In The Vegetable Garden

What better way to start a new year than in the garden. For me, at this time of year the beaches have less appeal down here due to the influx of summer holiday makers. (Apologies -this must seem far fetched if you are shivering in blizzards somewhere in the northern hemisphere.)

I have mentioned in previous posts that my vegetable garden had turned "feral" in the last few months because of the huge rainfall and warm weather, not to mention my busy schedule... Well I'm pleased to say that it has now been tamed. The giant, matted wild rocket, jurassic weeds and towering silver beets have been yanked out and new seedlings bought at the Berry markets today are about to go in.

Months of compost my husband has been diligently turning has been spread on top and I'm trying to follow organic principles and rotate the sort of crops that will go into each garden bed. Does anyone have a fool-proof guide?

My seven year old daughter helped choose the eclectic range of plants - a strawberry seedling, watermelon, butternut pumpkin, broccoli, sweet basil, yellow egg tomatoes, various types of lettuce and more wild rocket, amongst other things!

I am secretly hoping this will enthuse her to wanting to actually eat all of the above, fingers crossed.

I'll also be putting in some decorative elements in the vegie patch to dress it up. Too often people treat their kitchen gardens as a messy "work area" when they can be quite attractive.

I have an old victorian gate, a set of obelisks and some gorgeous Italian terracotta stake toppers (from Heaven In Earth). Jane Campsie's vegie garden in Hampshire, above, is one of my inspirations and a great example of a decorative garden.

Modern Retail Design

The “crowded house” mentality of retail design is a thing of the past. Moving forward, retailers want to offer environments that are less distracting for consumers. As a result, say leading designers, “streamlined,” “tidy” and “uncomplicated” are among the buzzwords that will define design in coming years. “Some of the largest design issues are centered on simplicity and clarity,” says Bob Welty, vice president and creative director at Chute Gerdeman, the Columbus, Ohio-based retail design, planning and branding firm.
Even before Sept. 11, consumers in all segments of retail felt somewhat overwhelmed by various burdens — from tough economic pressures to busy schedules to information overload. In response to these increasingly stressed-out shoppers, many retailers now want to simplify their business models from top to bottom. They're changing product mixes, marketing strategies, store layouts — anything to reduce clutter and clarify the message. “I think the issue is not about less inventory, but about simplifying the story retailers are trying to tell,” Welty says. “The customer can only comprehend so much. And if retailers want a product to come through, then they need to scale back.”
For starters, Welty advises retailers to reduce the amount of merchandise in displays and to use more white space as a rest for the eye. Wider aisles, better site lines and more flexible fixtures are all givens.

Great modern retail spaces by Found Associates. I grabbed photos from a few projects due to the diversity of styles. From Industrial Modern to Ultra Modern and then back to Natural Modern they do all of these very well. They have a very nice site too, more pics after the jump.

The Story

One of the neighbours knocked on our door the other day. No, it's not the very unfriendly one who keep throwing fallen twigs and branches over the fence just because the tree is on our side of the fence, it's one of the better ones and thank God most of them are like that in the neighbourhood...

They told us someone broke into their house on a windy Friday night. The couple were watching tele in the family room downstairs (from around 9 pm to 1 am) and their 2 school age kids were sleeping upstairs in their own room. The intruder somehow climbed up the roof of family room from the backyard undetected, removed the fly screen from the guest bedroom window, forced the "closed and locked" sliding window open, sneaked into the main bedroom, took some valuable stuffs, and left the house probably also using the same path. And they didn't even notice it until the husband found the fly screen on the floor in the backyard next morning.

We all thought it would be a disaster if the intruder enter either of the kids' room and accidentally woke up the kid - hope they would be smart enough not to scream or make any noise - this would be a very important thing to teach/remind your kids...

Why bother?
You might think most new houses have alarm installed and this shouldn't be a major issue. Don't forget that for situations like my neighbour's, the alarm isn't even on yet. Also, we all know that most alarms can be configured to only monitor downstairs while family members were sleeping in bedrooms upstairs, if intruder entered the house through upstairs windows, it's basically useless...

A few things I can think of...
Please note that I am NOT an expert on home security, you should always consult your builder or some security specialist for professional advice. This post is just to share some of my thoughts...

If you are still in design and planning phase, a reminder for you to think and check whether any of your upstairs windows can be easily accessed from outside (normally through roof of rooms downstairs), would suggest to change it if possible.

If you are way over that phase, a few things below might help too, please be patient and read on :-)

If you are using awning window, it should be safer as I think it's much more difficult to enter from outside for awning window (just guessing as I don't have awning windows, please correct me if you think this is incorrect). For sliding windows, there are quite a few options:

1) install window locks, google for "window locks" and you should be able to get lots of information.

One of the simplest ones are locks like below, personally I don't quite like it as I have seen windows been scratched and the paint came off due to this lock.

Sliding Doors

The NanaWall® sliding doors are designed for large glass openings. The elegant, precision, engineered NanaWall sliding doors meet the most challenging architectural specifications. The custom made NanaWall sliding doors are available in aluminum, wood or clad frames with a selection of over two hundred colors. Independent testing confirms that NanaWall sliding doors meet or exceed industry standards for air infiltration, water penetration, structural & thermal performance and forced entry. Enjoy the best of both worlds: a room with a view that opens to the outdoors yet gives you the peace of mind only weather resistant NanaWall sliding doors provide. NanaWall's are panels connected together in a train. Panels can be hinged off both side jambs to meet in a number of ways. When open, panels remain 90 degrees to the opening. Advantages of the NanaWall • With an odd number of panels stacking to one side, a single acting operable door is possible • Versatile functions with swing enter/exit panel(s) options and with flexibility to fully or partially open. • Ease of operation to quickly open or close wide openings • No auxiliary track support is needed as all structural loads are within the plane of the opening. • Both top supported and floor mounted systems are available • A multitude of stacking configurations, as well as inward or outward opening options, is available. Variations include paired panels and center pivot options. With NanaWall sliding doors you can choose from hundreds of configuration options. Shown below are some examples. The total number of panels in your wall opening depends on your design and the combination of panel height, width and glazing. With a limit of six hinged panels stacking to one side, a maximum width of about 36’ is recommended for exterior applications and about 40’ for interior applications. With top-hung systems—with additional unhinged paired panels—the maximum number of panels and width is virtually unlimited.

Selecting an Architect for Small Home Building

The planning of a small home building project can be very overwhelming. There is so many pieces that must factor into the puzzle that will be your new small home. One of the most important professionals needed in your project is an architect.

An architect will be the driving force in the practicality of your home. That’s what we are truly after, right?

We want a home that will be simple, energy efficient, cost efficient, and reliable. So, how do you find and select the right architect for your project?

The best way to find an architect is by referrals from friend or family. If you are referred to an architect, the referrers can give you great insight as for what you can expect of the architect’s professionalism. If your family and friends don’t know any architects, maybe you know a real estate broker, interior designer, or real estate appraiser who has a contact for you?

If all else fails, start with associations. Every profession has an association that members in that profession are involved in. Architects are no different. Contact the local office of The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and try to cross reference its local members with the Better Business Bureau. A large number of architects belong to AIA, and this is a great way to find an architect.

Here are some points to remember when selecting your architect:

1. Make sure to get a list of references you can contact (excluding friends and family).

2. Make sure you are comfortable with the architects fees.

3. Will your architect be available for on site consultations?

4. Does the architect know local building codes and regulations?

5. Does the architect have professional liability insurance called EEO (errors and omissions). This is to protect you, the client, if the architect is negligent.

Armed with these simple steps, finding an architect for your project should be a fairly simple process!

Great Start On My Own Tiny House

After hearing everybody else’s stories about building their own tiny houses I’ve been itching to jump in on it too. So, last spring my folks granted me permission to build a little structure on their farm.
Unfortunately, I haven’t gotten too far this summer (so far). But, my goal is to at least get the roof on and maybe a wall or 2 up before the snow flies.
The basic structure is 12 feet x 12 feet, built from a combination of salvaged and new building materials. Considering I might move the structure in the future (just around the property) I’m building it on 4×4 skids. But, to keep it from blowing over I’m planning to use some heavy duty “earth anchors” at each corner and chain the corners down. Not sure on the logistics of that yet.
So far the toughest challenge, apart from there not being electricity at the site, is dealing with warped and twisted boards. I’ve had to come up with many different ways to leverage a piece of lumber into position before attaching it into place.
I’ll keep you all posted as the work progresses.

Old vs. New Toilet Installation

There may come a time in every home owner’s life when they’re faced with the job of taking out a toilet. This can either be because the old toilet needs updating (better design, better color), or new flooring is being installed in a bathroom. There’s a couple things to consider when installing the toilet back into the old spot, whether you put the old one back or a nice, new one.
About a year ago I decided to replace the toilet in our downstairs bathroom to one that flushed better (a “super flusher”). There was new vinyl flooring going in anyway, so I figured a new commode was a nice upgrade to accompany the new flooring.
For a couple years I never gave any thought to the fact that the old toilet would ever so slightly move when you sat down on it. When the old toilet came out we found out the reason: a cracked toilet flange! This is the piece of PVC plumbing that connects the underside of the toilet bowl to the sewer line. This is a bad thing.

Click on pic to see a close up of the cracked flange.

Replacing the flange was a pain in the … posterior. Because the bathroom has a poured concrete floor below it the flange was permanently bolted to the floor. This required my Dad’s grinder to remove the heads of the bolts in order to get the flange out. Watching all the sparks fly was a bit entertaining, though.
After that the new toilet went in without another problem.
Just today I had another toilet installation job. Now the flooring in the upstairs bathroom has been replaced, so out came the old throne. After the flooring set for a few hours (per the installation guy the floor should not have anything heavy on it, like furniture or a toilet, for 3-4 hours) I set to putting the old toilet back into place. (Side note: The reason I do the toilets myself is because the flooring installer would charge almost $300 to take out and reinstall it. I really wanted to save that money; I figured it couldn’t be that tough to learn to do.)
Customarily, when you install a toilet, either old or new, you really should put in a new wax ring under it. Taking off the old wax and handling the new ring is a bit messy (I’d highly recommend disposable gloves as the stuff is very hard to get off with soap and water), but doable. But, it didn’t even cross my mind to replace the washers inside the tank. I should’ve known better.
Once everything was together I slowly turned on the water supply and watched very carefully for leaks. After a good 5 minutes of watching I felt fairly confident it was going to be ok, and went to fix lunch. Coming back to check on things about 20 minutes later sent me into a slight panic– there was a good amount of water beaded up around the foot of the toilet. Dang! Where was that water coming from?

As the tank is held up you can see the brass bolts sticking out underneath. This is what holds the tank to the bowl - and is a likely source of leaking!

I carefully checked all the bolts (that hold the tank to the bowl) and the water inlet pipe. The source was a very slow drip from one of the bolts. I was trying to cut corners by reinstalling the tank with the existing washers (“they never leaked before, why would they leak now?…”). But, I’m sure dislodging the 15+ year old washers was enough to get them to crack just enough to let water through.
So, off to the hardware store for new washers. If this happens to you make sure to get the specialty rubber washers made just for the bolts that hold on a toilet tank. As an extra precaution I also put in a small application of plumber’s putty both on top of and underneath the washer.