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Showing your abode can be stressful and exciting during the home buying and selling process. It’s your chance to present your space at its best so potential homebuyers can picture themselves making it their own. Let us help you break down the home staging and prep process so you can tackle the cleaning, organizing, and arranging in a manageable manner. With just a few easy tips for selling your house, you’ll be ready for a real estate showing or open house in no time....

Faithful readers, as you know, Grumpy was recently accused of favoring non-native plants, an indictment that wounded me deeply. I have always treasured our indigenous botanical wonders and cultivate them all over my garden. Here is one I would like to bring to your attention that I grow and you probably don’t, but should—a marvelous woodland shrub called bottlebrush buckeye. Native to the southeast but adapted to a much larger area, bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) gets its name from showy, white, summer blooms that resemble bottlebrushes and its dark, shiny, inedible seeds that remind you of chestnuts or buckeyes....

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, Easter is going to look very different this year. For those who celebrate, the new normal will be streaming religious services from home and only gathering with those already in the household as we stay put to flatten the curve. Hosting or heading out for group dinners with loved ones from near—and maybe even far—will be out of the question. But we’re glad to learn we’ve got at least one comfort food restaurant to bring a bit of normalcy and tasty food into our homes: Cracker Barrel....

It started with a single missed digit and ended with a group of unsuspecting high school freshman meeting the greatest quarterback of all time. The Notre Dame Preparatory School freshman boys’ basketball team, in Pontiac, Michigan, was putting together a group text when one of the players typed a phone number in incorrectly. Once the boys start texting, the person on the other end of the wrong number asks if they meant to add him to the group....

From weddings and baby showers to birthday parties, church picnics, holidays, and funerals, no Southern get-together is complete without a showstopping layer cake. While the region celebrates this iconic dessert throughout the year, layer cakes didn’t originate in the South, or even in the United States. With roots in European traditions, the first layer cakes began showing up in America in the mid 1800s, with some of the earliest layer cake recipes published in “Mrs....

Mama always told us that we should never go to bed with a dirty kitchen. The sink should be emptied, the dishes should be put away, and the countertops should be thoroughly wiped down. Period. Running the dishwasher is easy enough. Drop some detergent in and go. But what about cleaning those countertops? How do you give countertops the deep clean they deserve? We’re sharing how to clean quartz countertops....

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, a creature was stirring, twice the size of a mouse. An unsuspecting tree prepped with holiday cheer would land one curious cat on the naughty list this year. It’s a tale Southern pet owners know all too well. With our Christmas trees dressed to the nines in heirloom ornaments, dazzling lights, and classic tinsel, it’s no wonder our pets are enamored with our holiday decor....

Please place your seat backs and tray tables in their full upright position for the arrival of Krispy Kreme’s latest collection. Today, the doughnut giant introduced its Biscoff Doughnut Collection, featuring all-new doughnuts that combine the flavors of both brands for the first time in the United States. The first-class collaboration combines Krispy Kreme’s Original Glaze with Lotus Biscoff’s Cookies, the delicious caramelized cookie treats that have been delighting Delta passengers since 1990....

Times are stressful. Today, I started my day with Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra Live from Carnegie Hall—it is that much better for it. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, countless cultural institutions are offering ways for people to enjoy art, music, theater, and dance from their living rooms. And when you’re in need of a dose of ethereal calm, you can’t do much better than a symphony from the world’s home for classical music, Carnegie Hall....

For a certain generation of Americans, Mary-Margaret Humes was America’s Mom. In the late 90s and early aughts she starred in Dawson’s Creek as Gayle Leery, Dawson’s mother. She’s now carrying on that cool mom vibe in her latest role as Alice, surrogate mom to Ryan Paevey’s Josh Wyatt in Two Tickets to Paradise on Hallmark Channel. In a recent phone call with Southern Living, Humes said, “I’m not a mom, I just play one on TV....

A low building sits off a side road in Andalusia, Alabama, about as far from any major town as possible. There is little decoration on the outside, no shutters, no shrubs. It’s plain in just about every way. But each time visitors from Atlanta or New York or London open the front door at Dean’s Cake House, it’s like opening a warm oven. They close their eyes against a billow of sweet air, and sometimes—if it’s a first visit—they’ll say, “This smells like my grandmother’s kitchen....

Southern cooks are not shy with the spice cabinet. Our dishes don’t hit the table without receiving plenty of nurturing by way of butter, cream, salt, and whatever else can be dumped from the spice drawer, which is always stocked with Old Bay, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, Cavender’s, and countless other blends. Cajun cooking in particular calls for seasoning food with such wild abandon that no one can stand near the stovetop without having their eyes start to water....

You may brush, bathe, and trim your pup’s nails yourself, and if you can, consider yourself off the hook easily. But for many dog owners, their breed requires more specialized grooming, like a special cut or clipping, detangling, or shampooing long hair, not to mention nail trims. What do you tip for your dog’s salon services? “The amount you tip your groomer will vary depending on several factors,” says Dr. Linda Simon, a veterinary surgeon at FiveBarks, a site for practical advice when it comes to your canine companion....

Lovers of historic American architecture should set their courses to the northeast coast of Florida. The history buffs at Homes.com dug through the registrar of the National Park Service’s (NPS) National Register of Historic Places to determine which cities in the U.S. have the most historical homes. And the winner is: St. Augustine! According to the real estate site, this coastal Florida city boasts 11,231 registered homes. In fact, a staggering 22% of all homes in St....

Gone are the days of taking a so-so bath in a so-so tub. The bath tubs we see now on Instagram are a far cry from the lukewarm suds that we used to settle for. Nowadays it’s all fizzy bath bombs, stress-relieving essential oils, trendy bath soaks (whatever that means), and bath caddies so tricked out that we start to wonder when the caviar and Prosecco is going to arrive. It’s all about self-care, and we’re here for it....

When you’re a mom-to-be, you’re in a constant state of expecting. Yes, you’re expecting the arrival of your soon-to-be little angel. But you’re also expecting a lot of time, prep, and hard work leading up to the arrival of your newborn (and after). Which is precisely how the grand idea of Babymoons began. These mini getaways before the big day are designed to give the future mom and dad some alone time to nurture their relationship and, most importantly, to kick back and relax (and sleep…a lot)....

Look, you don’t need us to tell you this, but throwing out the trash or taking out the recycling isn’t exactly the most fun of chores. But when The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond, waves her magic fairy wand over the trash bin, we can’t help but smile at the result. And we have a feeling that any owner of this beautiful floral trash bin set will perk up every time he or she catches a glimpse of these beautiful receptacles....

The clever three-in-one breakfast station includes a griddle with a corresponding lid, a toaster, and a coffee maker with a reusable filter, all housed in one compact appliance. Don’t let its size fool you: The appliance is built to feed a family all at once. The griddle can fit your choice of eggs, bacon, and sausage, the toaster oven can fit multiple slices of toast or bagel halves, and the coffee maker can brew up to four cups of joe....

Vince Gill has enjoyed considerable success in music over the last four decades, but never, as it turns out, at the expense of his family. In CMT Giants: Vince Gill in Nashville, a television special dedicated to the crooner, his oldest daughter Jenny told a story that exemplifies his commitment to his loved ones—even when it meant forsaking his career. “When I was in first grade, I really wanted to play in my school talent show, so I asked my dad, who I knew could play guitar really well, if he would play for me so I could sing....

From Easter and Passover to music festivals and the NCAA basketball championships, the coronavirus pandemic has cancelled or upended how we celebrate countless occasions and events. In recent weeks, a slew of virtual tours and online experiences have helped fill that void and allows us to teleport ourselves to beautiful places—whether that’s the Grand Canyon or a Frank Lloyd Wright home— from afar. One of our favorite new pastimes? Visiting Southern gardens from our computer screens....