We’ll finish up the rest of the house tour this week (it’s a small house and I’m probably going to cheat and not show you the ugly rooms) now that I found the battery charger for the camera (whoops). So far we’ve toured the new upstairs bathroom, the kitchen and the living room. Today we move up to the master …
It is hard to believe that it was just about a year ago that we started the house renovation (September 1, 2010, to be exact). The renovation seemed like it lasted forever (and it was a good six months) but looking back on it now it seems like a distant memory. Surely renovating a house (and probably building one too, …
I inadvertently took all off last week off from blogging but in a second you’ll see what I’ve been up to. I’ve been busy, busy, busy working on the back yard (which is really the side yard but for whatever reason we call it the back yard). And it wasn’t until after work yesterday when I snapped a few photos …
How about a little before and after to start the week? I bought this lamp at Target about five years ago or so and honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking with that shade. It sat in the guest room which really always was a decorating disaster. I think I was trying to go too many directions in the …
Few things are bound to get certain types of people (and by that I mean men, but I don’t want to be totally stereotypical about it) as wound up as messing with their electronics. And few things are bound to get certain other types of people (and by that I mean women) more irritated than messing up their new room …
Here’s a before and after for you that I had absolutely nothing to do with. The husband gets to take credit for this one. We have two big dogs. Two very big dogs, in fact. We’re talking massive here (a tumbleweed of hair, such as those that regularly roll across my living despite almost daily vacuuming can be bigger than …
Some of you might remember last year when I was lusting after this compost bin from Lee Valley Tools. After living with a dilapidated compost bin (made in about 25 minutes several years ago with four pallets and a set of hinges) for about a year, what finally made me spring for the new system was our furnace. Confused? …
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Thanks to Longfield Gardens for partnering with me on this post. You don’t need to look far on this blog or in my garden to know that I am mildly obsessed with dahlias and have been for a long time. And while I admire, and maybe even envy, those photos of a field with row […]
A quick note: This post is done in partnership with Longfield Gardens, where I’ve been getting my fall-planted bulbs from for probably a decade (well before they knew I existed). Thanks to Longfield for the support. All words and thoughts are, as usual, my own. Bear with me for a moment here, because I have […]
As we approach the best days of summer it seems odd to be looking back at January with a bit of envy. Certainly that feeling has nothing to do with the weather (perish the thought), but there’s a part of me that longs for the kind of blind enthusiasm that comes in the middle of […]
This post is sponsored by Troy-Bilt, maker of great equipment to whip your yard into shape and supporters of neighbors helping neighbors. As usual, all thoughts are my own. Isn’t it funny how we limit our gardens to the little square of land we own? Obviously there’s a reason for this, but if the only […]
My garden has taught me a lot of lessons, but one of the most important is that good enough is usually good enough. When perfectionist tendencies rise to the surface, the garden is the perfect place to tamp them back into place. There is only so much a control a gardener can have over what […]
Thank you to Longfield Gardens for sponsoring this post and feeding my love of dahlias. Over the next couple weeks I will go through all the dahlia tubers I overwintered and plant them up in pots along with all the new tubers I just had to have. Starting dahlias in pots works well for me […]
Spring comes painfully slow here, something that I’m alternately thankful for and tormented by. It’s nearly intolerable to see the beauty of spring, all fresh green and flowery coming to other yards in warmer areas when mine is mostly still brown. But the upside is that I always feel like I get a bit of […]
I found myself with a bit of extra time at home last summer (imagine that) and, inspired by the amazing floral designers who I see sharing their work on Instagram, I decided I would try to get a little better at making bouquets. Mind you, I don’t do anything with these bouquets other than enjoy […]
I always say that the best thing I do for my garden is get out of it. Visiting other gardens never fails to provide the kind of inspiration I can’t find anywhere else. What is always interesting is that the photos I take on these visits continue to provide inspiration long after I’ve left, as […]
Gardeners love a good story and they are particularly drawn to anything that they believe will make their plants happy. This is where companion planting comes in: gardeners want their plants to have neighbors they love. It makes us feel good. But anthropomorphism aside, a lot of commonly held companion planting theories are a bunch […]
Hello flower lovers! I’m partnering with Longfield Gardens on this post, but you know the drill: all words and dahlia obsessions are my own. We interrupt your regularly scheduled holiday activities to talk about something that is, dare I say, even more important. And if you know me, you probably know that the only thing […]
Traditionally the gift guides here have featured a wide variety of gardening-related items for a range of budgets, but this year I’m going a different direction. Everything here is from a small or independent business, and most items are hand-crafted. You can still check out my Amazon storefront. (If you use that link I may earn […]
I’ve partnered with Garrett Wade to create a custom gift guide from their selection of high-quality tools, gear and accessories. I received some products to review to better inform my list (you know I’d never recommend something I didn’t really like) and compensation for my time. If there was ever a year that called for special
My first foray into pumpkin growing has been slightly less successful than that of Ian and Stuart Paton, 59-year-old British twins who obviously know more gourd growing than I do. The brothers just broke their own giant pumpkin record in the UK with a gourd of epic proportions: 2,593.7 pounds and 20 feet in circumference. […]
