Living and gardening in an older Hudson Valley home
Inviting people over is fun! I enjoy every aspect of it, from planning the guest list, choosing the date, selecting the menu, finding new recipes, setting the table, cooking and finally the conversation during the course of the meal. To me entertaining is an occasion. When I invite someone to my home I want them […]
My most ambitious project yet, a woodland garden, has begun in earnest. The woodland is a triangular area of the property that is completely overgrown. The original owners had horses in this area (I have found full size and pony size horse shoes while digging in the yard). The fence, except for a decorative section […]
When I bought the house there was an overgrown part of the yard that I could not figure out how to landscape. There were very large yew bushes covering a sizable area. They had obviously been pruned on occasion, but not recently and all the lower branches had died. The lower branches were about 10 […]
Hidden things are usually staring us in the face, they aren’t really hidden at all. Such is the case for an odd room in the house. The realtor, when I bought the home, described it as the Au Pair Suite. It is easy to tour the house and not realize the space is there. This […]
The Harcourts, the builders of the home, planted this beautiful Japanese Maple in the front yard. For an ornamental Japanese maple it is a large tree. When the Harcourt’s sold the property, they told the new owners (the Parisers) the tree was a “century tree” meaning it was a 100 years old. The Parisers lived […]
After I had two old spruce trees removed in the back yard, the pool equipment and air conditioning unit were eyesores. I wanted to camouflage them and I wanted a vegetable garden. We have a lot of deer in the neighborhood, so any vegetable garden requires a fence. I decided to install a wooden fence […]
Gordon Marvel, the architect of the house, designed many built-ins for the rooms. They give the house character and are always noticed by visitors. Fortunately, they were not altered over the years and I will likewise preserve them. Telephone Niche – Leading from the entry hall into the living room is a small hallway (not […]
Having a swimming pool is an amazing luxury. After working in the yard on a hot summer’s day, jumping into the pool is a wonderful relaxing ritual. A few short months ago I would not have imagined this possible. The pool had not been opened for at least 2 seasons. I wasn’t sure what the […]
The dining room is a beautifully proportioned room. It is a generous size with a large bay window. Coming in through the front door, one looks through the entry hall directly into the dining room and the bay window. The most recent owners had painted the walls battleship grey and hung cheap curtains. The light […]
For many houses the kitchen is the heart of the home. I like to entertain and cook in general, consequently having a nice looking kitchen is desirable to me. The kitchen had been renovated in the 1970’s, without any changes since then. Modern kitchen are big, with islands and places for many people to gather. […]
