Ronbre, SoInspired, BuddyRose,......wow, it is so GOOD to have you join with us here.

Ronbre, I am a full-fledged Type 2 diabetic, and it was a bitter pill for me to swallow. I spent a year in denial, at least, and went through the classes at the hospital twice. First time, I was still in denial, so it went in one ear and out the other. The second time, I was beginning to understand what this terribly invasive disease was doing to me. Keeping your weight under control will help you stay off the pills, and postpone the damages done to your vital organs. I do not give up carbs, but I do control how many of them I eat. I also love breads. I don't have to give up fresh veggies, but cut back on the fruits which have sugars in them. Dry skin will be an issue, I had to give up my beloved grapefruits for breakfast, since they contribute to skin problems...yeast can break you out anywhere it seems.
And wear good shoes to protect your feet; and use lots of lotion.

SoInspired, great to have another gardener among us. Some here have large properties to deal with, others tiny, but we all use the space available to live more fully inside and out.

BuddyRose, your little Buddy is like a lump of coal with button eyes, and I know you must adore him. I have a B&T dachshund girl, and I swear that black dogs are the hardest ever to take pictures of....just black lumps, no detail show up.. I like your sink, big and deep. My new one, not yet installed, is also stainless,10" deep, and will be my staging area for house plants and wintertime doggy baths.
In the warmer months, I have an outdoor shower and an oval galvanized doggy tub.

It occurs to me that with this thread we are having an OPEN HOUSE for the Smaller Homes Forum. SO good to see so many folks sharing the virtual space.

Buddyrose! He is adoreable. I have be fighting off the urge to get a new pet, but I've seen so many pics of them that I feel like I'm losing the fight! I remember the post about your home redo. It is lovely.
---" I'm going to be 70 before too long and just can't manage like I used to! Yikes, how did that happen??? "---

Wantoretire, I know what you mean. My hip says I'm 58, but it doesn't seem possible! Where did the time go?

---" I'm going to be 70 before too long and just can't manage like I used to! Yikes, how did that happen??? "

boy, ain't that the truth. most days i feel like I'm a lot older than my almost 60 yrs. still, how'd i get to 60? yikes!

buddyrose - what a beautiful smile you have! and your little guy seems a bit concerned in that pic. he is sooooo cute!
I wish I'd get me a cute little critter like that... mine are 43 lbs and 70+lbs

My mother used to raise black dogs (Flat-Coated Retrievers) and the secret to photographing black dogs is to intentionally over-expose the shot. The background will be a bit faded, but it's the only way to get a good picture of an all-black dog. Don't ask me how to do it with today's new-fangled automatic cameras! I imagine good photo software could get the same effect.

Welcome, buddyrose and Cased. Nice to meet another gardener.

Hi, wantoretire, I wish my gardens were self-sufficient! I don't have time to take care of them as I used to, and they are sorely neglected. We have friends in Bourton-on-the-Water,UK (ret.RAF).

This is my favorite forum.

Great tip on photographing black dogs, Jay. :o)

Hello all, I'm Scott in (duh) Columbia, SC. I'm 49 and divorced 5 years now, have two sons, 15 and 12. Great kids! My 15 year old has recently been living with me full time. Sorry, I didn't take the time to find a hosting site and post a photo. Maybe later.

Three years ago I decided I had enough of apartment life (after the divorce) and bought a fairly inexpensive 1024sf three bedroom, one bath brick home built around 1950 something. I fondly refer to it as my divorce shack. Being a banker and financial coach, I could not allow myself to be house-poor. Although there are many things I want to do/need to do, I think I am pretty comfortable here. My biggest regret is not holding out for a home with a second toilet. When we are all three here, it can be a problem. Funny, when I grew up in a 900sf 3/1 down in Florida with two parents and 3 siblings it never seemed to be a problem.

I have been fascinated with small spaces for a very long time. I have followed Seaside, Florida since it's inception. I still have one of the original catalogs pitching the Dreamsicle Cottage and other tiny beach houses.

My dream house would be about 900 to 1000sf, two bedrooms, with a fantastic screened porch deep enough to sit and watch the rain without getting splashed. My goal is to live here another 5 years then take a serious look at western North Carolina.

As a banker, I am constantly perplexed by people's perception of adequate space. The common theme is bigger is better. Imagine where we might be today if the country hadn't got caught up in the "Flip It" frenzy or McMansion Mania that drove house prices up at an unsustainable rate. What if "less is more" was the prevalent theme and people actually bought homes they could afford and had real equity in those homes? The answer to that question is that if that had happened, it would have been many more years before the general public learned words like One Trillion Dollars!

As a Financial Coach, I am constantly asking people to re-evaluate their true needs.

Part of me feels like I am rambling and part of me has much more to share. Like some really interesting books I recently borrowed from the Public Libary on Japanese desgn and philosophy, or my love of gardening, cooking, canoeing, hiking, biking (pedal powered), and on and on.

I'll wait for comments and go from there.

Scott

Hi Scott. Looks like I just signed in a minute or so after you posted, so I take great pleasure in saying WELCOME TO THE FORUM!!! You've covered a lot of bases to let us know where you are coming from, and we can fill in the blanks, and also figure what kind of house projects you'll be contributing to....as well as the reason you might feel as you do.

For one reason or another, most of us (and I am being presumptuous here) are by choice living in a smaller home. We each put our personal imprint on the style of our small spaces too. We've had one poster here who was after a minimalist esthetic, which is easier to attain with more square foots but it is possible with determination.

If you've read our personals, then we'll press on.
I look forward to hearing what is uppermost in your plans for your house in the next five years. It seems to me, you might do what we are doing with our little stucco cottage, adding a second bath and walkin closet so our 2 bedrooms will include a real master suite. And an updated kitchen.

I know they say maximize the bedroom count, but IMO, having two BR and 2 toilets (and maybe a sink and a shower) would make the house a whole lot more comfortable.

A lot of folks maintain a free photo upload account at places like Photobucket.com and tinypic.com or even webshots.com ( I have albums at the last two places)and that makes it easier to share photos on GardenWeb.

I have not been that attentive to Seaside as it developed, but I'm very familiar with Hwy 98 as it goes between Mobile and Panama City. Many folks use the Seaside cottages as second homes but what you find with us, we live year round in our cottages and bungalows and farmhouses, etc.

We are very pleased to add you to the round table discussions. Please don't hang back. Jump right in!

yep, glad to have you join us Scott!

"Funny, when I grew up in a 900sf 3/1 down in Florida with two parents and 3 siblings it never seemed to be a problem."

that's so true. we never had more than 1 bathroom - for a house of 5 females!

I'm hoping to move on up from my about 700 sq ft to about 1400 sq ft. I'll think I'm in a mansion! I'll be glad to have walk in closets, a shower without climbing over a tub edge, a room with a door to put crafts and the exerciser and space for the dogs so I don't trip over them - or step on them. plus a/c and heat.

First, let me say I've been a fan of this site for two or three years now. Haven't visited in a while but am an "old timer". We've had some interesting exchanges here.

Moccasin - Because I only have a five year window and because my neighborhood is marginal, with very limited appreciation, I'm going to have to be very selective about any improvements if I expect to get any kind of return on that investment or even break even. I will mainly focus on preventative maintanence. I addition to that, I am trying to make smart staging choices to minimize the perception that this is a small space.

It's an older house with limited upgrades. The kitchen cabinets are are on their last legs, not to mention a current layout that needs help. However, my only electrical breaker box is a small, old, outdated box that is mounted between the counter top and upper cabinets. The lower edge of the box is almost level with the counter top and less than three feet from my sink. Not a great location, not up to current code. If I replace the cabinets I have to replace the countertop. If I replace the countertop, I have to relocate the breaker panel. If I relocate the panel, all the lines coming in to the panel have to be moved. If an electrician starts moving electrical lines, they will probably have to make other changes to meet current code. Big bucks, slippery slope. Then there is the small, outdated bathroom. Someone put in a ceramic tile floor around the existing toilet a while back without lifting the toilet and tiling under it. As a result, if I try replace the existing toilet, I would have to replace it with a new toilet with exactly the same size and shaped base. Impossible to find. Alternative, rip out the tile. If you do that, why stop there? Why not replace the old, yellow colored tub and tiles and.....and..... Again, slippery slope. Make these improvements and you might increase marketability but not overall value, the neighborhood just isn't appreciating. Over the ten years prior to me buying the house, the neighborhood appears to only have appreciated about 2 to 3 percent per year. That limits return on improvements. So, you pray nothing major breaks, slap a bandaid on the minor stuff and live with it.

So why didn't a banker and financial coach see this? I did, but I had an area I needed to stay within and I had a price point. Sometimes you have to take what you can get.

Off to work, more later.

Scott

Hey Scott- Haven't heard from you in a while! I'm still contemplating our move to the SC upstate. We'll probably get started next spring unless A) We win the lottery, or B) The gummint somehow makes things worse than they already are. We all love to chat here (in case you hadn't noticed) so go ahead with whatever you want to talk about!

Jay

Welcome scott. I do agree with you that often the improvements we do don't necessarily add value (it's a bonus if they do) but definitely make it easier to sell if the time comes. I'm on a very limited budget, we have some big ticket items that I want to do but I'll have to save up for quite a long time to do them, things like replacing the roof tiles and all new guttering. as much as possible I try to do things in stages (it doesnt hurt the hip pocket so much) and do a lot of DIY to stretch the budget further. I'm really not about getting into debt to update my old house but I also feel that we may as well make our homes more comfortable for ourselves, even if you plan on selling in 5 years.

I have the opposite problem to you, the land that my house is on has increased in value so much that the house no longer has any value in this area. Every dollar I spend on it is money I'll never get back because if I ever sell the only people interested in buying are the developers so they can knock it down and redevelop the block. It doesnt stop me though because I want to be comfortable here. :) Just another way of looking things I guess.

Hi Scott, Welcome back. I think most of us understand the start one thing leads to another and another. Phew. I had three rooms tore up here at one time for awhile. Nothing big deal . Paint and furniture swapping. Did redo the kitchen cabinet facings to real wood. Five years will fly by for you and you can move on to the dream home for you.I remember you shared lots of great ideas and thought provoking article to read.

Chris

Trance, my sister is in the same situation as you. Her house has not real value, but the land! She's in an area that used to be all farm land 20 years ago. Now there are several million dollar gated communities a couple of miles from her. The taxes on the land have sky rocketed, which makes it difficult for them. Her husband is 80 years old and does not want to move of course.

idie our area was always a working class area with a lot of public housing as well going back to the 60s when the original houses were built so when we bought this house it was dirt cheap to buy here. In the last 7 or so years the land prices have gone crazy because it's all rezoned now so the developers can knock over one old house and put 3 bigger ones up in it's place. They dont have any yard or anything but people still buy them. But like you said with your sister the taxes go up with the value so it just keeps getting more expensive to live here. It sounds good on paper I guess but you dont get any benefit unless you sell (which we dont plan on doing either). In 20 years we might be the only original house left in the neighbourhood surrounded by all the new two story places - I can almost see that happening and it's quite funny to think about but then again we might have to move someday if we cant afford the taxes! :/

I still have regular communication with friends and relatives in Vero Beach, Florida and they tell me that some years ago they passed a real estate tax measure that only allows the taxes on a primary residence to rise at something like 2 or 3 percent per year. If the title changes hands or if the status changes to anything but primary residence then the county can play catch-up and boost the taxes to the current rate. It's meant to help people hang on to their home and not be run off by escalating taxes. I think it's a great idea.

I definately pursue the DIY route any time I can but I know my limits.

I'll flip through my notes and post the titles of the two books I recently read on Japanese Design and Traditional Japanese construction techniques. The one book explores an American who moved to Japan fresh out of college and was able to study traditional Japanese construction techniques which are similar to Post and Beam construction but with a lot more attention to detail. 30 years later and he is back in the US building these structures for Americans. One of the themes that cmae through for me in that book is how the Japanese use the same room for multiple functions throughout the day allowing the room to morph whereas we in America have multiple rooms to serve similar functions like a Living Room and Den and Family Room or multiple rooms that serve a single purpose. The other book explores modern homes built in and around Tokyo where the average building site, not the home but the entire site is 6.5 feet by 19.5 feet! Granted, they go vertical and three stories are common but still, it's an entirely different mindset of what "adequate" is.

In the past I have shared my perspective on space with friends and co-workers and often get the comment back that "I'm not going to live in a closet".

Although I'm not very enthusiastic about recent trends such as Smartphones, Facebook and total dependence on GPS devices (does anyone read a map anymore), I do see how electronic miniturization is making it easier and easier to comfortably live in small spaces. Your computer can be a miniature office repalcing filing cabinets with a hard drive. That same computer can be your entertainment center serving as your main music device with no records or CD's in sight or it can replace your TV, even many radio stations can be accessed with the computer. TV's can be merged with your computer and your flat screen TV can become your monitor. MP3 devices like iPod are much smaller than even the portable devices of just a few years ago. eReaders or eBooks can reduce an entire shelf of books to a device the size of my old Daytimer, which has been replaced by my Outlook calender. It's an interesting era which lends itself towards us shrinking our physical footprint.

See, get me rolling and off I go.

BTW, as for the photo, I do have a MySpace page that a friend set up for me a few years ago. The photos are about three years old but pretty accurate. Search Columbia, SC or zipcode 29209, male, 49, you'll find me and my plants and my sons. Or you could visit my Coaching website but I don't think I can give links to that here.

Off to work again.

Scott

What a fun thread! I am on GW way more than I should be (as my less than clean and organized house attests to!)but just can't resist all the interesting information. This forum though, seems tailor made for me.
I am 56 and have been married to DH for 37 years and have two married daughters and a son who is single. We live in a 1952 ranch house that we moved back in 1979 to our property 50 miles north of Atlanta. We added on a master bedroom wing in 1989, and since then have slowly updated other parts of the house. I think the addition put our square footage somewhere between 2000-2100, so ours isn't as small as some, but still not huge. Still waiting (and saving) for my major kitchen remodel, and of course the master bath, going on 21 years, needs to be redone too.

I teach 6th grade (and love it) at a wonderfully small country school, and while most of my friends have retired, I will keep going for another 3-4 years at least. LOVE to garden, and tell myself that's why my housekeeping suffers! We have a wonderful rescue dog, Noah, that is a beagle/English setter/Brittany spaniel mix. At least that's our best guess, and Noah's not telling. I also have a new equine addition, a palomino quarter horse mare I bought to replace my much missed paint mare I sold several years ago. Lily is the most aloof horse I have ever met; trying to figure out what to do to have her bond with me, other than a bucket of feed!

Years ago I naively told my husband that if we created planting beds, we wouldn't have nearly so much grass to grow and yard work time would be cut back. Add to that being older, and it's a good thing I have summers off to tackle the garden and yard.
For most of my marriage I have planned on building our "dream home." I have had blueprints in hand for 5 years now, and we have enough land to build on. I'm beginning to rethink those plans, since our house will be paid off in a couple of years, and going back into debt isn't so appealing anymore. I'm trying to live a verse from Ecclesiastes 6:9: "Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have." I need to stay away from the pictures of the new houses being built on other forums!
Anyway, so glad to have found this forum and the collective wisdom and talents of the members!

Here is a link that might be useful: FB page

In so many places, the "natives" can no longer afford to stay in their home towns due to property values rising. Like in Tahoe, with the influx of outlanders, the property taxes are up so high, average families had to sell out. Or so I'm told. I have not been there. I'm sure it is the same way up in NC coastal region for the same reasons. And in Florida, the explosion of building along the lovely beaches near Destin and Ft. Walton and even over to Panama City is erasing the signs of the casual old style of life there. It looks like something from a home decorating magazine. And I am really saddened to lose the original flavor of the region, and have it replaced by a synthetic fantasy interpretation of that lifestyle as seen from the top story of a high rise condo building. Preserve the environment? Hmmm, that is not really what I'm seeing. Even in Mobile when they encircle a wetlands, all that is left of the natural area is a round spot of reeds you could toss a rock across.

I'm also totally against building any permanent structures which would be insured against hurricane loss....on any barrier islands. Those islands belong to the ocean. They belong to the mainland, which it is there to protect. It is a sacrificial piece of sandbar thrown up by the ocean currents and it keeps the shoreline of the continent from sustaining heavy damage by the storms coming from the ocean.
We have no business putting up homes there, and then expecting the general population of homeowners to pay the cost of this folly by increased insurance rates for everyone. It is folly to build there, knowing the chances of destruction are pretty high. If you want to pays your money and take your choices, then also figure you must be able to afford to rebuild also.

I was interested to note when we went to Costa Rica, the beaches and the shoreline belong to the people--I suppose the state--and all resort properties stop short of owning the beaches. For us in the US, I think the ownership of barrier islands should remain public as well. Along the coastline in New England, the old houses on some of the islands cannot be rebuilt unless ONE PART OF THE ORIGINAL house is left standing. Likewise, the buildings cannot be sold, only bequeathed to a family member. So it is reverting to public land in that area. I'll have to ask DH where that is, but it seems to be a way of dealing with a return to public domain.
This is not all I have to say on the matter, but it should be my stone cast into the water and making enough ripples for additional discussion? You think I am right or wrong?

Tell him to buy me an acre of land...
between the blue water, and the sea strand...

ML, as a 'land-locked', adequately insured citizen, I agree with you, but how to displace those folks who have been on the shore for generations? And, if I live in 'Tornado Alley', should I not build a home? I just don't know where to draw the line!

Oh, I don't usually make political observations (I'm too un-PC sometimes, I fear.)

Scott, and sjharris, Welcome!

SJ, welcome to the small homes forum! Ah! The lure of the 'dream home' balanced against 'mortgage-free'! I know the financial gurus tell us (maybe rightly so) to pay off all other debt and keep the mortgage since it probably has the lowest interest rate and is tax deductible. But I can tell you that I still breathed a sigh of relief when I paid my mortgage off AND IT WAS MINE! lol
I gave up the dream but I'm happy and excited for those who can still persue it.

Loretta

"They dont have any yard or anything but people still buy them. But like you said with your sister the taxes go up with the value so it just keeps getting more expensive to live here."

boy, that's what happened here. the developers bought up cheap country land and put in cookie cutter houses by the 1,000s! ugh. small yards. i swear some of those houses don't have 8' between them! (I need to take pics of some of them).

"then again we might have to move someday if we cant afford the taxes! "

i understand that! I bought out here to be alone (ha!) and it had cheap taxes. now there are houses everywhere and taxes have more than doubled! it's a good thing I don't have a mtg to pay.

Ecclesiastes 6:9: "Enjoy what you have rather than desiring what you don't have."

i love that! I'm going to print it up and post it around here. think I'll print it on stationery. (emails?)

that is so what this world has gotten away from... I noticed yrs ago that I'd buy something I JUST had to have. couldn't live without. then about a month later it was 'that 'ol thing'. yikes. the thrill wears off very quickly.

I don't do that anymore. my sister tells me every time she has a 30% off coupon for Kohl's (and I appreciate it) in case I want to get something. I seldom do. last yr I needed a new mattress pad (mine was like 30 yrs old...and fell apart!) so I got one. paid less for it than I did the one i bought 30 yrs ago. it was a total of 70% off. So if I need something like that I wait til she has a coupon. that's how I want to shop now. lol!

Then too, since she merged 2 households (she had one here and one in IN) she has lots of duplicates/extra stuff and continually gives to me. that's where I got my beautiful purple and green comforter for my future purple and green bedroom! So as she continues to unpack I continue to get 'stuff'. only stuff I can use or need. a lot of things i've still been using are well over 30 yrs old and hardly usable anymore. I use things till they DIE. lol!

btw, does anyone remember shopping so much/often (other than groceries) when growing up? I sure don't. we didn't live by any stores - there were no kmarts, W etc. (our town got the first 1 when I was in HS - Mr Wiggs!) We had a dime store about 10 blocks away and would walk there for a mother's day card, spool of thread etc.

I forgot - welcome sj! and scott - I'd look you up on that page but i don't go to those things. no facebook or mypage or whatever. I haven't the first clue on how to do that!

Welcome sj and scott. sj, I love that verse and like you have had the plans made for a new home but I rather like being debt free, and now that the kids are gone, the house seems a lot bigger.

Nice to meet you too

The table guy is back.

WOW Lots going on on this thread. Welcome to every one new. so happy to have others joining in. Love all the options put out to every one when we ask questions on projects.

Chris

Regarding my dream of building a small space from scratch, because I am recently divorced and starting over, I am either lucky to be able to have the ability to start fresh or unlucky because I now have to get SOMETHING paid off as soon as possible. A daunting task. I guess it depends on your perspective. Because I want certain features, features not likely to exist in an older, existing home, I think it will cost the same to buy and renovate as start from scratch. Finding available land in a place I can build a small space will be the deciding factor. Until then, I will enjoy my current small space and continue to edit belongings so transitioning to a different space will be a snap.

As for limiting where people can build, thats a big, sticky tar baby. We currently live with traffic laws, building codes, zoning restrictions, etc. In most places you cant build on the top of a mountain or only so close to the waterline so making such rules more restrictive seems plausible but at the same time, I am a huge believer in limited government. Where does one draw the line?

I picked up my latest book request from the Public Library last night. Stylish Sheds and Elegant Hideaways by Debra Prinzing. Im saving this one to read next week. Im taking a few days off from work and enjoying some "stay-cation" time.

I thought I had run everyone off with my last post, the thread went inactive right after that. I do love this forum and wish there were more new posts. Thats one thing we can change. Lets resolve to keep the dialogue going!

Scott

Scott, you did not run anyone off with your posts and your opinions. A dialogue should be able to tolerate/accept differing opinions or it is not worth much.

I've been told that I am an aggressive woman, and perhaps so. I do push people who seem to be "cloudlike", who are wispy and do not give me a sense of their presence. I keep pushing until I FEEL they are there, and sometimes they have to push back--then I know I am communicating with a real person.
On this forum? I think we have a lot of real persons! Which is why I enjoy it so much.

The Debra Prinzing book is one I truly enjoy also. I may have been the one who mentioned it in a thread about reading materials. Another good book is SHED CHIC: FROM GARDEN ROOMS & WORKING SPACES TO CREATIVE DENS & PLACES TO POTTER. It is a Country Living magazine book, written by Sally Coulthard. Look for it too.

Sometimes adding on to the house does not look possible, but turning an out building (shed, garage, barn, whatever) into a living space is wonderful. Then you spend your "stay-cation" out there. :)

Love the Stay-Cation name for staying home. Guess we have mostly been living the Stay-Cation lifestyle for many years now. We rarely go on vacation and people ask us why.

Ever since we moved to Idaho we have pretty much felt we are always living the vacation life. We are in the mountains in a place most people GO TO to vacation so there really is no need for us to leave. Not that our little town is the destination for many but we are close enough to be on the lake in 20 minutes or so or a five minute stroll down to the river or local swimming pool. Short drive to national forest to have a picnic if we choose to or just take that picnic out on our front porch so we are closer to the couch and recliner for nap time. Heheheheh

For a short time I had my out door shed set up as a guest house and it was going to be my studio. I never really used it for a studio. My loom was out there but I have sold it since. Well the shed stayed with the last house too. Anyway It really was nice to have that shed to use as I choose and I always kept a really comfortable chair out there if I just wanted quite to go out and read. Say Hubby had guy friends over and I was not needed to serve coctails, that is a joke, I woud happly retire to my shed and read or even be on the internet since we had wireless within the house and lap tops.

AND that falls into your technology ideas Scott. It REALLY changed our life style with the laptops and wireless within the house. We can go anywhere with the laptops. And company too. I have a couple of extra old ones here and usually put one in the guest room if company do not bring their own with them. My husband takes the old Itronix out to the shop when he is working on something and needs to be looking up parts. The Itronix is a real tough laptop. Shock resistant drop resistant water proof and all. And it has a handle. LOL

Anyway Scott do not feel you have killed a thread. Sometimes they just move on down and get missed. I am guilty of seeing the title and thinking I have already responded and in a hurry move on to another. And lately I have even had troubles getting my posts to go through.

Anyway Glad to see you back posting you have been a great contributer.

Chris

Scott, how about starting a thread branching off from this one. Something about the features you want to add to your new small space....and the issues you might encounter in achieving your dream.

Like....sometimes, cities make it necessary to meet certain square footage requirements. Which precludes a small creative space. Alternative style...are you into that? How about some of the Japanese construction methods, will they be approved by our building codes if you choose to use them?

I am quite fond of houses that look like houses, and I am put off by the ones that look like an oyster reef with little organized growth. Add a little here, a little there, it just does not look peaceful to me. To contain all those soaring ceilings inside, they make a hulking monstrosity outside. Don't get me wrong, I like the feeling of spaciousness....but I also enjoy the look of graciousness too....a house that sits well on its lot.

And Mama Goose, I've been thinking about your point of view re allowing building on barrier islands. That is not the same as building in Tornado Alley. Tornados are a weather pattern which can change and it does not affect the shape of the land. Well, maybe eventually, but not totally take the land out from under the house. But with a barrier island, the land either leaves or goes elsewhere. Barrier islands are essentially big sandbars which have somewhat stabilized and grown trees and grass and such, but when the big storms come, the waves and high water split the islands into pieces and there is no longer a land mass. One of the problems up around Hatteras is the land is leaving on the ocean side, and it is building up on the land side (meaning toward the mainland). And even on the mainland, like between the Sabine River and Galveston TX, there is a strip of the highway which has been closed for years because hurricanes reclaimed the whole length of it. The same thing is happening to the oceanfront highway from Galveston down to Freeport TX too. When I used to drive home to Alabama from working in south Texas, I loved to travel the beach road. But after some of the storms, the ocean was already lapping under the beachfront homes of Surfside Beach and they had rocks piled up to shore up the highway which had once been safely inland.

Folks who were on the beach lands for generations generally had durable or expendable homes. They knew what they were up against. But the homes going up on the barrier islands are high dollar confections that are lovely to look at. Also, these days, I know of several which have been insured and destroyed and rebuilt even grander. I think that the barrier islands should be considered community property. NOT private property. There is precedent for phasing out the dwellings up in New England. They will allow the existing homes to be bequeathed to family members, but not to be sold out of the family. When the last one dies, the property reverts to the state, and is then part of the public lands. I haven't asked my DH where this is in effect, but he told me about it as a way to deal with existing development.

Also up there, the owner can remodel to their heart's content, as long as ONE PART OF THE ORIGINAL HOME is left standing. A friend of my DH rebuilt, and they left ONE POST of the original house. They will never be able to sell it, but they have a big family and someone will carry this house forward for another generation or two. All around them, though, the land is reverting back to its natural state which can keep it in place and doing its job of protecting the shoreline.

The barrier islands are subject to extreme runoff after hurricanes. Dauphin Island off Alabama coastline has been split in that way. The lighthouse which was once connected by land to the island now stands isolated with only a pile of rocks surrounding it. Deep channels run all around it. A friend of mine has a house down there. It was positioned on the back side of the island with a boat dock and deep water of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway)until a hurricane took the ocean sand of the island and deposited it behind the island--and then their dock was about 100 feet away from the nearest water. That is the normal way of a barrier island. This will continually be happening forever. It is not an aberration, a single event. It WILL happen again.
And that is why I say the barrier islands belong to the ocean, not to be built upon. We are only guests tolerated there until the ocean grows tired of us.

John D. McDonald wrote a novel BARRIER ISLAND about the development along the Mississippi coast. And he wrote another one called CONDOMINIUM about the Florida west coast. He is the author of the Travis McGee mysteries that I so adored and read the entire series. If you have a chance to read those books, they dramatize what happens.

I've strayed from the original topic, but this is who I am. You have to know that I am a resident of the Gulf Coast, and I am dying inside because of the damage being done to my beloved coastal region with this ugly oil disaster. I worked for 20 years in the oil field. They did not want a woman there. I endured though. It was only a matter of time before this kind of thing happened, given the culture of the oil companies, their lack of respect for the native cultures where they make their money, their lack of respect for the people who work for them. Ahhh, I cannot go there.

moccasinlanding I love dachs. Could just gobble them up. But I do love tiny dogs. Black dogs are incredibly hard to photograph. If I'm too far away, his eyes don't show at all. But I have managed to take some good ones. He loves being under covers:

I've never bathed him outside. HMMMMMM... poor Casey better run & hide!

idie, having a pet helps u live longer! 70 you say. If you can manage to walk a bit, walking a dog is great exercise. tiny dogs don't walk as far or as fast as larger dogs.

desertsteph: those are BIG dogs. Even growing up our biggest dog was prob. less than 30 lbs. I love all dogs though and cats and pretty much most animals.

mama goose I'm a crazed gardener. If I see a weed, I can't rest till I pluck it. first thing I look at when I wake is my back yard. Get my coffee and "patrol" my gardens. I have a teeny tiny back yard and I love every sq ft of it.

columbiasc, scott, I'm also always amazed at people's desire for BIGGER houses. It's never been me. Scott I had the same problems when I bought my little cottage. I wanted to do a small amount of work in the kitchen: replace horrible floors, broken sink and broken dishwasher BUT my contractor told me in order to redo floors, we'd have to remove cabinets and the were so old that putting them back would be more work, therefore money, than buying newer ones. So I found cabinets I liked on a great sale and redid the kitchen. Happy every day I walk into it that I did. I also know what you mean about putting in more than you'll get out when you sell. But I decided to amortize my time spent here LOVING it against resale. I also don't have to sell until I ever decide I want to so hopefully won't have to sell in a down market. That helps my choices too.

And NO Scott: why read a map when you have GPS!!!! I'm just saying..... ;-)

Oh and I am definitely a Stay-Cation gal. Don't know when I'll ever go anywhere again now that I have this cottage near the water. Heaven on earth.

Moccassin, good idea, I'll start a thread and describe my wish list for my small space. Watch for it.

I was born in Vero Beach, FL. The town extends onto the barrier island down there. Although the "islanders" consider the island as "their domain" and would really prefer if the "poor folks" that reside on the mainland would stay on the mainland except during the day when they could come over and do the meanial chores for the elite. Grow up and face that attitude on a daily basis and it's hard to have sympathy when their little piece of paradise collapses into the surf. I lived there for 29 years and watched the beach slowly disappear. Global warming, climate change, whatever you want to call it, the truth is oceans rise and oceans fall, and they have since the earth was formed. If you go inland from the coast in Vero Beach, about 2 miles inland, there is a natural sandridge that was the dune line at one time. My point? The only thing constant is change. The oceans will move, new deserts will be born, others will disappear and become lush forests. Mountains will rise, then crumble. We are looking at things that affect us in our lifetimes and only see how it impacts us. We forget that if we viewed things from the perspective of the "earth's clock" (think dog years), the changes we see as monumental are mere seconds on the earth's clock. We can't control the earth, we are merely along for the ride. Some of us will get off that ride with our homes and lives intact and others will pay the price of fate. Live close enough to the water to hear the waves and see spectacular sunrise/sunsets and you pay the price of weather and erosion. Live among nature's giants in the forest and you risk fire. Every location has it's own allure and it's own price. It's just the way it is.

Wow, that was an unexpected detour. I promise to be less philosophical in the wish list post.

Scott

Buddyrose, I got carried away on that last post and forgot to comment on your breathtaking views. I guess that explains that exuberant smile of yours.

Scott

buddyrose, something about that first pic makes me think of 'BaaBaa Blacksheep!' After seeing your yard pictures, I believe you don't like weeds--couldn't find one weed in any of the pictures. Oh, I'd love for you to come pull a few around here!

Like shades, I have discovered laptop technology, and that's why I still have lots of weeds that haven't been pulled.

ML, I understand your feelings for the coasts. We visited the Outer Banks in 1983, and again in the late 1990's with our children. It's a beautiful area. I recall hearing that one of the lighthouses we visited in 1983 had to be moved because its footing was being eroded.

I don't know what to say about the situation in the Gulf. I'm so sorry for everyone that loves the area, and everyone whose livelihood and way of life depends on the industry there. God bless you all.

OH Buddy Rose I have total back yard envy!!! So pretty and your view is stunning. Not to mention your little Buddy.

ML I am with Mama. So sorry about this oil spill and frustrated it is not getting any better.So sad. So many people affected.

Chris

Buddyrose, my little black/tan doxie girl is the hardest thing to photograph! Just a black blob. She is also a doggy who goes under the covers, and sometimes I look for her and find a lump in my bed. She likes her comfort.

I love your house. I note the windows are casement types, which open out and catch the breeze. You must be a cleaning fanatic as well as a weeder, because those are mighty clean windows, lady. They SHINE.

And your views are fantastic. The way you did your stone path is perfect, narrowing it as it extends further away from you, forces the perspective and makes the distance seem greater. I read that another way to fool the eye with perspective is to put the large leafed plants NEAR you, and the smaller leafed plants further away. It gives greater depth. I think about that sometimes, usually too late.

buddyrose - what body of water are you on? that is a beautiful view!

the Gulf is just so sad. I wonder why the gov let that rig stay operating with the many violations it had against it.

mama goose, my gardeners and I just recently pulled a gazillion weeds and laid a ton of mulch. I got my cottage two years ago. Last summer, by mid-summer, my yard looked like a jungle. Weeds were knee high. thought I'd cry. I swore this summer I would get ahead of the over night weed horror. So every morning, coffee in hand, I wander and pull! ;-0

thank you Scott and Chris for the kind words.

mocassinlanding, tonight will be the first night I sleep on my porch. Opening those casement windows, turning on the ceiling fan and hoping no spiders eat me. ugh. and yeah I'm very clean. But it's a new house and I'm still madly in love with it. I like your idea about smaller leafed plants and depth of field. I inherited some of my perennials and added others. I love stones and rocks. I put river rocks at the beginning of the path near the water fountain and then went down in size to pea pebbles. I pretend it's the ocean leading to a river. Yes I have a vivid fantasy life. ;-)

desertsteph, that's the Long Island Sound on the New Haven, Conn. side. I never get tired of turning the corner and seeing the Sound. I walk my dog along the water, rain or shine. I also sit in my yard under the pergola all year long. I pinch myself that I found this little place by the water. I don't think I've ever been happier then when I'm here.

buddyrose I love your photos of casey, he is just too cute lol. thanks for sharing your gorgeous garden photos too. the trend around here is for manicured minimalistic gardens now and I really dont like them. to me a garden with two or three plants mass planted around some lawn is so sterile, sure it looks neat but somehow so cold and unnatural. your garden is more my style, I love gardens that look free and meandering and useable at the same time.

buddyrose, I love your yard :-) The side yard looks tropical but being in CT, I can't imagine that. Are you willing to share your secret to an eastern NY upstater?

Trance, I like your style of gardening too. My DH is more atuned to trimmed hedges and mass regular plantings--straight lines of marigolds 6 inches apart was his choice. Me, I stuck seeds in the ground in irregular spots and let them go--a very wide reckless abandon bed of NASTURTIUMS. I never met a nasturtium I didn't like! I've been in love with them since I saw the way Monet used them at Giverny, where they looked like the meandering banks of a river. I can grow them up north for the first time in my life...down here it is too hot. My favorite bed is not really a bed, it is a strip of lawn where I stuck down banana trees, and elephant ears and palms...and aspedistra and bird of paradise and asparagus fern and chartreuse ornamental sweet potato...and miscanthus grass. Oh yes, and two clumping bamboo plants strategically placed to keep car headlights from intruding into the privacy of our sun porch. When all the massive plants get full in late summer, it is a jungle out there. It makes its own shade. I thought I'd lost them all after the cold winter we had, but they are looking good!

Buddyrose, one of my favorite trips was to Mystic Seaport on the coast of CT. As a mariner, of course I knew about it, and it was my Mecca--kind of like going to Jerusalem on a pilgrimage. The pictures I took there are the ones hanging in our Mass. living room.

What you did with the pebbles decreasing in size was another example of forced perspective. If you have help with your weeding, you are so fortunate. The grunt work is not very easy, but so necessary before your plants can shine.

Do you all remember the Alka Seltzer commercial many years ago where the old lady was taking 2 tablets after being out all night "dancing with Reckless Abandon?" (and that was the name of the young man she danced with?) I've always adored that expression. And so it seems an appropriate term for the way I garden too....with RECKLESS ABANDON. Too much of a good thing is JUST RIGHT for me. :)

ML Love your descriptions of your way of gardening. I think it is also the way I do it. Was calling it barely controlled chaos. I think there needs to be a garden plack of Reckless Abandon.

Speaking of which yet WAY off topic. Our kitten Abby was just chasing a fly up the window fell off the table into the LARGEST mixing bowl I use for the animals water dish. YES it was full. YES I have a HUGE mess on my dinning room floor right now. So glad there is vinyl on that floor.

She is such a delight.Sometimes NOT. You all need to meet Abby again now she has grown up.

Here is a link that might be useful: IN Trouble again.

ML I love nasturtiums too, they go crazy here over winter, each year spreading further and further and filling the spaces. I just wish they would grow all year round. By mid spring they are turning to straw so I collect them up and push them back into the garden beds as mulch. I just love it when plants self seed as if to say "this is where I want to grow", and I try to leave them as much as possible. I know what you mean about plants lined up and perfectly spaced, lol, they're almost uncomfortable to look at.

shades that's exactly what I call my gardening style too! I call it controlled chaos! I dont let things get out of hand but I like plants to be free to do their own thing as much as possible.

Remember the thread about naming our homes?

ML, I think RECKLESS ABANDON would be a perfect name for my yard--these days it looks as if it's been abandoned, LOL.

Oh, and your memory of the commercial reminds me of an old joke from the 60's. 'The young man would saunter down the street with animal-like grace--ANIMAL-LIKE GRACE was his girlfriend.'

hehehehehe.
Mama, you are so right, I must have missed the sauntering young man. Same type of humor.

And Animal-Like Grace is what Shades has with grown up Abby kitty. I looked at the number Abby did on her TP roll, and it made my day. Plus, the mental image of her landing in the big water bowl. Life's lighter moments. I believe it would be impossible to ABBY PROOF your house, Shades.

Mama, you have a point about Reckless Abandon for your garden name. There is some quotation something like..."abandon all hope ye who enter here." But I sort of like "Encounter Reckless Abandon all who enter here."
I figure that if I go out of control, Mother Nature will step in and restore some kind of balance.

Hi Everyone...

I'm relatively new to GW, but I'm not shy, so I'm jumping in. I like this thread, too, as it's nice to put a name (or background) with a house.

I live in Boston, after growing up on 5 acres in Ohio and living in Indiana, Chicago, Florida and West Africa. I'm a software consultant by way of music major, 4 star restaurant manager, non profit grant writer, and accidental accountant (don't ask).

I previously owned a c1900 condo in Boston, which I renovated and sold this past spring. Last fall, I closed on a 1925, 1000 sq ft farmhouse just outside of Boston. It doesn't have some of the characteristics I wanted (fireplace, unpainted woodwork) but its location (last house on a dead end street, abutting a 60 acre park) was not to be missed. Now, it's just a question of which to start first...heat, electric, plumbing, etc. Unfortunately, when it comes to renovations, I'm a bit like Willy Wonka's Violet Beauregard in that "I want it NOW" :-)

I grew up around renovations, including our house, our-1956-school bus-turned-into-a-camper, and my uncle's many fix & flips. But figuring out how to renovate this thing solo (I'm 41 and single) without going broke or insane is going to take a lot of patience, which is not my strong suit :-) Oh, and trying to fit in DIY projects while working and training for triathons...it should be a fun balancing act.

But this Forum has been a great help, particularly reminding me to enjoy the ride. Thanks for having me.

Chez me

Me
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Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:2071061}}

Hi, Navi Jen...the link at the bottom does not work, but the thumbnail does. Welcome to the forum, we do have a lot of fun here.

I did not see any captions with your 8 photos in the album. May I suggest that you start a NEW THREAD with the subject your 1925 MA 1000 sq ft farmhouse? That way, you can talk about it and we can contribute comments directly to it.
This thread is getting VERY long now, and it is in reality the place we chatter our introductions.

We have a cape within commuting distance of Boston, and we will be putting it on the market next spring. After our final bathroom projects and redoing the last portions of the flooring. Too bad, because I really enjoy the time we spend there....it is just a different way of life from what I'm used to in Alabama. Not worse, not better, just different.

Glad to have you among us.

welcome Navi Jen!

looking forward to a thread about your house! post pics of it.

first thing is to make it safe - and livable for now?

wantoretire I just saw your question about my garden: how do I get it tropical looking? It's the diff. ornamental grasses, I think. That and I shape my plants to be airy. I think that may be what you're seeing.

Hi Jen, welcome to the small homes thread! Jump right in with whatever you want to discuss.
When I saw the picture of your house my first thought was " Oh, how cute"! Am I the only one with a plain ol' brick house with not charming details?