AngryRedhead's Profile

Display Name: AngryRedhead
Personal URL: http://AngryRedhead
Member Since: 12/7/11

Latest Comments...

You can learn, but you have to be bothered enough to do it. One helpful tip is to research the plant you just bought along with potting soil requirements. If you tend to overwater your plants, make the soil more freely draining than someone else might. Another tip is to set realistic and specific goals for yourself when it comes to gardening.

Also, and this is the really irritating thing, not all plants give the same cues. Someone earlier said that wilting means the plant needs to be watered. However, some plants wilt when they have too much water and are quickly killed by gardeners who start hosing the thing down. This is why it's important to do plant-specific research.

In my opinion and experience, it's far easier to garden outdoors than indoors. I've not had much luck growing inside except for a few plants, but I keep trying.


Is a Green Thumb Something You Can Learn?
4/12/13 10:19 AM

I also rummage for old suitcases, but mostly I just keep an eye out for them while going to my favorite thrifty haunts. I think the most I spent on an old piece of luggage was $15, but more often I spend half that. Of course, I don't buy just the antique ones but also the vintage ones from the 60s and 70s.


Bon Voyage, Clutter: Organizing with Suitcases
3/30/13 10:26 AM

@thorndale - Oh gosh! Of course, the Before kitchen was still useable, which is exactly why I personally wouldn't have bought it in my city, but I think Jane was going for ideal. I'm finishing up (moving in this weekend) a full renovation on a house that badly needed it, and it'll be the first nice kitchen I've ever had. My husband and I have made do with our other kitchens which included setting slow cookers and food processors on chairs, rolling out pizza dough on the kitchen table, using the microwave to precook onions because the stove was occupied, etc. The new kitchen is going to be a luxury (no question about that!!!), but that's how we've decided to spend/invest our money since we don't go on vacations, don't buy fancy cars and gizmos, and cook a lot at home. I think it would seem excessive to someone off the street who didn't know our situation and history, and I can concede that it wasn't totally utilitarian - we just wanted something functional in our day-to-day lives that we can be proud of for once and enjoy with family and friends.

So I have a hard time being overly critical of someone I really don't know outside of a renovation of a fair, useable kitchen into a more ideal kitchen. There are just too many unknowns, and it feels a bit unfair to judge based on one piece of information. Maybe she scrimped and saved for years to have her forever home which included a forever kitchen that she would love for decades? Perhaps slightly excessive unless you consider that this kitchen might stay in that home for the next 30-40 years under her care. Maybe even longer since it looks like she picked out good quality materials? Plus it's more economical to bundle a kitchen renovation into a full renovation. If she knew the kitchen would need to be changed and was renovating elsewhere, it probably made more sense to do it now rather than later which likely would have been more expensive and disruptive. Stuff like that.

I understand your point and agree to an extent, but no one here knows the entire situation and should maybe give the benefit of the doubt or, at the very least, tone down the outrage a bit. And you can always find something good for yourself or understand that someone else might take away something good. I like it because the kitchen changed from an L-shape to an open galley style which should serve as some inspiration for people stuck in a rut and can't visualize their cabinetry beyond its current footprint. Maybe a little silly but it's something.


Before & After: Jane's Brooklyn Kitchen Transformation The Sweeten
3/29/13 1:23 PM

@thorndale - Cooking with a friend is usually a one-off thing (bravo on the cake!), and of course, you can make it work because people are adaptable. However, it's different if you regularly cook with someone else in the kitchen, and you start to experience a dysfunctional design on a weekly or daily basis.

I personally wouldn't buy a house that had recent costly renovations that I didn't like. All of the houses my husband and I have bought needed full, near gut renovations, but I live in an area where I can still find those houses. For all anyone knows, Jane's house needed considerable renovations elsewhere, was in an ideal location, was affordable, and just happened to have a newly renovated kitchen. It happens.

I've seen a lot of houses that had been let go, but the kitchen had be renovated (frequently badly without much thought or consideration for function). I don't buy those houses because I'd feel guilty about ripping out something that was fair and useable. Plus I don't want to pay for it in the purchase price.

But if this was THE HOUSE for Jane, she shouldn't necessarily be irritated in her kitchen because of someone else's poorly thought out design/renovation. If I were given the Before kitchen and the After kitchen as if they were two different kitchens, I would prefer the After if only for function when it comes to cooking with someone else.

I'm sure there was also an aesthetic reason for the change because it appears to be an open plan house. Like, if Jane's house was featured here, I'm pretty sure her kitchen would be torn apart for not blending with the rest of her decor.

I guess the moral of the story is that you can't please everyone.


Before & After: Jane's Brooklyn Kitchen Transformation The Sweeten
3/29/13 10:35 AM

"And, if you cannot figure out how to cook with another person in the "before" kitchen layout, maybe you are cooking with the wrong person, not in the wrong kitchen."

Are you seriously suggesting divorce over remodel?


Before & After: Jane's Brooklyn Kitchen Transformation The Sweeten
3/28/13 12:10 PM

The plant in the first photo seems to be a Schefflera which are pretty common in most big box stores though you can find more "exotic" ones in the mom-and-pop nurseries.


Jennifer's Designer Touch for a Spanish Style Home House Tour
3/28/13 10:40 AM

Looks to be a Schefflera.


Jennifer's Designer Touch for a Spanish Style Home House Tour
3/28/13 10:38 AM

I'd do an oil finish (no stain or poly) and then upholster with an aged/distressed leather. I'd probably pay an upholsterer to do the job because leather is rather unforgiving, and I'd rather not be responsible for drilling brackets for a seat base.


Ideas For Weathered Bentwood Rocker Frame? Good Questions
3/28/13 10:34 AM

It looks like the flow of the kitchen has been greatly improved, and flow is SUPER important when it comes to two people helping cook/prep in a kitchen at the same time. I'd rather cook with my husband in the after than the before because in the before, we'd be bumping into each other constantly.


Before & After: Jane's Brooklyn Kitchen Transformation The Sweeten
3/28/13 10:24 AM

Definitely frame it. If you can put it in a shadow box, it'll look AMAZING! Kinda spendy to do but anything can look precious and important once it's under glass. Moss on the ground? Boring! Moss in a terrarium? Awesome!

As far as decorating goes, I've made myself the chief decorator (because there needs to be a unified vision and I have more time to research and run decorating errands) and listen to my husband for his input. If he tells me that he badly needs something as far as function or decoration goes, I work on it and keep him informed of everything I do and why I'm doing it in such-n-such way, so nothing comes as a surprise when it appears in the house. I care about his comfort and wouldn't do something that would make him miserable.

Plus decorating means a lot more to me than to him, and we have a tacit agreement that whoever cares about something more than the other gets to be the executive director in that area or on that project.


How Can We Compromise on Decorating (While Incorporating a Norwegian Flag)? Good Questions
3/26/13 12:34 PM

I'm in the process of finishing a full home renovation, and I selected antique brass cabinet pulls and door knobs. Everything else (e.g., light fixtures, faucets, and appliances) is largely white, stainless, nickel, or chrome. The pulls are solid brass (from Restoration Hardware), so if the finish wears off, it'll just replace itself. Looks good to me! You can find examples of people mixing finishes on Houzz, and they look nice.

I'd probably drive myself crazy if I tried to stick to a single finish throughout the house because I like variety and figure if I keep some consistency, it'll work itself out. Plus I accepted that silver (e.g., nickel) and gold (e.g., brass) would be part of my overall color scheme and should be used appropriately with the other colors. Some people would start to itch if everything weren't the same finish, but I'm more consistently drawn to homes/rooms where people have mixed things up and made each decision look purposeful and special.


Trend Spotting:
Gold and Brass in the Kitchen

3/21/13 9:38 AM

What about multipurpose dining/living chairs like these wingbacks or these armless club chairs?

I'd probably put the desk in the bedroom or closet, or I'd use one behind the sofa and float the sofa (maybe a daybed for overnight guests?) in the room.


How To Fit Sitting Area into Tiny Apartment? Good Questions
3/11/13 9:44 AM

If you were to plant only natives, you have to define what "native" is because there are a lot of plants that have been bred to grow places that they normally wouldn't. For instance, does it just have to be a North American native to be "native"? Or does it have to grow within 10 miles of where you live historically? And how historical are you willing to go? Would you be unwilling to grow pepper plants because they entered North America a few hundred years ago? What about hybrids that normally wouldn't occur in nature but fit within the other criteria (e.g., native, historic orchids in Florida that have been hybridized)?


Why Grow That, When You Can Grow This? The Gardenist
3/7/13 10:51 AM

Too bad you can't grow the Texas Mountain Laurel. It's blooming everywhere in Austin right now.


Why Grow That, When You Can Grow This? The Gardenist
3/7/13 10:13 AM

If marble is trendy, why isn't this or this? Just because they're granite?


The New Kitchen: 5 Top Trends
3/5/13 7:09 PM

It's beautiful! The additional lights make a huge difference, and it looks a lot brighter which I'm sure is very important during a New Jersey winter.


Before & After: A 100-Year-Old Farmhouse Freshens Up The Sweeten
2/28/13 9:33 AM

LOVE! It looks so much bigger than 1100sqft. Perfect amount of color in all the right places. Nicely done!


Lori & Ken's Modern Calgary Home House Tour
2/18/13 8:03 PM

If you have no problem ripping up floors and moving plumbing, go for it! But you'll need to get an architect for sure at that point.

Alternatively, get a Solatube and a good bathroom vent.


Is it Possible to Add Master Bath and Keep Closet Space? Good Questions
2/18/13 7:09 PM

I'm not an architect and can't tell where the windows are located, but this is one possibility that I can see. The purple lines represent closet organization, and the green lines represent walls. Please note that nothing's to scale.


Is it Possible to Add Master Bath and Keep Closet Space? Good Questions
2/18/13 11:15 AM

Counter-depth fridges are great if you don't care about how many cubic feet you get for the extra cost. Spending more and getting less for 6" or so? Meh.

I like the remodel!


Before & After: A Brooklyn Kitchen
Opens Up
The Sweeten

2/17/13 11:36 PM