Gifts, Fences, and Ideas
I really appreciate the interest my last post sparked. I wish there was an easier way to share ideas, thoughts, and converse about the various things. I mean, there probably is and I'm now slightly over the proverbial hill where I don't get exposed to so much new technology such that I learn about what's new and possible. So, if you know a way for me to share new ideas and where I can work on decorating ideas with folks, and have "how-to" conversations where the appropriate people will see the things... please let me know. For instance, I thought of a new idea after posting last night. Do I add it to the post 19 people have already read and aren't likely to go back to? Do I put it in a new post? Is there a different platform I should be using and linking to in this blog? Why did I used to computer and now I can not?
That said, let me flesh out some of my list of yesterday from this post.
A few of you have asked what would be the most useful thing if you had a little money to put something towards. First, thank you! Again, it's not necessary but appreciated if you have the means and want to do something.
The most useful is probably money towards Lowes. If we don't use all the funds now, we'll certainly use them when we start building our dream home/earthship. But I realize that it might feel more exciting for folks if we had a registry. It's nice to know what you're putting money towards and decide "Yeah, I'd love to get a fence post!" or "Ooooh, a humming bird feeding post. I could look at the birdies when I go visit!" So, I'm going to try to make a registry. That said, it brings up the question of what specific things we want, which means deciding on fencing and paint colors.
Part of why we haven't decided all the things yet is that we're not in the space to do things like measure (so we know how much we need). We won't know those things until it's available to us and also it might leave us with a week to start all this work from purchasing to doing, depending on how much money we spend to be in both places at once. Yark!
So, if you have answers to some of our questions, that would help us go towards knowing what we want to buy. First on the agenda: The Fence.
Fencing
I posted on FB yesterday that I'm trying to figure out the best fence option. It seems that:
- Vinyl lasts a long time and is sturdy. It's also somewhat expensive and is frankly, ugly to me.
- Concrete is very sturdy, inexpensive, probably lasts the longest (?), but is ugly af. May also take a long time to put up.
- Wood looks reasonably nice (we probably couldn't afford the really nice ones, that I like which are these:)
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| I really like the border at the top |
But rather, we'd probably opt for these which are less expensive:
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| Colors may vary, though this is nice |
- Wood can last if you take good care of it. (It's not like we get a lot of rain here.) But will we take good care of it? It's less expensive than vinyl.
- Bamboo is more expensive than wood, but I'm attracted to it for two reasons. One is that it's more sustainable than wood (and sustainability's part of the purpose of having an earthship). The other is that my general idea of the space, other than a place for the dog to poop and hang out, is a xeric/zen garden hybrid.
- So, that space turns out to be over the septic tank. It's the space they put down cruddy carpets over odd, random geometric concrete pavers (they're big!). The crux is that we likely can't dig that all up and put in passive grey water irrigation (like from our shower or something) because there's a septic tank there. That means anything I plant has to be able to survive with the infrequent hand watering we may and may not do. Otherwise, I wanted to plant a calming garden with plants in the blue-->violet-->white shades. But I think that will work less well than a xeric and relaxing garden that incorporates a rock garden. (I know that I may still be able to have that color scheme in xeriscaping, but I really want lilacs... they need water.) Anyway, bamboo goes with the zen garden theme.
- I'm also trying hard to be respectful and not be a culturally appropriating dung heap. If you have suggestions about how I can be more respectful, please let me know.
- However, bamboo comes in rolls that you have to stand up on a wooden frame you build yourself. So, it's more work.
- Also, I'm unclear about how well bamboo would stand up to large dog use. He doesn't jump up on fences much, but if we came home, he probably would put his feet up. If you have experience, I'd love to know if you think it would be ok or not.
Color
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| Why yes, I will certainly always make my bed with the same color bedding, not need more bedside table space than that, never need a place to dump my clothing I just took off, and only hang a beautiful, decorative, abstract art piece and not need to hang the art or display personal items I already have accumulated that totally don't go with any color scheme or design anyone has ever thought up |
That said, here's the link to my Pinterest board for my master bedroom idea. I believe with the link, you can add yourself to the board if you have an account, though I don't know that there's anywhere on Pinterest we can discuss or you can make suggestions without an image... I'm going for a (hopefully not inappropriate culturally appropriative) Japanese style, meaning: minimalist, natural looking materials in natural and relatively neutral tones.
My first thought was to paint the walls a darkish, brightish green. Like this:
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| Like the middle one here, or the one to the immediate right of the middle |
But my sister pointed out to me that the bedroom is dark and putting a dark color in it might feel oppressive. So we talked about doing one wall the dark color and the rest in a lighter, or even greyer (but lighter) shade of the original color.
Then, there are the mirrored doors to the closet I hate so much. I was hoping to find some mildly see through, milky contact paper and put it over the mirrors so it looks like rice paper. Then use some ... Idk what it's called... the lattice-like stuff you use on windows to make it look like it has panes, to make those doors look like rice paper panels.
I wish that the trim in the whole house wasn't painted white, but it is. I'd prefer to do a green/black or green/wood color theme here, but without getting nuts about the work and having it take too long, I think we need to do green/white. Mostly because I don't think it's going to be easy to change the color of the french door frame and inset bits from white. :-\
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| Would you have to replace the whole door? |
I think on the one window, I'd like a rice paper shade.
Though something that blocks more light might be better. I just like this style. And on the French doors, I'd like black out drapes. I'm ripe with the need for suggestions about what color or pattern or something for those draperies.
I also have no idea what to do about ceiling lighting for this space. There's a lip that hangs down the middle of the ceiling (joining the two slopes of the roof together) and a light fixture is on that. It's real fugly and I'd like something that works with my theme, but nothing clichéd.
Then, this is the link to talk about color for the living room. That's the room with the polished wood thing on one side and a window opposite. (They'll be taking their wood piece, one hopes.) https://pin.it/7KdOa5f
So, this is a somewhat dark room, but I don't think it has to be. The crux is that our couch is black (would have preferred brown or grey but it was hella on sale). We have a few chairs that could go in there, one grey, one orange, and one red. They do not go together, all were inherited. But too, we have a wall hanging that needs to go somewhere. And all in all, I think making the room go with the wall hanging is the best idea because I can't think where else in the house it would be better.
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| So, kinda' blue and terracotta |
To make things more weird, this room is not really a room so much as a space where not all the walls meet. I like the design, but I feel confused about the color needs. Here, lemme' show you.
So, you see how the living room has an Odd Wall? I feel like it would be a nice place to have an accent wall. But then, does that need to be the same color as Odd Wall #2? But then, I was thinking of painting them both a cool, somewhat dark blue anyway. I've always wanted to paint sort of a negative space/decal kind of thing on a wall (in a light color) and I think Odd Wall #2 would be a good place for it. And a darker blue would be my preference for a background color.
But then... a dark blue, or even a denim blue would keep that space pretty dark. And I feel like you can't then go and paint the other walls something else loud or colorful because it's too much. Even doing the wall in blue, and then the other walls in a light terracotta seems too much to me. No? So, maybe a terracotta for the Odd Walls 1 & 2? But I feel like the rug wall hanging ... well, both of those colors are maybe too close to what's in the rug to hang the rug literally on its own color.
Then what about Odd Wall #3? Should it be the same as Odd Wall #2? I had wanted to paint the short wall at the end of the Office Space green (similar to the bedroom green) because I find green a good color for thinking. But it seems to me that if I have a blue or terracotta in the living room and maybe Odd Wall #2, putting a bright, dark green in the office would look... weird. Like too many bright colors contrasting.
Do you see how I need major help understanding color with light and space? I just can't seem to find the right balance!
Btw, the kitchen walls are a light grey and I have no need to change them. Yeah, I might prefer something else more, but it's fine and doesn't offend me so I don't need to spend time or money "fixing" it.
Also, the dining room is cat sick color and needs changing, as is the hallway. Suggestions very welcome!
A good friend just figured out that you can put notes on Pinterest. Thank you for people who will do leg work for me!!! So, you go into a board you want to make a comment in...
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| I'll make more boards if we need 'em... |
Then, you click the Notes icon...
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| It's almost like a hamburger menu icon |
Then you click the + plus sign to add a note...
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| She did a test note |
Then you type your note.
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| She says you can pull in a pin you want to make your note about |
This was clearly done on a phone. Idk how it works on a computer. Yet.
Shipping
Also, does anyone know anything about shipping heavy furniture here from Germany? Chris has a desk there he loves and now that we have a home, he'd like it.
Food
I've been asked about places we like to get food from. We haven't explored dining in SD as much as we'd like, sadly. There was a pandemic in the way. So here's what we have atm.- California Fish Grill
- Giant Bambinos Pizza in Lakeside
- Snooze a.m. eatery
- Anny's Fine Burgers
- Poseidon in Del Mar
- Rubios
- Mandarin Wok
- It's so hard to find American Chinese food that meets my weird dietary restrictions
- Cocina Calavera
- It's already entirely gf and sugar free! Then all I have to worry about is not eating land animals and they say if it doesn't have meat noted on their menu, it's vegan! So excited to try it!
- Any place that can deal with me. I need to be gluten free, cane sugar free, and I can eat seafood but I'm not supposed to eat other flesh.
- I often shop at Trader Joe's
- Also Sprouts
- Honestly, I can find food at any grocery store. There aren't that many close to Dulzura, so...
- I do tend to like the more natural food stores, or local, but you spend a ton of money on not that much food.
Garden
Oh, eventually, after the fence is up, I'll want to transform the space outside the master bedroom.
As I said before, I'm thinking about a zen and rock garden with largely xeric plants because I'm not going to water. Especially once we live in a house up the hill. Here's a link to the Pinterest board I just made: https://pin.it/1QjLWqh
I plan to have a space with seating there under the big tree. We need to be able to kick a ball for the dog and not have to hunt in tiny hiding places for poop.Here are some more ideas of stuff that would be nice to receive
I'd love some new scratching posts for our cat furniture, where some of the posts are getting well unraveled. We need to take it apart first to tell exactly what sizes we need and if we need screws attached, but we'll do that when we do the actual move. Here's a link to the site where these exist:
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| Sharing again cuz I like my work |
Anyone know about... carpentry? There's a slightly curved window that is sadly too shallow to make a nice window seat for humans. But it would make a nice window seat for cats. But it must be constructed. Please tell me your ideas!
Speaking of cats, you know what else I want? We have some old cat beds that need to see the inside of a garbage can. And I want cat caves to replace them.
Here's a link: https://catcaveco.com/collections/pet-cave I like them all with preference to the ones that are a bit ombre and neutral colors that cats are less likely to make look dirty and less so the ones shaped like watermelons and characters I've never heard of. But still. They're expensive! I won't likely buy these for myself (our cats) just because they're so expensive, but I think they'd love them.
Here's a service thing that I'd enjoy. Someone willing to repot a plant for me? Ugh. I hate it and have all the stuff, but ugh. I mean, I'll do it. Probably like, 5 minutes before we move. But I will eventually get around to it.
Also, we need a double mattress for our guest bed. We had one but left it in Abq because moving multiple mattresses then storing them is terrible. Links, ideas, clean enough mattresses appreciated.
That's all for now. Remember, you are valued whether or not you feel like giving. Giving is not what all of us want or need at given times. It might be much better for you to receive, or allow, or take right now, and that's good to recognize. Thanks for taking care of yourself so I have room to take care of myself. <3
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