What does a Garden Gnome do when she is not gardening, in the kitchen or doing genealogy? Well the answer might just surprise you so read the entries to find out more. This blog focuses on everything we do to make our house a home. There will be a strong emphasis on home energy efficiency and do-it-yourself (DIY) projects. At the same time there will also be crafts, knitting and crocheting projects along with any other little tips we do to create that down to earth, I want to be here home. Please enjoy your visit :)
Living between two homes is not a new idea by any stretch of the imagination. Many North American native tribes had a summer and winter homeland. During the Victorian Era those living in urban settings would head to their summer homes. Summer cottages have long been a tradition along with camping and RVing. I can recall my best friend in elementary school always leaving the day after school got out not to return until the day before school started.
Last March we purchased our vacation home which effectively meant we would be spending time between the two homes. We are not new to having a vacation home but we are new to having a stationary one. Our RV sat in the driveway when not in use which meant I could equip, load and unload it quite conveniently. Our vacation home on the other hand involves either a long commute by car or air and an International border. This by default creates a logistical problem for equipping, loading and unloading the vacation home. We ended up stocking the vacation home from empty to livable with mostly new and some used items. We were very limited as to what we could bring from our primary residence.
Food becomes a huge issue because I am used to a well stocked pantry and taking food from home. I am limited in what I can bring from our primary home to our vacation home not only in space and customs restrictions but when traveling through the colder weather the threat of food freezing. At the same time I am restricted as to what can be kept in the vacation home when we aren't there. If we are planning on returning within a month or so without renting it out then the food can stay in the refrigerator and pantry but if we are gone for a longer period of time with renting it out we have to remove everything. Some pantry items can stay in our special locked closet but all refrigerator items have to be removed. This actually presents quite the challenge. More on that tomorrow...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Our vacation home has two toilets. Unlike RV toilets that can be cleaned then a chemical holding tank fluid poured into the tank to prevent odours, vacation home toilets must be shut down during extended periods of absence. Once the toilet has been cleaned we turn the water off to prevent any problems that could occur in the event of a burst pipe or water leak. Normal toilets have a P-trap to prevent sewer gases and odours from entering the house. The P-trap is designed to hold a certain amount of water. During extended periods of the house being shut down there is the possibility that the P-trap can dry out through evapouration. This would allow odours to get into the house along with any critters like Palmetto bugs that can come up through sewer pipes. We learned this tip from our neighbours in our vacation home community. Covering the top of the toilet bowl with plastic wrap is a way to prevent water in the P-trap from evapourating. In the event a critter gets in the sewer pipe it will be confined to the toilet bowl instead of getting out into the house.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Like many homemakers I am always on the look-out for interior decorating ideas. I'd love our home to look like some of the upscale rooms in decorating magazines but homes are meant to be lived in not always staged. One problem is relying solely on decorating magazines or shows is not being able to see how texture can be used effectively in a room.
We do a fair amount of traveling which means we have stayed in a large number of motel rooms. Motel rooms can be a great inspiration for home decorating. The first thing in common with all the motel rooms we've stayed in is co-ordination of colours. Everything matches but it is not just plain. The bedspread may pick up one colour in the carpet. Carpets are often multi-coloured, low pile and textured. These are actually practical because they help to make the carpet easier to clean while providing interest. The carpet is often run up the wall by 3 - inches to form a custom baseboard for a finished yet practical look. Wall are often a subtlely textured in muted multi light toned neutral colours. Nothing other than the ceiling is plain and yet everything works together.
Materials used are quite important and I suspect all were chosen to give good looks while providing durability and cleanability. Bathroom floors are usually tiled. Shower stall are acrylic one piece, ceramic tiled or even corion lined. Walls are usually some type of vinyl coating rather than simply being painted. About the only surface painted in motel rooms is the ceiling although sometimes the door trim is painted. Window sill are often acrylic or marble for durablility. Thresholds are often marble as well.
What I have noticed too is earth tones (hunter green, beiges, taupes, browns) are the most popular colours used in motel rooms. Pinks, peaches and turquoises are often used yet blues don't seem to be used as much. We stayed in one higher end motel where the entire theme was black and white accented with gold. It was gorgeous but not a colour theme often seen in motel rooms. Accessories and accent pieces can range from quite simple to a bit more ornate. There's usually at least one framed print to add interest along with a mirror.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
We bought matching bed-in-a-bag sets for the vacation home and brought another home. To this point we never really had a need for this type of thing. Quite frankly they reminded of the highly co-ordinated look of most motel rooms. A bed-in-a-bag comes set comes with fitted and flat sheets, pillowcases, pillow shams, bed skirt and comforter. Everything is colour/pattern co-ordinated for a nice finished look. Some bed-in-a-bag sets have co-ordinating items and accents that can be bought separately for a complete room look. The prices are more than reasonable especially for what you get, starting at $19.95 for twin size and up. You can get as plain or as fancy as you want. The nice thing is with the low prices you could easily have a different look for each season!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Have you ever noticed how noisy your house is? Even when it is quiet your house is never really quiet. Each house it's own unique sounds ranging from creaking and crackling, pipes knocking, ducts cracking, to sounds of the house settling. Large and small appliances make an incredible amount of noise sometimes. The ice maker in the fridge makes noise as it fills with water then later when dumping the ice cubes into the tray. There's the subtle hum from computers and the tv receivers.
I notice a big difference in the noise level between our primary residence and our vacation home. Our vacation home has what I would consider fancy storm windows only rather than the heavy duty windows of our primary residence. It is surprising how much outside noise the thinner windows let in! Insulation and storm windows really can decrease the noise level of a house. There are a lot of things that can be done to quiet down a house.
Noisier rooms can be sound proofed to keep sounds from traveling throughout the house. Special appliance pads can be placed under dishwashers and washers to lessen the vibration noise. Scatter rugs and/or carpeting can help quiet rooms as well. Prevent pipes from knocking by adding a foam spacer between the pipe and wall or beam then secure the pipe with a U bracket to stop any movement. Heavy drapes can be hung on windows or entire walls to muffle the noise. Quilts hung on walls can serve as artwork while dampening noise. I am going to do a fair amount of sound proofing at our vacation home so stay tuned.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
Lint is a problem with all mechanical dryers. Essentially lint is the breakdown of clothing fibers so it is a good indication that your washer and dryer is causing your clothes to age. It can cause slow drying in mechanical dryers if allowed to build up as well as safety issues with C0 emissions build-up for gas dryers and fire risks for both electrical and gas dryers. Aside of the wear and tear on clothes and safety issues, lint is basically waste. If the lint contains natural fibers like cotton then it can be used in the compost but lint containing synthetic fibers should not be put into the compost. In essence, lint is not eco-friendly representing mainly waste. Some enterprising individuals have turned lint into artwork but really, there isn't much demand for that even for the frugal homemaker. It can be used for starting campfires or fireplaces though.
We have the Whirlpool Duet HE washer and dryer. Until that point we had traditional drum dryer and agitator washer. I honestly never realized the difference in lint production until we started using the regular, traditional dryer and washer at our vacation home. I had an older pair of flannel pyjama bottoms that were still very much functional. There were no real signs of wearing out yet I washed them twice at the vacation home and the bottom broke through. I was quite surprised as when using the HE washer there is very minimal lint in the dryer. Yet with the traditional drum dryer there had to be at least 4 to 5 times as much lint! It is quite obvious that a traditional agitator washer causes clothes to wear faster!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2010
We have slowly but steadily move most of our utility bills over to online rather than paper bills. This made a lot of sense for us on a few levels. First going to online ebills is eco-friendly, reducing the amount of paper we as individual households consume. Second we generally have internet access where ever we are so the bill comes right into our inbox where we can pay it immediately with a click or two. This is really convenient! Third, we love to travel and quite often on a whim so we don't have to worry about having anyone pick up our mail from our mailbox (rural) or having our mail held. I should note that for use to have our mail held during our last vacation home visit it cost $60. This is no longer a service that Canada Post offers for free! So using ebills ends up saving us money for shorter vacations where all we are expecting are utility bills. We really don't get much in the way of mail anyway as more and more businesses move away from paper billing. Most times we get junk mail, flyers and the weekly newspaper. I've been told that in town if you don't have a mailbox the mail carrier can't deliver to your home which might be one way to deal with that pesky weekly paper!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2011
