MzSerena’s Garden

I’ve said before that I like to look at dream homes and different home improvement projects that I’d like to do around here if I ever won the lottery. I’d build a house from the ground up. I’d have a beautiful flower garden in the front. I’d have a sustainable vegetable garden in the back. I wouldn’t have any animals, they are too hard to care for.

I love to look at Designers Fountain Lighting, just to see what’s out there. I like to “window shop” so to speak. It’s fun to dream. I’d probably have a log cabin, modular, so that it’s easily built. I’d make sure that everything was just right so that none of us would have to worry. Air conditioning for the summer, great heat for the winter and maybe even a pool. We have the property to do it, just not the money.

If money were no object, what grand project would you do to your home?

I watch HGTv at night when I can’t sleep. I love to watch them when they do kitchen makeovers. They use beautiful glass tiles for back splashes. I would love to be able to do the same thing. But, I live in a mobile home and you can’t do that. The walls are too damn flimsy.

I want heated floor tiles for the bathroom and the kitchen. Omg can you imagine? Walk through the house and your feet be toasty warm all winter. I’d love to win the lottery, buy a house that needs some TCL and do everything that I’ve always imagined.

Ugh, I swear, I always have the best intentions, but then something happens and I forget to post. I keep wanting to. I even open up my client window and start typing. But then I get distracted by something. Lately it’s been looking at different home improvement ideas. Our bathroom sink has not been able to be used in years. The faucet drips when you use it. Plus there is a leak in the line somewhere. I would love to get a pretty Moen faucet to replace it, but I’m not that handy. Nor is my husband.

I get distracted by videos and games and music and other things. It’s sad, I have the attention span of a gnat. For instance, I started this, then got sidetracked by an idea for an article I want to write. So, I’m going to end this and go work on the article. Peace.

Title: Enjoy the Outdoors Without Being There

Who doesn’t enjoy sitting outside on a bright sunny day? Well, if you’re like millions of Americans you have allergies, and this time of year is nothing short of murder on your sinuses. Instead of hiding indoors unless you have to leave, you can still enjoy the outdoors thanks to a Richmond Four Seasons Sunroom from Creative Energy Exteriors. As a leading Richmond Home Improvement company, Creative Energy Exteriors has a huge selection of Richmond Siding and Windows that will improve the overall look and feel of your home, and they’re experts at installing four season sunrooms that expand the home and allow enjoyment of the outdoors all year long – without actually having to deal with the elements. If you’re interested in expanding your home, check them out online or visit their showroom. You’ll be happy you did.

Okay, so I need to stop watching DIY and HGTV before bed! Why? I dream about weird home improvement projects when I do. For instance, I dreamt about having a home that I was remodeling, but it wasn’t mine. How do I know it wasn’t mine? I live in a mobile home, not a mansion. The thing is, I was installing a stainless steel backsplash in my kitchen in the dream. I don’t *like* stainless steel though, I’d rather have some pretty, decorative glass tiles. Best I can figure is that I fell asleep watching them install one somewhere on TV before I fell asleep, but I don’t remember.

Oddly, when I turned the television on this morning, MTV was on. I recall putting on the MTV Movie awards on so I could indulge myself in Twilighty previewy goodness. Who knows what the hell that’s all about, but dreaming about home improvements is… interesting. Too bad I can’t wake up to having them actually done to my home.

Classic Construction builds decks in Richmond and their outstanding quality and affordable pricing make them the perfect candidate for your next home improvement project. They also offer sunrooms in Richmond that offer year-round comfort and value to your home. I came across them while looking for a dealer that offered siding in Richmond for a friend of mine and I was very impressed with their commitment to providing professional service and craftsmanship.  Now, the fact of the matter is, I do not live in Richmond myself, but I know a few people who do. I always check around before posting about any business or service and have had absolutely no complaints, so I feel comfortable recommending them.

While I was watching one of those home renovation shows the other day, I commented to my mother about the sinks that they chose and didn’t understand why anyone would choose an undermount sink. Personally, I would find it saver to have a top mount, but I know that it looks slicker with the nice countertops, but it seems a lot more dangerous if you drop something on the edge of the sink.

I had more thoughts on home renovation but I lost my train of thought. I got derailed by someone who seems to think that it’s cool to insult Twilight and those who enjoy Twilight. Frankly, I think it’s semmed by jealousy, but whatever. I think I’ll post my opinions in another post.

Stress, Stress, Pressure Pressure! My word, I wish there was something I could do so that I wasn’t stressing like mad. There is just way too much going on right now and I’m such a bundle of stress. Seriously, I need the world to stop and let me off for five minutes, just five. I really just don’t know how much more I can handle at this point.

The more that I think about everything that’s going wrong, the more I think it’d be a wise idea to just move. But, then again, if we move, we wouldn’t have the freedom to do whatever we want with our home. There’s so much that needs to be fixed, though. It’s like.. what do we do? Fix the problems we already have with frozen lines or whatever the hell is wrong with our water currently. Fix the leak under the trailer, fix the leaking roof. Fix the ceilings that have fallen from the leaks, fix the floor that’s gotten weak from the water seeping down the walls. Fix the porch, fix the driveway. It’s a lot of fixes.

What’s sad is that I keep looking around on the web for different ideas. One thing I’d like to do, if we fix things here, is to put up molding when we do the ceilings. Something pretty and decorative. I’d also like to take out one of the closets in the back bedroom so that we have more space in the room to be able to move the bed. I have so many ideas, but I don’t know if we’ll still be living here at the end of the month.

I saw some beautiful corbels that I would love to use in the living room. I would love to take the paneling down, put up sheet rock, or at least paint the paneling, put up molding and use the corbels to accent it. I think they’re an elegant touch.

But, I digress. We have to figure out if we’ll be living here for much longer. I really have no clue what is in store for me this month, but I know that I am so stressed out right now that SOMETHING has to give. And it damned well better be the water tomorrow. I am sick of using gallon jugs to flush the toilet. It’s not a fun time at my house right now. It’s just not fun to be me. Despite what people seem to want to believe to the contrary.

I will say that I can’t stop looking at the Inviting Home website.  Seriously.  They have so many different products that it’s hard to close the site once you start looking at it.  They even have staircase pieces and decorative hardware that is to die for.  Gah, so much beautiful stuff.  I saw the most beautiful newel toppers and carved posts.  It almost makes me wish we had a two-story house so I could change the staircase!  But, they don’t just have beautiful products, they have a plethora of fantastic information, including decorating ideas and installation guides so that you can do your own installation.  Inviting Home is where a lot of design professionals shop, but if you aren’t a professional, then you can explore their site, read the blog and you can learn about how to use their products as design features or just to get inspiriation.

There is just so much great information out there that anyone can be a great designer.  One thing I noticed was that they have a lot of green products and information as well.  Now I just need to get off the site and get to work on other things that need to be done, but that won’t happen until I look to see what kind of special offers they have.  Even though I can’t afford to spend any money right now.

Now that redesign Monday is done, I can go on about my normal business and continue to look at and dream about the things I’d like to do when I build my dream house. For instance, I want to have an entryway with beautiful chandeliers to light it.

If I could, I would have one in the dining room as well, but they can’t be the candlelit ones. I fear the use of candles in that way. I like to light a single candle from time to time that is scented, but for anything else? I worry too much. I have, in my head, the picture of this grand home, but will I ever get my dream? One can only hope.

Everyone who has a computer worries about the security of their network, their computer, their internet connection, but how many of us worry that much about home security? Everyone wants to think that where they live is safe, that they have nothing to worry about. They want to think that the police can take care of any problem that arises, but how can the police take care of a home invasion if you don’t have some sort of security system in place?

Living in a rural area, it’s quite easy to be lulled into a false sense of security, to believe that crime only happens in town, but it’s not true. My house can be robbed just as easily as my cousin, who lives in town. What more, some security services provide services for seniors who need a little extra help. For instance, if you have a parent who lives alone, doesn’t have any close neighbors and doesn’t want to move, there are systems that have call buttons that can summon immediate response, even if you can’t get to a phone.

Why is all of this important? Because security is important. No one should live in a home that they don’t feel safe in and no one should feel completely safe without some sort of security system of their own.

I keep watching different home improvement type shows, shows where they fix up houses for sale and whatnot. One thing that I’ve noticed is that when they do a kitchen, they change the kitchen sinks 9 times out of 10. And it always makes a vast improvement to the kitchen. I don’t understand why, though, a sink can make such a big difference.

I do love watching home improvement shows, it gives me a ton of ideas for what I’d like to do if I had the money to do it. Hopefully, one day…

Everyone shops for furniture and has their own style. Some people like modern furniture, some people like prefer antique furniture. Everyone has their own taste and style, even so far as mixing modern and antique in the same area. It’s amazing how much different everyone’s homes can look. Next time you decorate your home, consider how much different your home will look, even if you buy the same pieces someone else does.

So, I keep watching all these home improvement shows on DIY and such. I keep seeing all these beautiful kitchens that they build and I wonder how much money really goes into them. Especially when they use granite for counter tops or Grohe faucets. I don’t know where they get the deals for these shows, but they have to have some sort of sponsorship deal.

Ah well, one day I’ll be a rich and famous author and will build the house of my dreams.

So along with the thoughts of a new kitchen sink, I’ve also had the idea of doing work in our bathroom. We have a flimsy double sink that is made of crap plastic, which we all know is crap. So why not look into new bathroom vanities to find something sturdier.

We don’t need, nor do we use the double sinks, so getting a smaller vanity would give us storage space for, perhaps a small dresser to store our towels, rather than have them stacked up because we have so little storage over all. But again, it seems like putting a band-aid on a sinking ship to make these changes when there are bigger problems.

We’re qualified to get an economic stimulus check in May, so that means money that I didn’t have, nor plan in the budget. So what can I do with that money? I’ve been thinking that we need a better kitchen sink. I’ve seen the Franke sinks and they’re rather nice without being pretentiously expensive. I suppose, however, there are bigger things that need to be fixed than the sink. It’s still nice to look and consider.

One of the cool things about being able to build your own home is the ability to design your own House Plans. What could be better than that? Who wouldn’t want to live in a home that they planned themselves. But design services are expensive aren’t they?

Then why not check out Home Plans and More? They have Home Plans that fit every budget need. They also have plans that fit any size requirements, room requirements and bathroom needs. You get to put in what you want, you can put in the price range and you can even estimate how much it will cost for your area.

What could be better than Log home plans with the pricing for the area you live in? Fewer surprises when you actually get down to doing the building and you even can keep your builder honest so that they don’t screw you.

What can be better than Home Plans and More? Not much if you’re building a new home.

So many different home improvements I’d like to make. One of which is a change of water heaters. Currently, our water heater is housed in the bedroom closet. It’s loud, and annoying, plus it takes forever for the water to heat when you start to draw water.

What I’d like to do is replace it with one of the new tankless water heaters. They take less power, they heat your water faster and they’re much smaller. Not only would it save money, but it would also solve another problem. The problem of our water smelling like sulfur water when the hot water is drawn.

We don’t have sulfur water, but the heater was hooked up somewhere that did. This means, we get the remnants when water is drawn off. Ick. Hopefully, we can get a tankless one if this one dies.

So there’s all this talk of an extra refund check coming in may. Personally, I won’t hold my breath waiting for it. I know what I’d use the money for, however, if it does come. We need to do some home improvements. We could use some floor work done, along with ceiling work. Most importantly, however, we need to get a roof done first. No point in doing floors or ceilings if the room isn’t done, right?

Seriously, we have enough leaks in the roof that our space is ruled by where there aren’t buckets to catch the drips when it rains/snows/melts/etc. It won’t be enough to do the work. That’s alright, it should make a good start on saving the money to do it properly. But yeah, money for nothing, I know I’d put it to good use.

In the words of Donald Trump, “I think I’ll buy a bar of soap.”