kitchen accessories Archives

I switched to reusable bamboo paper towels to help my kids’ climate change anxiety, and here’s how it went

by Kate Etue | Kitchen + Dining, Tips + Tricks

I committed to switching to reusable bamboo paper towels recently, in part at the urging of my teens. The realities of climate change — and the constant important conversations about it in the media — is a very real stressor for my kids. Especially since COVID, when...

Target dropped their Black Friday deals early! We pared it down to the good stuff.

by Kate Etue | Tips + Tricks

Target has rolled out their Black Friday deals way early this month, so there’s no need to wait until after Thanksgiving to do your holiday shopping. Which is good, considering we are so down with the retail therapy right now. So we’ve put together the...

We’ve got 5 eco-friendly paper towel alternatives to help you make the switch at the perfect time.

by Caroline Siegrist | Kitchen + Dining, Tips + Tricks

I’ve been meaning to wean our family off paper towels for years, and this quarantine is finally giving the push that I need. Thanks, empty paper towel shelves at Kroger! So I’ve been chatting with eco-conscious friends and colleagues about favorite paper...

Decluttering solutions: Hang these 8 things to free up floor space!

by Liz Gumbinner | Living, Storage + Organization, Tips + Tricks

As a small-space apartment dweller, I’m always thinking about ways to declutter. Not that I always achieve it, but I try! A lot of the trick, as I’ve learned, is about getting stuff off the floor that we just assume goes…on the floor. So we all know...

If toilets could talk: 9 funny things every parent wishes our homes could say to our kids.

by Cool Mom Staff | Living

We’re happy to be working with our sponsor Brother to bring you this post If we had a nickel for every time we told our kids to put away their shoes or pick up their toys, well, we’d be writing this from our yacht in the south of France while Jeeves served...

Newly gives old materials new life in the most beautiful way

by Kristen Chase | Living

It used to be that clothes and gifts made from recycled materials compromised on style. But these days, companies are finding creative ways to make fabulous products using resources we already have, making a huge, positive impact on the planet we live on and the one...

Rainbow housewares to brighten up winter. Or any season.

by Liz Gumbinner | Art + Decor, Kitchen + Dining, Living

January is tough on my but by February I tend to hit the doldrums. Yes, it’s actually light until (nearly) 5:20 so that’s in the plus column, but I start to feel like everything around me is gray, including the remaining snow piles on the sidewalks in New...

Everything you need to know about Handmade at Amazon: Is it the Etsy competitor everyone says it is?

by Kristen Chase | Uncategorized

We started Cool Mom Picks shortly after Etsy launched, and we’ve been big fans ever since, discovering and happily sharing some of the coolest indie artisans and their handmade goods here on our site for nearly ten years now. So as huge supporters of the...

Start your day with coffee and a laugh. Thanks, Emily McDowell.

by Kristen Chase | Kitchen + Dining

I’m pretty sure that artist Emily McDowell is inside my head, because every single thing she makes I find myself nodding and smiling, maybe laughing, and then laughing some more. And that’s the case with her newest crop of funny coffee mugs which makes the...

How to clean up after those plums in the ice box that were so sweet and delicious.

by Liz Gumbinner | Kitchen + Dining

William Carlos Williams has always been one of my favorite poets, and to this day, his imagery of plums in the icebox remains strong and beautiful thanks to my mom introducing me to This is Just To Say when I was young. So when I saw this William Carlos Williams tea...

Hi! We’re Kristen + Liz!

Kristen Chase + Liz Gumbinner of Cool Mom Picks

We started Cool Mom Picks in 2006 to help make life cooler, more meaningful, and more fun for parents of all kinds.

Trivia: It was called Cool Mom Sh*t for the first two days. (Yeah, we rethought that.)

We had no idea our site would grow to become a major lifestyle network, that we'd end up sharing our finds with the TODAY Show and Martha Stewart, that we'd be able to make a real difference for so many small businesses and women-run companies, or that we'd end up with an incredible community of the coolest readers on the planet. (If we do say so ourselves).

We still love what we do every single day. And we're so glad you're here.