I miss the Monks! What about you?
17 days ago
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Question about Monks Hood
Comments (4)cAROL, I had lots of reservations about monkshood until I saw a plant in bloom last summer. They're stunning and unusual if you can get past the fact they're poisonous. Foxglove is also poisonous but no one seems to worry about growing those. I think the monkshood needs shade too....See MoreHave you heard about this? Missing dog, found, kept and not ...
Comments (24)Anne, I had a similar thing happen to me. My Dad was laid off from his job in my high school senior year. I told my parents I wanted an opal ring for graduation. Lo and behold, they got me an opal ring with a big beautiful opal and two small diamond accents. I loved that ring, and especially when I thought of my parents, with four kids, finding the money to buy me that ring. I wore it on special occasions only. I kept it in a separate box inside my jewelry box in my bedroom. I got married, moved 500 miles away from my parents and had two daughters. The only person who had access to my jewelry box was a babysitter who took care of my kids for six years. We fired her when she stole some items from my kitchen, a shot glass and some cookie cutters. Not expensive, but I was creeped out at her stealing from me. Several months later I looked in my jewelry box and the ring (and its' box) were gone. I looked all over, asked my kids if they had played with my jewelry, but no. The only person who had ever been in my house was that baby sitter. I still see her in the neighborhood. I wish I had some evidence, but it's too late now. I've been looking on Ebay to see if I can find a similar ring, but I can't. I'm afraid to tell my Mom the ring is gone (Dad died 10 years ago)....See MoreWhat'd I miss / scope creep / you name it
Comments (8)Thanks for all the comments, all. I did think about sliders on the back. I was actually tending that way. I'll think about it more but the feeling was that it wasn't in the period/style. I'm not a complete fanatic about style but that was were I ended for now. The laundry is structured as cabinets with a countertop. That's high (can't remember 40"-ish?) Someone posted something similar here a while ago. There is no place for a laundry basket in that space. I keep it in the closet. The cottage is being flipped to have the entrance in the back. It has a nice yard behind it and that will become the entrance. The current entrance is in the front but that is space between the house and the cottage and that's being dedicated to the house. The neighbor has the same house/cottage and that's what they've done. Works well. Yeah, the cottage doesn't have an obvious place to throw stuff. But, then, it doesn't have that now. I'd think that'd be done with furnishings ... that's what I've done in the house, up to now. For all the comments on the piano: it's there now (and got in there with the existing small entrance from the hall to the living room ... piano movers can work seeming miracles.) The cutout in the drawing might be a little out of proportion: the piano's a tad under 6'. It's roughly in that spot right now. There's really no option to replace. I know it takes room but it's a lifestyle choice. I love my piano (a 1906 Steinway ... made it through the earthquake and all.) As to U-ing the kitchen, talking to a bunch of people, some wanted a U, some didn't like it taking up that much of the living area. I'm in the later camp. I figure to make the space flexible, I leave it open and then consider non-permanent furnishings/cabinetry to shift to personal preference. I'll make note of the outlet issue. Hate cords. Thanks! It may be more expensive to remodel the cottage but a tear-down is not a possibility for zoning reasons: the cottage is non-conforming but grandfathered in. If I tear it down, I can't rebuild it. That said, not sure what qualifies as remodeling. People always talk about keeping a single wall and that qualifying as a remodel not a rebuild. I'll have to talk to the contractor about that. In any case, the external walls can't move: I've verified that with the planning department. Anything like that first requires becoming conforming to concurrent zoning, i.e., remove the cottage permanently, which is a non-starter. (For what it's worth, I like that constraint. It's hard to find cute little structures in this neighborhood. Mostly things get scraped and maximum-floor-area structures built. I like keeping my cute little spaces. I'm more of the "not so big house" kind of person anyway. And this area desperately needs places for singles/smaller families.) The thing about the bath in the cottage is I can't do a thing with it with permits w/o moving walls. We've tried. There's no way to move anything in that space and meet code. That's what triggered considering bigger changes. I did a bunch of layouts keeping the kitchen where it was and shifting things a bit. There's no way to do anything minor to the kitchen, either, and bring it up to code. It'll require moving walls though that doesn't require moving the kitchen. But the cottage is desperately short of closet and storage space. The living room is big for the size of the cottage and it shows: there's all sorts of stuff crammed in there. I really like the idea of making some out-of-sight storage area, thus the closet. It takes from living room (in the end) but it seems like a reasonable tradeoff? And the walk-in give space for a stacking W/D. (I can't imagine living w/o a W/D at this point.) It's not a huge amount of closet space but it's way more storage than the cottage has right now. Mostly the walls haven't changed in the house, just openings made larger. The exception is taking space in the guest bedroom and putting it into a bench/storage/clothes hooks in the hall. Windows did get moved which does mean reframing, etc. The windows need to be replaced anyway and moving the windows doesn't change the floor area so doesn't trigger the zoning issue. I need to get a read from the contractor on the window movement. Beyond the price of the windows themselves, the siding is painted redwood tongue and groove so not sure what it's going to take when windows move. There's not a huge amount of storage in the kitchen but far more than there is now. I haven't figured out how to make more ... Hmmm ... my current LG is washer left/dryer right (though they're stacked.) but I haven't decided if I'm keeping those or replacing them anyway. Whatever gets chosen, the doors need to swing correctly so we'll make the venting match. I'm a little concerned about maintenance on the W/D in that tight space. The house will be switched to a tankless water heater on the outside, near the W/D. Furnace goes in the attic. So nobody likes the twin closets. Definitely got that. (And it's cheaper.) Thanks! Holly, when you said "change the access doors", what did you mean? Make the doorways larger? Pocket them? Thanks all!...See MoreWhat do you miss about your childhood?
Comments (44)I miss having my siblings around. We all shared a room-some of us 2 in a bunk bed. I miss us all sitting around the kitchen table at dinner time and my Dad making Sunday breakfast. I miss going to my Grandparent's house and I miss their Scottish brogue. I miss my Grandpa showing off my Grandma's china cabinet and all that was in it to any new friend you brought to the house. I miss his dancing jigs around the dining room table and giving me grape Kool-Aid ice cubes wrappe in paper towel to suck on. I miss watching my Grandma M knit and embroider and her teaching me the stitches. I miss the family weiner roasts at my Grandpa's farm and the wheel barrow rides and banding the pigeons. My Grandpa H raised and raced homing pigeons and won tropheys. I miss the money tree and bananas growing on the pear tree. I miss my Grandpa H. I even miss the outhouse. LOL I miss playing with dolls. More than anything on this Earth I wanted to be a Mommy. I miss the backyard ice rinks and being able to skate all day on weekends and all winter. We had lots of snow back then. I am afraid to skate now because I am afraid of falling and breaking something. LOL I miss making tents out of blankets thrown across the clothesline and held down with rocks. My friends Mary Sue and Mary Jo and I would sleep outside in those tents on hot summer nights. I miss going for drives with my Mom and Dad and stopping for ice cream. I miss downtown Windsor when we had a nice downtown filled with stores instead of kiddie bars and strip joints. Stopping at Kresgies for a piece of cherry pie or pastries. Sitting on Santa's lap at Smith's and the smell of lavender from the lavender cart. I miss going to Hudson's Department store in Detroit. I miss my Grandma's pink aluminum Christmas tree. LOL I miss the hustle and bustle of Christmas in this house and my Mom baking up a storm and the smell of the turkey cooking when I woke up in the morning. I miss making leaf houses in the fall with all my friends. We would rake leaves into rooms and we called my friend Kathy Mabel. LOLOL I miss all of us neighbourhood kids getting together and playing hide-n-seek, or Red Rover or Mother May I or Stop and Go and playing baseball on the empty lot or playing tops with baseball cards. I miss the smell of the gum that was inside the baseball card packet. I miss seeing my Grandma M and my Aunt Cissie walking up my street from the bus stop in their matching red shoes and carrying a big string tied box of donuts, Napoleans and Cream puffs from Kresgies downtown for us to eat. Wow, this thread and the Christmas music I am listening to and decorating the treehas made me feel a little melancholy. Plus my sister Lizzie just called to chat and I haven't talked to her in a few weeks. Anne...See More- 17 days ago
- 17 days agolast modified: 17 days agorhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 thanked Sherry8aNorthAL
- 16 days ago
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