I do this every time...help me decide!
rubyclaire
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Featured Answer
Sort by:Oldest
Comments (78)
IdaClaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Save the lectures and help me decide what to do. haha.
Comments (27)Where we used to live in Zone 7 wisteria was a beautiful monster, but it CAN be made to mind. One neighbor, who we always referred to as my Jewish grandmother, had it trained very well. It grew over her breezeway, and it did not dare to step out of line! Another neighbor on the other side had it in the middle of the yard as a sort of shrub. It did well, bloomed nicely, and behaved itself. However, when she subsequently sold the house, the new owner spent several years running it over with his riding lawnmower trying to get rid of it for reasons best known to himself. Rrrrrrrrrrrrm! Crash! Rrrrrrrrrmmmm! Fut fut fut choke sputter Rrrrrrrrrrrrrm! Needless to say, the wisteria won. All he did was tick it off. Eventually, they reached a sort of truce. It stayed where it was, and he did not scalp it anymore. My parents have wisteria in their zone 7 garden, but it has only crawled moderately up a support up from a pool of tendrils in the shrub-esque form, not attempted a coup of the house and surrounding environs. Now we're in Zone 5b, and it seems to be less of an issue since while some folks have it, you do not see near as much of it as in the south. Perhaps the winters keep it in better check?? All that to say, yes, I would move it. No, I would not freak. Maybe a nice sturdy pergola in the middle of the yard with the wisteria climbing over it, a hammock in its shade, and a cool drink on a small table beside your favorite book?...See MoreDO I REALLY have to do ceiling fans in every room?
Comments (10)I'm not sure I understand why you are objecting to having ceiling fans "because they are so bright." Ceiling fans can be purchased with or without light kits. And, if you have to have a ceiling light fixture to meet code, every fan I've ever seen allows you to turn the fan on while leaving the light off and vise-versa. Plus there are loads and loads of different styles of light kits... many of which only use a single light bulb. There is nothing to stop you from using a very low wattage bulb. Bottom line is, the light from a ceiling fan light kit can be made as dim as you like... or left turned off completely. Maybe all the ceiling fans you have ever seen had kits with 3 or 4 bulbs and the owners liked thing bright so they put 75 watt or 100 watt bulbs in them. But it doesn't have to be that way. Thus "brightness" is simply no reason not to get ceiling fans. On the other hand, if you had said you just don't like the way ceiling fans look hanging up on the ceiling - well, that is a matter of taste and it is your home so you should have it the way you like. If you don't hate the look of the fans themselves, then you might want to consider that, from an energy usage standpoint, ceiling fans ARE WONDERFUL in hot, humid areas. If you use them, they will save you tons of money on air conditioning. We are in central Texas and our current house didn't have any ceiling fans when we bought it back in 1985. A few years later we found some Hunter fans on sale and decided to put one in our master-bedroom. Two days later we went back and bought fans for every room except the bathrooms. Our electricity bills immediately dropped by about 20%. Those fans are still going strong nearly 20 years later and we use them all the time. In fact, I find it really difficult to sleep in a room without a ceiling fan anymore. Even when the room is cool enough, I often wake up feeling like I'm smothering in my own CO2 because there is nothing to stir the air around. LOL! I'm sure your builder is thinking in terms of energy efficiency and maybe resale value. I personally would never buy again buy a home without ceiling fans...especially not in a hot humid area. But the bottom line is, it is YOUR home. Get it built the way you want it....See Morehelp me decide what to do with all these books!
Comments (32)To answer the question about tax write-offs... Last year, I gave away a lot of stuff. It felt great to declutter my home. And whenever possible, I collected the receipts from any charity that gave them out. They were too busy to actually write the receipt for me. They gave me the blank form, and let me figure out the value, on the honor system. I had the receipts all saved up for the tax accountant. Then my husband convinced me that we couldn't claim them for our taxes. So I shredded them, along with all the other paper clutter I have been shredding. Then the tax accountant said that if we had any receipts from donations to charity, he needed them for our tax return. I had several hundred dollars of donations, by my reckoning. He said we needed to try to reconstruct them,. He sent us a list of prices used by the Salvation Army to estimate the value of donations. I told my husband that there was no way I could remember everything I had given away. I refused to even try. I wanted it to be a lesson to him that if the wife lady puts a donation receipt into the tax folder, he is not to try to convince her to take it back out. Now, it has backfired. I want him to get rid of some of his own stuff ... for example, his old trumpet that he hasn't played since high school. But he refuses to just Freecycle it, even though there was a request for a trumpet just last week, on the local Freecycle list. My hubby wants somebody to tell him exactly how much his trumpet is worth, so he can be sure to get the proper, full value of it as a donation from a place that will actually give him a receipt. So now, there is a huge obstacle to getting it out of the house! Well, we are no worse off than before. The trumpet is still in the basement. And I'm still trying to get him to realize what he needs to receive in order to be willing to get it out of the house. I have yet to make him realize that he has to be willing to do the work to get it out of the house via the method he envisions. Baby steps! LOL...See MoreHelp me decide what to do with a 50 yr old healthy Chrysler Imperial
Comments (19)I agree Diane. It is a pretty amazing rose bush to survive on so much neglect and absolutely no supplemental water for so long (my hubby's parents used to care for it, but fell ill for many years and it wasn't a priority), to handle a crazy transplant in the heat of summer here, and still be putting out huge blooms just a few months later! I think it will end up being just fine. The idea of RMV doesn't really bother me too much. Its funny abut my nails. I do them myself while I'm reading or listening to a video lecture. It's a gel that cures by UV light and lasts about 2 weeks. I usually just stick with the same few colors... burgundy, red or lavender. And I wear latex or vinyl gloves in the garden, usually under other thicker gloves like gauntlet gloves. I like to have pretty nails and pretty flowers. :-)...See Morerubyclaire
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agoAllison0704
4 years agoAllison0704
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agoIdaClaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agoIdaClaire
4 years agoAllison0704
4 years agojust_terrilynn
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agojust_terrilynn
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agojust_terrilynn
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agoBumblebeez SC Zone 7
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agojust_terrilynn
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoAllison0704
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agorubyclaire
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Related Stories
FUN HOUZZHouzz Quiz: How to Find Your ‘Me Time’ Place
Looking for the best place in your house to soothe away your stress? We’re here to help
Full StoryLIFEYou Said It: ‘They Looked at Me Like I Had 10 Heads’
Design advice, inspiration and observations that struck a chord
Full StoryEXTERIORSHelp! What Color Should I Paint My House Exterior?
Real homeowners get real help in choosing paint palettes. Bonus: 3 tips for everyone on picking exterior colors
Full StoryLIFEThe Polite House: Do I Have to Display Decor Given to Me as a Gift?
Etiquette columnist Lizzie Post tackles the challenge of accepting and displaying home decor gifts from frequent visitors
Full StoryPAINTINGHelp! I Spilled Paint on My Clothes — Now What?
If you’ve spattered paint on your favorite jeans, here’s what to do next
Full StoryENTRYWAYSHelp! What Color Should I Paint My Front Door?
We come to the rescue of three Houzzers, offering color palette options for the front door, trim and siding
Full StoryFUN HOUZZEverything I Need to Know About Decorating I Learned from Downton Abbey
Mind your manors with these 10 decorating tips from the PBS series, returning on January 5
Full StorySponsored
Bunny