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Oh how I love a great garden path
My favorite of my boards on Pinterest is my “Great Garden Paths” board. I have a weakness for garden paths. There is something so incredibly inviting about a path through a garden. It says, “Explore me,” or “Feel free to look AND touch, I’m cool with it.” My favorite garden paths bend around corners, begging you to follow them to ...
Big snow, big mess
Last week Tuesday we got a dumping of snow the likes of which we’ve not seen for years around here. It wasn’t so much the quantity—a healthy 12 inches at least, but probably more like 14 or 15—but the water content of what fell. I read somewhere that it had 30% more water than the average snowfall, thanks to ...
Who’s doing what on the kitchen renovation
Last week A couple weeks ago (can you tell the draft of this post has been sitting on my computer for a bit?) I told you that we are getting back into the renovation game and redoing our kitchen. Today I’m going to tell you a bit more about the plan. The layout of the kitchen will stay the same. So ...
Let’s get bold
Slowly but surely the living room transformation from a warm modern French country feel to a more casual, slightly nautical feel has come together. I showed you the new main seating area (our living room is long and narrow so we have three seating areas). I also showed you how I reupholstered the set of chairs by the game table ...
Expert garden bloggers share their favorite shrubs
When I first started creating the garden at our house, my first garden as before I just had a balcony to put containers on, I ran out and got every perennial I thought looked interesting. Of course I’ve learned so much since then and the beautiful thing about gardening is that you can correct your mistakes. One of the most ...
The unofficial start of spring: Ordering begins
I couldn’t stand it anymore. I’ve resisted the gardening urge as long as possible, and frankly, I did better than I do most years. But fellow bloggers are posting pictures of bulbs starting to peek out, and I suspect if I dug a little (and was actually at home during daylight hours), I might find the same thing, so that’s ...
Back in the renovation saddle again
It has been two years since we finished our renovation. We love almost everything we did as part of that insanely large project although there are very few things we would choose to do differently if we were to do it all over again. But looking back, that renovation damn near killed me. OK, that’s being dramatic, but it was ...
Pretty organized paint
Last week when I randomly went on a painting spree and suddenly painted the back door black, I was totally irritated when I couldn’t find the can of tinted primer that I know exists somewhere in this house. I never did find it, but when I realized the sheer volume of paint in this house I decided a little organization ...
The ultimate gardener’s getaway
Have your thoughts turned to summer yet? I’ve been trying to stave off that feeling I get every year at about this time when I get the itch to start gardening, but it seems impossible. What I’m about to tell you about won’t help with that. If you need some help with your garden dreaming though, that I can help ...
Another touch of black
What is it with me and spur-of-the-moment door painting? It’s really quite strange. I usually really think about a project before I jump into it. I’m not one of those people who will tear down a wall on a Friday night without thinking through what happens next. But for some reason, I get a little crazy when it comes to ...
Rug, meet chair. Chair, meet rug.
First off, I’m sorry for the radio silence this week after the big bang of two posts on Monday. I had posts all ready to go and then work got so busy I didn’t even have time to hit send. The other day a friend and blog reader sent me a message in the middle of our intense Words with ...
My laundry room essentials
Earlier today I showed you how we spruced up our laundry room. I love the new laundry organizers and I can honestly say it makes an unpleasant task a little better. I’m not a great laundress (you won’t catch me measuring my wool sweaters so I can properly block them after handwashing a la Martha Stewart) but there are two things ...
A little lipstick on a laundry pig
I want a laundry room that looks like this: Contemporary Laundry Room design by San Francisco Interior Designer Artistic Designs for Living, Tineke Triggs Or this: Traditional Laundry Room design by Orange County Design-build Spinnaker Development Or this: Contemporary Laundry Room design by Grand Rapids Architect Visbeen Associates, Inc. But that is not the laundry room I have, and as ...
You know you’re a gardener when …
You absolutely loved the dowager countess’ comment to her granddaughter Edith disparaging gardeners on Sunday’s “Downton Abbey.” Edith (recently left at the altar and nearing “spinsterhood,” at least her in estimation) needs a hobby and suggests perhaps gardening. “Well no, you can’t be as desperate as that,” Lady Violet says. If you’re not a “Downton Abbey” fan (or if you ...
List checker-offers unite!
Raise your hand if you’ve ever put something on a list that you’ve already done just to have the satisfaction of crossing it off. I see you all out there with your guilty hands in the air. Let’s face it, it feels damn good to cross things off a list and I’m happy to say that I’ve done a pretty ...
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day
I promised I’d be back with a few photos to share from Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and since it’s technically still the 15th, I haven’t missed it yet. Just two photos to share, both demonstrating one of the great things about letting plants stand during winter. They can still be beautiful. I love the fuzzy seedheads that stick around on ...
Letters from the Garden
Letters from the Garden
