If you are a DIYer and plan on trying the Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel you must read this first...

I was over joyed with the thought of having what I want and not having to deplete my home improvement budget.

I purchased the Thomas' Liquid Stainless Steel Range kits online and was super excited to get started. When the products arrived I watched the video multiple times and read over the directions over and over again. I was ready to begin.

The application was super easy and looked fantastic. I was very pleased. What could go wrong.

The Wrong...

After a week of using my stove the rim around the burners started turning brown. The brown ring started growing in size. The top of my stove that at one point was beautiful stainless steel was now brown and yucky. How can this be? What did I do wrong? Was I not supposed to paint the top of the range? Horror crept in. I searched the site for help and this is what I found...

"Like all stainless steel range tops, Thomas' Stainless SteelTM will 'season or bronze the stainless steel around any burner that accommodates pots or pans that are significantly wider than the burner. This bronzing typically seasons about one inch of the stainless around the burner. You can observe seasoning on all stainless steel range tops in chef's kitchens. " -Thomas' Stainless Steel

I was horrified! This was located under the FAQ tab and if I would have seen this I wouldn't have purchased the product. Who wants their over to look like it hasn't been cleaned in a year? As for seasoning, it's more like burnt paint.

The photo above was taken after I started the removal process. I wish I would've snapped a photo of the stove before hand to show how terrible it looked, but I was so embarrassed I couldn't bring myself to take the photo.

The really dark ring is usually where the black burner insert covers and the lighter brown rings show beyond the insert. This is the area of seasoning, as they call it. I call it horror.

Stop back on Monday for the part two of this post for the actual removal with photos. It surprisingly comes completely off with a awesome cleaner and a little elbow grease.

Here are some of my best tips: .

#1 - Use as many free materials in your landscape as you can. Every part of the world has at least one thing in abundance that you can use for free, be it gravel, rocks or stones; wood,pallets or pine needles; dumpsters, landfill sites or Craig's List and Freecycling networks as cheap sources for repurposed items. Find out what's in your own neighbourhood or town and use it! I've used my local freecycling network to find plants and shrubs for free. I got a whole lilac hedge that way, it really works!!

#2 - Beg for plant divisions or cuttings from family, friends and neighbours. Anyone who has perennials , bulbs or tubers will have to be dividing them up every so often and will be happy to let you have the extras.

#3 - Look for local gardening clubs, they usually have plant sales once or twice a year to raise money for the club and you can get beautiful plants for much less than gardening centers sell them. Plus you know they will survive in your climate because the local gardeners have grown them.

#4 - Watch for end-of-season sales. You can pick up loads of plants at a discount from department stores that have seasonal garden centers. That's where you can pick up your trees and shrubs for less and save big!

#5 - Grow your own plants from seed. Some plants are super simple to grow, you can even just toss the seeds out in your garden at the right time and they'll grow well. Hardy geraniums,sunflowers and pansies are easy to start from seed. Poppies and cosmos are good examples of seeds you can just sow directly in the garden. Opium poppies can even be sown while there is still snow on the garden

#6 - Grow plants that self-seed or spread easily. Examples are creeping thyme, culinary thyme, Johnny Jump-ups, Ladies' Mantle, campanula, euphorbia, lamium, bugleweed, poppies and bee balm. I don't quite understand the desire for growing borderline plants in the garden. I personally don't want to drag some plant kicking and screaming into my garden, I'd much rather have ones that are happily growing and flowering and self-seeding all over.

The best part about rampant growers and self-seeders is that every year, you can dig up the extras and sell them at a yard sale to make some extra cash for the landscaping items that you can't get for free.

Hope I've been able to give you at least one tip you can use. Happy gardening!

#landscaping #gardening #Maygarden