Who Let the Dogs Out?

No, seriously. Who who who who who is mean enough to take animals into their home and then mistreat them to the point that they leap over fences and bite people? The next-door neighbors of one of my supercute properties dripping with curb appeal own two of the loudest, most intimidating dogs ever. The only barrier between the neighbors and my house is a 1000 year old beaten down fence. The dogs can easily jump over the fence and they have. The pit bull has already leapt the fence once and bit one of the contractors working in the backyard. Each time a team from my company comes by we stand huddled together on the porch while my trembling hands attempt to open the lockbox and I curse myself for the 100th time for not keeping a spare key in the car.

Once the dogs bit the contractor, we called animal control and for a while the dogs were kept in a large shed in the backyard. However, when some workers went back a week ago to clear some debris out of the yard, the dogs were loose and so rambunctious that the workers sat for an hour waiting for them to calm down and just finally left. This upsets me because workers don't just come by and sit for an hour for free. We have to pay for that time. So I called animal control again and they told me that I would need a video of the dogs being aggressive in order for them to do anything. I'm not going over there to get a close-up of those dogs anytime soon, so I'm back at square one.

Any suggestions?

How Does Your Garden Grow: Name that Plant

When we moved into our house, the developer had already installed lots of bushes and perennial grasses. With the exception of the mondo grass, I have found the developer’s choices to be mostly rude, boorish bushes that take up a lot of space and stubbornly refuse to flower. I want to uproot them to plant Japanese maples, a crape myrtle, red, yellow and white double knock out rose bushes and gardenias. But before I toss out the baby, the bathwater, and the tub, perhaps I should know I have first. Maybe a little knowledge could help me to cure what ails the plants and salvage them. Can anyone identify these?

I think this one is a purple diamond loropetalum. Supposedly it will produce pink spidery flowers. All I have seen is that it attracts green, intricate orb-web-spinning spiders. I just think it is yawn-inducing boring. I have read that it will produce those pink flowers for 2 weeks in March (2 weeks of bloom all year?!) or whenever it’s pruned. I’ll prune it and let you know.

This is a really overgrown unruly bush that produces little burrs that look like they want to be flowers, but just dry up, fall off and litter the driveway. Plus, it looks like it has powdery mildew. I really want to boot this bush for Japanese maple. Does anyone know what it might be? My neighbor says it's a crape myrtle, but these are not in bloom whereas tons of crape myrtles are in bloom all over town.

The Joy of the Punch

After the construction is done, whether you’re having a house built or a room painted, the client generally has the right to conduct an inspection and identify punch list items. A punch list is a list of repairs or touch-ups that need to be completed to bring a job to a successful conclusion for the client. Ensure that your contractor knows you will create a punch list and that all punch repairs will be completed at no additional cost before you agree to start work.

The type of work will dictate the type of punch you will do. For paint, trim, drywall and tile, buy a roll of that blue painter’s tape (you could be bold and use your contractor’s tape if you have that kind of relationship). It is adhesive and easy to see, but will not mess up the paint or tile underneath. Use a piece of the tape to identify any of the following: thin paint, dripping paint, paint on trim, an unsightly seam in a countertop or wall, lumpy drywall, uneven drywall or crooked tiles. Be liberal with your blue tape because your punch is your only opportunity to get mistakes corrected without incurring an extra fee. The reason the client is usually not charged for punch list items is because the work should have been done properly the first time. Of course, construction workers aren’t perfect, so the client gets an opportunity to have the work delivered as promised.

You cannot be too detailed in your punch. Remember, after this you’ve either got to shell out more cash for repairs or DIY. So get on your hands and knees and inspect paint; flush toilets; try every single electrical outlet with your cell phone charger; open every window and make sure all doors open, close lock and unlock easily. Take a few marbles, stand in the middle of the floor and drop them. If all the marbles roll to one corner, you have an uneven floor. Does that matter? Maybe not, depends on the reason for the unevenness. Ask questions! I have heard stories about buyers actually sliding around on their bellies to test the smoothness of new hardwood floors. That’s too far even for me, but I understand it. Don’t worry about being too hard on your contractor/developer. They expect this from seasoned clients. Since you drew up a scope of work, got bids and made sure a punch list was included in your contract, your contractor will definitely think you are a pro!

As a pro, steer clear of rookie mistakes. Do not confuse a punch list item with a change order. A punch list item is a mistake or oversight that requires correction; a change order is a new request that was not included in the original scope of work. For instance, a bathtub installation with spotty thin caulking is a punch list item. You should have even, uniform caulking that acts as a proper water barrier. A bathtub that you have had installed and now want to have reglazed is a change order. Change orders are usually very expensive because the client is charged a “change order fee”, usually a percentage of the cost of the new work, on top of the charge for the work and materials. Contractors say they charge change order fees because of the cost of rescheduling their crews, not ordering in bulk, blah, blah, blah. At the end of the day, it’s a whopper of an extra cost for you, so try to think through and negotiate for your entire scope of work at the beginning of a job.

Avoid change orders, punch a like a woman (or a man) possessed, and enjoy your renovation!

THE CARPET IS TOO LIGHT??!!

The CARPET IS TOO LIGHT???!!! Is that really how it’s going down?! I offer you a 3 bedroom, 1 ½ bath home in a quiet neighborhood down the street from an elementary school, 5 miles from downtown, 1 mile from a big ol’ pretty park and all you can tell me is that the CARPET IS TOO LIGHT?! This is why I am not a real estate agent. I might have gone completely off the deep end and said things that I should regret, but wouldn’t. Here are the details, people:

NEW carpet throughout and vinyl in the kitchen and bathrooms, plus sub-floor remediation

NEW lighting fixtures

NEW cabinet and door hardware

NEW blinds

NEW landscaping

NEW washer-dryer connections

NEW appliances (fridge and stove)

NEW vanity in the main bathroom

NEW closet in the third bedroom

NEW front porch railing, plus soffit and fascia on the front of the house

All for less than market price. And you tell me the carpet is too light. It’s so outrageous that it makes me tired. You be the judge.

Meh, maybe the carpet is too light. The comment is duly noted and I will surely put BLACK carpet in the next house. Grrrr...

You will also note that in this, my 3^rd house, I started agitating for different colors in the kitchen and the rest of the house. I think these colors are Sherwin-Williams Online (#7072) in the common spaces and bedrooms and Sagey (#6175). Again, I’m not on SW’s payroll; I use what I am given. If you want to use any of these colors, good luck. SW seems to rotate colors faster than Tila Tequila changes boy/girlfriends. If you ask them for a color that was in stock literally the day before if they no longer have it the clerk will look at you like you are from another planet. Don’t take that look for an answer. Just take a seat and tell them you’ll be leaving when you get your sample, thank you. They always seem to come up with something that satisfies.

How Does Your Garden Grow?: Worrying My Garden Green

If worries were kisses of perfectly balanced fertilizer on well-drained soil with morning shade and afternoon sun mixed with the ever-elusive 1 inch of rain every three days, I would have the lushest, most verdant garden in the state.

As things stand, worries are just worries, but I do think that I worry my garden green. This year is my first year ever attempting to make things grow from the earth and I have been OBSESSED with the challenge. I check my little plants first thing in the morning while I am brushing my teeth and every evening when I return home. I think about them while I am gone during the work day. I really do worry my garden green.

I started gardening because I thought it would be relatively easy to add some punch and color to my garden and to become THE ENVY OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD. Yes, I will admit it, my foray into something as grimy and soul-satisfying as gardening has its roots in my insatiable hubris. But, as the wise men say, "Pride goeth before all of your prized baby hydrangeas get rot rot and die." And I have been humbled my friends.

Being the sort of person who refuses to read instruction manuals and jumps into a project with both feet before learning how to do it properly, I just started digging through the unforgiving weave of Bermuda grass that encases my lawn into the heavy, obstinate clay beneath and plopped plants in the ground. I didn't know anything about mulch, pruning or deadheading. I thought "hardy" described people who grow up in the New England countryside and that a soil amendment had to be passed by 3/4 of the garden to be accepted. Now I readily throw around those terms and more: I complain about "spindly, leggy" pansies, rejoice over tomatoes that have "set fruit" and weep bitterly over blooms that I have foolishly allowed to "go to seed." My husband barely recognizes the woman who used to languish in bed on weekends until 1pm now sliding out of bed at 8am to tangle with weeds, juniper bushes, bulbs and that hateful, sneering clay returning hours later cover in bug bites, dirt, sweat and smiles.

My experiences have been thrilling - I love watching new plants emerge from the ground- and heartbreaking - armillaria root rot borne of endless spring deluges and greenhouse issues killed 8 baby hydrangea plants.

Here is what I have to show for my sweat, bug bites, and worries so far (these pictures were taken in late May):

This red gerbera daisy and orange and yellow spider daisy brighten up everyday. For a while I thought the red daisies had died to the ground. Although I was discouraged, a neighbor convinced me not to pull them up in desperation. I'm so glad I listened! The last picture is red salvia. The salvia has been a godsend: it established itself easily, loves the sun and keeps pushing out radiant blooms.


Not so much for the radiance here. On the left are the surviving(?) shoots of cornflowers that I transplanted from a pot that was on my porch. I was sure that I planted too many seeds thinking none would grow, so when they all started sprouting, I tried to give them more space in the yard. Note: those pretty silver pots from Target aren't so much for starting plants that you intend to transplant. Most of the seedlings suffered from torn and damaged roots during the transplanting process. We'll see if they survive.

In the middle are my lantanas. Lantanas are hardy in zone 8 where I am and are considered an invasive pest in Hawaii. I thought they would be pretty little inexpensive plants I could plant around a tree in the front yard. This is what I get for not reading. Lantanas grow into big, spreading bushes. I bought 10 little pots of bushes! My yard is not that big! For a while, I watered the lantanas in their pots while trying to figure out what to do with them. I love those little yellow and orange umbels so I didn't just want them to go to waste. Instead, I potted five in one pot and five in another and sat them on my front porch. They are delightful when they are doing well, but I'm not sure they are getting enough sun. I'll post more pictures of their ups and downs later.

The last picture is an illustration of what happens when you don't deadhead flower (cut off a dying bloom). The flower goes to seed -- which is really the point of a flower but WHATEVER -- and it doesn't bloom again. I now have a thick frothy-looking clump of leaves where my pink daisies were and the flowers will not come back.


These two are pics of my nikko blue (right) and white hydrangea plants. I'll post pics of their sad demise later. This is a happy post.



On the right is a weird little basil plant that looks like a tree that I purchased at Lowe's. The leaves don't really grow big enough to cook with, but it is an interesting and nice-smelling plant. I keep hoping it will produce bigger leaves.

In the middle is a little lavender plant that could. I read that these would spread all over the backyard. Not so much. It stays in its little spot, but it loves the sun and the clay appears to be draining well enough to keep it happy.

The last one is a shot of 2 sunflowers that I planted in a pot from seeds on my porch. I didn't expect these to grow at all since the seeds look exactly like the seeds that you can buy to eat. I never would have believed that a real sunflower could come from "polly seeds", as we called them in LA. I have been proven wrong though, because there they are!




Ah, my little cherry tomato plant. I bought it from Pike Nursery and was sure that it would not make it through the week (or the late season frost that hit the day after I planted it). However, it pushed through and is climbing up the trellis and producing food that we can eat! Tomatoes fresh off the vine are divine; feeding yourself is awesome.



On the left here is my rosemary plant that I picked up at Lowe's. It came in a peat pot or somesuch that is supposed to bio-degrade into the ground. It hasn't bio-degraded yet, but it sure was easy to just plop that pot into the earth! Plus, I made some chicken with this a few days ago. It smells delicious in the ground and tastes perfect in food.

In the middle I planted mint. It's from Pike Nursery and I read it would be a spreader. Meh, no spreading, but it also smells great. The leaves are not quite big enough for the cocktails I had pictured using them for, but the summer is just getting started!

Finally, there is a cute silver Target pot of baby's breath that I started from seeds. I use the Miracle Gro potting soil because it is inexpensive and does the job. My hope is that this will look like a thick head of white baby's breath peeking above the top of the rectangular pot. Now I see that I planted too many seeds (I still can't believe that most of them germinate) and I will probably have to thin them out later on. I can't bear to do it now, though.

So! That is the beginning of my wee foray into gardening. More to come!

Keeping Contractors Honest

Everyone has heard a horror story about unscrupulous contractors. These marauders belly their way into your home with big promises of how they will beautify and revolutionize your home or terrifying scenarios about how your home is a ticking time bomb whose fiery demise will engulf you and your family in ruin.

I encountered one of the latter types a few years ago. He came to the door of my father’s house posing as someone who had an appointment to check the chimney flue. When he came in I could see his eyes scanning the room for opportunities. He caught sight of the fireplace and with eyes bulging with fear he told me breathlessly about the high level of carbon dioxide in the living room because of the "broken" fireplace. He fell to his hands and knees, crawled into the hearth and pulled out a gadget that he claimed would measure the noxious carbon dioxide. Of course it came up with an outrageously high reading. When he saw me hesitate on the verge of belief, he leaned in, “It’s really dangerous in here,” his eyes still bulging, “can’t you smell the carbon dioxide?” Smell the carbon dioxide?! The reason carbon dioxide is the silent killer is because it’s odorless and colorless. I reeled back from the edge of belief and escorted him out.

It’s not always necessary to be able to factually suss out your contractor; we can’t all be experts in every facet of construction. However, we can all push our contractors to be open and collaborative partners with us. First, being partners with your contractor means you’ll have to actively enter the partnership. You can’t be afraid to get dirty. You’ll have to stop nodding your head vacantly thinking about what you’ll have for dinner while the contractor talks. You’ll have to concentrate because you are learning something new. There is no need to know how to reshingle a roof after your consultation, but you should know how to recognize a shingle or flashing that might become a problem. I have been known to climb out onto a roof and demand that the contractor show me the problem and what precisely he is going to do about it. I’m not a roofer, but that doesn’t mean that a roofer shouldn’t try to make me understand what he is going to do before I part with one cent. This brings me to the next point.

Second, you must ask a lot of questions. There is no shame in peppering your contractor with lots of questions. If he cannot explain to you in plain language what he is going to do and then show you the problem so that you can at least recognize it, move along. This is why you can’t be afraid to get dirty. You may have to go out on the roof, under the sink or into the crawlspace to understand what is happening in your home. When I am working actively on houses, I wear jeans to work just about every day. This practice does raise eyebrows when I breeze into a policy meeting with the metro area's housing glitterati right after inspecting a house, but I sweetly explain that I just emerged from the bowels of a house that we are renovating for sale to a lower income family and all the liberals in the room perk up immediately and forgive my grime.

Now you might be wondering, how will I know that my contractor is answering my questions honestly and completely? Because third, you are going to get multiple bids. None of this, “I know a guy who’s a friend of a friend” or just hiring the first person you interview. You should prepare a detailed list of the work you want done (call it a “scope of work” when you talk to your contractors and they will realize you mean business) and have each contractor bid on the same scope. Then you can compare apples to apples. And it goes without saying that if you are hiring someone to do a lot of work on your house, you will want to be sure the contractor is licensed, bonded and has workers' compensation insurance.

The last tip is to go into these transactions feeling confident and powerful. After all, it’s your money and your house. Taking this simple advice won’t protect you from all scams, but most crooks will run from an involved, informed homeowner who makes clear that he or she has high standards.

More on paint colors

Well, I have to post on paint again because my last post got me all riled up. For instance, certain people on my team have a taste for darker colors. I think dark colors are really nice in larger houses with fab fixtures or even some smaller houses, when the mood is right. Fab fixtures and dark walls can come off very luxe. However, in my very first house that had 3 bedrooms and one bathroom, dark hardwoods and sat on a hill where it was literally flooded with light, I wanted a brighter color.

I went with Sherwin-Williams Organza (#6637). It is a light peach that dazzles in the sun. I really just wanted the main living spaces to be this color and not the bedrooms, but our contractor made clear that more than one color would cost us and the house was already going to be over budget because of issues we did not suss out during the due diligence period, and it was my first house so I was totally intimidated (this is the one with the latrine laundry) and so I didn’t speak up (DUMB) and the whole house ended up this fresh peach color. It may not be ideal, but it’s not terrible, people, check it out:

Does that look like “affordable housing” to you? That’s what I’m saying! So can I get a little credit?! Okay, I think I now have closure. Thanks for your indulgence.

Trust Your Instincts

I fell off the map for four months because the real life crush of real estate finance, acquisition, rehab and resale came rushing in and filled every crevice of my life – like caulk. But I’ve come up for air and wanted to share some of my experiences with you.

Most importantly, trust your instincts. When you are as new to this as I am, you will soon find yourself being dragged up a creek without a paddle and with no safe place to put your feet down. It can be incredibly intimidating. Happily, we all have an inner guide of gut instincts that help to guide our paths in the dark. Get comfortable leaning on your inner voice as long as your inner voice does not tell you to egregiously cut corners to save a little money and create an expensive problem that your buyer will have to deal with later. Cheaping out may pocket you a little extra cash upfront, but as my friend griffyslave says, “Karma is a b*tch.” Trust your ethical instincts.

For instance, if everyone is telling you your paint colors are too ugly or too light or too dark and you are selling/leasing houses, just paint the naysayers red – the color of their abundant hateraid. Honestly, regarding wall colors there is a lot of room for difference and no one is absolutely right. I just read in an ultra chic decorator mag that every house should have at least one black wall. Erp?

One of my houses had very dark wall-to-wall paneling in the living and dining room. It also boasted swinging parlor doors(!!) separating the kitchen and hallway from the paneled living areas. Uggers! But, I was roundly hated on by everyone over 45 for wanting to paint those walls and tear down those doors. Well you might know that house SOLD before we were even finished with the renovation AND the real estate agent for the buyer who normally only represents people buying new construction said that she fell in love with the interior wall color. She said it looked fresh and modern. Muchas gracias, haters.

If you stay current with reasonable interior design standards and trends and decorate with a feeling for the house itself including its exterior, its light profile and its flooring, you will be fine. Try to choose colors that are neutral enough that the buyer or renter won’t want to immediately paint the walls. Although painting can be done relatively inexpensively, a buyer gets a feeling for a house based on the mood your paint and fixtures have created. Also, factoring in the need to paint one house against another that does not need painting may put your house out of the preferred position. As an aside, the color I used in the SOLD house was Sherwin-Williams Silver Strand (#7057). I wanted to create a cool, modern look in the house and thought it would come out light gray, but the light in the house made the paint look a very light and airy sage green. We trimmed everything in white and ended up a very Crate & Barrel look.


It's a little difficult to see the sagey color of the walls in this lighting, but trust me, it is purrty.

The one bathroom in the house was very small. And pink. The house was built in 1951 and probably had the trendiest bathroom in town at the time. However, almost 60 years later, those pink tiles with white and gray flecks just weren’t as appealing. I fretted for weeks over whether we should try to live with them and hope someone found them charming or just spend the money to glaze the tiles white. After weeks of worry I gave the go-ahead to glaze the tiles and paint the walls a medium shade of gray, Sherwin-Williams Web Gray (#7075). It converted a small, dated bathroom into a cozy modern space that worked with the Crate & Barrel look in the rest of the house. Trusting my instincts there probably helped to put the sale over the line and saved us from ever having to make a mortgage payment on the house.


See how nice the all white tile looks! And you can kind of get a peek of the gray walls too. The vanity and toilet are new.

As a note, I am not paid by Sherwin-Williams, our contractor uses their colors so that is what I had to choose from.

You’ll make mistakes in home rehab. I have already. But trusting your instincts will help immensely. And you can always shake the haters off.