R emember how I got this slightly damaged table for a great deal at the Restoration Hardware outlet? Well, it’s been hanging out in our basement waiting for the kitchen project to get on track. We brought it upstairs and set it up. You might not be able to tell from this picture (ignore the green tape), but there’s ...
I t’s official: I am the worst person in the world when it comes to taking “before” pictures. I get halfway through a project and think, “Oh shoot, I should have taken a picture.” So about halfway through I take a photo. Or worse yet, it’s too late and I have to look through all my old pictures for something ...
I t’s my birthday today. I tell you that not because I’m fishing for birthday wishes but because I was given an awfully nice gift this morning: blueprints for our potential house renovation. I’ve been waiting for these for awhile … about seven years, give or take, since I knew from the moment I walked into our house that it ...
I think I predicted this was going to happen. If you recall I was on the search for a “named” white for the trim in our house. I did a bunch of testing and it turned out that Benjamin Moore’s “Cotton Balls” seemed to be very close to our existing trim color, but maybe a touch brighter. The idea was ...
I ‘ve found that mentioning projects here makes me far more likely to actually accomplish them. Keeps me honest, I guess. So, here’s my list of things I’d like to accomplish around the house this long, long winter. Someone please make me revisit it in March so I actually hurry up and get some done. To-dos: 1. Kitchen Finalize design ...
I t’s an exciting morning! I swung by Houzz today and greeting me there was … my door! It’s part of an ideabook on using blue, and I think I love every single picture in the ideabook. I just adore blue, although usually as accents rather than wall colors. However, seeing some of those photos has me seriously considering a ...
A nyone who has ever tried to pick out white paint will tell you that white is not white. Several years ago, as I set out to repaint much of the chipped and faded white trim in the house I went in search of white paint. That’s when I first discovered how many whites there were in the world. Overwhelmed, ...
The Impatient Gardener blog was started in 2009 and its library of posts includes practical how-tos, plant guides, favorite garden gear, successes and failures and much more. If you’re looking for something specific, the search function at the top of the page can help.
What will gardens look like in 2017? It’s a question I asked about about the same time last year and I loved everyone’s thoughts on the topic. The caveat with making predictions about gardens is that they are more insulated from trends than fashion or home decor simply by the fact that it takes so […]
I’ve alluded to changes and projects quite a bit here so it’s well past time I fill you in on exactly what’s happening. Mr. Much More Patient is starting his own business and needs an office here. So, we’re making an office. We already have a den/office type of room, but we both very much […]
We are free of cable television. I feel like shouting it from the rooftops. The cord is officially cut. This is a move that we’ve been seriously contemplating for at least two years. Every month the cable bill would come and I’d shake my head at how much we were spending for television. Or worse, […]
For most of my life, the start of a new year has been an “eh” moment. It’s going to happen whether I like it or not, I don’t find the year that’s ending to have been particularly better or worse than most other years. Although I’m always hopeful for a good year ahead, I don’t […]
I always enjoy looking back at the year and seeing what posts were the most popular on the blog. So without any further adeiu, here are the top 10. 10. I shared my favorite new plant of the summer. • • • • • • • • 9. After a tough election season, apparently I […]
All the presents have been opened. Most of the cookies have been eaten (the ones that remain seem to have an extra dose of guilt with them). Christmas is a wrap, but it was a darn good one. Yep. Ate all those cookies. And a whole bunch of others too. I had the day after […]
Have I mentioned that I love having Christmas on a weekend? I usually work at least a half a day on Christmas Eve which means I spend the other half of the day running around like a mad person, which is not at all Christmassy. So even though not a present is wrapped or a […]
When Mr. Much More Patient proposed to me, the ring came in a perfectly wrapped box (done at the jewelry store) that sat flat on the table. After we got through the whole “Yes!” bit, I went back and examined that wrapping, which was done without tape, just a perfectly cut square of paper and […]
I can procrastinate with the best of them, but we are really at the last minute for gift shopping if you plan to order anything. This is where that Amazon Prime membership really comes in handy. If you don’t have a Prime membership now is certainly the time to get on that. There’s a link […]
It’s weird to have Christmas on a weekend. I love it from a work standpoint (taking off in the middle of the week and having to come back is a drag), but from an organizational standpoint it feels odd. Like there is a lot of Christmas stuff I still want and need to do and […]
There is no Christmas tree in my house. That, of course, was not the plan. The plan was to be ahead of the game this year, but once again it’s the last minute and nothing is done. I’m tempted to just skip the tree at this point, but we did that last year and I […]
I got a lot of questions recently about how I constructed my holiday containers and window box so I thought I’d share a quick tutorial. I can’t say that I invented this method, but I’ve gotten pretty close to perfecting it after several years of tinkering with it. The inspiration for it came from the […]
Call me a traditionalist, but I love giving and receiving books for Christmas. Especially now, when real live books (the kind with pages) seem to be a novelty with some folks. I enjoy having a library of gardening reference books in my home, and I refer to them often. Here are some picks for books […]
I had a lot of questions about my winter window box so I’ll share a little tutorial (more of a tips and tricks because the how isn’t as important as the way you get there). While I was doing the window box last weekend I realized that I use a lot of plastic cable ties […]
