29_Gardenings

In late October 2017, my husband decided to test his inner green thumb; so we started to plant various plants to make our yards prettier (see also Farther Beautification). One of the plants we planted was Tulips in late November. In late February these Tulips started to pop out and bloomed. Having seen the pretty results, we got more motivated to fill in the flower bed even though we got different result from the Tea Olive that we planted in October. It suffered from the cold snap and looked dying.



Some of the Tulips started to bloom.

 

We also planned to fill in our garden bed backyard with fruits, veggies, and herbs. To do all of these, we prepped the soil by adding top soil that we bought from a local company. However, after we filled the barren spots and layered the existing soils, we still had a lot of leftovers. We advertised the leftovers for free, and in 2 days they all gone.

Leftovers of the top soil.

Outdoor

First, we looked for perennials and evergreens to fill the back and middle part of the flower bed. Since our first gardening experience, we religiously visited local nursery called Dunn Nursery. The service there is suitable for our needs. The people there always informed us about the best plants to pick and how to take care of them. Furthermore, they always gave us discounts whenever we bought in bulk. So, for filling up the flower bed, we went there again in mid-March.

When we told them about our Tea Olive, they said that their Tea Olives suffered the same problem. So I guessed, we weren’t bad at all in taking care of the plants.

After having discussion based on what we read online and their expertise, we ended up with a Gold Mop False Cypress, Drift Roses, and Hostas and Azalea for the shady areas. We also bought Jasmine to crawl on a steel trellis in front of the main entrance. None of the Roses and Azalea had bloomed. So these plants just added green and yellow colors.



Planting greens and yellows. 

After this, we still have some space in the front part of the flower bed that receives full sun; so we looked further for annuals that have bloomed to add more colors. For this purpose, we went to Home Depot because it has nice collection of plants.

We ended up with annuals and perennials of blooming Pansies, Daffodils, Candytufts, and Phloxes. They were so colorful, I couldn’t resist them. I added a clump of bud Lilies, hoping to give continuous color in the flower bed.

Result from a trip to Home Depot.



Planting colorful flowers

Our filled flower bed.

For the backyard, we moved the plants that we planted from seeds. They consisted of fruits, veggies, and herbs. Not all of the seeds grew, of course. Most of the tomatoes and peppers survived but not the onions. We had to buy new sprouts of onions to replace them. A few of spaghetti squash were also survived; while the herbs were still struggling. We also planted sunflowers on the side of the house and bamboos for privacy.

Indoor

Once we started planting, we couldn’t stop. Well, at least my husband couldn’t. He decided to have indoor plants as well. So far we only had an Aloe Vera from Dunn Nursery as a token. And after a trip to Home Depot, we ended up with a lot more plants.

Another trip to Home Depot.

We bought a Majesty Palm, Sago Palm, Pachira Money Tree, Fig, Ponytail Palm, and Anthurium. We put them in coordinated clay planters and placed them all over the living and family rooms based on their needs of lights.

Indoor plants give tropical feelings to the house.

Now, not only my house looked tropical but it also felt like a tropical area. Whenever I entered the house, I could feel the humidity from the plants. It would be interesting how it feels in the coming months after all the indoor plants get settled.  

 

 

28_Unexpected Renovations

On February 24^th, we were forced to have a little renovation project. On this morning, I found out that my toilet was leaking. We didn’t know what cause it because the night before, everything was just perfect. The leaking had made most part of the floor wet as well. We were then realized that there was a crack on the tank around the flush handle. This meant we had to replace the toilet.



Leaking from my toilet caused the floor wet.

A crack on my toilet.

Although this was unexpected, we realized this was the best time to have a little bit renovations on the bathroom. We should repaint it and change the lighting and the wall mirror. After all, the paint job was poor. When we took out the toilet, we could see whomever painted it, s/he just painted around it. So we could see an old green paint surrounded by brownish color.

Bad paint job.

Actually I didn’t really have a problem with the wall mirror. But once, I went to a McDonald’s restaurant nearby and saw that it has exactly the same mirror as in my bathroom! After that, I was so motivated to change it. I hoped the mirror in my bathroom was not stolen from there…

As for the lighting, now I had the chance to choose, I was thinking to have a wall mirror surrounded by row of bulbs like in the vintage actress rooms. However, I couldn’t find it around here. So I chose a similar row bulbs light and matched the mirror with it. Both had to be in bronze finished, to match with the wooden vanity. When I looked on different stores online, they all had prices above $100 for the size I wanted. We were lucky to find the matched mirror on discount while we shopping around at Lowes. It was unplanned but it turned out good.  

Changing the toilet, of course, didn’t take long. On the next day, I got a brand new toilet installed. It is a dual flush toilet, to save water, and of course, money. I was surprised that dual flush toilets are still uncommon here compare to Europe. When I talked about it to some people, they didn’t know that such thing exists.

My new toilet with dual flush.

 

The renovation took about a week to finish because I have to paint the walls and let them to dry overnight before I put another coatings. I used crème color for the wall because we already had this paint, so we didn’t have to buy something new. As for the accent wall, I chose yellow to contrast with the wooden and green tiles vanity.

Initially I wanted a mild or pastel color yellow, and the color sample looked mild on paper; but when I put it on the wall, it was pretty bright. In the end, it is still a good contrast. And now I have a comfier bathroom.

My new wall mirror and lighting were inspired by vintage actress rooms.

27_Realignment of the Floor

In January 2018, we experienced a cold snap; something that rarely happen in NC. We had snow and to make things worse, our heater was not working properly. So while we were waiting for the repairman, we had to bundle up inside the house.

We bundled up when our heater broke down.

The housework we did was realigning the floor around the kitchen. The floor there went a bit downhill around the island. We assumed the weight of the island and its countertops are the cause. There was a gap between the post and the countertops, and this gap was getting bigger. We can insert 2 coins between them. Another gap was found on the floor, but this one was not as big as on the countertops.

The gap on the countertops.

The gap on the floor.

To close this gap, we had to put a hydraulic jack in the crawlspace to support the declining floor. The jack we put was, of course, a heavy duty one. So my husband crawled in the crawlspace to put it. As the name suggest, a crawlspace is only enough for crawling, not standing. So my husband had to maneuver his way putting the jack and pump it while laying down. My task was making sure that the gap was closed. If I couldn’t put any coin in the gap, that would be enough.

My husband could only lay on his back to install the jack.

The challenge here was, whenever the gap was closed and my husband released his grip from the handle, the jack was sliding down a bit, leaving a little bit gap. It was not possible to lock the position that we wanted. So we guessed having a bit gap is better than a big one.

The installed jack.