If you had an unlimited home design budget, what would you do with it?
Lindsey R.
last year
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millworkman
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If you had 3 Pennisetum 'Hamelin', what would you do with them?
Comments (11)The trees (there are 3 of them in this narrow curving bed, planted in a flattened upside down "v") are actually in the same family as crabapples, but are Crusader Hawthorns, Crataegus crus-galli ÂCruzamÂ. These are dwarf thornless Hawthorns which supposedly top out at 15-20 ft tall and wide, with tiny glossy leaves which perch on craggy, architectural looking limbs, and have a very rough grey bark. Crusaders have somewhat stinky white flowers (loved by bees and other insects) in June after the crabapples I have are done blooming, and red-orange berries in early fall, followed by orange fall color. These are great trees (also very disease resistent) for small lots and tolerate my heavy very wet clay alkaline soil. The arborvitae (two of them) are Thuja occidentalis 'Smaragd', also called Emerald or Emerald Green. They are pyramidal and get about 15 ft tall and 3 ft wide. I bought them because they stay green during the winter, instead of the off green/brown color of many arborvitaes in my climate and also tolerate wettish clay soil. They are common here and often used as a solid hedge all around people's yards, space I wasn't about to give up to a hedge in my small yard. I settled on two arborvitaes planted on the sides of the flattened inverted "v", each in between two of the hawthorns, and each flanked by two variegated Red twig dogwoods. Although this "reads" as one planting, the Emeralds are actually planted along the fence in another long curving bed behind a 3 foot wide grass path dividing the two beds. The fence bed area contains a drainage swale and a neighborhood drain on each side, 7 homes on one side drain to my right and 7 more to my left. The arborvitaes are planted several feet below the level of the bed with the hawthorns, all of this gets telescoped inwards by the camera. Anyway, sorry this is so long, I get carried away sometimes....See MoreIf you had one whole day to yourself, what would you do?
Comments (27)I've been sitting here for a few minutes contemplating what I'd do if I had a day to myself. No kids? No interruptions? Peace and quiet all day long? It's sounding so good, I just might try to arrange it in the next couple of months! :) I would sleep in. I'd read in bed. I'd have a long bath, go check out a couple of thrift stores, eat lunch out.... I'd go for a nice hike somewhere quiet by the water. I'd go home and order in some Vietnamese soup for dinner. I'd read out on the deck with a big glass of wine and some jazz music. Then I'd watch a good chick flick before reading in bed some more. Ahhhh.... I feel refreshed just having written about it! :)...See MoreIf you had a clean slate, what would you do?
Comments (10)I was faced with a clean slate when we bought our first house this summer. The backyard was paved with stones and the only planting was a tree. We ended up putting in 4 raised beds, two meter square ones aND two border ones because that is all the space that we have. But the raised beds are wonderful for the following reasons: 1) limited bending, no working on hands and knees. They are quite high, 60cm and would be good for an older person with limited mobility. 2) raised beds put plants out if the "danger zone" of our male dog 3) easier soil amendment. It was simple to develop a great planting medium and to put in the beds, avoiding the sandy and rocky soil left underneath. 4) Smelling the roses! Raising them brings them closer to nose height and you get to enjoy the wafting fragrance all the more! Also, they are right at eye height from the garden bench, so you can really enjoy them close up 5) less weeds than before 6) avoids pests like rabbits, if that is a problem where you are 7) raised beds allow for neat and tidy paths for pets and people. We use pea gravel between the paths. Downsides I think in this initial stage is more watering. In the raised beds I think they may have some evaporation from the sides. Also they will probably be more prone to temperature fluctuation, kept warmer in the summer and colder in the winter. But in any case, I would highly reccomend raised beds for roses. You could even put them in the backyard and it would be no trouble at all for your dog to navigate....See MoreWhat would you do: budget kitchen remodel w/ golden oak cabinets?
Comments (63)@Beth, first thanks for all your tips and ideas on the hardware. Good idea to mark them out and good to know that 4" is the min (they sell 3 and 3.5, which are cheaper, so I wondered if that would work. thanks) I know; You had a lot of good ideas on painting. Thank you. I am still waffling on what to do. I guess my concerns w/ the painted floors are the effort to do it and the maintenance (I have wear patterns on my front porch and the kitchen gets more traffic). Plus I want to limit my exposure to chemicals. FWIW, this morning I emailed my house painter to check his schedule if I choose to have him repaint the cabs. (he's a much better painter than I am) Painting would allow me to fix the placement of the holes on some of the cabs (currently, most of the cabs do not have holes). I could also put a cab to the left of the stove. And I made an appt next week with the interior designer who was going to help me pick finish materials etc with the big remodel....to get his opinion of a scaled-down remodel. i.e. how to make this house a better version of what it is without spending a ton of money since I may move in a few years....thanks for all your help! I don't want this to be all about $$$, but everything is so $$$ and I hate the idea of investing a lot of excessive $ that I won't get when I sell. (when my former realtor came over this summer, she kept saying "do what *you* want; do what makes you happy; you don't need to do anything to fix this house to sell it" etc). So I guess my dilemma: what can make it more live-able for me for the next few years. (but possibly longer? who knows?)...See MoreP Banos
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