My House

I love my house so much that my family says "my house" in hushed, sacred tones when I start talking about it.  I loved the kitchen and I think that's what sold me on it. That and the fact that the neighborhood was so quiet, with few houses. I loved the three-foot by five-foot windows. There was so much light! There's even a Dutch door in the kitchen. I was used to living in a condominium that felt like a cave; it got so little light. For an old house it was surprisingly open-feeling. The previous owner had made a half-wall between the office and dining room, made a doorway from the office to the parlor, widened the doorway between the living room and dining room, and removed three doors from the entry area.

Nice and bright.

Half-wall between dining and office.

Entryway, with widened doorway.

Doorway between parlor and office.

Dutch door in kitchen.

I also sometimes wish I hadn't redone the kitchen and had brought in moveable items, like a Hoosier cabinet. It seems a little too slick now. Plus maybe I should have left the floors alone and just put polyurethane on top. Of course, I got a gigantic sliver in my foot due to damage left behind from when I removed the wall-to-wall carpeting.

Maximum counter space.

Cooktop. See the cute shelving?

Cute Craftsman-style doors. Victorian houses often had two entrances - the formal one for guests and informal one for family.

So I love my little house. I guess, though, that I'll close up the door to the office from the parlor because I bought a TV credenza and large smart TV, and the only sensible furniture arrangement is the one below.

I haven't shown the second floor because it all needs re-doing. The floors are random-width soft pine, which have been stained around the perimeter in the master bedroom and painted brown in the guest room.  I'm still trying to get a bathroom installed as well, but the cost may be prohibitive.

Hydrangeas On View

That is my second video.

It was a good year for one of my favorite shrubs.

Hydrangeas

I love these so much.  I loved them before it was cool to love them.  I loved them so much I bought my mother one to plant because I didn't own any land.  The macrophyllas haven't bloomed, except for a few blooms, in five years so this year I am thrilled to see them.  Although, they seem very pale this year, and the Endless Summer is going lilac.  Here are babies from other hydrangeas.  They've never bloomed.  They're very pale in color.

This is Endless Summer, my first ever hydrangea, planted in 2016. It's trending lilac.

This is Blue Bird. Or Blaumeister. There were two tags with it, I think from Home Depot.

Blue Billow out back:

Blue Billow in the front yard:

I'm thinking the Rozanne geranium is distracting.  Hmm.

I've already decided that the Strawberry Sundae hydrangea was a very dumb choice for the side garden.  It is huge this year.  It is the sister of that monster, Vanilla Strawberry.

Here it is looking ginormous even at the beginning of its' panicles forming.

I'll put it in the back.  It can go next to the stone wall garden or next the newly transplanted Hansa rose.

Best Garden Ever

I miss when my garden was young and looked terrific.  I think it also had something to do with the mild winters as well.  Here's the back garden.  I believe these are all 2014.

I miss those days, even with my neighbor's ugly backside of house, ladders and two-toned backside of my own house.

Best Garden Ever - Heritage Version

My Heritage Garden was the first "designed" garden where I had really thought about where things should go.  The problem with the garden was everything grew supersized, so it got out of control and I had to remove a lot.  Then I think I removed too much, but now I think it's okay.  Here are its glory days.  I particularly loved the fall plantings I put in that first year.  And that first spring was lovely as well.

This is how it started out - a strip of grass with iris and ladybells on the right, next to the stone wall.

Before And After: Stone Wall Garden

When I moved in in 2005 there was a ginormous barberry that reached almost to the top of the deck, which is off the second floor.  I never liked it but I was a new gardener and thought you should keep what came with the house.  I cut that thing to the ground in anticipation of someone building stairs off the deck but that never came to fruition.  I decided in 2016 to rip it down.  I really like the garden I made in its place.  It'll be evolving, though, since the Montauk daisy is too big for the space and it'll become pretty shady when the Japanese maple reaches its full height.

Here's May 5, 2012:

And Spring 2020:

Before, you couldn't see the lovely stone wall, on which I planted four Green Mountain boxwood.  I talk more about it here:  http://hilltopgothic.blogspot.com/2017/02/2016-gardening-season.html