Newbie help for a small north facing dark house with many obstacles.
Boots Mcneil
5 years ago
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North Facing impatiens under porch
Comments (5)Just following up on my original post. Thanks to all you here my impatiens are doing quite well under the porch. Here are my lessons learned (and still learning): Osmocote (14-14-14) helped immensely Don't overwater. All 16 pots cannot be on the same watering schedule. Some pots receive full sun, partial sun, no sun. The pots facing east (morning sun) and the west (afternoon sun) are doing the best. The pots that receive next to no direct sun are the least full and are the smallest, but they are flowering. The pots on the west side are getting leggy and will require pinching soon. The west side pots tend to wither a little from the direct last afternoon sun, but they bounce back in the evening. Only water when needed! My only question at the moment is when should I apply more Osmocote? It claims to last 4 months, but is this realistic? Thanks. Dave...See MoreHelp! two shaded beds - North and West side of the house
Comments (2)Some shrubs i grow in partial shade that the deer haven't bothered around my house: Deutzia Chardonnay pearls Weigela false Cypress Fothergillia How about some tradescantia, st john's wort, foam flower, toad lily....See MoreDark cabinets in north facing kitchen?
Comments (12)I don't have very good light in my kitchen at all. I have a very small window over the sink which faces west but barely gets sun because the house next door is very close to the lot line and shadows mine. That window was that way when I took the house and I really didn't have the extra money to make it larger. It was either that or remove the other small window which faced south, and add a sliding door. I chose the door. However, even with adding the slider, it still doesn't brighten up the room substantially since the sun doesn't hit that side of the house - it hits the detached garage wall instead most of the day. I only get sun early in the morning there, and in the small window, late in the day but it's too small to make an impact. Having said all that - I wanted dark cabinets because my home was built in 1915, and is for the most part Craftsman and has all of it's original woodwork - which had never been painted. All of it is very dark wood. I wanted to make the kitchen feel as much like the rest of the house as possible. Anything other than a dark wood seemed inauthentic to me. So, I went with Quartersawn Oak in an espresso stain (I think that's what it is, I forget already - it's been well over a year plus since it was all installed, going on 2). I added all new overhead lighting to compensate along with undercabinet lights of course. When the overheads first came on I hated them. It felt like the sun exploded in the room lol. Now, I'm used to it and it is fine. I do wish I had not "cheaped out" in some ways on the under cabinet lights, but I had already spent something like $20K on lighting and was so angry at my electrician I just wanted to get it over already. Maybe one day I'll be able to fix what I don't like about that aspect of it - but overall, it certainly is way bright enough and I've never gotten the feeling the room is too dark. BTW, the small window? When we began demolition we discovered it originally had been an enormous almost to the floor window that had been bricked up! And there had been another one on the same wall! These old homes when first built had big windows in them to bring in as much light as possible because electricity stunk back then :) Unfortunately, I couldn't have made it work even if I wanted to bring it back to it's original state. That, would have been one heck of an expensive window and I would have lost precious cabinet and counter space to boot....See MoreWould you buy a house with main rooms facing North-East?
Comments (25)" I never even thought about the direction of any house I bought." Me, either. There is no perfect house, there's always something that's a compromise. In this house, I have an interior kitchen, how I wish I had a window -- I'd take any window, even a north one. But there are lots of windows in the house, including a great room that has banks of windows on three sides = abundant light. The property itself is terrific, and in the geographic location I wanted, so I bought the house. My last house had a south-facing entry and kitchen/eating area with two decent-sized windows, after many years there and trees filling in, guess what? Wasn't all that sunny in there -- bright, but not sunny. My southern view was of the driveway and cars driving down the street -- I'd take a northern or eastern exposure with a great view over that. That same house had the living and dining room facing north with huge window and patio door -- never was sunny in there, either, but it never felt dark or dreary in there, even in winter, because of the abundance of natural light and I maximized my view out those windows with the patios and landscaping, it was lovely to be in there and look out those windows. Those north-facing windows. What I'm trying to say is there are so many variables to take into consideration, not just the exposure....See MoreBoots Mcneil
5 years agoYardvaark
5 years agolaceyvail 6A, WV
5 years agoNHBabs z4b-5a NH
5 years agoDig Doug's Designs
5 years agoBoots Mcneil
5 years agojunco East Georgia zone 8a
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agogardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
5 years agoYardvaark
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoDig Doug's Designs
5 years agoBoots Mcneil
5 years agoEmbothrium
5 years ago
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