affiliate links above. Affiliate links are not sponsored. Rest assured that I never recommend products we wouldn’t use or don’t already love ourselves.

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