Top 10 Rules for Spring Gardening

Courtesy of HGTV

Hi Friends,

Help ensure your garden's success by heeding these dos and don'ts.

1. Work the soil only when it's moderately dry. Tilling, walking on, or cultivating the soil when it's wet leads to creating something akin to adobe: the whole structure of the soil is destroyed.

2. If your soil is too wet to work, used raised beds to enable earlier planting in the spring. The soil in raised beds dries out and warms up faster than the surrounding earth.

3. Plant cool-season plants such as peas, onions, Swiss chard, spinach and lettuce in early spring so they mature before hot weather arrives. Delay planting warm-weather crops until you're safely past the last spring frost and the soil has warmed sufficiently.

4. Know your zone. Whether you use USDA or Sunset zones, choose your plants not only for cold-hardiness but for heat-tolerance as well. Peonies don't bloom where winters are mild.

5. Ease your transplants into the garden. If you've started seedlings indoors, expose them gradually to the conditions they'll have in the garden: start the pots off for only a few hours in a sunny place, then gradually increase the amount of sun exposure before installing the transplants in the garden.

6. The best amendment for your soil is one you can make yourself: compost. If you don't already have a compost pile, start one now.

7. Prune summer-blooming shrubs, such as abelia and butterfly bush, in early spring. Buds form on the new wood that emerges the same year. Later, cutting spent flowers on your butterfly bush will produce new flowers.

8. Hydrangeas are the exception to the pruning rules for summer-flowering shrubs. Mophead hydrangeas — and others that flower in summer — need to be pruned in fall. Fall-blooming hydrangeas such as H. paniculata are bloomed in late winter or early spring.

9. Rotate your veggie crops, growing them in different spots than in previous seasons. Tomatoes are especially vulnerable to diseases that may linger in the soil or in plant residue.

10. Stretch before you start gardening. Yard work is hard work, and you'll help prevent injury if you warm up and stretch first.

Check back for more ideas and Happy Spring Gardening!

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Live well,
Yvonne

Happy Memorial Day!

Hi Friends,

We Will Remember Them - The ones that we've lost still go with us in spirit. In the faces of Family, their presence still lingers. In the dreams they once nurtured they still shape our future. In the hearts that embrace them, they live on forever. At daybreak and nightfall, as long as there's memory we will remember them.

Thinking of you this Memorial Day and sharing The Ultimate Sacrifice poem by Joanna Fuchs.

The Ultimate Sacrifice:

We set aside Memorial Day
Each and every year
To honor those who gave their lives
Defending what we hold dear.

In all the dark and deadly wars,
Their graves prove and remind us,
Our brave Americans gave their all
To put danger far behind us.

They made the ultimate sacrifice
Fighting for the American way;
We admire them and respect them
On every Memorial Day.

By Joanna Fuchs

Happy Memorial Day from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne

Feng Shui Map Your Spaces: The Bagua Energy Grid

By Fawn Chang, Keynote Speaker and Writer/Author

Hi Friends,

Our research on Feng Shui revealed a knowledgeable keynote speaker, writer and author with a firm grasp on Feng Shui design. We wanted to share this information with all of you.

Basic Feng Shui Tool: The Bagua Map

When we look at your surroundings through ‘Feng Shui’ eyes, we can often see what it is in your life that is challenged or challenging you or what you may be missing. A basic Feng Shui tool is the Bagua Energy Grid, which shows you which areas of your home or office is affecting your Relationships, Career, Health, Wealth and other aspects of your life.

The Bagua energy map represents a universal energy grid and represents all aspects of a life in balance. In Feng Shui, everything is alive, always changing and interconnected. This energy map, the Bagua, helps you know how and what to change; by adjusting the energy according to the Bagua, people’s lives have improved dramatically. We’ll focus on the “Form” school method of applying the Bagua beginning at the front entrance. [The Compass School will orient the Bagua to the compass directions—both work well, I find the Form School completely effective.]

The Bagua is applied to each aspect of your home or office: the property, the structure, each room, etc. Each area has its own Bagua. Like the Russian Matruska (nesting) dolls, your property, structure, each individual room, even your desk if you choose, also has a Bagua of its own and it is applied in the same manner from the entrance of the room the same way you apply it to the entire home.

To apply the Bagua to your home, stand at your front door looking into the house holding the Bagua in front of you. Notice that your front door will fall somewhere along the bottom line of the map. Now visualize your entire home from a birds-eye-view. Don’t be concerned that your home is not a perfect square. As if you were going to take your home to a shipping store, stretch the Bagua as though it were a box in which you wanted to ship your house. There will be some areas that need to be filled with ‘packing’; these are missing areas and they are important to note as they reflect missing energies or challenges in your life.

Now you have this box around your home. Draw a tic-tac-toe board over the whole picture and you will see which rooms (or parts of rooms or couple of rooms) correspond to the Bagua areas. The back left rear of your house is the wealth area, the back right is the marriage area, etc. Some areas of the house may overlap several areas of the Bagua. For example, your living room may include the area of Inner Knowledge as well as some of the Family area.

Once you have identified which areas in your home correspond to the areas of the Ba-Gua, you can learn which colors, shapes and energy are ‘at home’ and which would be destructive. With a little more knowledge of Feng Shui principles, you can make changes to address these areas of your environment and improve the flow and vitality of the Ch’i, so that you may live in full abundance and joy, creating all the health, wealth and happiness you have been wanting…the difference is: you will no longer be wanting it–you will begin the process of having it…are you ready for it?

Check back for more ideas and Feng Shui your space!

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Live well,
Yvonne

Breezy Contemporary

Hi Friends,

Cool blue draperies and cream walls contrast well with the dark brown floors to create a relaxing, contemporary living area. RMSer mdcandela adds interest to the subtle color palette by choosing fabrics like the brown zebra print and adding a soft cream area rug.

Check back for more ideas and enjoy your animal print.

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne

Happy Mother's Day!

Hi Friends,

Dedicated to all our wonderful Mothers from your friends at Interior Design - May you enjoy as you are celebrated this Mother's Day with warmest thoughts and special wishes.

A Mother's Eyes

A mother's eyes so often shine with laughter, joy, or tears....and with the pride of seeing children blossom through the years. A mother's lips give kisses, cautions, praise, and good advice. She shares her faith and values through hard work and sacrifice. A mother's hands are busy trying to meet her children's needs, but quick to give applause whenever one of them succeeds. Throughout her children's lives, a mother plays a vital part. She is their shining star, their inspiration, and their heart.

Happy Mother's Day!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne

Low-Key Summer Party Ideas

Courtesy of Camille Styles

Hi Friends,

Summer is all about soaking up the sun outdoors while creating fun memories with family and friends. This year, beat the heat with a few easy entertaining ideas that will keep the party going, no sweat!

Summer Chill

Make fruity ice cubes for a summer treat that's tasty and refreshing. Simply fill an ice cube tray with water, then drop in raspberries and slices of lemon, lime and orange. Once frozen, the infused cubes are perfect for adding flavor and cooling down a glass of water or fresh-squeezed lemonade. Photo by Camille Styles

Take Cover

One of the big challenges of outdoor entertaining during the summer months is battling the bugs. But don't let that discourage you from hosting a backyard dinner party! Cover appetizers with pretty glass domes and cake stand covers to keep creepy crawlers away and preserve the food's freshness. Photo by Mike Bullock

Sweet Seat

Life is just a bowl of cherries, especially during the summer. Download and print this place card template, handwrite guests' names on each flag and use double-sided tape to wrap the cards around wooden skewers. Stick upright into a bowl of fresh cherries, and place at each table setting. Guests will love locating their seat to discover a fresh bowl of fruit, all theirs for the snacking. Photo by Mike Bullock

Once You Pop

Put an exciting spin on the dessert buffet by setting up a popcorn bar before everyone arrives. Fill a variety of apothecary jars with different flavors of homemade or store-bought popcorn, and let guests have fun scooping up the salty and sweet flavors. Place paper bags next to the bar so everyone can take their favorite flavor home with them; it's the perfect way to thank them for 'popping' by! Photo by She-n-He Photography

Check back for more great summer ideas from your friends at Interior Design!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne

European-Style Garden

Courtesy of HGTV

Hi Friends,

This beautiful eight-sided pavilion, designed by landscape architect Keith Anderson, is the focal point of a European-style garden. Perfect example of Alfresco living in style.

If you have an existing Gazebo, it's a relatively inexpensive transformation to this space. Visit your local box and home improvement stores for the best deals on patio furniture, flowers and plants - check the clearance section...

Check back for more ideas and enjoy your European-Style Garden

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne

Dreamy Outdoor Entertaining

Designed by Christopher J. Grubb
Photography by Greg Weiner.

Hi Friends,

Pleasing Patio Designs are essential to achieve the comfort of alfresco living for both, relaxation and entertaining. Great patio design, beautiful hardscaping and savvy plant choices combine to create perfect outdoor spaces.

Our featured scape has a full-sized kitchen, cascading fountain and raised pool flanking the large lawn with an in-ground trampoline, making this a perfect spot for entertaining families.

Granted this is an exceptionally large space but a similar design is achievable for you and your family. Select the amenities that suit your living and create an extension of your home. Keep in mind our outdoor spaces are part of the real estate; treat it respect and add value to the equity in your room, you won't be disappointed.

Check back for more ideas and enjoy alfresco living in style!

Your kind contribution will allow us to continue sharing great, no cost and cost saving ideas for your space. Click the "Donate" button below to make a contribution. Thank you!

Live well,
Yvonne