Planning Ahead

I am obsessing about a garden for the new house. Here's where we stand. The porch columns and stairs are in and the dotted lines are the sidewalks and parkway. The space leftover is the only area I have for a garden. I want hope to have two brick walled rectangular boxes using the same whitewashed brick as the house has. The boxes needs to be about 6-8 courses high, aiming close to 16", because again we have no soil, only compacted clay.

 Here's my hilarious photo-shopped rendition of the proposed garden space. I am intending to show that there is a gap between the house/porch and the edge of the beds. Also another gap between the walkway from the stairs to the front walk. This is access space for maneuvering around the raised walls. The space behind the beds in front of the house will be a brick walkway, again, hopefully. I will put my many blue pots there, and whatever are leftover can go on the porch itself.

If this were November I wouldn't be so anxious about doing a garden, but it is after all SPRING and I get so lustful about planting stuff at this time of year. 

Speaking of gardens, look who moved into our redbud tree...

The Garden is In

And Spring is in the air. Redbuds and pear blossoms herald the new season. Just in time for Sunday's open house. We have had a couple of showings last week and have learned how to clean up in a hurry. 

I am hoping the garden will be an irresistible clincher to the sale...and not an overwhelming task to a novice gardener. Actually this is the easiest garden I have ever planted. Mostly because it was all ready for me this year. No heavy lifting, no concrete blocks to move and not too many bags of soil to buy. Just plants, lots and lots of plants. What makes a great garden? Money! (but who's counting?)

 The mile long bed is filled: begonias, vinca, petunias, and in the cubbies, creeping phlox, and verbena. They're babies now, but they will become fully packed beauties in a couple of months.

The first signs of leaves have appeared on the coral bark maple. 

And I have re-used my tomato cages as trellises for the annual hyacinth bean vines. Petunias and verbenas color up this bed, but there are also a few perennials hidden in here.

There will not be any tomatoes, green beans, peppers or squash in this garden. Sigh. But at least there will be basil.

The front bed is also planted, but the shade has kept most of the plants dormant. I confess I could not leave my hosta behind and scooped them up into pots last month, before they showed any signs of growth. Here the shoots are up and joined temporarily by pansies. We are taking the blue pots with us...all 21. eek.

 
 And one more shot from the back yard..the Celeste fig is the first to sprout leaves and would you believe, a tiny figlet too? Who knew?

Staying out of the rain

The Studio Immaculata, which is so sterile (white, like my new house interiors will be) and at the same time, inviting. I am staying out of the rain today, not buying anymore plants for a while, and feeling like I must get back to being creative, in some way. So for inspiration I turn to Pinterest. Actually I start my day on Pinterest, and can sometimes lull myself into a nap with all the images crowding my brain and relaxing me into oblivion. But, I digress.

 

I love this pillow. But you know the chewer Tony would destroy it. But it could be a wall quilt design. 

And I am crazy about Jane Davies small works on panels. Collage, paint, paper. Ooooooooo. I have so much wall space to decorate and lots of 8x8" or 10x10" canvases all ready to use.  And then I came upon a pin of one of my own works which I made back in October of 2013. Looking at it now, I think...hmm, VERTICAL compositions!!!

OK I am loaded with ideas, and figure house hunters are gonna wait til after Easter to go house looking, so my studio can get messy in the meantime. Yay!

Construction Photos

 

Our builder has posted photos for us to see the latest progress. The gables are going to be painted the same color as the siding. The front porch concrete has been poured and our giant picture window, a special order, has finally arrived and is installed. 

The width of the front of the house is 34', but the yard itself is short. The street curves, and there is sidewalk and curb at the street edge, so the remaining area, not counting front steps, will be all there is to the yard. I am planning a short walled garden on either side of the steps, running right to the sidewalk edge. It will be brick to match the house brick, what little there is of it. I am in 'garden mode' already and this little walled garden is on my mind daily.

 The back end of the house, porch and patio, is also poured. The porch will be screened in and the pad will offer a space for the grill and flower pots. It faces west. The only grass will be on the sides of the house, shared with the neighbor.

 The living room insulation is going in, and drywall comes next. O boy!

It's a gloomy rainy day here so far, but my spirits are soaring. I needed the rain to soak all my new plantings. Dianthus, pansies, begonias, lithodora and petunias.
  This is lithodora, a perennial ground cover with the bluest flowers ever. I got enough to pot up for the new house, and put several in the ground here. Our pear trees are loaded with buds, and about to burst open. Same with the redbuds. It is being a glorious Spring already.

We're Listed

Always a good day to sell a house. I have the listing photos, which make the house look soooooo clean and big. Here's the listing.

The colorful foyer, looking into the living room.

The living room, with the old coffee table, now replaced with these kookie ones.

And then the studio immaculata. I brought the white Ektorp couch into this room. The dogs have claimed this spot and keep me company.

++++++
Behind the scenes, we have been having drama again with our washing machine. Four times we've had to call the repair folks, and this last time the man said it was a goner. Wha? I haven't even used up the extended repair plan. The man said they would call within 24 hours to let us know that they are calling this kaput and replacing it.
I waited. And waited.
Finally I took things into my own hands and went to Lowe's to talk to a person in the dept. He called the right people and said that they would send me a check, and that would still take a few more days. I have been without a washer for 10 days already. So I said...Sell me a new washer!
So I got this LG washer, and it will be delivered in 2 hours (plus getting lost time) today. Washing!!! Yeah.
 

Ikea Splurge

We got it all in, altho it took some doing.
I got a living room rug, two coffee tables, lots of pillows stuffed with duck feathers, and fabric we cut ourselves from the self-service fabric dept. Plus, new cutting boards, a grill pan, breakfast in bed tables, a cotton blanket in black and white plaid, some chocolate, of course, two rag rug runners, red cushions for the new house kitchen stools, and two velveteen pillows.
And that's not including alllllll the things my sister Brooke bought!
The most hysterical thing she got was this fabric. Broccoli.