Exquisite Home Remodeling Ideas
Your patio furniture is embarrassing you. You know the type — mismatched plastic chairs, a wobbly table that came in a flat box, and a bench from a big-box store that everyone politely ignores. I’ve been there. For the first three years after I moved into my place, my backyard looked like a garage sale … Read more
My back garden used to look like a war zone every spring. Snapped stems, uprooted seedlings, and that one ornamental grass I’d babied for two seasons, completely horizontal against the fence. If you’re gardening in a wind-exposed spot — whether that’s a coastal property, a hillside, an open field, or just a suburban corner that … Read more
Your windowsill is begging for plants, but every time you try to make it work, something either falls off, dries out in three days, or looks like a sad afterthought. I know that feeling. My first attempt at a window ledge garden was a single plastic pot of petunias that blew off my second-floor sill … Read more
Your sloped front yard is actively trying to destroy your weekends. Every time it rains, you watch your topsoil migrate to the sidewalk. Every summer, you’re dragging a mower sideways up a hill like you’re auditioning for a circus act. And every spring, the bare patches from erosion taunt you from the street. I’ve been … Read more
Every spring I walk past my neighbor’s yard and feel a pang of garden envy so sharp it practically leaves a mark. Her pink garden — layers of blush, rose, and hot pink blooms cascading from May all the way through October — looks effortless. It took me seven years of trial, error, and one … Read more
My neighbor called me in a panic one July afternoon. Her backyard was the size of a parking spot, she’d just bought six strawberry starts, and she had nowhere to put them. “Can I just shove them in a pot?” she asked. I laughed, because I remembered asking myself the exact same question the spring … Read more
Your water bill showed up last month and you winced. Your trash bin is overflowing with vegetable peelings and cardboard. Your neighbor’s garden looks like a Pinterest board and yours looks like a crime scene. I’ve been there — trust me, the summer my zucchini took over the entire ZIP code taught me more about … Read more
Every July, my garden turns into a battlefield. The lettuce bolts overnight. The spinach looks at me with what I can only describe as betrayal. The cilantro goes to seed before I’ve even made one batch of salsa. Sound familiar? After more than a decade of gardening through scorching Midwest summers — including one legendary … Read more
You are settled into your favorite patio chair, a cold drink in hand, ready to enjoy a gorgeous summer evening, when it happens. Buzz. A massive, airborne housefly lands directly on the rim of your glass. Then another locks onto your plate. Within five minutes, your peaceful backyard escape turns into a swatting match that … Read more
If you are tired of spending every weekend dragging heavy plastic bags of dyed wood chips across your yard, only to watch them fade to a dull, depressing gray by July, you are not alone. I used to do the exact same thing. I would dump tons of that pitch-black corporate mulch around my tomatoes … Read more