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Archive for the ‘home improvement’ Category

The back yard

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One of the things that always bothers the bejeezus out of me when I look out the back yard is the metal cap of the well sticking up out of the ground. I think it is an eyesore, and I’ve finally found a creative way to disguise it. I can cover it with a hollow artificial rock! To be perfectly honest, I never realized that large artificial rocks were something that the average consumer could purchase; I’ve only ever seen those hide-a-key rocks before.

But recently when I was sitting in my doctor’s office waiting to be called in to the inner sanctum, I was reading through a waiting room magazine and saw an article about gardening and landscaping, and the professional designer being featured used a big artificial rock to disguise a well. I think that if we incorporate that with a small fish pond, and put down some pavers and furnish the area with outdoor bamboo furniture we could have ourselves a pretty little oasis in the back yard!

Love and hate relationship

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I am one of those people that loves looking at landscaping magazines and dream about how wonderful my gardens would look with defined paths and trellises winding their way around the property. Whenever I drive by Mr Pinkham’s house I look at his garden trellis that is covered with beautiful climbing roses and I find myself wishing that I had a green thumb like he does!

The only time I had my own experience with a trellis it was when my hubby gave one to me. It was an archway and he and put it up over the end of the sidewalk that leads to the house. Since there were no flowers of any kind there I felt it was a little bit out of place. He told me that he was going to plant some vines on it, but that never happened. Since it was made out of wood and he never painted it or did anything with it, it rotted in short order. I ended up having it taken down and hauled away after my hubby moved away. I’d like to try my hand again at it, but with a vinyl trellis that won’t rot, and I’d like to put it at the entrance to one of my gardens.

But are they practical?

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My sister has been asking me for my input regarding her plans to fix up her bathroom. She really wasn’t planning to undertake such a job right now, but when her son discovered that their bathroom floor was rotting it became a “have to” rather than a “want to” situation. So she has been looking at pictures of vessel sinks in the home decorating books and was telling me that she thinks that she would like to replace her old bathroom sink with a new vessel sink and vessel faucet.

I have to agree that the vessel sinks look really stylish. My biggest concern about them, however, is I don’ see any overflow safety feature. I don’t know about you, but there have been a few times in my life where someone in the house turned on a faucet and left the room, leaving the faucet turned on. Good intentions were that the person was only going to be gone a moment but something happened (like the phone ringing or some visitor knocking on the door) and before you knew it, the faucet was forgotten and the floor flooded. I’d like all of my sinks and tubs to have safety overflows on them, wouldn’t you?

The lake versus the pool

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Thanks for the guest post Andrea Thompson

I have mixed feelings when it comes to a decision like whether or not to put in a swimming pool. I like the idea that if we had a pool in our yard that we could just go jump in and have a swim any time we would like to take a dip. But the expense of taking care of a swimming pool comes to mind that makes me think long and hard about it. Expenses such as the chemicals that you need to use to prepare the pool for closing it during the winter, and then the shock chemicals for opening it up again in the summer. And what about buying new pool liners if yours gets ripped by a tree or animal falling into it?

If we just go a couple of miles down the road we can take advantage of the public swimming at the lake. That’s free, and we don’t have to worry about any of the expense of maintenance, or the physical work of the upkeep. But then again sometimes it gets crowded there and the other people can be quite rude at times. And of course you always have the worry about someone stealing your keys or wallet if you leave anything valuable unattended.

Of course if we had enough money, we could just put in our own swimming pool and hire a pool boy to take care of it; that’s always a nice thought! My very favorite fantasy about a swimming pool is having an indoor pool. I can remember meeting a friend of my mother many years ago that did have a beautiful atrium in the center of her house, and a swimming pool in the middle of the atrium. Now THAT is something I would really love to have!

 

 

Extra storage

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One of the ways that storage space can be expanded in a kitchen is through the use of enclume pot racks. I’ve been trying to think of the best way to incorporate an enclume pot rackĀ in my own kitchen. I have very limited wall space, so I think that the enclume potracksĀ that hang from the ceiling would be the best ones for my kitchen. My favorite one has lights in it, which is exactly what I need to have over the kitchen island.

The problem is, as I see it, having to get an electrician over here to wire up the lights. Getting any kind of worker to come out to the house is difficult; you would not think that the economy is bad or that the service people are scrounging for work. Most of the time when I make an appointment to have some kind of work done the service man ends up calling me and rescheduling at least once.