Holiday Updates

Finishing up a home remodel and putting our house back in order while also preparing for Christmas and dealing with a serious medical problem affecting my beloved cat has added considerable chaos to this holiday season.  As things get sorted out, I thought it was time for some updates.

Our contractor finally finished up his crew's work on our house last Friday so I took some updated pictures of the remodeled spaces.

This is the view from one corner of the living room looking past the dining room toward the front entry on the left and the back garden on the right.  My husband will be building a mantle for the fireplace but he won't get to that until the start of the new year.

This is the view of the living room looking toward the garden on the south side from the dining area

This is the dining area with what my husband calls my "Alice in Wonderland rug"

The old kitchen was gutted so this is an entirely new space.  We only gained 70 square feet by pushing out the kitchen's exterior wall but it feels like a much bigger space.  The quartz countertops are also a nice upgrade from the tiled surfaces we had before.

I pulled out some of my favorite Christmas decor, spreading it through the front entry and into the living room.  In deference to my husband who's something of a Scrooge when it comes to Christmas, tolerating rather than celebrating it, I restrict most of my decorations to those areas of the house.

A faux tree decorated with wood birds occupies the table in the front entry.  A bicycling Santa sits atop our grandfather clock.  A woodworking Santa and elf occupy an end table in the living room.  I've a small collection of Christmas snow globes, which are also scattered about.

My Christmas decorations are more subdued this year than in prior years but it looks as though I won't have time to do much more this year.  I had to put up a live tree of course.  I've only missed doing so once in the years my husband and I've been together, and that was because we'd only just moved into this house.  In fact, today marks the 9th anniversary of that move.

The Christmas tree's in a new spot this year.  It previously wouldn't have been possible to have it here as the indoor barbecue attached to the fireplace occupied a significant portion of this space.

Our tree is an eclectic collection of ornaments accumulated over decades.

The glass ornament in the upper left is a sentimental favorite.  It was on the tree in my childhood home on the Christmas preceding my father's death in a car accident.  I collected the other ornaments shown in the first 2 rows as an adult.  The last 3 ornaments are part of a collection given to me by a close friend over the years.

"Scrooge" and I made a few dozen ornaments like those shown in the top row here using sequins, beads and pins one Christmas during the early years of our relationship.  My stepfather made half a dozen snowflake ornaments like the one you see on lower right for us during the same period.  All but 2 of those have disintegrated over time so I handle the remaining ones with great care.  The needlepoint gardening Santa on the lower left was made for me by another close friend.

My cat Pipig is the only member of our household besides myself who really enjoys the Christmas tree.  She loves the curl up under it but, following surgery for breast cancer a week ago, she's been locked up in the guest bathroom except for a brief visit to the vet for a progress check on her recovery.

Overall, she's been very good during her convalescence.  It took us all awhile to figure out how to get her properly fed when she was wearing that collar.  The bed worked out nicely, though, as she can stretch out just enough and rest the collar on the bed's side.  I got her a heating pad, which sits underneath the bed.

The good news is that the veterinary oncologist my vet consulted feels a second surgery (to remove the mammary glands on the other side) isn't necessary.  However, they're recommending chemotherapy to give her a better chance of a longer life.  I'll be talking to the oncologist after the new year.  Pipig's stitches are scheduled to come out Monday afternoon and she'll be freed of the sausage suit and the plastic collar she hates so much to spend as much time as she wants under the tree.

I wish you luck in realizing your own holiday wishes.


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: A little of this and a little of that

While my climate is far gentler on plants during the fall/winter season than many other gardeners can claim, the pickings are definitely slimmer at this time of year, especially as I was late in getting my cool-season cutting garden started this year.  A stray bloom spike on the remaining Delphinium in the cutting garden provided the starting point for my first vase.

The white daisies are a recent addition to my garden

The bush violets (Barleria obtusa) are on the wane

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Everest White', Delphinium elatum, Osteospermum '4D Silver', Barleria obtusa, and Westringia fruticosa 'Morning Light'

The Rudbeckia I featured in a vase in late October are are only plants in my cutting garden still in full bloom so I used them again this week, with just a few adjustments to the mix.

Rudbeckia 'Denver Daisy' has proven to be very resilient in my cutting beds, although its stems are regrettably on the short side

The complementary yellow daisies (Tagetes lemmonii) are in full bloom now that temperatures have cooled

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Rudbeckia hirta 'Denver Daisy', Coprosma repens 'Plum Hussey', unripe Guavas, berries of Heteromeles arbutifolia, Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' and Pennisetum advena 'Rubrum', and Tagetes lemmonii.  I added 2 little mice painting green leaves orange under the arrangement  as a reference to our lack of fall foliage.

Last Monday, I was hopeful that our 5+-month remodel project would be complete before the end of the week; however, unexpected problems emerged on Tuesday and Wednesday and at the moment I can't definitively say when we'll be done, other than I still hope it'll be before Christmas.  Tired of focusing on the house's interior, I've turned my attention back to the garden, diving into cleaning up the collateral damage it's sustained over the last several months.  But, as I've moaned and groaned over the the remodel on numerous occasions in my IAVOM posts, you're welcome to review the results of the project here in a post I published last Friday.

For more IAVOM posts, check in with our host, Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Ready or not...

As mentioned in my last post, we'd hoped to be done with our home remodel this week.  As it turns out, we're not.  We received the wrong hearthstone and may have to wait another few weeks for delivery of the right one, delaying completion of our living room fireplace.  The kitchen's electrical panel also didn't pass muster with the city inspector so changes will have to be made there.  My husband is still cleaning up glue left on the surface of our new wood floors and we haven't hung all our pictures yet.  Nonetheless, with the arrival at last of cooler temperatures and our first rain of the season, it's time to shift my focus back to the garden.  However, as I've made many references to our home remodel over the past 5+ months, I'm not going to leave you hanging without photos of our new space.

First, let me take you back to the beginning.  My husband and I formally kicked off our project in July of 2018 when we approached the city for approval to push out our exterior kitchen wall by 5 feet.  The city required that we get a formal geological survey done first.

Our area is currently designated as an "open spaces hazard zone" (signifying a landslide risk) although the city publicly announced its intention to move that boundary line well beyond our property line in 2012.  As that still hasn't happened, we had to prove that shifting our kitchen wall wasn't going to jeopardize us or anyone else.

By Christmas last year, we finally had the city's approval to move forward.  We worked with an architect on the plan while we waited for our general contractor to clear his schedule to start our project.  In April of this year, my husband started building a temporary kitchen for our use during the remodel.

He tacked the temporary kitchen on to the north side of our house adjacent to our master bedroom

In mid-June, a paving contractor dug the required 5-foot deep foundation for the kitchen extension and, on July 1st, our existing kitchen was demolished.

Everything went!

I subsequently caved and agreed to my husband's desire to remove the funky indoor barbecue unit linked to the living room fireplace to create a more open view between the kitchen and the living room.  This photo shows it halfway through demolition.

The back of the house remained fully open from July through August, which was creepy

 

The new kitchen  with its taller new roof was finally framed in August

In September, things moved into higher gear as the new kitchen was finally fully enclosed and cabinetry went in.  Kitchen counters were installed in early October and we got an entirely new roof and a new HVAC system.  The house interior and exterior also got a new coat of paint.

The roof work was particularly hard on the garden

New wood flooring was installed in half the house in November (in 2 installments) and the fireplace was covered in a coat of plaster.  That brings us to where things stand today.  Here's a look at the renovated spaces.

The front door foyer hasn't changed much except for the flooring.  Unfortunately, the new HVAC vent there meant we had to find another place for our grandfather clock.  Pictures still need to be hung here, among other places.

Ta-dah, the new kitchen!  (Oops, I neglected to clear away the washed dishes before taking this photo.)

We previously had a peninsula and upper shelves dividing the kitchen from the dining area.  Now they're more clearly linked.

This is the new dining area, minus the stone barbecue unit attached to the fireplace.  My husband refers to the new rug here as my "Alice in Wonderland rug."

The living room was always a light space but the removal of the indoor barbecue structure made it feel even more so

The new wood flooring extends from the living room through the dining room and kitchen and down the hallway beyond.  The fireplace will be finished with a stone surround after the hearthstone is delivered and my husband plans to build a wood mantle for it.

As you can see, my husband mostly got the open concept he wanted.  I admit I do like how light and airy the whole space feels now.

So that's it.  Not exactly a final wrap but it'll have to do.  I need to get focused on cleaning up the collateral damage to the garden.  Best wishes for a pleasant weekend!


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

Wednesday Vignette (Late Edition): Rain, at last

It's hard not to take rain forecasts with a grain of salt here, especially when the first 3 weeks of November were unusually hot and humidity levels were stuck in the single digits all too frequently.  Things didn't look good overnight or this morning when Mother Nature just spit at us without registering any measurable precipitation.  However, the situation turned around mid-day when we received several short bursts of rain.

View of the back garden and the Port of Los Angeles in the distance this afternoon

We recorded just a quarter inch of rain but I don't consider that bad, especially as more rain is possible overnight.  The roof poured a good amount of what we got into my rain barrels too.

My husband reconnected all my rain tanks to our roof gutters over the weekend.  Our modest rainfall filled my 50-gallon tank and I accumulated almost 70 more gallons of rain in this 160-gallon tank.  I expect I picked up something on the same order in the tank that feeds off the garage roof.

The prospect of rain got me moving earlier this week.

I filled in the bed I showed in my post of November 6th.  Although succulents may have been a better choice for the sandy soil here, I chose Argyranthemum, Violas, and Lobularia (Alyssum) because I wanted something softer, at least in the short-term.  I also cleaned up the far end of the bed, pulling our some of the elongated Aeonium arboreum and cutting out the dead undergrowth of Acacia cognata 'Cousin Itt'.

I pulled the last of my zinnias, supplemented the soil in my raised planters with compost, sowed larkspur (Consolida ajacis) seeds and, because I couldn't resist them, planted snapdragon plugs.  I also sowed California wildflower seeds on my back slope.

Meanwhile, the neighbor across the canyon continues to work on the backyard structure visible from our garden.

Realizing that the structure is probably associated with the property on the left rather than the white house on the right as I'd earlier assumed, my new theory is that the structure is intended as an art studio

Our remodel hit 2 more unexpected roadblocks this week.  The stone mason cut and delivered the wrong granite for our fireplace hearth yesterday and then the electrician's work failed to pass the city's inspection today.  With next week being Thanksgiving, we were told it could be 3 weeks before we get the replacement hearthstone, which delays completion of the living room fireplace.  Redoing the electrical wiring to meet code is likely to require tearing apart the wall in my office (again).  So, it could be Christmas by the time we're done after all...


All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

In a Vase on Monday: The zinnias keep going and going...

Are zinnias the Energizer Bunnies of the garden?  I think they might be.  I dug out the last of the dahlia tubers last week but I haven't had the heart to pull out the remaining zinnias even though I need their space in the cutting garden for my cool-season floral crop.  As flowers in my garden are getting harder to come by, the zinnias also came in handy when it came to making up arrangements for In a Vase on Monday, the popular meme hosted by Cathy of Rambling in the Garden.

The zinnias were joined by other flowers that just keeping on giving, two of the large-flowered Grevilleas that literally bloom year-round

I used berries of Auranticarpa rhombifolium to dress up the back of the vase.  These berries look like tiny pumpkins to me.

Top view

Clockwise from the upper left: Grevillea 'Peaches & Cream', Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', berries of Auranticarpa rhombifolium, Grevillea 'Superb', Coleonema pulchellum 'Sunset Gold', and Zinnia elegans (a combination of 'Queen Lime Orange' and 'Benary's Giant Salmon Rose')

The bush violets (Barleria obtusa) have burst into bloom right on schedule.  They always appear in late October/early November.  Their bright blue color looks out of step with traditional autumnal colors but the flowers are welcome nonetheless.

Beautiful as they are, the bush violets often look a little ungainly in a vase

The violets might look better by themselves but I usually can't leave well enough alone

Top view

Clockwise from the top: Barleria obtusa. Abelia grandiflora 'Hopley's Variegated', Lavandula multifida, and Plectranthus ciliatus 'Zulu Wonder'

As I cut too much to stuff into my first vase (again), I ended up with some leftovers so, despite my relative flower shortage, I have three vases this week.

I grabbed a few neon-pink zinnia blooms to embellish the leftover stems

The bright pink zinnias were late arrivals but their centers play well off the color of the Leucadendron bracts

From left to right: Agonis flexuosa 'Nana', Leucadendron salignum 'Summer Red', and Zinnia elegans (possibly part of the 'Benary's Giant Wine' mix)

We hit yet another roadblock with our remodel last week and had to order more wood to complete our new floor.

The living, dining and kitchen area floors are done but the front entry and hallway are not.  The shortage has to do with the fact that the flooring subcontractor didn't use all the small pieces throughout when he established the layout pattern.

Hopefully, the extra wood order will be in at the end of the week or, worst case, the following week and we'll still finish by Thanksgiving.  Fingers crossed.

Visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden for more IAVOM creations.

All material © 2012-2019 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party