Beach 

When it’s so hot outside that the chickens are laying hard boiled eggs, that’s the time I start thinking about fleeing the city. Usually hubby and I head to the Hudson Valley, Berskshires or Catskills as my parents did and my grandparents before them.

 Mountain house in Austerlitz, NY

I’m a mountain person as is my husband. We like to bring the dogs and go for hikes, cool off in swimming holes and have some awesome meals featuring locally grown produce. There’s always plenty of culture around the areas that cater to NYC weekenders, whether it’s performances, art or just good ole’ antiquing. The best part about it is that there is no “scene”. You can wear Birkenstocks to any event if you want, not that I would ever be caught dead in those hippy dippy things!

This summer we’re thinking of heading farther north to Vermont. The trip will be all about the dogs as there is a place called Dog Mountain with a nearby B&B that caters to canines. Because we don’t want to spend our entire trip on a dog ranch, we may actually hit the beaches in Maine. That’s a thought anyway, not that we’ve had a chance to plan anything out yet.

So, what’s your getaway preference? A beach house? Lake house? Or mountain hideaway?

Lake House in New Zealand

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A shutter fence is as easy to build as any stockade fence once the posts and cross rails are installed. The only drawback is that your shutter wood is most likely made for interior use as opposed to pressure treated fence lumber. Do make sure that you prime and paint your shutters with a good few coats of exterior paint so they will last. That is my advice, although I was so eager to get my own shutter fence up that…guess what? I installed it as is. The paint will be peeling in no time. Yay, me! But it’s ok, because it will look even more “reclaimed”.

Shutter doors were purchased for 5 bucks per piece at Eddie Hibbert’s salvage garage. Total came to $20 for the line. They were going to be used as an interior wall initially but I just went with all sheetrock in the end.

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The Rockaway house has been finished and occupied for a few months now, but there’s still some important items that I’ve been ignoring while I take a much needed break from renovations.

The most pressing issue is the lack of drainage in the backyard. Since Sandy, everybody’s drains have been backing up due to all of the sand and debris that got down there. With each heavy rain, we get the added bonus of a swimming pool in the backyard. When we opened the grate to clear the blockage, we discovered that it is not a drain after all. It’s just a pit. A clogged pit at that.

The options are to either connect a drainage system to the sewer line or install a sump pump. Both options would mean digging a trench and would require some lite plumbing. Furthermore, the pump would need electric or an underwater battery back up to work, so if there is another massive storm, it would be useless.

I’m no flood specialist, but I came up with a third solution that feeds two birds with one scone. It’s sort of french drainish but covers much of the yard. The yard is butt ugly right now, covered in crumbling, chippy painted concrete. The pitch leads to a small “drain” in the middle and as I mentioned, the water has nowhere to go. It’s just a pit.

So, my solution would be to break up the fugly concrete and make a much larger pit. Sand below pebbles or stones. It doesn’t have to take up the entire area, but a 4’x4′ pit would be better than a 4″x4″. I even have some leftover blue stone in my Brooklyn backyard, so I can purdy it up with that a bit.

It may not be the correct thing to do, but it’s gotta be a helluva lot better than what’s there now. Photos are just inspirational design ideas.

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DIY for the gardener who’s too lazy to throw away that that dresser or that car.

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Ever go into a store and look at all the fun outdoor entertaining merch and want to buy everything? Yeah, me too. But I know that they will sit in my cabinet and I’ll never invite people over to actually use them. It’s a nice thought, though.

Here are some purdy things I found on the internet. Perhaps you will be inspired to have a party and invite me.

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The weather this week is in the 90’s. That’s not just hot, that’s downright dangerous. Take care of yourselves and especially think about the little furry ones. NEVER leave a dog in a hot car for too long. Even with the windows cracked, that’s brutal. Check up on senior relatives. They may be so old school that they don’t have air conditioning.

But where to cool off if you’re out and about? Or if you don’t have a/c yourself?

1. Go see a movie.
2. Check out a museum.
3. Library? Bet you haven’t been to one in awhile.
4. Shop til you drop. Especially malls or huge department store.
5. Get sloshed. Or you can sit and have coffee (iced) all day, but an indoor bar/cafe that allows you to hang out for hours is key here.
6. Beach. NYC beaches gross you out? Hop on the LIRR. It’s also air conditioned.
7. Which brings me to…Take a ride upstate on Metro North or Trailways bus line. Back in my day, the parents used to bring us to “the mountains” to cool off for the summer.
8. Water rides! As close as Coney Island.
9. Fire hydrants. Don’t open it yourself.
10. Parks have sprinklers.
11. City pools.
12. Water balloon fight.
13. Got a backyard? Get yourself a kiddy pool. Or just hose yourself down.
14. Got AC? Never leave the house all summer long.

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Yay! It’s finally time to work on the exterior of the house! It only took nearly a year, but whatev. A decision has been made (maybe) that we’ll be making our own fence and not buying stockade. Reason being, we’ll use thicker wood so it holds up longer. We may change our minds by the weekend. Stay tuned.

Just going through some images to see what others have done with their custom fences.

I have a bunch of old shutters that I never got to use for my “Wall O’ Shutters” in the basement but using an interior wood for outdoors, no matter how well it’s painted, won’t look so good after a few months. Maybe that adds to the reclaimed look?

Is this the best effin thing ever?

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One of the things that didn’t survive Sandy was the concrete in my front yard. There was a gaping hole near the house and sand in my basement. I’m pretty sure that’s where most of the water came in. Although I never liked the ugly paved look, I was just going to pretty it up rather than remove the entire thing. Hubby thinks concrete > planting because it keeps water out of the basement. I’m looking for a practical yet appealing solution.

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Your typical black picket fence.

Looks like a pain in the arse to build but it’s gawgeous!

This is very modern and sleek, but you can also use reclaimed  discolored slats to give it a more “used” look.

Got some old skis lying around? How about other sports gear?

Yes, it’s beautiful and a very cool idea, but how practical is a glass fence?

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I believe it’s been about a year since we decided to build a deck off of our parlor floor. The plan was that I design it, my husband does the measuring and drawings and our architect neighbor files the plans.

The problem is, I’m stuck on step one.

At first I wanted something industrial. Because structural engineer hubby is a bridge guy, I though it would be really cool to have it look like a bridge. He told me that fabricating something from scratch would be pricy, but there is a way to make the posts look bridge-like. But that’s just the base. Do I really want the railing to be thick and industrial too? I don’t know. Do I?

The other option is fancy wrought iron. I’m picturing a Venetian balcony. When I googled images, I was impressed by the French Quarter balconies of New Orleans. This style would go with the house more than industrial, but I worry that it may look too messy because I think I would prefer to go with salvaged materials and we may not get enough matching pieces to go all the way around. What if it’s hodge podge? Could that possibly look cool too? I don’t know. Maybe.

Why is steel base with wood railing not an option? Because it’s just not. I’m not envisioning it at this moment in time. It’s a Brooklyn brownstone, not a country home overlooking a meadow. Not a Hamptons home on the beach. Yeah, I know most people just do wood because it’s simple (we built our own in our first house) but I’m just not feeling it. We will install FSC Ipe tiles on top of the steel “subway grates”, but that’s it. Ipe, like any other exterior wood, starts to look crappy after a few years. IMHO.

BTW, I do like that window in the deck floor in the first photo, don’t you?

Once we figure out the railing, we have to decide what to do underneath the deck. The goal is to be able to let the pets exit through a dog door when we are not around and keep them and the house safe. This means that under the deck will basically be a cage. We don’t want it to look like a prison though.

If modern industrial, we could go with some kind of hard mesh or to make it more interesting, a “lace fence” like above. That would probably cost more than the house itself, plus it’s a little too pretty for my taste.

Or…the antique industrial look could rock. It might be a perfect mix of both. The above photo is Kilmainham Jail in Dublin. It’s now a museum that I’ve visited many times and I love the aesthetic. Hmm, maybe I DO want it to look like a prison.

At this point, perhaps I shouldn’t go crazy over the design and just do a functional, inexpensive deck so we can enjoy it this year.

Oh, I don’t know. What do you think?

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Yeah, I like to travel BIG just as much as anyone. But sometimes an overseas vacation is more stressful than it’s worth. That’s why I’m a huge fan of local travel. Just go. Get out of the city for a few days. No better way to relax. Instead of my usual “Weekender” post, I’ll let you do your own research. Here are some planning resources for ya….

GORP covers the great outdoors. The site lists activities on Long Island, in NJ and Upstate. For those of you who can’t get away, there are resources for biking, kayaking and horseback riding right in the city.

EscapeMaker isn’t greatly informative, but it does cover lots of ground. A nice place to start before narrowing down where it is you want to go.

I Love NY. Who doesn’t?

Discover Long Island here.

And New Jersey here.

Retreats for the highly stressed.

Or follow the culture.

Parent Zone has a nice guide for child friendly weekend trips.

And Blue Sky Dogs is a travel agent. For dogs.

Cyberrentals and VRBO are THE two vacation rental sites. Filter by price, kids, pets, area, etc.

Have fun!

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Naomi Sachs, founder of “Therapeutic Landscapes Database” has created a user friendly companion blog to that website. TLD Blog launched earlier this month and Naomi’s posts are both uplifting and poetic.

She writes in her post on backyard sanctuaries: “There are so many ways to make your outdoor space–be it hundreds of acres, a city lot, a fire escape, or a window box–into more than just a place for the occasional backyard party or weeding/raking session.”

The site is geared towards “black thumbs”  and ADD folks like myself. Naomi wants to make this stuff more accessible to everyone, not just landscape designers or academics.

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I saw this survey on Re-Nest and didn’t participate because there wasn’t an option for what my response would’ve been. I’m all about second homes. I’d have third and fourth homes if I could afford it.

Re-Nest on second homes: “They take more stuff to build; more energy to heat and to cool; and you have to get to the second home somehow, too — and that usually means time in a carbon-spewing car.”

I totally agree with this reasoning, but at the same time, second homes don’t have to be wasteful. In our case, our second home is a multi family house in Brooklyn. The tenants live there, so the house isn’t exactly sitting empty. There is a zoned heating system which means our apartment is not heated when we’re not there. Furthermore, if it wasn’t a work in progress, we might be renting it out as office space so it would be getting use all the time.

As far as country homes…yeah, been there, done that too. Let’s not even talk about building a new home. I’m totally against that! But if the home already exists, we should put aside the “materials” argument.

Two, second homes do exist in walkable towns along public transportation lines. I try to mention these factors when focusing on weekend retreats because it is important to many people. Not everyone needs a car. Until they allow large dogs on buses and trains, I need a car.

Heating and cooling. Only when you’re there. Otherwise, it should be turned off along with the water! If it’s only a weekend retreat, nothing wrong with chopping wood for some heat. That’s romantic as long as it’s only on weekends. We never needed an a/c for the Kingston house in the woods. And believe me, I like my a/c. (sorry)

Lastly, the house doesn’t have to sit there taking up space when not in use. You can always rent it out to other weekenders.

I know that urban footprints are much more subtle than rural footprints. I just feel like there has to be a happy medium. Everyone should be able to enjoy the country from time to time. Especially my dogs.

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We closed on our Bed Stuy home in November 2005. Shortly after that I requested a free tree from the Parks Department. I actually put in two requests because I never received confirmation on the first. As a new homeowner in the area, fixing up my property, I was eager to see some greenage out front. After months turned into a year, I soon forgot about the tree.

Last weekend I noticed a barricade in front of the house. I thought it may have been left behind from Keyspan or Con Ed, who always seem to be working on our block. Then my husband pointed out our new tree, which was behind the barricade. I didn’t even notice the damn thing! After 2 years, I had totally forgotten about it.

Got patience? Want a free tree? Better request it now and plan on waiting. Alternatively, you can plant your own. If doing so, you’ll still need to pass through the Parks Department.

But even after the 2 year wait, getting a free tree planted for you without having to lift a finger: PRICELESS!

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Via Treehugger

Straight outta Brooklyn. Designers Devang A. Shah and Michael Low created The Sun Table, an outdoor table that stores solar energy and powers electrical devices.

The product “that pushes people to spend more time outdoors will be beneficial for humanity.”

The table stores enough energy to run a laptop for over 3 hours or a TV for 3 to 4 hours. For $3600, I think I’ll stick to running my extension cord outside when I want to work on my computer. As far as watching tv outdoors, what the F* are people doing watching TV outside anyway?

Cool idea or useless gimmick? I bet there are some savvy folks out there who can make their own.

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