Dream home requirements. What's on YOUR list?
8 years ago
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My 2011 grow list...what's your opinion...and your list?
Comments (71)I don't post here a lot, but I do on the Canadian forums. I lurk here :-) I don't grow a lot of tomato varieties but I do grow for quality. This year I have one plant, grown form a seed of the original Gordon Graham tomato. He has the world's record largest tomato according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Through good fortune and a friend, I was able to trade for just a few seeds from Gordon Graham's world record tomato. I got one to germinate, so I have one tomato plant that is a direct child of his original! I do grow other tomatoes but I'm really excited about this one! We had a very bad tomato year last year with lots of BER. This year I planted the tomatoes in my good lasagne "wine" garden, dug in lots of old manure, a little lime and one Tums tablet in each hole. The same friend who gave me the seeds above, told me that a Tums will help supply the calcium the tomatoes need to help prevent BER. So I'm trying it. It's easy and cheap, so I figured "Why not?" We'll see how it goes. Needless to say, I baby that plant! In addition to that one, I am also growing our own heritage Portugal beefheart tomatoes (see link to pic below), San Marzano, Manitoba, Ailsa Craig, and Rev Morrow long keeper. Here is a link that might be useful:...See MoreHome Depot,, Can you get your dream kitchen though them?
Comments (25)Hello again Peggy, Just my two cents here - Because of budget we are DIY'rs. We ended up going with Lowes on their cabinets because we liked the designer so much. We had been to others at the big box stores and were not impressed, but then we ran into some guy that had been doing it for 5 or 6 years in there kitchen dept and loved his job. He listened to what we were trying to achieve and spent oddles of time with us trying to make things work based on what I was trying to accomplish inside my cabinet doors and my space in addition to getting the "look". Had it not been for him we probably would of ended up looking into custom - we are having to manipulate and piecing things together to achieve the look we want which has required alot of patience and frustration along the way. Maybe this is normal with DIY...there were certain elements that I wanted within the cabintry that couldn't be done (feet on my island, panels on the sides of cabinets we built up to look like furniture, roll out trays on our island that they didn't carry for that piece, etc.,) Looking hindsight I would have checked into custom, I've heard it here before as igloochick mentioned that alot of times it can be cheaper! Another problem we ran into is after we ordered and installed our cabinets we went back to add crown molding (we waited on this because at the start of our renovation we bumped our wall out 2' and it gave a slanted ceiling, we wanted to install our cabinets first to see what we would need for pieces with the crown molding - in the meantime our designer from Lowes moved and we had to begin dealing with someone else in that dept which has been a nightmare - that is a story in itself - Kraftmaid says we have to deal with Lowes and go through them for our needs. I'm sure this wouldn't happen often but it is possible - our original designer has tried to help us long distance but Lowes does not want him to handle it out of state since our take backs and pick ups are here....with all that said I wish I would have checked into custom since I knew what I wanted - BUT I am happy with the way things are looking, just thinking the frustration and aggravation wouldn't be as it is AND it could have costed less. BTW, I answered you on my post (I too had a hard time finding my post??!!) Just in case you don't get there - Thank you for all your support! I would love to see pics and hear progress! Keep in touch Jen...See MoreWhat would you want in your "downsized" dream home?
Comments (54)DH and I are also thinking about downsizing someday, now that we're empty nesters. Our home, while not huge at 3200 sf, is still very labor intensive with its all-brick floors, all adobe walls, 4 patios, 4 fireplaces, a 300-foot long (gravel, curvy, up and down through the trees) driveway, and several acres of land, in the mountains, achieved through a mountain pass that can get very icy during Winters, and at least 20 minutes from most stores. The realities of what we ideally would like versus what we may need is a real wakeup. When my parents originally downsized from our family home with bedrooms enough for nine kids, they bought a Winter home north of Tampa with 2 bedrooms and one bath. It seemed ultimately practical to them at the time, as my parents were very athletic and Mom was looking forward to not having a large home to clean for the first time is many, many years. But, the reality of it was sadly different. It made it very difficult for any of us with kids to visit them comfortably. At the same time, they also had a Summer place up on Lake Huron in Michigan. That, too, was small, and made visiting difficult. So, the sad reality was that the first 20 years of their retirement were spent pretty much alone, as all of their children lived in Michigan (6), Atlanta (1), Colorado (1) or New Mexico (1). We all had small kids and many of my siblings did not have the funds to put their families up in a hotel for a week, along with the airfare for them all. Mom's health took a bad turn, they sold their Florida home and moved in with my one sister and BIL's large two story home in Atlanta. But, Sis immediately had to have a stair climber put it, as stairs were too difficult for Mom . . . and eventually Dad, as well. When Mom's health progressed to a point where my sis could no longer take care of her, less than two years later, (Mom had Progressive Supranuclear Palsy), we again moved them, this time into a senior living apartment back in Michigan near the majority of their now-adult kids. This was good because it had round-the-clock staff to call if needed. It was also designed for seniors, being a one-story apartment with any tripping hazards eliminated, a walk-in shower with a seat, call buttons, wide doorways to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs, etc. So, what kind of retirement home do I see us downsizing into? Somewhere close to at least one of our kids and their family. In a community designed for retirees. 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Hopefully wide doorways, etc. just in case, God forbid, we ever need them ourselves! A gourmet kitchen, but it doesn't have to be a large one. Open concept. a great room, instead of our now separate family room, living room and dining rooms. A walled backyard for privacy . . . and this may be our biggest compromise. Having lived here in the mountains, where we all have enough land so that neighbors daily noises aren't heard, it may be very hard to be subjected to close neighbor's music, conversations, etc.. That worries me a lot!....See MoreWhat's Your Dryer, What's Your Dream Dryer? :)
Comments (8)Electrolux WaveTouch is my current dryer. The set just turned two years old. It has reverse tumble but only in the Cool Down portion of the cycle (called Perfect Tumble) and when you use the Wrinkle Release (which tumbles without heat in a clockwise direction for 5 minutes then counter clockwise for five minutes for a total for 45 minutes). This is after the Cool Down is done. You can also add Extended Tumble in conjunction with Wrinkle Release. Extended Tumble extends the tumbling by 10 or 30 minutes or 1, 2 or 3 hours with no heat. It also has Shrink Guard which I use. It reduces the initial drying temperature and gradually lowers the trying temperature during the cycle. I also use the Eco Friendly option which reduces the drying temperature a few degrees. I never use High Heat. I use Med-High or lower for all drying. Other options: Add Steam: this just sprays a mist of water just before the Cool Down. Sanitize: this uses high heat and extended drying time to kill 99.9% of bacteria. (NSF certified P154) Damp Alert: A chime will sound when the load has reached the Damp Dry dryness level for you to remove items you don't want fully dry. Allergen: This option reduces allergens (not recommended for items prone to heat damage). Line Dry: Select this option to simulate hanging your laundry in a summer breeze combined with the wrinkle-releasing benefits of tumble action. Since drying times are calculated with the dryer’s automatic moisture sensors and heat is radically reduced or eliminated, cycle time will be lengthened. As a result, depending on moisture content of load, overall energy consumption decreases. Anti Static: This injects steam into the clothing just before cycle completion to reduce static....See More
8 years agoWell, I put just about everything into our dream home that we already built, so the next design I have in mind is a lake house, southern facing wall of glass overlooking a swimming lake with no motor vehicles...modern and minimalist design so it's easy to clean and maintain, inspired by the glass house.
User thanked Annie Deighnaugh
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago- 8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
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