#Blue Daylilies For Sale

[pebl-design]

The Subject of My Home

The profession of Landscape Architecture often gets hung up on whether our designed landscapes are with nature or not nature or mimicking nature or contextual nature or whatever… This debate is a disservice as it trivializes the topic, nature is not a sound-bite and it should not be a marketing platform; we must find a way to move on and accept that nature “is” and our work “is” simply part of it. I believe the root of this comes from our profession’s anxiety-ridden relationship with scale and perception, young designers are so often led to believe that big ideas are the crux to legibility and thus the key to un-tapping the holy grail of nature. Nevertheless the dilemma with this notion is two-fold, first-off the large projects are so few and far-between that their impact is questionable as trends shift and neighborhoods are turned over. Secondly, even the grandest gestures are obscured with time; neglected, unmanaged, or simply unused; this is not nature’s insidious trick, rather it is the gift we most often ignore. Our obsession with outcomes only serves to obfuscate the real opportunity to create platforms for our participation with nature and moreover the importance for education when working with clients and collaborators. Usually looking out one’s own front door provides a diverse palette of precedents for this quandary and a much more scalable opportunity. Why do our neighborhoods look the way they do? We live in a world of half-baked landscapes that are more about obscuring architecture than highlighting it and usually relegated to circulation corridors decorated by the current trends at Home Depot. Vegetation is selected on the merits of its constraints, not its ability to proliferate or contribute; while everyone has an innate and personal relationship with their cultural landscapes, it seldom feels that way when walking down the street. Why are we fighting over the next great urban park when, in a city such as Minneapolis, over half of our land area is consumed by residential properties? Is this not an opportunity for small ideas that cumulatively become massive? This critique does not imply a solution, rather it seeks to own the subjectification of nature and highlight our deference to the residential, it hopes to foreground the necessity for scrutiny, provocation, and discourse regarding all of our landscapes.

I recall sitting on my front porch - before there were kids involved - almost revelling in the messiness of our yards (front and back). We didn’t really have a lawn, unless a mat of creeping jenny counts, and I was oddly proud to not be able to identify the collection of ornamental shrubs that separated us from the sidewalk. At least we had a tall fence to shield the derelict status of our backyard where our decaying deck was providing excellent habitat for wasps and rabbits. I leaned on an adaptation of the old saying “if you can’t say something nice, then don’t say anything at all” and thus my excuse to enjoy the intermittent hostas and daylilies; indeed I did nothing at all. I could share some blame with my wife, a fellow Landscape Architect, we filled out the stereotype of designers who live in un-designed spaces. That is not to say we did not discuss at length the potential for our space, just how great we could make it, if only we could settle on a plan. Of course this is ripe with irony since creating a “plan” is what I preach most to my clients; how a plan shields you from falling into the trap of picking up the blue hydrangea at Menards because “it was a good deal” and then plopping it down in the most random of spots only to plan (and plant) around it for years to come. I am equally susceptible to these whims as anyone else, case-in-point when I was 23 I bought a really great window at a garage sale and decided to add a second floor to my house just so I could utilize it appropriately. When our first child was born it was such a relief, I thought that now I could kick back and really let things fall apart because I didn’t need sham excuses anymore, I had a real one! Who’s going to fault the new parents? And so we learned to avoid the holes in the deck and enjoy our dog’s incessant search for our rascally rabbits. Nonetheless as the wasp stings mounted and time went on I realized that my children were the reason to make a plan, not an excuse to avoid one.

We didn’t need much, simplicity and function with a well-crafted frame would do the trick. For the back I proposed to my family a concept of five rectangles: wood, concrete, copper, turf, and meadow. The children countered with a pirate-ship treehouse connected to a princess-tower via a rollercoaster; in retrospect this made a lot of sense but I was worried about costs and hence we stuck with dad’s concept. As with most landscaping projects, our budget was tight, but I like to think that this constraint fit in perfectly with our goals: 1. Simple material palette 2. Highlight space with recycled elements and 3. Watch the space grow.

Starting with demolition, we removed everything so that we might have a clean slate. We needed to be efficient and thus built the cedar deck, followed by the concrete, turf, and meadow successively. The project was accented via the insertion of three recycled elements. The first was a collection of perforated copper screens, reclaimed from downtown Minneapolis’ Westminster Church. The screens had been designed by my former office and had been procured during a recent renovation that would have required their disposal. Next was the utilization of two precast benches, placed on the concrete patio as an invitation for informal gathering. Lastly, leftover pieces of wood from the deck construction were repurposed to build a dining table.

My wife thought I was ridiculous the day I showed up and started jabbing sticks into the “meadow” rectangle; I had harvested the tree whips from my cousin’s property in Frontenac. I relayed the absurdity to my children and they revelled in the quick growth all the more because of how crazy their father was. The beautiful scrim of sumac quickly established and replaced our tall fence, with the addition of grandpa’s bird feeders the trees were soon filled with wildlife. In the understory we sowed a variety of native seeds and each new summer has brought a surprise of color and texture.

In the following years we would move around our property, installing various adaptations of our design framework: an overflowing vegetable garden, grove of fruit trees, sycamore in the boulevard, and a sixth rectangle filled with little bluestem and more sticks (this time they were quaking aspen). All these would provide a testing ground for our children’s observation skills and budding green thumbs. I look forward to the day when my trees are overgrown and must be trimmed or removed, when someone is proven correct that my spacing was too close or sycamores don’t grow in Minnesota. I look forward to cleaning up sidewalk chalk and eventually removing the nameless shrubs that hide my foundation. Projects should echo their users, thus the formal organization and materiality is a direct reflection of our “style,” nevertheless the real success of the project will be measured by its ability to provide invitation and provocation to our family. I don’t really care anymore if our landscapes are contextual or fake or pristine or messy; I’ll be happy when our landscapes promote engagement and discourse, I’ll be happy when they own their subjectification of nature.

Jonathan Blaseg is a founding partner of PEBL Design and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota.

[daylilies123]

Blue Daylilies for Sale

Blue Daylilies are the flourishing daylilies that make your home garden more beautiful and pretty. Daylilies in Australia is specializing in growing daylilies and we sell them at reliable prices. If you want to decorate your home garden with our blue daylilies, then visit us today.

[scottadesign]

Want To decorate your home garden with beautiful flowers? Daylilies flower are the perfect choice for you. It is lovely flowers that are edible and highly palatable. Decadent Daylilies offers different varieties of daylily flowers at reliable prices. Visit here and decorate your home garden with different daylilies.

[waldenweave]

Making is still slow going. My life living with people now means compromise, and that’s okay. I learned this past week and another culprit might also be the cancer drug I’m on: tamoxifen. It’s great stuff, and will help me not develop more tumors, but over the last three months, I have become increasingly tired, sore, and sad. I have been off it for a week as my oncologist wanted to see if some weird side effects I was having were related and went away. As of this weekend, I don’t hurt nearly as much, I am feeling more alert, and I have energy and strength again. I have been trying to make hay while the sun shines and do all the things I will not be able to do when I’m on it again!

This weekend, I found the waffle iron, and am hoping to make a load of waffles to put in the freezer (there is currently a surplus of buttermilk that must be used up – oh woe!). I bought some lavender plants last week (on sale! more on that later), and will try to weed the area I want to put them in today, and then I’ll plant them. I am going to try to figure out all the heavy lifting I’ve been meaning to do and do it today.

Okay. On to Making over the past month.

I finished up the overshot towels! One is in use at home, two of the yellow ones went to friends as a gift – their kitchen is yellow and green – and one has stayed with me, as yet unused. I now think these are the perfect weight for towels, and are very absorbent, but if I sell them, they’re going to be very expensive, because these take twice as long to produce.

When I am preparing to hem, I always wash and dry the cloth two or three times before I do anything. Then I iron the whole thing front and back. (I know lots of weavers say press, but honestly, this is cotton. They’re towels. I have never found a need to get super fussy with an iron other than to flatten the cloth.) Then I cut along the weft marker lines I threw when I was weaving. Sometimes, there are bits of scrap. I save those and use them to make greeting cards, or sometimes just as reference samples. Then I go over each towel looking for errant weft ends sticking out and I snip them flush with the cloth. I have read that snipping the weft ends flush while you’re weaving is okay, but I’ve always found a few sticking out anyway after wet finishing. I’ve attributed this to the shrinkage of the yarn, and then the ends just pop out. But I like snipping the weft ends because it also allows me to really inspect every inch of the cloth, and sometimes I see a mistake I didn’t see before, which I can usually fix.

Sometimes I also find knots in the weft yarn that I didn’t notice while I was throwing the shuttle. The thing I’m pointing to above is a knot. (Sigh.) It was on the back of the cloth, so I didn’t notice it until the pre-hemming stage. I could fix it, but it’s hard to do after the cloth has been washed. I can’t believe I didn’t notice it when I was winding quills – normally, if I find a knot in the yarn, I’ll cut it out and just overlap the weft in the same pick as if I were starting a new quill.

With this batch of towels, the cloth is a bit thicker than just twill, so I did a little different thing with the hem: I wove a a bit of the ground, leaving the pattern out, and just folded that over and stitched. Behold:

This hem is sooo thin and unobtrusive.

I like it a lot! I had seen something like this in a picture somewhere and thought I’d give it a try. I also love how it looks.

What I need to do now is get an inkle loom or put together a backstrap loom so I can weave bands – I want to sew loops just under the hem of each towel I make (and maybe weave a logo into them?).

I took the last week of August off from work. Man, I haven’t had a vacation in what feels like years (and it might be two or three, I can’t remember), and it was pretty good. A friend and I went up to Shelburne to Apex Orchard to go peach picking, and we could not have picked a better day for it! The sky was blue, the air was clear and ever so slightly crisp, there was a gentle breeze…and the trees were positively laden with fruit. Some of the branches were nearly on the ground.

The view from the orchard’s shop is staggeringly gorgeous. That picture above doesn’t do it justice at all.

We each picked a large box (and spent several days eating our respective peaches), and then went back up to the shop for lunch. There was a lovely eating area outside, and I’d brought All The Food in an ice chest. We had already eaten several peaches in the orchard, but managed to get something other than fruit into our systems before packing up and checking out the shop in detail.

It doesn’t look like much, but this is actually quite a lot of peaches!

The shop is lovely, and I highly recommend a visit if you’re in the area. While the orchard has been around for years and years, the shop is fairly new, so don’t expect too much – but they do have pottery from a local potter or two, maple syrup, honey from the orchard, some handmade quilted things, and coolers of fruit. They also have a walk-in cooler of seconds!

I took advantage of this cooler of seconds a couple of days later:

This is a LOT more peaches than you think. I learned what ‘half-bushel’ really was. Also, please note the lovely and very useful overshot dishtowel under the peaches on the counter.

For a mere $22, I got a half-bushel of Red Haven peaches. They were fiiiine, and only some were very slightly bruised. They were very nearly all ripe to being completely ripe, and they were perfect to make into jam.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle with getting enough canning jars, running out of pectin and sugar and running out to buy more, not adding enough acid to the second batch because I’d been canning for six hours and was exhausted, canning the second batch a second time the next day after adding the right amount of acid and slightly more pectin, but in the end, I got it all done. Two cases of half-pint jars. I still have three cups of peach mash left (in the freezer) because I ran out of time and energy, and I thought this would be enough for a very modest batch of peach chutney. Which was supposed to maybe happen today, but won’t because omg I’m doing all the things today and will run out of time.

I finally finished my friend’s jeans:

FINISHED. FINALLY.

It took months, and most of the delay was due to nonsense with the house I’d lived in before, being diagnosed with cancer, freaking out, and moving house…well, all of that is now behind me and this was actually on the top of the list for my vacation! (That list is so long still…) I’m so happy I finished it – it’s not quite right, but I couldn’t figure out what else needed to be there, and my friend was being SO PATIENT waiting. She loves them and I am thrilled to have learned a new method of repairing holes in clothing.

So, during that kerfuffle of getting enough canning jars (see second case in photo above), I might have accidentally bought five lavender plants (var. Provence). They were on sale! They were so healthy and so large! (Actually, they were so much on sale, I couldn’t NOT buy them.) I got that little pink yarrow as well because, well, it’s pink yarrow, and beautiful and well, it was on sale, too.

I am currently trying to get the garden by the front walk back into garden-shape again. My friends who I live with do not have time for this, and are sad that it’s gotten to this point, but basically don’t have time to really think about what to do with it. Well, this is something I can fix, albeit slowly. The strip is quite long as is not obvious in that picture above, and it seems to be taking forever. The grass/weeds are actually growing on the layer of old rotten bark mulch, so it all peels up pretty easily. I feel pretty much like I could run a race today, so it’s on my list of things to tackle. Maybe I can get it all peeled up? My plans are to put the lavender in the bit that gets the most sun. (I had plans to put it in the back yard where the drainage is probably slightly better, but I discovered there are ground wasps living there, so digging in their nest is probably not a good idea.) I hope there’s enough sun in the front.

My next plan is to keep an eye out for beautiful (and inexpensive) mums so I can add a bit of color to the front. I might put some spring bulbs in as well, but I want to ask my friends first – I don’t want to set up something that they will need to take care of after I’ve moved out. That would be mean. My Ultimate Plan is to plant perennials in there that will basically look after themselves with minimal weeding required. So, daisies, mint (already there), bee balm, lamb’s ears, maybe a rose or two (hardy)…you get the idea. The hostas and a couple patches of daylilies plus weeds is just sad. (And don’t get me started on this way of landscape planting that wastes so much space with bark mulch and nothing else – argh!)

I also will mow the lawn today:

A toy!

I can’t hardly believe my luck, and the trust my friends have in me. As a member of the household, I am always looking for ways to be helpful and contribute (other than financially), so I mow the lawn. It’s a very big lawn, and it takes just short of two hours to get it all done. Above is what I use to mow it, along with a regular push mower to get the edges and fiddly bits. It’s an actual tractor (not a lawnmower), with a mower attachment on the power take-off underneath. I like to think of it as a Kitchen Aid mixer with the fun attachments. There’s a snowblower attachment parked behind it in this picture that I will likely also learn to operate when it’s time. The driveway is also large.

I can’t adequately express how much fun it is to mow the lawn! I hope that never wears off.

In other news, I’ve been thinking hard about something else to make. I’ve been wanting to do this for years:

A good friend was off-loading some books…of course I nabbed them!

I figure I’ll scope out supplies and gather as necessary and required, and start small. So small. My goal is to make the rose scented soap I can’t get at the store anymore (because amazon bought Whole Foods, and while I do not buy into the complete hipster/yuppie/whatever it’s called this decade philosophy that WF peddles, they do carry a few things that I do like – but so many things have been discontinued). Rose oil, it turns out, is five times more costly than it was when I last checked (maybe 15 years ago), and there are varying reviews about the fake rose fragrance that most people use. So, I’ll start with lavender because that’s not too expensive and I can get it locally.

And I’ve saved the best for last.

Remember how I started that cello experiment? I started with three months. That was one billing cycle for the instrument rental, and I figured that was a good window in which I could decide if I liked learning to play it or not, liked the teacher or not, etc. And it was. Well. I have been mooning over the viola da gamba for a while (a year and a half, about) and this semester, I got my name on the list for a gamba class over at UMASS, just down the street from my office, and got the okay from my boss to take a long lunch once a week. And I got in. No auditions, no previous experience with string instruments required (but it helps).

So pretty!

I have borrowed the tenor gamba. It’s lovely in every respect. Well, not tuning. I’m sure I will get used to it, but tuning is a pain right now. The strings are gut, so any whiff of air from elsewhere makes it go wildly out of tune, especially if that air is of a different humidity.

So for three months, I’ve got to figure out how to practice two instruments – but the opportunity is so good! And it’s only three months. And maybe I’ll make musician friends? And maybe it will help with the anxiety about playing in front of other people? Seems like it couldn’t hurt!

GUYS, I GET TO HAVE VIOLA DA GAMBA LESSONS.

And I’ll end the post with a picture of cuteness:

Ollie above, Marlie below. Not the best picture, but it was tricky to snap this one with one hand.

Ollie stayed with us for a week, and has gone back with his owners. They were a joy to take care of together. I will miss Ollie, and give Marlie extra snuggles for a while.

…in which Things Get Done. Making is still slow going. My life living with people now means compromise, and that's okay. I learned this past week and another culprit might also be the cancer drug I'm on: tamoxifen.

[puckyou-forpuckssake]

White Violets—M. Barzal

Message me to request an imagine. This one was not requested but a huge thanks to @hockey-yesplease for the idea of using Mat Barzal. No warning for this. If you guys have any ideas, please make a request, even if it’s just a player you want to see here! Check my blog for master list or search for more in blog with #hockeyimagine

Flowers were your passion. Business was your major. Thus the birth of Secret Garden of Brooklyn. It was still a small start up business. You had a few regular customers though. Today, however, was Tuesday, and Tuesdays were always slow.

You sat behind the counter, flipping through a catalog of vases, when the bell tinkled to signal a customer’s entrance. The boy was young. Probably needs something for his girlfriend, you thought. “I need flowers,” he said in a hurry.

“It’s a good thing you came to a flower shop then,” you replied without even thinking. The guy was probably going to leave now.

Instead, he cracked a grin. “I deserve that. I need flowers that say ‘I’m sorry I ate your cheesecake and let Breaker break his arm trying to be Superman. Please don’t kick me out.’”

“Your girlfriend must not be happy with you.”

The boy shrugged. “I have no idea if she is or not considering I don’t have one. I do, however, have a 6’1, 210 lb defenseman upset that his kid broke his arm under my watch. His wife can also get very scary too.”

You nodded and began grabbing flowers to put an arrangement together. He watched you in awe. “It seems like you’re just grabbing random flowers, but I feel like there is a method to your madness.”

You chuckled. “Flowers actually have meanings. It’s something I’ve always admired. So when I make bouquets, each one has a special meaning.”

“That’s really cool.”

“It can be challenging at times. Flowers have lots of meanings, and depending on where you check can give you different meanings,” you explained.

“Can you explain this bouquet to me?”

You nodded. “The yellow roses represent friendship. I gathered from your story that you are friends with these people. Just make sure they know it means friendship and joy. A yellow rose can also represent infidelity. The purple hyacinth symbolizes asking for forgiveness. Hyacinths in general also represent play and sport. Those really light purple, small flowers are raspberry blossom, and they represent regret and remorse. The white tulips also represent forgiveness.

“I know it may seem odd with all these flowers together, and in this line of business beauty if supposed to be everything. I always see it as the thought and meaning of it counts.”

“That’s beautiful.” You had no idea if he meant the bouquet or your words. He paid and grabbed the bouquet. “You’ve got a nice place here. I’ll have to recommend you.”

—————————————————————

It was a week and a half later when you saw the boy again. “I need flowers again.”

“How did the bouquet go?”

“Rebecca loved it, and Dennis was impressed that flowers have meanings and I could remember them. I need flowers that say ‘Congratulations on the new deal. Let’s kick ass together on ice.’”

You chuckled as you started pulling different flowers. “I can do congratulations, but I’m not sure how to get kick ass to translate. That might be a job for yourself.”

“Mat,” the guy said suddenly. “My name is Mat.”

“I’m Y/N,” you introduced. “So you want the meanings of these flowers?”

“Yes. I think Tito will find it funny if I actually know this stuff.”

“The yellow poppies mean success and wealth. Apple blossoms mean hope and good fortune. The goldenrod suggests success, good fortune, and encouragement. I put some general hyacinths in here too because—“

“It means games and sports!” Mat shouted. He did a little fist pump for remembering, causing you to giggle at his excitement.

“Very good, Mat. These lilies are Casablanca ones. They represent celebration. The yellow roses, which you may remember, mean friendship, but they also represent achievement.”

Mat smiled as he grabbed the bouquet and paid. “Thank you, Y/N. I’m definitely recommending this place.”

You smiled. “I’d appreciate that a lot, Mat.”

—————————————————————

It had been a month since Mat had last been in. He must have kept his promise because your sales went up after his last visit. You even met Dennis, the guy who lets Mat live in his basement. You learned from him that they played for the Islanders. By now you had met most of the team and the organization staff from all their visits to your shop. You even had to hire a couple extra workers because of the business increase.

Business was slow the current morning, which was fine with you. Sometimes you liked the slowdown. “Hey, Y/N,” you looked up to see Mat.

“Mat!” You cheered. “It’s been a while. I was hoping you’d stop by sometime. I really want to thank you for bringing me business.”

Mat blushed. “It was nothing. So since you aware of what I do, then this will make it less awkward. This weekend is mothers’ weekend for the Islanders. The guys and I talked and we wanted to order bouquets from you for them.”

You nodded and grabbed a pad of paper. “How many and when?”

Mat counted on his hands. “26. We decided Sunday would be good. It’ll be a home game and the end to their trip. Is that enough time for that much?”

You nodded. “They won’t be big and extravagant.”

Mat grinned. “That’s fine. It’s the meaning that counts. Any ideas on the flowers?”

“You really want to know?”

“Yes! I like this whole meaning thing.”

You nodded and thought for a moment. “White periwinkles for delightful memories. The pink rose is for gratitude and thanks. A cactus symbolizes maternal affection and love; however, I will put the flower of cactus in substitute. The pink carnations symbolize woman’s love. Purple tulips mean royalty, which mothers are. Coltsfoot means maternal care.”

“That sounds beautiful,” Mat commented. “Everyone’s going to love them.”

—————————————————————

It had only been a couple days since the delivery to the Islanders, and all you could think of was how it went and if Mat liked it, even if it was the moms. It had been awhile since someone had appreciated what you do, and Mat seemed to love what you do.

Off in your own world, you didn’t hear the door open and the man in question enter. He coughed to get your attention. “Mat!”

“Hi, Y/N.”

“I didn’t expect to see you so soon. Did the mothers like the flowers?”

He nodded eagerly. “Everyone loved them,” He pulled out a card from his coat. “This is for you from everyone. I also need one more bouquet.”

“What’s the occasion?”

Mat shook his head and pulled out another piece of paper. “I already know the flowers I need.”

You nodded and got ready to find the flowers. Mat’s hands shook as he glanced down at the paper and took a deep breath. “Phlox for sweet dreams and to say I’m trying to please you. Saxifrage for affection. White camellias for the lovable and adorable and pink ones for strong desire. Sweet William so I can be granted a smile. Red tulips to declare my love, and red carnations symbolizing admiration. Forget-me-nots for true love, hope, and memories. Gardenias for secret admiration and love. Daylilies for flirtation. Love at first sight represented by a lavender rose. Blue bells for gratitude, appreciation, and never ending love.”

Mat watched you run around looking for flowers. “You must be in deep,” you said as you put the piece together. “There’s a lot of love and affection in this bouquet.”

Mat nodded. “Good. That’s what I want.”

You finished up the bouquet and passed to to Mat. He looked at it before setting it down. “You put a lot of work into this,” he whispered.

You nodded. “You’re my favorite customer honestly. You deserve this. Good luck with the girl...or guy.”

“Girl,” Mat reaffirmed. He started walking towards the door without the flowers.

“Mat! Your flowers!” Mat stopped. “What’s this girl going to think of you ask her out and forget these?”

“She’s already holding them,” Mat answered. You stopped and stared at the bouquet in your hand. “I honestly didn’t know how to do this. Will you go on a date with me, Y/N?”

You set the bouquet down and grabbed a handful of white violets. “Let’s take a chance,” Mat said staring at the flowers. “I’m going to take this as a yes.”

You put the bouquet in an empty vase. “This is one of my favorite bouquets I’ve ever made. And to think, I thought you were going to give this to another girl.”

Mat laughed. “You’re the only girl I’d ever give these flowers to.”

===============================

For flower meanings I used https://gardenerdy.com/list-of-flowers-their-meanings

[budgethomedecors]

Improve your Home on a Small Budget.

Get More Flowers Without Spending a Single PennyDivide perennials every three to six years to thin clump-forming varieties, such as the daylily (shown here), which blooms from late spring to late summer. This method can also be used to regulate plant size, stimulate growth, and increase the number of specimens in a garden. Splitting apart spring- and summer-blooming perennials in late summer or before the first frost is a good rule of thumb.We've compiled a list of quick and easy budget upgrades to get you started on your next home improvement project. If you enjoy doing projects around the house, you're already on your way to saving money. However, with proper planning, you can transform the feel of an entire room with a single project that only costs a few hundred dollars.

Budget-Friendly Home Improvements

Choose from our list of value-added upgrades that are all under $500—some even less. They will not only be gentle on your wallet now, but some of them will also save you money in the future. Take a look at our simple home improvement ideas below.

1. Use Paint to Refresh Your Rooms

Picking up a paint can and letting loose on your drab, washed-out walls can give them a burst of brilliant depth (or wash away your decorating sins with virgin white). That's the power of a fresh coat of paint: it reorganizes your world. As a result, painting is the most popular DIY home improvement project.

While you don't have to be a pro to learn how to paint like one, a good paint job requires more than just slathering some color on the wall. From the first scratch of the pole sander to the final feather of the brush, follow our how-to instructions to expertly coat your walls in one weekend.

2. Set up a Low-Cost Stair Runner

Want to get a good grip on slick stairwells? Make your own runner. Jaime Shackford, a TOH reader, took on the project herself after receiving a quote for $2,500 to carpet her dangerously slick oak staircase. She made her stairs non-slip by using just two off-the-shelf woven runners ($125 each) and supplies from a home center.

3. Rewiring an Antique Entry Lantern

Many hanging lanterns from the first half of the twentieth century were simple in design, appearing to have been fashioned by blacksmiths rather than machines.These rustic lanterns were popularized by tastemakers of the time, such as Gustav Stickley and the Roycroft crafters, and exemplified a back-to-basics design sensibility. If you found one at a yard sale or have one stashed in the attic, you can invite guests to "come on in" by repurposing a vintage lantern. Once you have the parts, it's a simple and inexpensive job.

4. Paint an old floor to make it look new again.

The burgundy red floor in Sara and Andrew's Massachusetts farmhouse master bedroom didn't match their young and energetic personalities. However, with a limited budget, refinishing was not an option. So, to modernize the space, they painted the floor in a light checked pattern, using beige and white to complement the cool blue walls.

Here, we demonstrate how a little measuring and a couple of coats of long-lasting floor paint can add a lot of personality to a room for a low cost.

5. Give your kitchen cabinets a brand-new, flawless finish.

Because the dark cabinets have sucked all the light out of the room, your kitchen appears cave-like. However, a brighter makeover does not always imply replacing those drab boxes with brand-new ones. As long as the frames and doors are structurally sound, you can clean them up and slap on some new paint to transform your kitchen from drab to bright in a weekend. All you'll need is a strong cleaner, sandpaper, a paintbrush, and some elbow grease. What you don't need is a lot of money, because the transformation will cost you a fraction of the price of even the most basic new cabinets.

6. Get More Flowers Without Spending a Single Penny

Divide perennials every three to six years to thin clump-forming varieties, such as the daylily (shown here), which blooms from late spring to late summer. This method can also be used to regulate plant size, stimulate growth, and increase the number of specimens in a garden. Splitting apart spring- and summer-blooming perennials in late summer or before the first frost is a good rule of thumb.

7. With an easy-to-clean backsplash, you can keep your walls clean.

If putting up a traditional tile backsplash feels a little out of your DIY range, installing one made from a single sheet of solid surface material could be your saving grace. Shaping, cutting, and gluing up this low-cost stock material—available in a variety of colors and patterns from companies like Swanstone, which makes the beadboard backsplash shown here—is a weekend project that most novices can complete with confidence. And once you've installed your sleek backsplash, you'll wonder why you ever thought of tile in the first place.

8. Summer (and Winter) Savings with Ceiling Fans

Ceiling fans are becoming increasingly popular as more homeowners discover significant year-round energy savings. Ceiling fans create cooling breezes in the summer, reducing the strain on air conditioners. They circulate heated air in the winter to keep the room warm.Installing a ceiling fan is a simple process, especially if the space above is accessible from an attic. However, even if it isn't, the job is still manageable. In this article, we'll show you how to replace an old light fixture with a new ceiling fan and light in a room that doesn't have an attic above it. The advantage of this approach is that no new wiring is required. The existing cable from the fan is connected to the fan.

9. Save Money by Using a Programmable Thermostat

Going digital with a model that automatically adjusts the indoor temperature setting is relatively simple, and it can save you about $180 on your annual heating and cooling costs. Simple models that only control heat are available at home improvement stores for around $25. However, units like the one shown here can perform a variety of additional functions, including cooling and humidification. Typically, they are purchased and installed by HVAC contractors, but you can save money by purchasing one online and installing it yourself in no time.

10. Install an Eco-Friendly Insulation Layer

It's bad enough having to get out of bed in the morning, let alone waking up to the icy shock of a cold floor. What you need is some warmth beneath your feet and a little cushion as you walk around the house. Then there's cork. Natural cork floors are resilient yet durable, stylish yet earthy, and can transform any cool room into a cozy haven.

Cork flooring is also far less difficult to install than traditional wood flooring. Engineered panels that snap together without glue or nails are now available from manufacturers. These floating-floor systems are suitable for installation over plywood, concrete, or even existing flooring. You can transform a floor into a comfortable mat where your toes can roam freely without fear of the big chill—or expensive area rugs—in just one afternoon.

[wendyimmiller]

The Curse of the Plant Lust List

               Bob Hill returns after an epic shopping spree. Enchantment overtakes him.

  Few of us tillers of the soil plan on visiting the same garden center four times in five hours. My previous record was two trips – and with a few hours in-between.

But we all get that gnawing feeling – especially in old age – to never leave anything truly desired behind. As in never. What is worse than going back to the nursery to learn something on your newly created plant lust list is gone, and probably just out the door.

Part of my problem was I wasn’t certain what that plant lust list should include. It was particularly important to get it right because this job was the volunteer planting of our small-town, Utica Indiana Memorial Garden. It is a community centerpiece of sorts—six-foot brick walls curled around a raised bed garden at a four-stop-sign intersection created to honor the many who served from a small place. Half the town goes past every day— coming and going. The other half will wander by tomorrow.

Several of us took over the memorial garden care and maintenance about ten years ago when the previous designer’s concept of hostas in baked-clay soil and full sun wasn’t quite as fulfilling or patriotic as required.

My first thought back then, and all the rage in those days, was to plant a double row of “Knockout Roses,” once heralded as the perpetual answer to all rose bacteria and bug issues.

Wrong.

Regular maintenance is always the answer with queenly roses. No such regular hands existed at the time. Ragged, bug-infested ugly ruled. Community pride was at stake. So, this year – and on Fourth of July weekend, yet – it was “Off with their heads.” If we were going to have disease and bugs issues, they would come with a different class of plants.

We dispatched about eight of those gangly, bug-infested shrubs to Over-Rated Rose Heaven. The immediate effect being the remaining yellow marigolds and red dianthus were trying, but reinforcements were badly needed for the full John Phillips Sousa effect.

Janet Hill and Susan Loya “dig it” in the Utica (Indiana) Memorial Garden.

The marigolds were moved to the top of the circular bed, joining a lively festival of yellow-gold lantana at altitude. Then it was off to Lowe’s – I said “functional” not exotic – for a quick, mid-summer fixup.

Right.

All went well at first. Lowe’s was having a we-gotta-get-this-water-needy stuff out of here sale with decent perennials; three for $10. Its four-inch annuals were mildly outrageous; three for $12.

The Fourth of July dictated the purchases. Angelonia ‘Angel Mist’ covered the blue.  The Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ promised a little more red and white. Toss in some red and white annual vinca, some pinkish-white Phlox paniculata—‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Laura’ —and the whole memorial garden would hum red, white, blue, lavender-purple and, OK, pink. Why be a slave to a holiday color scheme?

I had done all this without properly calculating what was truly needed in our community garden, whose 20-foot, parallel rows ran into yellow Stella de Oro daylilies before taking a right turn into massive ninebark bushes.

I had purchased some plants very early that morning, but the scheme wasn’t working.  On my second trip to Lowe’s about 45 minutes later I bought what I thought would be enough vinca and phlox to handle the community garden trick.

Wrong.

It wasn’t near enough. Those good volunteers left behind had properly cleaned the beds of weeds, moved those marigolds to the top to dance with the lantana and there was still way too much space.

It was back to Lowe’s 20 minutes later for the third morning trip, this time finding red, white and blue vinca in long trays; smaller in size but once full grown would cover the spaces. Alas, while there, I came across some containers of Coreopsis ‘Enchanted Eve’ from the L’il Bang

Series. (More bang for the buck!) It looked like it needed a home and was nicely described as being “covered with attractive butter-yellow blossoms adorned with a soft burgundy heart.”

Right. Very patriotic.

So, confession time, while hunting for community garden plants, I gave my soft burgundy heart to ‘Enchanted Eve’ and bought three for my home garden. I already had enough yellow for the memorial crowd.

And all the way home I kept asking myself if I liked ‘Enchanted Eve’ so much why the hell hadn’t I bought five. I had violated my own Old Guy Code, and you always buy plants in odd numbers because that way nurseries sell more stuff.

We quickly finished the community garden – it looks good and will only get better, thank you. Yet all through lunch I brooded about going back buying two more Enchanted Eves; the plant lust list at work. There was no denying the passion.  I hurried back – the fourth trip in five hours – and hustled over to the coreopsis section.

There was only one ‘Enchanted Eve’ left. The nice clerk shrugged her shoulders and said she would look for one more.

Right.

    Former Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Bob Hill wrote more than 4,000 columns and feature stories, about ten books and several angry letters to bill collectors in his 33 years at the paper. He and his wife, Janet, are former guides and caretakers of Hidden Hill Nursery and Garden in Utica, IN., a home-made, eight-acre arboretum, art mecca and source of enormous fun, whimsy, rare plants and peace for all who showed up. Bob’s academic honors include being the tallest kid in his class 12 years in a row. 

The Curse of the Plant Lust List originally appeared on GardenRant on July 16, 2020.

The post The Curse of the Plant Lust List appeared first on GardenRant.

from Gardening https://www.gardenrant.com/2020/07/the-curse-of-the-plant-lust-list.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

[turfandlawncare]

The Curse of the Plant Lust List

               Bob Hill returns after an epic shopping spree. Enchantment overtakes him.

  Few of us tillers of the soil plan on visiting the same garden center four times in five hours. My previous record was two trips – and with a few hours in-between.

But we all get that gnawing feeling – especially in old age – to never leave anything truly desired behind. As in never. What is worse than going back to the nursery to learn something on your newly created plant lust list is gone, and probably just out the door.

Part of my problem was I wasn’t certain what that plant lust list should include. It was particularly important to get it right because this job was the volunteer planting of our small-town, Utica Indiana Memorial Garden. It is a community centerpiece of sorts—six-foot brick walls curled around a raised bed garden at a four-stop-sign intersection created to honor the many who served from a small place. Half the town goes past every day— coming and going. The other half will wander by tomorrow.

Several of us took over the memorial garden care and maintenance about ten years ago when the previous designer’s concept of hostas in baked-clay soil and full sun wasn’t quite as fulfilling or patriotic as required.

My first thought back then, and all the rage in those days, was to plant a double row of “Knockout Roses,” once heralded as the perpetual answer to all rose bacteria and bug issues.

Wrong.

Regular maintenance is always the answer with queenly roses. No such regular hands existed at the time. Ragged, bug-infested ugly ruled. Community pride was at stake. So, this year – and on Fourth of July weekend, yet – it was “Off with their heads.” If we were going to have disease and bugs issues, they would come with a different class of plants.

We dispatched about eight of those gangly, bug-infested shrubs to Over-Rated Rose Heaven. The immediate effect being the remaining yellow marigolds and red dianthus were trying, but reinforcements were badly needed for the full John Phillips Sousa effect.

Janet Hill and Susan Loya “dig it” in the Utica (Indiana) Memorial Garden.

The marigolds were moved to the top of the circular bed, joining a lively festival of yellow-gold lantana at altitude. Then it was off to Lowe’s – I said “functional” not exotic – for a quick, mid-summer fixup.

Right.

All went well at first. Lowe’s was having a we-gotta-get-this-water-needy stuff out of here sale with decent perennials; three for $10. Its four-inch annuals were mildly outrageous; three for $12.

The Fourth of July dictated the purchases. Angelonia ‘Angel Mist’ covered the blue.  The Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ promised a little more red and white. Toss in some red and white annual vinca, some pinkish-white Phlox paniculata—‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘Laura’ —and the whole memorial garden would hum red, white, blue, lavender-purple and, OK, pink. Why be a slave to a holiday color scheme?

I had done all this without properly calculating what was truly needed in our community garden, whose 20-foot, parallel rows ran into yellow Stella de Oro daylilies before taking a right turn into massive ninebark bushes.

I had purchased some plants very early that morning, but the scheme wasn’t working.  On my second trip to Lowe’s about 45 minutes later I bought what I thought would be enough vinca and phlox to handle the community garden trick.

Wrong.

It wasn’t near enough. Those good volunteers left behind had properly cleaned the beds of weeds, moved those marigolds to the top to dance with the lantana and there was still way too much space.

It was back to Lowe’s 20 minutes later for the third morning trip, this time finding red, white and blue vinca in long trays; smaller in size but once full grown would cover the spaces. Alas, while there, I came across some containers of Coreopsis ‘Enchanted Eve’ from the L’il Bang

Series. (More bang for the buck!) It looked like it needed a home and was nicely described as being “covered with attractive butter-yellow blossoms adorned with a soft burgundy heart.”

Right. Very patriotic.

So, confession time, while hunting for community garden plants, I gave my soft burgundy heart to ‘Enchanted Eve’ and bought three for my home garden. I already had enough yellow for the memorial crowd.

And all the way home I kept asking myself if I liked ‘Enchanted Eve’ so much why the hell hadn’t I bought five. I had violated my own Old Guy Code, and you always buy plants in odd numbers because that way nurseries sell more stuff.

We quickly finished the community garden – it looks good and will only get better, thank you. Yet all through lunch I brooded about going back buying two more Enchanted Eves; the plant lust list at work. There was no denying the passion.  I hurried back – the fourth trip in five hours – and hustled over to the coreopsis section.

There was only one ‘Enchanted Eve’ left. The nice clerk shrugged her shoulders and said she would look for one more.

Right.

    Former Louisville Courier-Journal columnist Bob Hill wrote more than 4,000 columns and feature stories, about ten books and several angry letters to bill collectors in his 33 years at the paper. He and his wife, Janet, are former guides and caretakers of Hidden Hill Nursery and Garden in Utica, IN., a home-made, eight-acre arboretum, art mecca and source of enormous fun, whimsy, rare plants and peace for all who showed up. Bob’s academic honors include being the tallest kid in his class 12 years in a row. 

The Curse of the Plant Lust List originally appeared on GardenRant on July 16, 2020.

The post The Curse of the Plant Lust List appeared first on GardenRant.

from GardenRant https://ift.tt/2Wpa75C

[mygardenchanneldotcom]

Daylily Blog

Leap Day! Unbloomed Daylily Seedling Update!!

It is exciting to be able to offer the newest daylily cultivars that have been cross pollinated.  They have been harvested off the seed pods, dried out, put through cold stratification and sprouted!  Now they have been growing for months and you have the opportunity to buy them!!  https://eustacedaylily.com/product-category/unbloomed-daylily-seedlings-for-sale/ 

Daylily Unbloomed Seedlings for Sale

Daylily Seed Vault Update

Went to check the fridge at lunch today and see there is many daylilyl seeds left over. Here is the link we have some available on website you can buy. https://eustacedaylily.com/product-category/daylily-seeds/

Here is a nice combo! CBP x Light Speed Daylily Seeds

Spring Shipping + Daylily Pricing Update This Week

Inventory is being marked down for 2020. A lot of our plants are potted up from the move and we are just wanting to get rid of some older cultivars... keep an eye out this week as about half the inventory prices will drop. We did lose some over the move that were evergreens...just got too cold for them :(

Augie's Unique Beauty Daylily

Augie's Unique Beauty Here is a 3 fan clump just breaking winter dormancy. The fans are small and so are the scapes. The blooms make up for it. Augie's Unique Beauty has no bloom alike and takes on the name well. Very nice broken pattern on this tetraploid. Everything else on this daylily looks like a diploid but it is not. Sets pods well and pollen is always fertile. If you plan on ordering this daylily expect a small plant, it's just its nature. We only send Blooming size plants! Enjoy!!

Augie's Unique Beauty

Seedling - June Singletary Sdlg

We were excited to win all of this seedling from Jammin's Daylily Garden. It is very unique. We used it's pollen a lot last year and still have seeds left over from the seed pods that it set very easily.

Gigawatts

GigaWatts - Held for increase (Name Registered Last Year) Intro Date TBD...

We have moved to Oberlin, OH and are in the process of moving and planting thousands of plants... We may not be so quick to respond to messages as we settle in.

We will try to keep this blog updated as we can. Kim and I just love growing daylilies and now we are on 8 acres with plenty of room to grow!!! Thank you for all your support both with our daylily plants/seeds and our YouTube Channel. Appreciate each one of you God bless you, Rich Eustace

MOARRR Daylily Seedlings!

Here are some more of our seedlings! The middle one is not of Ravenous Bite, we made a mistake on that title. It is Eustace's Black and Buddy's Victoria Jade. I love to cross for the dark bold base with the pure white teeth. I have moved on from crossing Blues to more like these seedlings you see above. They really stand out in a field of daylilies! Read the full article

[finishinglinepress]

NEW RELEASE FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS:

Thump and other poems by Mark Madigan

On Sale Now on Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Thump-Other-Poems-Mark-Madigan/dp/1635348226/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Thump+and+other+poems&qid=1572285733&s=books&sr=1-1

Review

Mark Madigan invites his readers into the poems in Thump with tantalizing narratives set in cities throughout Europe, always surprising us with unexpected subjects, characters, scenes, and images. Traveling from the beginning of each poem to the end, the reader experiences the poet paying homage to moments of joy and pain, each needing the other to make us human. We are comforted by the dance of an innocent child in one poem, a baseball hat in another, and the possibility that artists and their subjects just might be immortal. We are simultaneously challenged by poems brilliantly discomforting that take us inward to subtle instances of oppression, insensitivity, loss, fear, and mortality. Mark's poems are complex, his voice gentle, his themes wise. They are the work of an artist who pays attention and asks his readers to pay attention also.

Maureen Morehead, author of a number of poetry books, including The Melancholy Teacher, and Late August Blues: The Daylily Poems. She served as the Poet Laureate of Kentucky for 2011-2012.

About the Author

Mark Madigan holds a Master of Fine Arts in Writing from Spalding University, a Master of Arts in English from George Mason University, and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University. His poetry has appeared widely in magazines, including The American Scholar, The California Quarterly, The Louisville Review, Poetry, and Tar River Poetry. "Doors of the KGB," one of the poems in this collection, was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

#poetrylovers #preorder #now #reading #FLP #poetry

[jelantiahilma]

This Story Behind Blue Daylily Will Haunt You Forever! | Blue Daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Violets are Blue – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Stardust – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE DREAM – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE RIVIERA – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Blue Desire – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar Detailed Information – blue daylily | blue daylily

Who Loves Blue, Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

Hemerocallis Blue Sheen (Daylily) – blue daylily | blue daylily

Amazon.com : Dark Daylily Mix Black Blue Purple Daylilies … – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE MARTINI – blue daylily | blue daylily

from WordPress https://liaflower.com/this-story-behind-blue-daylily-will-haunt-you-forever-blue-daylily/

[qindaskurdi]

This Story Behind Blue Daylily Will Haunt You Forever! | Blue Daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Violets are Blue – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Stardust – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE DREAM – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE RIVIERA – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Blue Desire – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar Detailed Information – blue daylily | blue daylily

Who Loves Blue, Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

Hemerocallis Blue Sheen (Daylily) – blue daylily | blue daylily

Amazon.com : Dark Daylily Mix Black Blue Purple Daylilies … – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE MARTINI – blue daylily | blue daylily

from WordPress https://liaflower.com/this-story-behind-blue-daylily-will-haunt-you-forever-blue-daylily/

[daylilies123]

Buy online for Clothed In Glory at wholesale price from Decadent Daylily. It is Very fragrant and having Lavender mauve with a lavender eyezone and yellow gold throat.  Order today and get a variety of daylilies with free shipping on $50 purchase.

[liaflowerwall]

This Story Behind Blue Daylily Will Haunt You Forever! | Blue Daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Violets are Blue – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Stardust – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE DREAM – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE RIVIERA – blue daylily | blue daylily

Blue Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar – Blue Desire – blue daylily | blue daylily

AHS Daylily Cultivar Detailed Information – blue daylily | blue daylily

Who Loves Blue, Daylily – blue daylily | blue daylily

Hemerocallis Blue Sheen (Daylily) – blue daylily | blue daylily

Amazon.com : Dark Daylily Mix Black Blue Purple Daylilies … – blue daylily | blue daylily

BLUE MARTINI – blue daylily | blue daylily

from WordPress https://liaflower.com/this-story-behind-blue-daylily-will-haunt-you-forever-blue-daylily/

[janniaragon1]

Asheville NC Real Estate Agent and Co-Owner of Blue Ridge Daylilies Announces the Start of the Peak Bloom Season

Eric Simpson, a Real Estate Agent with Century 21 Mountain Lifestyles and Co-Owner of Blue Ridge Daylilies, is Looking Forward to Welcoming Visitors to the Beautiful Farm Starting on June 11

WEAVERVILLE, NC / ACCESSWIRE / June 10, 2018 / Eric Simpson, an Asheville NC real estate agent with Century 21 Mountain Lifestyles, and co-owner of Blue Ridge Daylilies, is pleased to announce that peak bloom season will be starting soon at the farm. Peak bloom starts June 11 and visitors are welcome to visit the beautiful daylilies farm from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., rain or shine 7 days a week.

To learn more about Blue Ridge Daylilies, which Simpson co-owns with Robert Selman, please check out http://blueridgedaylilies.com/.

As a spokesperson for Blue Ridge Daylilies noted, the farm is located at 872 Lower Flat Creek Road in the beautiful mountains of Alexander, North Carolina. The daylilies farm is at an elevation of 2,300 feet in a mountain valley with several streams surrounded by wooded hills, just 15 minutes north of Asheville and 4 miles past Weaverville.

"The garden includes two acres of daylilies with more than 1,500 registered daylily cultivars and thousands of daylily seedlings, surrounded by extensive display beds and borders filled with conifers, ornamental shrubs and grasses, rhododendrons, daffodils and hardy perennials," the spokesperson noted, adding that the use of color and texture in the landscape over the years along with the well-grown daylilies and a large collection of whimsical garden art continue to delight over 300 garden visitors each bloom season.

In addition to his work at Blue Ridge Daylilies, Eric Simpson is also an Asheville NC real estate agent. He thoroughly enjoys showing his clients homes for sale in Weaverville as well as the surrounding mountain real estate.

"It is such a pleasure to serve the real estate needs of the greater Asheville community with outstanding dedication, timely communication, and the expert care and commitment you deserve," Simpson said.

"Exceeding your expectations and securing your satisfaction is my ultimate goal."

Simpson said he and Selman are looking forward to meeting the hundreds of visitors who are expected to visit Blue Ridge Daylilies starting in mid-June. Guests can also check out a number of upcoming garden events at the farm, including Art in the Garden on Tuesday, June 26.

About Century 21 Mountain Lifestyles:

Century 21 Mountain Lifestyles is a local Real Estate firm in Asheville, NC serving the surrounding Western North Carolina markets in Asheville, Arden, Weaverville, Hendersonville, and Tryon. For more information, please visit https://www.c21mountainlifestyles.com/.

Contact:

Julia Campbell JCampbell@c21mountainlifestyles.com (864)437-0122

SOURCE: Century 21 Mountain Lifestyles

Source Article

Read More At: http://www.janniaragon.com/asheville-nc-real-estate-agent-and-co-owner-of-blue-ridge-daylilies-announces-the-start-of-the-peak-bloom-season/

[kingstownevahomes-blog]

Discover the Best-Kept Secrets for Making Your Home a Magnet for Homebuyers!

How do you make your home a magnet for homebuyers?

Getting maximum interest in your home can be challenging, especially if you haven’t experienced preparing a home for sale before.

If you don’t get the right agent to assist you, chances are homebuyers will keep driving to the next home on their list and your property will end up lingering on the market for months.

In this article, I will share with you some secrets that will help make your home a magnet for homebuyers.

Remember: First impression is everything

When selling your home, the first impression is what counts. The more appeal your home has, the more likely it is to sell fast and be bought at a higher price.

Imagine that you are a homebuyer driving around a community to search for homes. If you pass by a home and are not impressed with what you see, what will you do? You will keep driving to the next home until you finally chance upon the home that appeals to you, right?

Considering the current market conditions in Virginia, any advantage that your home has will help it compete with the other homes on the market. If your home is physically appealing to captivate homebuyers, it has the advantage. So, if you are selling your home, try to look at your property from the street and ask yourself, “is my home appealing enough from the outside to make homebuyers want to investigate it further?”

Make your house feel like home

While curb appeal is a fundamental part of the equation when selling a home, it is not the only part of the equation. The interiors of your home matter, too. If your home is attractive enough from the outside but its interiors are not good enough to make your house feel like home, then any effort you make to make it attractive from the outside is futile.

Say a house hunter driving around your neighborhood stops by your home. Are the interiors of your home ready to be viewed? If he comes in, will he see your house as a place where he can live in the future? Or will he look at it harshly, thinking that you have not done anything to maintain it?

Prepare your house for sale and maximize your proceeds!

If you are selling your home, your top goal must be to sell it fast and for the best price possible. You and I can work together to achieve this goal. In fact, there are easy and inexpensive strategies you can do to make your home appealing to prospective buyers while I do the rest.

#1: Improve your home’s curb appeal

In Northern Virginia real estate, there is a saying that “curb appeal is king.” This saying applies whether you are getting your home in Kingstowne VA ready to sell or are simply updating it to adapt to your needs.

You may think that enhancing your lawn doesn’t sound as exciting as modernizing your kitchen, but when it comes to preparing your home for sale, it is in many ways just as crucial as improving the interiors of your home.

Remember: Your curb appeal shows your neighborhood pride; it reflects who you are.

Take a fresh look

Especially if you have lived in your house for so long, you might find it hard to see its flaws. As you get started with improving your curb appeal, try looking at your house as though you were looking at your neighbor’s. Does it have overgrown bushes or areas with faded paint? Are there weeds, a missing shutter or poorly mulched beds?

If you look at your home from a buyer’s perspective, it will be easier for you to not overlook the minor problems with your home. You may think that weeds are just weeds, but they can be a major turnoff for buyers. Imagine losing a prospective buyer just because you failed to pull out those visible weeds from your flowerbeds. You wouldn’t want that to happen, would you?

Pay attention to details!

There are lots of details involved when improving your curb appeal. These improvements are easy to make and won’t burn a hole in your pocket, but they do yield big results.

Here are some of the small projects you can do to make your house catch the interest of homebuyers when they view your house from the street:

1. Give your entrance a facelift

Nothing sells a house faster than a clean, fresh look. To make the entrance of your home warm and inviting, give it a new coat of paint or a new front door. You can also place large planters with flowers in them on either side of the door to create a focal point where prospective buyers can focus their eyes on.

2. Wash all your windows.

3. Clean out your garage.

The Virginia real estate market is very competitive. If you want to increase your chances of a speedy sale for top dollar, one of the small projects you can undertake as you prepare your home for sale is cleaning your garage. A clean garage impresses homebuyers. They want your house as perfect as possible, so don’t expect them to overlook details.

Consider these helpful tips for cleaning out your garage. At the end of the day, you’ll be amazed how much more your organized garage can actually hold!

 Take everything out and focus on cleaning the ceiling, floor and walls. Start from the top and work your way down.

Pile up all the items you took out of your garage and examine which of them you should keep, throw out or sell. If you find it hard to decide, take it from “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” author Marie Kondo: “If an object isn’t bringing you joy, get rid of it.”

Organize. Use shelves to organize your essential garage items and free up some space. You can also mount ceiling hooks to hold sports equipment, bicycles or camping gear and stack containers to maximize your vertical space.

4.      Landscape your yard

Okay, so you’ve put time and thought into your enhancing your entryway and cleaning out your garage, but what about your lawn?

I can never stress enough how important landscaping your yard is when it comes to improving your curb appeal. A well-groomed lawn gives buyers the impression that your house is well taken care of, both outside and inside.

When prospective homebuyers visit, your house’s yard is what they notice first. When they see that your lawn is boring or unkept, it will give them the impression that your property looks far from inviting.

I mentioned earlier the importance of a great first impression in luring homebuyers, and your lawn has a lot to do with that. Here are some strategies you can try to enhance your lawn:

Create shaded areas. Do you have a landscaping plan? If yes, then make sure it provides shade for all areas of your property. You can plan shade trees in the northwest corner of your home to provide shade during times of the day when the owner of the home needs shade.

Go for ground cover or low shrub. You can plant shrub around your yard to add visual appeal to your curb. Since you are living in Virginia, however, you must check local Virginia ordinances regarding plantings. Some local governments prohibit tall shrub due to safety concerns.

Consider the height of your porch. The landscaping design you choose for your home should take into account the various structures. If your house is only one or two steps above the ground, you don’t necessarily need to border it with tall shrubs---ground cover or low-growing shrubs will do.

Choose the right varieties of flowers. The climate in Virginia is just right for growing flowers. Flowers play a huge role in landscaping, not only because they add color but because they make your lawn look alive.  And that’s basically what attracts buyers—a property that looks alive.

Planting flowers is not only cost effective; it is also a dazzling way to improve your curb appeal. If you want to add some visual appeal and excitement to your home and catch the eye of house hunters, plant flowers! It will also give you the opportunity to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather in Virginia.

Here are flowers that are easy to grow and thrive in this part of Northern Virginia:

Daylilies\

Bright red salvia plant

Sun-loving sedums

Hostas

The flowers you choose for your home depend on your personal preference. You might want an assortment of plants and colors, or incorporate different shades of green and various textures with just a few pops of colors here and there.

How you set up your plants in your lawn also matters! If you have a front porch, it is best to set potted plants on your front steps. Now if you have a sidewalk that leads to your front door, it will be nice to plant flowers along each side of the concrete path. You can also hang plants next to your front door. Play around with your options to determine which setup suits your space best.

If you haven’t maintained your lawn for long, chances are weeds have already started to gain a foothold in there and you’ll have a hard time accomplishing any of the landscaping enhancements I suggested above. Check out this video to know how to get your weedy lawn back in control:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui2qnOUj6Ec

5. Paint

Whether you are dreaming of a refreshed look for your home to improve its curb appeal or simply want to love what you see when you pull into your driveway, it helps giving your home’s exterior a fresh coat of paint.

Choosing a paint color for the exterior of your home is quite a commitment, especially when you consider the nuance of color. But don’t worry, here are classic exterior color choices for Virginia homes you can pick from:

Bright and elegant white

When it comes to painting your home, you will never go wrong with white. Not only does it make your home look spotless; it also creates the perfect backdrop to showcase your beautiful landscaping.

Beautiful neutrals

Exterior color schemes that include tans, browns and creams usually blend seamlessly with landscaping and help highlight the architectural details of a home.

Bold and stately

Dark exterior paint colors that include mid to dark grays, hunter greens and navy blues are beautiful options if you want to find the middle ground between classic charm and current trends.

6. Power wash your outdoor space

As a real estate agent, it is easy for me to tell which homes on the market are going to appeal to active homebuyers. Active buyers can tell, too!

If you are thinking about how to get maximum interest in your property, remember that nothing impresses homebuyers more than a clean house. I mentioned earlier how important details are in preparing your home for sale, and that pretty much includes ensuring that your house is sparkling clean so it is always ready for showings.

Here’s the secret: Buyers are drawn to properties that give them a “like new” feel. And you shouldn’t wait for them to enter your house to give them that feel. To make them even want to see your house’s interiors, your driveways and sidewalks should be clean enough to invite them in.

So you have already enhanced your curb appeal. What’s next? Make your house feel like home.

Staging your home: Yes, it’s worth it!

Even if it’s your first time to sell a home in Virginia, you’ve probably heard of home staging before, and you probably know that this has to do with cutting the clutter and rearranging your furniture for optimal buyer appeal.

Well, there is actually more to home staging than making your house look beautiful. It’s more about making your house feel like home. It’s about tapping into prospective homebuyers’ emotions when searching for a property and making them visualize your house as their future home. Home staging is your gateway to success!

Do you know how much difference home staging can make in your home sale? A world of difference!

Yes, staging your home can make a world of difference in how quickly it sells. In fact, professional home staging can literally be the difference between finding a buyer for your home in days versus not being able to sell your home at all. I know that sounds like an exaggeration, but every home stager will agree how true that can be.

Check out this video to see how home staging makes your home look bigger:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmSOFtjbkOs&t=39s

Take a look at these home staging statistics and see how it actually works.

As a homeowner, your goal is to make your home attractive to buyers so you can sell it quickly and command top dollar. If you want to achieve this two-fold goal, stage your home. Highlight your house’s best assets and minimize its less-than-ideal aspects. Pare down and cut the clutter.

Local Realtor and stager Sharon Goetz once said, “The biggest crime is that people have too much stuff.” I strongly agree.

I have gathered some valuable home some staging tips from reputable Virginia-based home stagers that will make your home a magnet for homebuyers.

1. Give every room a purpose.

According to Stephanie Kelley, you shouldn’t be in a guessing game with potential buyers as to the use of the rooms in your home. Place your furniture in their proper places and let your home speak for itself.

2. Paint.

I’ve discussed earlier how painting the exteriors of your home can give your property a new look. Well, do you know that painting the interiors of your home also affects your home’s selling price? And there’s a study to prove it!

Zillow Digs recently conducted a study on 50,000 homes and found that homes sell for more or less depending on the colors used to paint their rooms! For example, kitchens painted yellow sell for an average of $1,360 more, while kitchens painted white sell for an average of $82 less.

3. Use proper lighting.

Do you know why a big window at the end of a hallway or an exterior view engages you? Because you are psychologically programmed to move towards light.

According to Virginia home stager Stephanie Kelley, one of the keys to making your home look light, bright and livable is to have at least three lamps in each of your rooms. Who wants to live in a dark and gloomy home anyway?

Think of these four ways you can maximize lighting at your home:

Ask yourself: “What is this room going to be used for?”

There are rooms that need just enough lighting, while there are rooms that need layers of lighting, like your kitchen. When installing your light sources, think of functionality and practicality.

Use it to set the mood.

Adjust the brightness of your light sources depending on the mood you want to set for a particular room. You can use dimmers to achieve just the right feel to every room.

Use lighting to highlight a space.

Imagine if your dining room does not have pendant lighting above your dining table. The room looks unimportant, doesn’t it? But when you install a chandelier there, it highlights the table and makes the room look important.

Use it to create drama.

Giving your room a mix of light sources adds some drama to your home. In fact, lighting can be considered a decorating touch all by itself. If you want to maximize the use of your lighting, you can incorporate different light sources in a room instead of using just one large glaring light in the middle of your ceiling.

Here are some lighting design rules you may want to consider for your home:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHk7yRu7_K4

4. Clear furniture away from walls.

Are you guilty of shoving all your furniture away from the middle of your room, thinking that will help make your room look more spacious? You might not have heard this before, but this is actually a big decorating and staging faux pas. Doing this doesn’t make your room look bigger---it only makes it look odd.

I suggest that you float your furniture instead, or pick layouts that will emphasize the function and natural flow of each of your rooms.

5. Don’t over personalize.

Again, your goal as a home seller is to make prospective homebuyers identify with your home and allow them to visualize it as their future home. How can you do that if your home is filled with overly personal stuff like photos, refrigerator magnets, certificates or books?

As Goetz put it, “it’s tough love.” Don’t let buyers raise an eyebrow at your taste or disagree with your religion. Don’t remind them that the house they’re in is your residence and not their future home.

6. Don’t overstuff your closets and bookshelves.

Home stagers in Virginia suggest that as you prepare your home for sale, you empty out your bookshelves and closets by at least 20%. Some even suggest that you empty it out by 50%! Why? Because cramming these spaces with too much stuff will only make them look smaller.

Always remember: Homebuyers love space---a lot of it. You are staging your home not because you are selling your stuff, but because you are selling your square footage, so show off as much space as you can.

7. Repair

Nobody wants to buy a home that looks beaten up. If you think you have failed to keep your home well maintained throughout the years, you have a problem. Otherwise, this part should be easy for you.

When staging your home, even the smallest things matter. Little issues with your light fixtures and faucets can make your home look beaten up if you don’t repair them, and that’s the last thing you want prospective buyers to see in your home.

Yes, I know every house is subject to wear and tear. But the good news is that there are repairs you can still do to make it seem ship-shape!

Ø  Install new caulking around your showers, tubs and sinks

Ø  Make sure all your light bulbs are working

Ø  Sweep your chimneys

Ø  Change your outdated cabinet hardware

Ø  Repair your broken window screens or door knobs

Ø  Make sure that all your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are functioning

Ø  Replace broken tiles and shingles

If you are not the handyman type, chances are you will overlook these small details and ultimately turn off your buyers. And I’m not just talking about the repairs. From enhancing your curb appeal to staging your home, it pays to have a good eye for detail.

If you hire me as your real estate agent, I will help you spot the defects of your home and will even recommend service partners to facilitate all the needed improvements and repairs.  

As more and more Kingstown VA houses hit the market and more and more buyers try to snag a good deal, expect the competition to be tight so keep this in mind—YOUR HOME NEEDS TO BE A CUT ABOVE THE REST. I can do that for you.

Call me today at 703-431-3755 so we can discuss when we can walk through your home together and devise a winning strategy to make your property a magnet for homebuyers. Before you know it, I would have already sold your home!

In case you cannot view this video here, please click the link below to view Discover the Best-Kept Secrets for Making Your Home a Magnet for Homebuyers on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5FOFzzs4SE&feature=youtu.be