How Does Your Garden Grow?: Victory In Our Time!

Blooms! Blooms! Gracious, kind, merciful blooms. Since I first plopped down in the dirt, I have been waiting for color in my garden and last weekend Mother Nature turned her face toward me.

The crape myrtle has begun unfurling its bright pink puffy smiles and it juts into my car every morning and evening to greet me.


The lilies I just planted are showing off orange and yellow hearts.


The gladiolas planted as bulbs that I had completely given up on are starting to show their blooms.

And in a total surprise, the basil plant has begun to sprout the most gentle little white flowers I have ever seen.


These little wins more than make up for 2 azaleas, 1 hydrangea and about 25 mums burned to a crisp on the sundrenched hill in the backyard.

V is for Victory! And Vlooms!

Roman Burglar Bars -- Tres Chic!!

I've been away for a while taking a brief respite with a trip through Rome and Athens. Today, we revere the ancients for their exquisite architecture which remains standing as a testament to skill, perseverance and to what humans can accomplish with a few hundred thousand slaves.

I digress. The current residents of Rome protect their ancient treasures with window bars that don't detract from the beauty of the buildings themselves. In the neighborhoods where we purchase homes, there are sometimes burglar bars on the windows to deter would-be thieves. However, American burglar bars are unattractive and often make the house look more like it's imprisoning the residents rather than keeping out the miscreants. We always remove the burglar bars from our homes even though that may or may not lead to a break-in right before an open house that results in pilfered bedding and rugs. I admit nothing.

I long for artistic-looking burglar bars that don't scream "crime-infested neighborhood". I saw a few options in Rome, Italy and have included pictures below. Now I'll call my contractor and beg him to get his iron guys on the phone to make custom bars for rock bottom prices. I can hear him screeching now.

Near the Trevi Fountain in downtown Rome:


Also downtown:


Protecting the treasures of the Vatican, with style:

Little Things Mean A Lot

My company recently received a significant grant to allow us to acquire, rehab and repopulate more houses! Thank goodness! I am ready to break out of the daily grind of the office and get back to the houses.

Still, I haven't just been cooling my heels during this relative downtime. On the weekends, I go to lots of open houses as a form of market research. I can be a rather insufferable house hunting partner. Now that I have done a bit of rehab and I have a better idea of what things cost, it's not unusual for me to walk through new construction with my nose turned up and my mouth turned down, "Why would the developer put a $6.50 light fixture in an $800,000 house? Yuck." However, I will note that none of the new construction has dark walls. All of the houses are staged to look light, airy, open and spacious (surprise).

Even when I am strolling through a house pointing and muttering "punch, punch, punch" some touches stand out. These details give a home character, personality and set it apart from the crowd of empty homes in the market. The pictures below were taken in new homes built by one of my favorite home builders in the metro area.

Warning: These are expensive banisters and expensive ground level flooring, but oh how nice! What if this floor was just in the mudroom? Classy! Classy!

I am generally dismissive trim and doors in bold colors, but done well I think it looks very sophisticated and urbane, no? And I would give up a few years of life for that front door.

Of course these tree trunk outdoor posts aren't going to work on every house, but they are a very nice touch for that "rustic in the city" look.

Don't underestimate the impact of door and cabinet hardware. Hardware can dramatically improve the appearance of inexpensive cabinets. Even new construction customarily uses low grades of wood or "woodish" material. These less-sturdy materials look much more luxurious with upgraded hardware.

Real DIYers

In the spirit of the Independence weekend we just celebrated, I wanted to shine a spotlight on the do-it-yourself spirit of rehabbers.

During a recent weekend trip, I visited some friends in the Northeast. They are serious DIYers. I just give tips on working with people who are going to do the work for you. These people do the work themselves. When they moved into their new home several years ago, they tore up the carpet themselves, re-finished the floors, tore down the existing wallpaper, painted the walls and trim and I'm sure they did lots of other things that people normally only see done on those TV shows when the crew secretly comes in and finishes the job after the real people have conked out for the night over spilled paint and margaritas.

So this weekend, I got to watch them tile a laundry room, carpet a basement and paint touch up places on basement walls at 2 o'clock in the morning. Yes, I watched and did not participate. I OFFERED, but they are too well-bred to actually allow a guest to work in their home.

Anyway, I didn't even know you could DIY carpet without lots of machinery and heartache, but they found carpet squares that are self-stick. And they look good! Check it out:




You can also self-stick a really nice laminate with ceramic porcelain mixed in. Here is one of the homeowners cutting and placing tiles in the laundry room:


This is what the tiles look like from the front and the back:




Apparently you can buy these tiles at Home Depot. Huh. Who knew?