How the notes on this site get made, said plainly.
One writer
Everything here is written and edited by Noelle Kirkbride. I use software to check spelling and to look up background, as anyone does, but the handling, the judging and the being wrong are mine, and so is the name at the top.
A season before it is published
An object gets weeks in a real house before it becomes an article. Week one flatters almost anything. Week ten is when the finish rubs through, the hinge starts to drop, or the smell turns out to be a headache in a jar, and that is the week worth writing down. If I have only read about a method rather than done it, the piece says so in the open.
The attempts stay in
When a repair took three goes, the article says three goes and describes what went wrong in the first two. That is not a mannerism. It is the most useful part, because it tells you which of those failures you are currently having.
No manufactured enthusiasm
Overrated gets called overrated. If a thing only survives in a household with no children and no dog, that limit goes in the body of the article, not in a hedge at the bottom.
Independence
Commercial relationships, set out in the affiliate disclosure, have no say in what is recommended or how warmly. No brand, agency or network sees a piece before it is published.
Corrections
Articles are revised when I learn something better, and the updated date at the top of the page reflects it. If something here is wrong, write to [email protected] and I will fix it and say what changed, rather than quietly editing it and hoping.
Where I stop
Work here stays at the level of somebody with a screwdriver, a bit of patience, and a willingness to make good afterwards. Anything touching electrics, gas, plumbing behind a wall, or structure goes to a licensed trade, and the articles say so where it comes up. Genuinely valuable or rare pieces go to a conservator, not into a bowl of vinegar.