Archive for the ‘Landscaping’ Category

Years ago I was visiting a friend in Tokyo and was astonished that she took water from the tap for tea, and it was too hot to drink. This was way back in 1979. I was amazed that all the hot water for the home’s kitchen and bath came from a heat-on-demand water tank powered by natural gas. Later that year, I saw passive solar water heating systems on the roofs of homes just outside of Tel Aviv. Thirty years later I’ve yet to see these systesm in widespread adoption around the states.

Then you consider that tank-less, heat-on-demand systems are available—with models that just heat your teapot, while others power the shower—they’re still a ways off from popular use around the states.  You’ll probably remember (or still have) one of those tea elements for plugging in and using electrical power to heat coffee. That’s as far as most of us go.

The Savings?

You might save a hundred dollars a year in energy bills from an on-demand system. But if you’re considering buying an on-demand heater to cover all your hot water needs, be sure to consider the size of your family, the cost of installing a system, the tank capacity, and the amount of hot water you need every day. The Department of Energy says a majority of systems can generate 2-5 gallons a minute, depending on the fuel source. From your own experience you know that gas-fired heaters are quicker to raise your water to the right temperature than electric ones.

Tax Credits for Tank-less  Water Heaters

You can read up on the 2009-2010 tax credit at the Alliance to Save Energy website.  In essence, your potential credit for installing a tank-less unit for the credit depends on your finding a system that can heat the water to efficiency standards based on source (electric, gas, oil, propane). An acceptable energy factor may be hard to find. The credit may only be $300, but pennies saved by energy efficiency can add up.

According to the Department of Energy, the energy factor is determined by  fuel consumption and the speed of recovery,  and how much heat is lost in the cycle of briefly storing and pumping out the water. When shopping around, examine units for a high-number energy factor, meaning the most-efficient for home use.

Dedicating a tank-less heater to appliances, spas, or as a secondary power source can prove a wise choice if there’s no constant or huge demand.

When it comes to lighting in your bath, all is certainly vanity. Kidding aside, the kind of lighting you install in your vanity ultimately has more to do with how you look than how your bathroom looks to others.

Uneven lighting over the make-up table or sink can cause your eyes to look like you haven’t had sleep in weeks.  Poor vanity lighting can dramatically alter how you look when in the office or out on the town. If you’re the handyman/woman, you don’t want to skimp on providing adequate overhead lamps, mirror-side sconces, and light bars.

Getting Your Bathroom Lighting Right
Ultimately, the correct lighting around the mirror will light up the subject’s face from all sides. It doesn’t have to be flattering in an inaccurate way, but take it from the hospitality industry:  warm, full lighting provides a satisfying experience.  Experts at This Old House warn consumers that overhead, recessed lighting fixtures cast shadows of the undead on a subject’s face.

Fill-in, accent lighting can make the entire bath a comfortable place, and lighting above the mirror with sconces at eye-level can complete a satisfying effect. You’ll also prosper from an aesthetic standpoint by using halogen bulbs that illuminate the subject with natural tones.  Some homeowners love the effect created by installing a bathroom chandelier just above the vanity.

Low-wattage track lighting angled just right projects lighting into the mirror, and diffusers prevent glare. You may want to experiment with LED track lighting for effect.

Using Sconces in the Bath
You can create a warm and well-lighted effect by using a row of sconces above the mirror. Or, if you’re settling on single sconces, align them on the side of the mirror. Lighting suppliers recommend that your above-mirror vanity fixtures should be at least two-feet long and provide 150 watts at the minimum.

If you really want to dial in control of your bathroom lighting, consider installing an incandescent dimmer on a halogen light. You can save energy when you’re lighting the bath just to find your way around or to use the shower. A combination of ambient lighting and direct vanity lighting on separate controls can provide the most-flexible solution.

If you’re working with a contractor, discuss options to install lighting directly in the mirror set. It can be expensive and risky to try it on your own.

While the actual ideas for decorating your home for Halloween aren’t so scary–they’re easy and practical–the end results will be. Lighting your driveway on Halloween night not only dresses up the occasion, it provides a safe walkway for trick-or-treating kids. Window stencils, styrofoam critters, and carved pumpkins are fun and simple to make. And, to top it all off, a faux Halloween tombstone in your yard ought to scare just about everyone.

When it comes to decorations, you can decide how much to do and how much to spend. It’s guaranteed that someone else in the neighborhood will outdo you. On the other hand, getting the family involved in making and installing the decorations can be a fun event unto itself. And making your own, rather than putting out store-made decorations, means your home will have character. (Or at least, chilling characters.)

Lighting the Way
Luminaries have come into vogue in Asian or Southwest theme outdoor parties. Now you can make your own for Halloween out of plastic jugs. You can download free patterns online from Better Homes and Gardens that wrap around the jugs and attach with household tape. You simply paint the pattern and add details with markers. Pour sand into the bottom of the jug and install your candles.

Build Creepy Styrofoam Spiders
This one’s fun. Buy two sizes of styrofoam balls and paint them black. The smaller size is the head. Now build the limbs from black pipe cleaners. Glue additional facial details with construction paper. Dangle the spiders from the doorway where kids are bound to see them. You’ll find photographs of the models and the building process at Disney Family Fun.

Jumpy Jack O’Lanterns and Terrifying Tombsones
Pumpkin carving can be an art. You’ll need a serrated blade to cut off the top and paring knives to carve holes for the face. A hardy kitchen spoon should be ample to dig out the seeds. Make the pumpkin last a few days longer with store-bought, non-toxic preservation spray and by coating the insides with petroleum jelly to ward off mold.

The tombstone project is more demanding. You’ll need foam boards, spray adhesive, PVC pipe, and rebar. HGTV has the complete, detailed process online for creating an especially spooky tombstone. Once the foam tombstone is assembled, you use a stencil from your computer printer to add the details. Boooo!

Laundry rooms are designed for utility, not decor. But so many laundry rooms become catch-all enclosures for clutter, storage, and other pack-rat activities. After a while, they can become home to hazardous chemicals or firetraps with over-extended electrical outlets, or danger zones for young children.

If you’re going to remodel your laundry room, consider replacing outdated or worn parts on your washer and dryer, as well as electrical and plumbing features that are either in disrepair or require efficient upgrades. And a nice coat of paint or wallpaper can make this often dingy room more pleasing to the eye.

Basements Are Best
If you currently have your laundry in the basement, you should consider keeping it there. The small convenience you gain by moving your laundry room to an upper floors is easily offset by the potential water damage to your home from leaks or flooding. One insurance company reports $170 million in water damage from washing machine hose failures.

A simple laundry room remodel project can include new flooring, expanded cabinets with utility drawers or storage, shelving, new lighting, and, if there’s a window, fresh treatments.

Size Matters
If you need more space, think before breaking out a wall.  There are stack-able and compact washing machines that may be more cost-efficient than breaking out walls. That’s if those models can serve your family.

You may also need to consider room for a new sink or ironing space. Installing new cabinets can double your existing storage and add comfort to working in the room.

Safety First
Using 2002-2004 data, the U.S. Fire Administration division of FEMA reported 15,600 fires, resulting in 15 deaths and 400 injuries-–attributed to faulty clothes dryers. That means, in addition to renovating your laundry room, you should renovate your maintenance routine on washers and dryers.

If you have foil or plastic ducting attachments to the dryer, replace them with modern, fire-resistant corrugated metal to increase the air exhaust. Make a habit of not only cleaning lint traps on the dryer, but cleaning behind the traps and behind the entire unit.

Go Green
And if you want to save energy costs when replacing your washer and dryer unit, shop for Energy Star appliances that can cut your water and energy costs in half. By washing in warm or cold cycles you can also slash your electric bills.

Another tip: Paint your renovated laundry room in light colors so you won’t feel like you’ve been banished to the cave whenever you do the wash.

Given all the cost and planning that goes into most every renovation or remodeling project, you want it all to go right. Practically everyone I know that has had to camp out in their living room or eat out in fast food joints while the hammers banged away in their kitchens or baths understands. And they have a story to tell, no matter how it all turned out.

Sharing your nightmares and your victories can spare others from renovation hell.  That in mind, the editors over at Repair-Home.com have launched a Share Your Project section on their website.  You can share your own experiences as well as garner tips from those who have been there.

Share Your Project Details
According to the site, you can write a post, upload project photos, and receive ratings for your home improvement project.  Categories include:

* Kitchens
* Cabinet Refacing
* Bathrooms
* Landscaping
* Outdoor
* Home Decor
* Flooring
* Windows
* Doors
* Plumbing
* Electrical
* Heating & Cooling
* Siding
* Roofing and Gutters
* Painting
* Home Building

I took a test drive through postings and found a great idea for completing a quick and effective bathroom makeover, made possible by changing out lighting, cabinets, and mirrors.

The homeowner describes an effective and inexpensive way to remove fluorescent lighting in the bath and lay in fresh sheet rock and textures to get plenty of bang for your renovation dollar.

Help With Renovating Bedrooms and Kitchens
Other homeowners posted details and photos of their efforts to remodel a small kitchen, choose a pergola over a deck, and install an effective coffered ceiling treatment in the bedroom.  The ceiling project involved plotting and installing coffer boxes in a ceiling that was not perfectly square.

Project galleries at the site enhance the homeowner stories and fire fresh ideas for your own project. One homeowner provided excellent views of the 1926 marina-style home in San Francisco where they remodeled the original, tired kitchen to open it up and add light. The renovation project involved adding space, knocking out a wall, and installing fresh cabinets and flooring.

The web is a sad repository of plenty of awful projects, too. In searching for additional victories and disasters, I discovered Dark Roasted Blend, a site that gathers photographs of renovation disasters.  Several commercial and home construction designers and contractors should have lost their jobs, since it’s clear they lost their minds when building doors or stairways to nowhere.

I need to change my opinion about hardscaping. When I was young, my neighbor ripped out his lawn and paved the front yard–to my dismay. But for people with severe allergies or those living in severe weather conditions that prevent green growth, hardscaping is a boon. Plus, most landscaping designs are complemented by judicious use of hardscaping materials like masonry, fountains, bridges, walls, trellises, wells, statuary, and patios.

Stone walls make exceptionally fine additions, whether to fortify a bank or garden terrace, or to set apart a patio or walkway from the lawn. Adding mortar caps can also dazzle, supporting bird feeders or ornamental elements.

Hardscaping and Landscape Design
As the saying goes, there’s no accounting for taste. But you can’t go wrong if you keep balance in mind between natural and man-made elements. A complementary arrangement of hardscape and landscape components can lead the viewer’s eye toward a central point of beauty: a patio, gazebo, rose garden, waterfall, bridge, or bubbling fountain.

Hardscaping materials give homeowners an exceptional range of decorative options. You can have your work done in brick or stone, or well-crafted wood. And it doesn’t mean you have to spend a fortune. Many pre-made flagstone sets, fire pits, pergolas, and topairy frames cost less than custom-built hardscaping accessories. Your project does not have to depend on a massive budget.

Tying Landscape and Hardscape Together
Hardscape can provide an effective means of transitioning between your lawn and garden elements, or between your indoor and outdoor settings. By bringing greenery into your patio or screened porch, you invite nature into man-made space. And the symbiotic effect is created in the garden by introducing furniture or lighting.

If you live in a drought-stricken area or find water at a premium, consider the use of low-maintenance native plants, cacti, or grasses in concert with stone walls, tiled patios,  and wooden decks. Varying the colors and textures of your hardscape materials can also lend pleasing variety without creating a garish, urban eyesore.

Stone archways also provide deft transitions between lawn, vegetable garden, barbecue pits, outdoor kitchens, or swimming pools.  It’s not a bad idea to visit garden shops or peruse online landscape design sites for ideas in developing a theme.

For example, the use of red brick, wrought iron, and terra cotta tiles, combined with junipers, lavender, azaleas, and olive trees can create a delightful Italian landscape design. Traditional brick or modern concrete pavers have their own personalities. The latter can be cut or shaped to fit your motif.

It’s beginning to be the height of summer, the temperatures are reaching above 90 degrees and every morning I thank god that I get to leave my house and go somewhere with air conditioning. 

But, when I get home, I realize my yard isn’t so lucky and my lawn, especially, is suffering. What was lovely and green in early spring is now dry, patchy and looks like straw. It’s impossible to give my lawn enough water to get through the season looking perfect and green. Even if I did, I don’t know if it’s the most environmental choice. 

So, when reading Sunset magazine recently and saw an article on fake grass it got me thinking about whether or not I would really consider getting rid of the real thing for something else. 

The appealing thing about fake lawns is that you save water, since you don’t need to give it water to survive and look nice. This is especially appealing in areas prone to drought like Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona, to name a few places. In order to maintain a healthy green lawn in the summer months you need to give it at least an inch of water a week – that’s a lot when the name of the game should be conservation!

There has been a lot of development on these lawn alternatives since the days of Astroturf, and you’ll likely be shocked about how real the new options look: 

(Synthetic Sod from Eco Waterless Grass)

(photo of AGL Grass)

One commenter in the Sunset article pointed out that you may save water with this kind of alternative but you’ll be creating waste. These products generally have a lifespan of about 10 years, and when you’re done it’s possible that you’ll find your product is not bio-degradable, so you’re saving water but creating waste. Not to mention, that you’ll still need to use water on your fake lawn to wash it off, so how much are you really saving? Make sure to check with the manufacturer of the product you choose about disposal after use. 

While all these alternatives are nice, I, like many other Portlanders, usually try to have the best of both real lawns and eco-consciousness. When you drive around in summer, it’s obvious we’ve all given up on trying to water our grass. In the wetter months our lawns thrive without extra help from our hoses, and in the summer we go ahead and let them get a lovely golden brown so as not to waste water, happy knowing that they’ll thrive again in a few months time after our beautiful, but always too short summer season. 

If you’re anything like me, the idea of supporting life for an entire garden sounds virtually impossible. After researching ways to grow vegetables without having a lot of space or sunlight in my yard, as well as very minimal gardening experience in general, I ran into a great idea called container gardening. 

Benefits of Container Gardening

Container gardening is basically like having a portable, mini garden.  You can grow as much, or as little as you like.  You can also move your container to any location that you choose.  Personally, I have a back yard that is consumed by large trees that produce an abundance of shade.  Although this is nice when the heat is unbearable, it puts a serious damper on my gardening dreams.  The idea with container gardening is that you can create a garden anywhere you want.  Most of the sunlight I receive is right at my front door.  Using the container gardening idea, I can plant a little tomato plant in a pot and keep it right by my front door where it will flourish.  

(Photo Credit: HowStuffWorks.com)

Types of Containers

Some of the most popular choices include terracotta, ceramic and plastic pots.  However, finding an old container from the garage will work perfectly too. Items like old watering cans, buckets, or an old wheelbarrow will work just as well at a much better price – FREE!

When choosing a container, consider how much weather the container can handle; an old can that is prone to rust wouldn’t be appropriate in a rainy climate, for example. Also consider what it is that you will be planting.  Finally, when choosing a container make sure there is a drainage hole somewhere.  When you decide to garden in a container you will need to water your plant often and as such, will need to make sure you have some type of drainage method.  This will eliminate the potential for drowning your plant.  If there is a container you have your heart set on using, but there is no drainage you can always make your own by carefully using a drilling needle.

Garden Bugs

One small downside to gardening is the bugs. One of the easiest ways to keep bugs out is to keep your plant well groomed and watered as bugs are more likely to attack when your plant is stressed or wilting. You can also purchase (or capture) a handful of lady bugs and have them make their home in your plant.  Lady bugs will get rid of aphids while causing no harm to your plant. You can also either rid the bugs with your hand, or bring you container into the kitchen and spray the leaves (remember to spray under the leaves also) with the sink hose.

What To Plant

Considering the size of your container, you can plant anything you want in it!  Vegetables will need a slightly larger container to accommodate lots of water and provide room for roots to develop.  However, if you just want to grow some beautiful flowers, you can use a smaller container.  A few ideas are lettuce, tomatoes (special dwarf varieties, or compact cherry tomatoes work best in containers), herbs, peppers, or a variety of flowers.

(Photo Credit: Olive-Trees.net)

I’m so excited to go purchase my very first tomato plant to care for.  Having it right next to my front door should allow me to be a very successful first time gardener.  At this point the only issue I foresee is keeping my two year old sons fingers out of it!