Valentine's Day Flowers (and Windows)
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Robb and I want to send out a little love to all of our blog-reading friends.
We're sitting inside of a fog bank, which is a bit of a San Francisco cliche, but is unusual for our neighborhood. We can see the houses across the street, but beyond that, it's a white-out. The mist brings out all of the spiderweb traceries in our garden, which is really dream-like.
It is also the Lunar New Year today, and our neighbors have been setting off firecrackers, which terrifies our kitty Linguine.
The Calla Lily heart, above, is from our garden. Robb actually forgot these were the flowers that I transplanted during the foundation work on our house. I'm still thinking of their location as a temporary one, until I have a better handle on the composition of our garden. But they certainly are pretty.
This was what they looked like when we moved in. In this photo, the plants have pushed through the rusting metal of a discarded window screen. I tend to forget to take "before" pictures of the garden. That's probably because it's so hard to compose an image of an overgrown tangle.
Here are more of the Calla Lilies, just before I dug them up. That concrete wall (other wise known as the rotting foundation of our little house) was going to be demolished, so I had to re-locate my plants.
Here's a detail of some individual plants. I spent quite a long time on the internet, trying to confirm what these were. Calla Lilies are very common garden flowers around here, but it's not so easy to identify anything from a tuber and a few leaves.
I dug out trenches, and laid the plants in neat rows. It was easier than tossing them in the ground higgledy-piggledy.
And this is what they look like, now. It's a tropical wonderland in our February garden.
Our garage looks pretty rough, but you should have seen how bad it looked when we moved in. The contractors tore out the windows (which we didn't ask them to do), and Robb just recently replaced the plastic sheeting that was serving as a window with some lovely salvaged windows.
Right now, everything is tacked in place. The two outer ones are slated to be casement windows. They're made of redwood, and are unpainted on the insides. Very nice. The center panel is another salvaged window, turned on its side. Robb carries a piece of paper in his wallet, with all the dimensions for the doors and windows we need to replace. We're actually having quite a bit of luck, finding antique doors and windows for our little house. I think we both enjoy the hunt. We stumbled on a little-known source for architectural salvage, and Robb checks in there every few weeks. We're taking a slow approach to restoring our house. We'll do a bit at a time, and eventually it will come together.
Robb and I want to send out a little love to all of our blog-reading friends.
We're sitting inside of a fog bank, which is a bit of a San Francisco cliche, but is unusual for our neighborhood. We can see the houses across the street, but beyond that, it's a white-out. The mist brings out all of the spiderweb traceries in our garden, which is really dream-like.
It is also the Lunar New Year today, and our neighbors have been setting off firecrackers, which terrifies our kitty Linguine.
The Calla Lily heart, above, is from our garden. Robb actually forgot these were the flowers that I transplanted during the foundation work on our house. I'm still thinking of their location as a temporary one, until I have a better handle on the composition of our garden. But they certainly are pretty.
This was what they looked like when we moved in. In this photo, the plants have pushed through the rusting metal of a discarded window screen. I tend to forget to take "before" pictures of the garden. That's probably because it's so hard to compose an image of an overgrown tangle.
Here are more of the Calla Lilies, just before I dug them up. That concrete wall (other wise known as the rotting foundation of our little house) was going to be demolished, so I had to re-locate my plants.
Here's a detail of some individual plants. I spent quite a long time on the internet, trying to confirm what these were. Calla Lilies are very common garden flowers around here, but it's not so easy to identify anything from a tuber and a few leaves.
I dug out trenches, and laid the plants in neat rows. It was easier than tossing them in the ground higgledy-piggledy.
And this is what they look like, now. It's a tropical wonderland in our February garden.
Our garage looks pretty rough, but you should have seen how bad it looked when we moved in. The contractors tore out the windows (which we didn't ask them to do), and Robb just recently replaced the plastic sheeting that was serving as a window with some lovely salvaged windows.
Right now, everything is tacked in place. The two outer ones are slated to be casement windows. They're made of redwood, and are unpainted on the insides. Very nice. The center panel is another salvaged window, turned on its side. Robb carries a piece of paper in his wallet, with all the dimensions for the doors and windows we need to replace. We're actually having quite a bit of luck, finding antique doors and windows for our little house. I think we both enjoy the hunt. We stumbled on a little-known source for architectural salvage, and Robb checks in there every few weeks. We're taking a slow approach to restoring our house. We'll do a bit at a time, and eventually it will come together.
Comments
Grinch
Happy Heart Day!
In a few days I'm going to spray teh front yard green so I can pretend I have a lawn instead of the North Pole outside my window.
Glad to know you are finding things for your house out of architectural salvage places- it's teh best way to get great stuff with character and lasting value! Watch out for some wood and metal items- the lead paint on them may have to be removed (by law) before you put it in your house.
Annalisa
-D