Jennifer Priest

Let There Be Light Part 5: Serengeti Toffee Pumpkin Mocha Bisque – The Rabbit Hole of Choosing Paint Colours

May 122012

choosing paint colours - paint swatches and paintbrushColour is a powerful emotional engine. It can uplift us when we’re feeling down, it can soothe and relax, it can inflame passions, and it can chase us out of a room entirely. Depending on who we are and our emotional backgrounds, different people react to colours differently. A colour that can energize one person will make another feel agitated; what relaxes one person might bore another. We are looking to colour to help balance things out for us, it seems, when it comes to choosing the colours that become the backdrop for our lives. This is why choosing a colour for a space is such a big decision, and one that should be considered carefully.

There are dozens of magazines, books, and online articles offering advice on how to choose the right colour – I think I’ve read most if not all of them! The best piece of advice I can offer is to take your time in choosing your colour scheme. Colour is not a simple thing and it can have a profound effect on your space. On the upside, painting is not an expensive renovation project, and if for some reason it’s a disaster, it’s a weekend fix for most spaces.

“Have you noticed that all these paint colours are named after food?” commented Justin as he observed my latest session of paint swatch madness. I was in the middle of the hallway, surrounded by a fortress of small scraps of colour. “Hmm,” I answered, “must be why I like them”.

I spent almost 2 months choosing my paint colours, but it was worth it because I love the final result. This process is slightly different from processes outlined in articles articles and books that assume you can replace everything in the room. A complete overhaul from top to bottom just wasn’t in my budget. Instead, I worked with the things I couldn’t change, and built around them. The process below, therefore, includes more than just paint colours: it includes the colours and textures of everything in the room. Here’s how I did it:

  1. Comparing the essential elements of your decorating scheme with the test paint patches

    Larger test patches allow you to recompare the essential elements in your decorating scheme to the colours. Stepping back to view from a distance is a big help - the bucket and table hold my couch fabric and fabric art at the right height.

    Consider what elements are not changing. Examples can include floor colour, pricier furniture pieces, favourite art objects. Write these down in a list so they are not forgotten, or take pictures of them.

  2. Consider the shape and architectural elements of the room. Colour can have different effects – darker and warmer colours can advance, cooler and lighter colours retreat. I wanted to do a slightly darker accent wall to help balance the proportions of a long, narrow room, and make it feel more square.
  3. Come up with a unifying theme. This can be difficult, but it will really help you make detailed decisions based on whether it supports the theme or not. I have seen rooms that have a lot of great stuff in them but don’t really come together well because there’s nothing to connect the different things in the room.
    • Consider the look you have, and think about what you like and don’t like about it. How does the room make you feel when you’re in it? How do you want it to make you feel? Write out random ideas, make doodles, and keep your notes as you go through the process. I knew I was looking for warmth and shelter, but balanced with some stimulation. I was hoping the final room would give me a mood of energized peace, like taking a walk in a natural area early in the morning.
    • Look at images you find inspiring – but here’s the trick – the images can have nothing to do with interiors. I looked at nature images, but other ideas include fashion, art, portraits of inspiring people, or anything you love. Collect about 20 or so.
    • Review the images and identify anything they have in common – this can abstract or concrete. It can be a colour, a shape, a pattern – anything. A friend can help. In looking through my collection of images, I was surprised to learn that almost every image involved long grass in one way or another. When I considered that there were also a lot of autumn and sunset colours in the collection, I decided on a theme I called “autumn grasses”.
      • When you’re evaluating your images, you may want to look back at your collection of essential elements in your décor scheme that aren’t changing. If you’re seeing a couple of themes in your abstract inspiration, you may want to make a choice based on how they work with these things. For example, you may have an ebony hardwood floor that doesn’t necessarily harmonize with your pastel tea party images – maybe that’s a sign to let go of the tea party idea and remove these images from the collection. On the other hand you may be able to find creative ways to balance the sober, masculine floor with the girlishness of the pastels- there’s a lot of room for different approaches and takes on themes.
  4. Develop an inspiration board. This can be the classic display of inspiration image, fabrics, woods, and images of your objects that you’ll be working with; mine was partially electronic, and partially real, and much more informal. If you have trouble visualizing things, I would recommend doing up an actual board.
    • An important part of developing an inspiration board is editing, in my opinion. Sometimes there are painful decisions to make as things have to come out because they don’t work with the theme. I left my theme pretty loose – not everything is exactly about autumn grasses per se – sometimes the colour was the tie in, or a shape. The point is that not every object has to strictly and blatantly adhere to the theme – loosen things up so the theme doesn’t beat you over the head.
    • While you’re doing your board, consider how much contrast you are comfortable with in your décor scheme. Some people want low contrast: similar hues and tones that they find relaxing. Others want dramatic opposites. Learning about what level of contrast you like will help you in the next few steps, when it comes to picking the colour or colours that will bring your theme together.
  5. Make an initial colour direction choice, and acquire swatches. Don’t forget to go outside of your comfort zone a bit – get wilder colours and quieter ones, fully saturated colours as well as muter, greyish tones. You’ll need a variety for comparison – the more the better.
  6. Taping swatches to a wall allows you to evaulate their compatability with your decor elements

    Taping swatches to a wall allows you to evaulate their compatability with your decor elements.

    Evaluate the swatches in the location they are to be used

    • Evaluating under different lighting conditions is key. First look at how the colour behaves in the location at different times of day. At night, when the lighting is artificial, look again. Different sub-tones in the colour are accentuated by the different colour temperatures in the light. Use the lights that will exist in the room when it’s done, but if possible also buy different light bulbs that you could use instead and see if that changes things.
    • Evaluate the swatches with your essential objects in mind. I have a very yellow oak floor, and a pinky-tan couch, neither of which I can afford to change right now. I also have an African fabric hanging with lots or orange, cerise, and indigo that I love too much to store away. Balancing these elements with my theme was very tricky. In her book “Style”, Kelly Hoppen says, “There is a pinkiness in taupe that fights with the yellow in sand. You will never make them friends, so don’t waste your time trying.” She was definitely right about that, but I was forced to try and make my sandy floor and taupe-y couch try and play well together, and I was counting on the autumn theme and my paint colour to go well with both, thereby pulling everything together. I was hoping that if I could find colours with enough yellow AND red in both, then it might work.
    • Don’t forget to consider how the finish may change the look of the colour. I knew I wanted a very flat finish, which would match the swatch, but glossier finishes will appear slightly lighter than the swatch in real conditions.
  7. choosing between paint colours by painting test patches on a wall

    To make my final choice between three close contenders, I painted test patches on the wall so I could get a better idea of the colour's full effect.

    Finalize your colour choice by painting test swatches. Paint stores will sell you tiny test-pots that contain enough paint so that you can cover a section of wall or a piece of Bristol board. I painted on the walls, but if you are trying to choose one colour for an entire house, you may want to consider the Bristol board option, so that you can carry it from room to room.

  8. Re-evaluate until you are 100% confident about your choice. Listen to your doubts and consider second opinions. I thought I had a great colour, a soft grey that would make my accent wall and my furniture pop. My mother hated it, so I started over from scratch, getting out all my swatches again, open to the idea that I might still pick my favourite, or I might end up with something else. I’m glad I did: I ended up with a much warmer tone that helps unite the room. Over time, I realized that my initial pick emphasized some pinkish tones in the tan colour of my couch that I disliked (oh, how I wished I had the money to re-cover that couch!).

The best advice I can give in the end is to take your time. Read voraciously, because there are a lot of talented designers who have written extensively on how colour works in an interior décor scheme. If you need to, put your swatches away for a couple of weeks, and then bring them out again so you can see them with fresh eyes. I got some teasing about how long I was taking to make up my mind, but now that the colours are on the walls and I’m still happy with them, no one can say that the time was wasted. My final colour choices? Both are food names, of course: Behr’s “Renoir Bisque” for three walls of the room, and “Peanut Butter” (also from Behr) for the accent wall.

Next Post: How to convert plug-in lights to hanging lights.

By Jennifer Priest

Let There Be Light! Part 4: Wayward Ceiling Joists and the Art of Flat

Apr 292012
A laser level was used to establish a level plane for our new ceiling.

A laser level was used to establish a level plane for our new ceiling.

One of the problems we were trying to solve as part of this project was a ridiculously wavy ceiling. We had removed all of the ceiling drywall, installed the wiring for the lights, but now we had some levelling to do. Justin knew that the cause of the ripples was that the floor joists were not level with each other. Some were slightly higher, some lower, so that when the drywall was fastened to them the ripples were produced. There were other complications we had to work through before we could start putting up drywall.

“This room was built by drunken sailors! I hate working with pre-existing construction!” This was Justin’s reaction to learning that the room was neither level nor square. Seen from above, the room was not a perfect rectangle, it was more of a parallelogram. The floor was on a slight lilt compared to the horizon, as was the ceiling. We were formulating how to create a flat, level ceiling, and the oddness of the room was going to complicate things.

For newbies, “level” refers to the tilt of a floor, ceiling, etc. when compared to “absolute level” as determined by gravity’s pull on the Earth. A tool called a spirit level contains one or more glass cylinders containing a bottle of fluid, and a horizontal mark. When the air bubble in the cylinder matches the horizontal line, you have achieved a level position. “Square” refers to whether the inside corners of two planes are 90 degrees or not. A “square” floor or ceiling has 90 degree corners – but most rooms are off by some degree. Both are important if you want to build a ceiling that is flat, smooth, and not slanted.

Flattening the Ceiling

Cutting dado notches in 2 x 4s with a sliding compound mitre saw.

A sliding compound mitre saw was used to cut the 2 x 4s to length, and to cut dado notches for our wiring runs.

The solution that Justin came up with was going to work, but would be time consuming to do. To make everything flat, we were going to have to attach 2 x 4s to the joists, creating a whole new frame for the drywall. Every 2 x 4 was going to need to be cut to a unique length. In some cases, the 2 x 4s would need a dado notch cut into it to make room for cross braces between the joists, holes for our wiring runs, plumbing, or other features in the ceiling.

When seen from the side, the joists had an additional problem: some were higher than their neighbours, some were lower. How were we going to know how high or low to position each piece of 2 x 4? A guiding framework of strings would be used; we would just have to line up the bottom of each new board with the string.

Levelling the Ceiling – and a Painful Decision

Checking the string guides for our levelling frame.

Checking the string guides for our levelling frame.

I will confess that we learned we’d made a mistake when we had about half of the drywall up on the ceiling. We were taking a break, admiring our handiwork, when it dawned on us: our ceiling looked like it was going to be beautifully flat, but the whole thing was on a slight tilt, matching the tilt of the joists. When we measured, the whole thing had a 1 ¼” difference over an 8-foot distance.

We were absolutely crushed when we realized that mistake. Over the next week or two, we discussed whether or not it was worth it to take down the drywall and reposition each board in our framework. In the end we decided to delay project completion and redo the work so it was right. After all, we were doing the renovations work ourselves not just to save money, but to get the kind of workmanship that meets our standards. One thing I am proud of us for: we didn’t waste any time “blamestorming” and pointing fingers. Both of us are the kind of people who take responsibility for our own mistakes, which is the only way to become more skillful.

Creating a level frame for a ceiling from uneven ceiling joists.

How we created our level ceiling.

Once we got past the painful decision, we realized that it wouldn’t be so bad. The drywall came down in about an hour, and the 2 x 4 frame wouldn’t have to be re-cut from scratch, just repositioned. One thing was for sure: we wanted to make sure that the next time everything was going to be perfectly level!

To do this, we purchased a laser level with a 360-degree rotating assembly. This tool created a line that went all the way around the room, defining a flat level plane. Using a steel ruler, we checked all the joists to find the lowest one. That would become our benchmark, and we would make the rest of them line up with it. We repositioned the 2 x 4 boards along the joist on either end of the room to match this low point. We then attached string guides to these endmost 2 x 4s so that we would be able to tell where each 2 x 4 would need to be lowered to. Each board was raised over top of the string and then positioned so that the string just kissed the lower edge of the board – we could check it by gently lifting the string with a finger. 5” C-clamps were used to hold the board in place and 3” construction screws held each board to the joist.

Checking for gaps in the new level frame of the ceiling with a 4-foot straight edge.

Checking for gaps in the new level frame of the ceiling with a 4-foot straight edge.

We spent a number of weekends repositioning the boards, as each one had to be carefully aligned. In some cases, the 2 x 4s were slightly bowed on the lower edge (even though we bought the straightest ones we could find). For these ones, we would use a combination of clamps, hammers and elbow grease to force the end of the 2 x 4 into position.

As each 2 x 4 was positioned, we also used a 4-foot steel straight edge to check each new board against its neighbours, looking for gaps or high points. If we found anything, we would recheck our work and adjust the boards as needed.

The Ceiling Goes Back Up

Working with drywall is messy work – but thankfully not as messy as demolition.

Measuring for placement of holes for octagon boxes in our drywall.

Measuring for placement of the holes for the octagon boxes in our drywall.

We had already determined what our drywall “map” was going to be. Drywall is sold with tapered sides, so that the seams with tape and mud will sit nicely level with the rest of the drywall panel. The long ends (the “butt joints”) do not have this feature, so that when you go to cover the gaps, the tape and mud creates a raised bump in your ceiling. Minimizing this ridge involves many thin coats of plaster, travelling from your raised point outwards (“feathering”) until the ridge is made invisible. The art of planning a drywall project involves keeping the number of these butt joints to a minimum, as well as planning for the least amount of scrap left over afterwards. We could have reduced the number of butt joints by buying longer sheets of drywall, but anything longer than 8 feet would be too awkward for us to manage.

Because our room did not have 90-degree corners, several of our drywall panels needed to have trimmed edges. To ensure the best possible fit, we determined the angle, and then cut off an edge on that angle to match. On one drywall panel, we also had to cut fitted holes for the 3 octagon boxes for the hanging lights, and on another we had to cut a hole for our smoke detector box. To do this, Justin measured in from the edges of the panel the correct distance for each side of the box. From there, we cut the holes as closely as possible, as we didn’t want gaps showing after the fixtures were installed.

attaching drywall to ceiling joists

Panel lifters hold drywall in place for you while you attach them to the ceiling.

It is possible for experienced drywall installers to raise panels and screw them in without a panel lifter. Justin and I, however, rented a panel lifter. We were glad we did, as I am neither brawny nor experienced. It’s great to have the ability to raise the panel using a crank, and then simply wheel the panel into position. At any time you like, you can walk away and take a break, so I highly recommend using one.

Screwing the panels to our frame was simple enough. To ensure we were attaching the panel to the middle of our 2 x 4, we used our 4-foot straight edge to draw a line on the panel matching the frame boards. We then positioned the screws along these lines.

Once all the panels were done, we double-checked everything with our laser level again. We almost wept for joy: the drywall was all perfectly level and beautifully flat. We shared a bottle of red wine to celebrate! We still had a couple of months of plastering in front of us, but seeing those drywall panels in place was almost like having a real ceiling again.

Next post: the thousand and one nuances of choosing paint colours!

 

By Jennifer Priest

Let There Be Light! Part 3: Wiring and Additional Circuit Installation

Apr 092012

Designing a lighting scheme can be a delightful challenge, but every dream requires solid planning if it is to become a reality. Any light needs a power source, and that means connecting it to the electrical system of your house. How much power will each light draw? How many lights can you have without violating electrical code? How will the wires connect lights to switches, and the switches to the circuit panel? A wiring plan is a complex thing.

Before I get into the juicy details, I want to caution you that incorrectly wired circuits can be very dangerous. We were fortunate in that we had Justin’s expertise – he had experience with wiring projects and a very thorough understanding of how electricity and electrical systems work. If you don’t have this level of understanding already, spend the research time to make sure you know what you’re doing. We definitely consulted the electrical code for our area, and understood and adhered to the rules. Many renovators will want to hire a qualified electrician to carry out this aspect of their renovations.

As with other advanced home renovation projects, the number one rule is: if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do it.

Design Details and Wiring Plan

Living Room Lighting Renovation and Renovation Plan

The plan for the new layout, showing where the new lights will go (white circles).

The basic problem I was trying to solve was simply that there were no lights whatsoever in the room, and plugging in a bunch of floor or ceiling lamps would have cluttered the tiny room visually. But deciding what kind of lighting to add, and exactly where, would require some thought. After reviewing a lot of lighting schemes in pictures in magazines  and online, I decided to use a couple of rows of pot lights to illuminate the walls, plus a trio of hanging pendants in the corner to add some fill light. At one point I was advised that pot lights were generally arranged in a grid over the entire ceiling. I had seen installations like this, however,  and felt the look would be inappropriate for the room:  I felt there would be too much light in the small room and not enough play between light and shadow.

One of the things I knew I wanted for the lighting scheme was flexibility. Because the room would be used for many purposes, I wanted to be able to adjust the lighting to suit different moods. We would need enough light to read by, but I didn’t want to be stuck with a lot of glare when doing yoga or watching movies. With this in mind, I decided that each of the main sets of lights (north pot lights, hanging lights, and east pot lights) would need to be on a separate switch. Each switch would also need to be dimmable. The single pot light on the west side of the ceiling would be grouped with the lights on the opposite side of the room on the east.

Switch location was not a difficult decision. The ideal location would have been near the front door, however this would not be possible without major structural modifications. From a previous project with my father which involved opening the wall by the front door, I knew that there simply wasn’t enough room between the studs for four switch boxes side by side. There wasn’t even enough room for two, and I felt arranging them vertically would look silly. Luckily, it was not essential for the living room light switches to be there anyway, from a usability perspective.

The switch boxes would therefore be positioned at the bottom of the stairwell leading upstairs. There would be enough room for 4 switches side by side. Also, there was already a light switch in that location for the stairway lights, which could easily be replaced to match the 3 new ones.

The north and east rows of pot light would each have their own separate sequential or ‘daisy-chained’ set of lights. This would allow us to control each row of lights as a single unit, but also to save a bit of money on wire – it does add up, even in a small house, if you are doing runs all the way from the circuit panel in the basement, plus to several rows of lights. Even with our attempts to economize, we ended up using 3 100-foot coils of 14-guage wire!

The Wiring Runs

Installing an octagon box for pendant lights.

Installing an octagon box for pendant lights. Because we wanted to position them away from the existing studs, we had to build additional framing to support the weight of the lights. We built them well enough to support a person's weight, in case we ever wanted heavy lights.

Here’s one of the circumstances in which our initial project scope creep of removing the ceiling drywall paid off. If we had not done this, we would have had to cut holes in order to feed through cable anyway, and then repair the holes. Also, we would have had more complex runs trying to minimize this. Since we had removed the ceiling, we could feel free to situate wiring runs where they would work best. In a nutshell, most of our runs came up from the basement through a cold air return, connected to the switch in the stairwell, and then came into the living room ceiling through the most convenient path between the studs.

Circuit Panel

By the time we were finished adding circuits, our circuit panel would end up looking like something from a Geiger illustration – but would be neat, completely safe, and Ontario electrical code-compliant. We wanted a lot of lights, and since you can only have 12 lights per circuit in Ontario, this meant more circuits.

I can admit that working on the circuit panel was terrifying. Justin’s very realistic pantomime of getting an electrical shock when work started did not help! After my heart rate slowed to normal, and Justin was done laughing, he settled down to explain how the panel was structured, and what areas were safe to touch (if the panel was live) and what ones weren’t. Under his watchful eye, I even wired and plugged in one of the breakers myself.

Scope Creep #2: Advance Wiring for the Upstairs

Upstairs Wiring

Partway through the wiring for the living room, I realized that I would someday want to improve the wiring and add lighting on the second floor as well. I was contemplating closet lights that come on when the door opened, and definitely more lights in the bedroom, which currently has none. An additional light in the bathroom would definitely be helpful, as the shower is almost too dark to shave in.

Eyeing me askance, Justin said, “You understand that this will postpone completion of the living room”. When he was satisfied that I understood this, we started to talk details. I produced a layout of where I was considering additional lights, and Justin agreed to the plan. We ran the needed wiring up from the basement, through areas we had opened up in the living room, and to the required outlets and switches.

For the second time I was very glad we opened up walls and found a problem (read about the first encounter here). Not only was the entire second floor run from one ridiculously convoluted circuit, but we found out that whoever did the wiring before us made a terrible mistake: they twisted aluminum wire and copper wire together without adding the anti-oxidant paste. This paste must be added whenever you are working with aluminum in an electrical circuit – it prevents the formation of an outer layer of aluminum oxide, which resists current flow and causes the wires to heat up. The plastic coatings for the wires had thoroughly melted together, and there was even some exposed wire. If allowed to continue, eventually there could easily have been a fire.

When you decide to do some rewiring, you should be aware that you are responsible for bringing anything you open up to current electrical code. If you don’t touch it, it is ok that something is not up to current code, because someone in the past did it (this is referred to as a “grandfather clause”). We installed a couple of arc-fault interrupt breakers for the new circuits that went to the two bedrooms, which is now mandatory (an arc-fault interrupt breaker stops the current when sparks from faulty wires are detected – this could prevent fires happening while people are sleeping).

I know this statement is going to come back to haunt me, but sometimes, scope creep in a project can really save time down the road. This may sound like an excuse, but I do feel that we did the right thing in delaying the completion of the living room work in order to avoid having to open up our ceiling again later on.

The Rough-In Inspection

wiring run for retrifit potlights

Because we were using retrofit potlights, we didn't need to install them yet, just run the wires.

Why have your work inspected? The main reason is of course to ensure you’ve done everything right and you won’t burn your house down – a house with bad lighting is better than a fire! The other reason is so that you can include your work in your insurance policy. If there is ever a fire caused by something else, you want to make sure the insurance company can’t blame your handiwork. In Ontario, work is inspected by the Electrical Safety Authority, and they have a page containing the inspection forms.

A rough-in inspection is an examination of your circuit panel work, the way the wiring is run, plus a sample of how swiches and lights are connected. The final inspection occurs after the drywall is sealed, and all lights, switches, and whatever else you have installed is complete. The inspector uses a tool to confirm that live, neutral, and ground wires are correctly attached and create a proper circuit.

Rough-in electrical inspection details:

  • The form should be sent in 48 hours after construction begins – we waited, which was good because we added to the project during construction. On the form, you have to declare what the project includes.
  • We were able to book our inspection and get an appointment within 4 days.
  • The fee (paid in advance of the inspection) came to just shy of $200.00.
  • We made sure we had a copy of our circuit panel diagram and our wiring plan handy in case the inspector needed to do some checking.

The inspection itself did not take long, and the inspector appreciated the extra effort we had taken to arrange wires as neatly as possible, including the liberal use of cable straps to ensure that the eye could easily follow the path of each wire from source to destination. “Do you want to teach a course?” joked the inspector, looking at Justin. He continued, “I see a lot of frightening work, so it’s refreshing to see things done correctly.”

With a passing grade, we were ready to proceed to the next step in the project.

Next post: reframing the living room ceiling.

 

by Jennifer Priest

The Ottawa Home and Garden Show 2012

Mar 252012
Indoor Garden at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show 2012

The Dream Garden provides a space to rest and relax.

From March 22nd to the 25th, the new CE Centre on Uplands drive hosted the Ottawa Home and Garden show. With lots of room inside, the CE centre allows for a much more unified show than Landsdowne Park. Aside from venue, the main difference between this show and the Ottawa Home and Design show is that the latter has more interior design, and this one has a lot of temporary indoor gardens and smells way better!

Mondeau Booth at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show 2012.

Shower panels at the Mondeau booth.

There are couple of good reasons to go to shows like this: if you’re looking for ideas, want to get a sense of what services are available locally, or you’re looking for a deal from a known provider. For those who’ve never been, a home show is an enormous concentrated indoor market. In spite of the fact that they’re not really aimed at DIYers, I like to go to them occasionally because I’ve run into products I haven’t considered before. Sometimes, looking through magazines and the internet just isn’t enough.

Caml-Tomlin booth at Ottawa Home and Garden Show 2012

Congratulations to Caml-Tomlin for finding a chandelier I don't hate!

For visual spectacle, I always pay a visit to the Caml-Tomlin and Mondeau booths – both always put on a great display of bathroom (and in Mondeau’s case) kitchen fixtures. One of the Caml-Tomlin salespeople noticed me looking at the chandelier, and we got into a conversation. The topic turned to the trend for sliding doors on visible rails and wheels – whether for the shower or elsewhere in the house. In the last few decades, mechanisms and controls have been hidden more and more – but there are now some exciting exceptions. Because these approaches are kept elegant, people are happy to see the “workings” in this case, instead of wanting to hide them away. Mechanisms like these have the appearance of an automotive engine, and  lead us to expect a well-engineered slide to the door. Indeed, as we watched, three people in quick succession stopped to open and close the shower doors. I remarked on how much fun people were having just testing the smoothness of the doors. “It’s true,” the salesman remarked, “we know how they work, but we just have to try them!”

At this show there were a couple of clever products I learned about, the first being Krumpers Solar blinds. The solar blinds are a simple yet brilliant way to control indoor temperature without using HVAC systems. Vertical rolling blinds made of a metal mesh, they are reflective on one side and black on the other, designed to be reversed when the seasons change. In summer, the metallic side reduces indoor heat by inhibiting passive solar gain (the “car in the sun” effect). In winter, the black side absorbs heat from the sun’s rays, helping to raise indoor temperature. An interesting aside: in discussing their application as a privacy screen for the interior, the European salesperson remarked that Europeans in general didn’t mind the “goldfish bowl” feeling that comes when the interior of the house can easily be seen by neighbours or passers-by. In Europe, people leave the shades open most of the time, as this creates a feeling of safety and community. Shyer Canadians will definitely want an additional window covering, especially for night-time privacy.

Bed folds away to reveal a desk

This bed folds away and pulls the desk into position at the same time.

The second great idea was the hide-away bed from Capital Closets. In essence a shelving unit with an integrated Murphy bed hinged on its side, the real eye-opener of this application was that the bed didn’t just fold up out of the way, but that there was a fully laid-out desk that appeared as well. The other thing that impressed me was the ease and smoothness of the hinged transition. While the booth operators lifted the bed up and down over and over again, the items on the desk never budged – including the water level in the vase. This would be a great idea for guest sleeping or a space-deprived child’s room. It actually looked like a six or seven year old could fold the bed away easily.

One display I spent some time in was the Dream Garden put together by Davis Landscape and Permacon, which I found by following the intoxicating scent of cedar mulch. The garden was full of live plants and a working fountain, and we spent some time there relaxing and getting away from the crowds.

The winner for charming moments happened at a giant display of mattresses bigger than the square footage of my house. The awesome part was that every mattress had people sitting or lying down on them, and some folks looked relaxed enough to take a nap.

The best booth swag ever was handed out by Ottawa Cedar Lumber: a small cedar plank ready for salmon grilling. I couldn’t help lifting the plank to my nose and inhaling the fantastic aroma as I wandered the rest of the booths! For those who don’t know, keeping cedar in your drawers or closets discourages insects and gives a nice fresh smell.

Gardening Expert Mark Cullen at the Ottawa Home and Garden Show 2012

Gardening expert Mark Cullen.

For me the highlight of the event was gardening expert Mark Cullen, who was very impressive as a speaker. Personable and warm, he was also funny and of course extremely knowledgeable, with tons of excellent advice in response to audience questions. His presentation was excellent – covering gardening trends for 2012 (food gardening and green walls), garden inspiration (from Monet’s garden at Giverny to shots of ordinary Canadian homes with extraordinary front gardens). The great thing about Mark’s approach to gardening is that he stresses both environmental responsibility and great results, and he’s a fan of both ornamentals and edible gardens. A staunch defender of the lawn, he says that you can have a great lawn that is eco-friendly by keeping the grass about 3” long, and trimming frequently with a push mower. He also says you should leave the trimmings where they fall, as they return nitrogen to the soil. Mark’s number one tip for great gardens? Amend your soil every year with an inch of 70% composted manure mixed with 30% sand.

I really wanted to stay for Brian Baeumler’s presentation, but the stampede of visitors made me afraid for my life. Judging from the laughter and applause, he was very good.

My recommendations for the organizers remain the same as for the Ottawa Home and Design Show: more food, some wine, and music – in general, more event. For this particular show I would add a request to invite some architects and designers, and turn the marketplace into more of a marketplace of ideas. I think what I want is more elements of a conference, perhaps, with lectures and presentations (which I would gladly pay more for). I would love for an event like this to become a way of bringing together the interior and landscape design community in Ottawa.

My recommendations for show attendees: go early, and schedule your time around the speakers you want to see. Don’t waste your time with the food.

 

by Jennifer Priest

Let There Be Light! Part 2: How to Repair a Split Floor Joist

Mar 112012
Close up of a split joist

Close up of the split joist, with the arrow indicating the start of the split. The crack is through approximately 1/3 of the beam.

Many homeowners are terrified of opening walls and ceilings, and I can definitely sympathize. The old cliché “you always find problems when you open things up” turned out to be very true in our case. In the end, however, I am glad we took the drywall off the ceiling, because the problem we found could have worsened over the years.

“Well, at least we know what was causing that bump in the ceiling,” Justin noted after the dust has settled from our demolition project. When viewed from the side, a giant foot-long crack that cut through about 1/3 of the joist was clearly visible. This caused part of the joist to sag, pushing down the split edge of the crack. This in turn had pushed the drywall down, causing one of the major ripples in the surface of the drywall. On inspection of the rest of the ceiling, we were relieved that no other problems could be detected – no leaks in any of the water pipes running through the ceiling or wiring problems.

Diagram of how to lift a sagging joist with a split in it.I was very worried about the problem and fretted about how we would have to figure out a way to fix it. “Definitely,” agreed Justin, “but that will not be hard. It probably won’t cause structural failure of the floor upstairs, but we should fix it on principle. Besides, it will be harder to level the ceiling if we leave it.” I think I should explain at this point that my partner Justin is an engineering physicist who grew up helping his Mom and her best friend do major renovation projects. A born problem solver who epitomizes grace under pressure, there’s no way I could have done this project without him.

Justin’s solution turned out to be reasonably simple: he built a t-shaped apparatus out of 2x4s, and used a hydraulic car jack to push the sagging joist up to the right level. New sister joists were bolted on either side of the faulty one to secure it in the correct position. We ended up raising the joist almost an inch to get it level with its companions on either side, and the edge of the cracked wood still hung down below the level of the joists (we trimmed this off once we were finished).

Sister joists attached to the split joist with carriage bolts.

Sister joists attached to the split joist with carriage bolts.

Here are some important tips if you’re considering trying something like this:

  • When nailing your 2x4s together for the top part of the “t”, make sure that the beams are sitting vertically on top of the post. If they are lying on their flat edge, they can’t counteract the force created during the lifting as well, and may bend.
  • Ensure that the post of your t-bar sits directly under the sagging joist, so that it gets the pressure from the lift.
  • You need a hydraulic jack to do the lifting. A “jack all” type of jack that ratchets up notch by notch has to lift higher than necessary before it can settle into place. This kind of extra lifting pressure can weaken a floor, especially if the wood is old.
  • It is ESSENTIAL to make sure that the jack can’t roll away on you while you’re lifting. If the t-bar slips on you and comes crashing down, it could cause serious injury.
  • Don’t nail the sister joist supports to the faulty joist: drill holes and use carriage bolts. Nails can very easily cause wood to split, especially old wood. We also used a generous dose of construction adhesive to help secure the beams (which meant we had to work quickly).
Split joist repair with sister joists

A close up of the split joist with supporting sister joists. Even though the joist is now level, you can see where the split caused a piece of the wood to permanently project - we trimmed this off.

As the outside walls of our house are made of cinderblock, we could not place the sister joists on top of the supporting walls. Our sister joists were just bolted on each side the sagging joist, keeping it straight. Justin decided that every 18” would be good for the bolts, and drilled holes in the sagging joist in-situ, and in the sister joists on the ground. We then lifted each sister joist over the top of the t-bar assembly and into position.

The hardest part of the operation turned out to be getting the bolts through the joists. Even though precise measurements were taken and used when drilling, the bolts needed a bit of hammering to get them through, because the main joist was a bit warped and it was hard to control the drilling angle in a tight space. In the end, we got them through and our joist has stayed put ever since!

Next post: our wiring adventures!

 

By Jennifer Priest

Let There Be Light! A Living Room Renovation Project with a New Ceiling, Pot Lights, and Hanging Lights – Part 1

Feb 262012
Living Room Renovation "Before": South View

Before: South View. We've already removed the sliding doors on the closet.

If you have a “dead” space in your house that’s more often used for dumping things than for activities, that’s a sure sign that you need to do some design work to make the space more useful. My partner Justin and I have been working on our living room ceiling for over a year, and now that we can see the finish line, it’s time to start telling the story of our biggest renovation adventure.

The problem was that the entire living room was just a place for watching occasional DVDs – nothing else happened there in spite of the variety of activities Justin and I enjoy. We spend all of our indoor time at the kitchen table talking, reading books , surfing the internet, or working, with laptops strewn everywhere. It was a shame that a space twice the size a few steps away was unused, in spite of some very comfortable furniture. As the biggest room in 903 square feet of living space, not using this space was just silly.

While considering the problem, I realized the issue was the lack of light. Our condo townhouse has natural light coming from only one direction, because the unit is surrounded on three sides by neighbours. While this is a great insulation strategy that saves a bundle on heating costs, it creates a cave-like effect that can limit enjoyment of the space, and frankly, can be disheartening. There was no electric lighting in the living room at all, even though there was an abundance of wall outlets.

The Solution

Living Room Renovation "Before": North View

Before: North View

With better illumination, reading books and curling up with a laptop would be feasible. I also wanted to be able to make use of the room as an exercise space to enjoy my yoga practise – large but easily movable furniture would guarantee that.
Supplementing with electric lights should help to balance things out. But what approach to take? In the small 10.5 X 16 foot room, I didn’t want to have the available floor space cluttered with lamp stands. As mentioned, the house overall is very small, so in general the strategy employed was based on Mies Van der Rohe’s famous “less is more” declaration. For a visually uncluttered, open area that’s easy to clean, the solution had to be ceiling lights, and lots of them.

When I originally planned the layout, I hadn’t heard of Lucy Martin’s The Home Lighting Effects Bible. I wish I had, but I still think the lighting scheme I’ve planned will work once it’s done. I wanted to keep the lighting to the outer edges of the room, for the most part reflected from walls. The adjustable pot lights would be pivoting, so I could adjust each one as required, and possibly use a couple to provide enough light for reading or computer work. A trio of hanging lights in the corner would provide light to balance the television, when it was turned on. All the lights would be on dimmer switches, to save energy and to allow us to adjust for the exact amount of light needed. Once we tried it out, we would still be able to add one standing light if any task lighting would be needed.

Planning and Testing

Living Room Lighting Renovation and Renovation Plan

The plan for the new layout, showing where the new lights will go (white circles).

If I knew then what I know now, I would have spent a lot more time researching and planning. As it stands, I knew that as weekend renovators we would have as much time as we needed to stop and think through any details. I will say that I did do a lot of informal thinking and planning, and tested out a lot of critical things, even if I didn’t have a detailed project plan ahead of time. Before investing a lot of time and money, I wanted to make sure I knew what I wanted. Without any real design experience, and without having spent a lot of time in design research, I was a little intimidated. But I was determined to go ahead with the project.

I decided to prioritize what the main functions of this living room would be, in order of probable frequency:

  • Traffic pathway to the upper level: the access to the stairs could not be interfered with in any way
  • Internet surfing/ DVD viewing: Justin agreed that a new, flat-panel television (preferably wall-mounted) would save previous floor space compared to the cathode-ray behemoth currently dominating the room.
  • Conversation area: In spite of very comfortable furniture, when friends and family visit, everyone ends up in the kitchen, even if a meal isn’t a part of the plans. While this isn’t a bad thing, another option would be nice.
  • Reading area: currently happening in the bedroom or at the kitchen table.
  • Exercise space: again, happening in a tiny area of the bedroom. Bumping into walls really doesn’t help me achieve yoga postures!

After shifting furniture around in different configurations over time, an overall layout was confirmed. The television would still go on the wall furthest from the window. Beside it, the trio of hanging lights at different levels would provide visual interest in the corner. Pot lights would wash over the walls, illuminating art.

The hanging lights were purchased, and temporarily hung from the ceiling using eye bolts. Different distances between each light, and heights for each light were tried, until an overall configuration was finalized. The distance from the wall to each light’s base was recorded, and the lights taken down and stored in a safe area. Once the holes in the ceiling we cut, we were ready to plan the wiring runs. The original strategy my father and I had talked about was to run the wires down behind the walls, into the basement, and then to the circuit panel.

Scope Creep #1: The Ceiling Comes Down

Truthfully, the lighting project could have been done without taking down the whole ceiling. But when it comes to renovations, I seem to live by the old adage “in for a penny, in for a pound”. While I’m being honest, I should admit I have a hate-on for stippled ceilings. Nothing says cheap and shoddy like a “popcorn” stippled ceiling, because it’s not a texture that people use because it looks good – it’s only used to avoid the work of finishing drywall properly.

Even worse, this particular ceiling had rippling waves, exactly like a photo of the surface of the ocean. Uninspired contractors (or possibly someone on their first day) applied the pebble texturing in careless waves, leaving bare flat patches as well as other areas with a mountainous quality to them. The overall effect was rather moon-like, but not in a way that inspires you to make into a feature, the way you’d create LED stars in a ceiling, for example.

When Justin declared that removing and replacing the ceiling would be doable, and would save us the agony of trying to match the texturing of any pieces of drywall we had to replace, I could have wept for joy. It would also allow up to change our wiring plan to run the wires through the ceiling.

Demolition: Dust, Paint Chips, and More Dust

Taking down the ceiling was one of the hardest and dirtiest days of work I’ve done in a long time. On my birthday, we got up early, put our work clothes on, and after a quick bite got to work. We soon figured out that with only one pair of safety glasses and one prybar, we couldn’t both be punching through the drywall at the same time. It was decided that Justin would have at the ceiling with the drywall saw and the prybar, while I took the handoff of the pieces and moved each one outside.

I should mention that we made good use of plastic dropcloths: we covered the entire floor with several thicknesses of it. We also hung sheets at every point where dust could escape – the room felt like a HazMat containment area. Outside in the garden where I was stacking the pieces of ceiling, we also had another thick piece of plastic. All the pieces of painted drywall would scatter tiny chips of paint everywhere, and having some sort of floor protection is critical. It turned out to be a good thing I was on cleanup duty for the day, because I was able to work on clearing up the mess as Justin worked.

Here’s a confession from someone who’s environmentally conscious enough to have a system of “eco-points” to keep track of my impact and to try and balance things out. At the end of the day, instead of washing and reusing the plastic, we just rolled it up and trashed it. That’s how tired I was.

The whole task took almost seven hours, and we were good for nothing else by the end of it. Luckily I had planned ahead the day before and prepared a nice lasagne – all we had to do was pop it in the oven while we washed.

Drywall Disposal

This is another part of the project that I will fully admit is not environmentally friendly. I have since learned that the gypsum in drywall is recyclable in some areas; at that time I didn’t even know to look. The whole ceiling ended up in the landfill.

Unless you’re prepared to portion out tiny bundles for each week’s garbage, a ceiling’s worth of drywall has to be driven to the landfill site. In Ottawa, it’s out on Trail Road. You don’t need to book an appointment, but you need to get it there somehow. You can either rent a truck or enlist help. Justin calculated that with almost 400 pounds of drywall, our light-duty economy cars were not up to the task. Luckily my father has a well-designed Volvo wagon with enough oomph and space, so we bribed him with home-made curry to cart the load for us. After an hour’s worth of loading, I jumped in the passenger seat and went along to help.

The way the landfill cost works is by weight: you drive your car onto the scale before you remove the load, and again after you’re done tossing everything out. The difference determines the cost: I paid about $25.00.

With the demolition work done and the dust settled, we were ready to look at the structure of the studs and the joists and start the wiring. We found, however, a major structural flaw that would put our plans on hold until we solved it.

Next Post: what we found inside the ceiling!

 

by Jennifer Priest

Tidy Your Kitchen Counter with Better Cleaning Tool Storage

Feb 112012
Before kitchen storage installation

Before installation, with gloves and scrubbies everywhere...

Like many people I have a kitchen that is much smaller than I would like, and there is very little available counter space. I have always tried to increase the feeling of space by not storing too many things on the counter, with some success. But one major contributor to countertop mess that I have not been able to vanquish was the need to store dishwashing tools and sponges on the counters.

These are tools that need to be kept in an accessible position: rubber gloves (if you use them), regular scrubbers and pot scrubbers. The sad part is that unless they’re brand new they’re unsightly, and when you’re not using them they take up space, or even get in the way of cooking and cleanup activities. My partner, Justin, who prefers to wash with his manly bare hands, found that my rubber gloves were frequently in the way. After having shopped around for visually appealing scrubbers and holders for over 10 years, I must concede that I’ve been unable to find anything that I feel looks good when left in sight.

The solution? Keep everything hidden from sight but still close at hand. Lee Valley Tools offers a kit to convert decorative panelling in front of sinks into small tip-out trays. The kit (made by Kentucky company Rev-a-Shelf) comes with a set of hinges, two plastic trays, mounting brackets, and screws. Additional handles are not included, and of course we replaced the Phillips screws in the kit with Robertsons. (For some reason our neighbours in the U.S. have not yet embraced the wisdom of Robertson screws. Not only are Robertson screws less likely to have their heads turn to mush, but they are less likely to slip out when you are using them in a tight area.) If you have a dividing bar between the panels in front of the sink, you will need to purchase an extra set of hinges, as we did.

Installation

Hinges and Tray Assembly

Installing kitchen drawer hinges.This took an afternoon, and required a bit of patience. Installation involves removing the front panelling, installing the hinges and plastic trays, and then installing the handles to the front of the panel. The instructions in the kit are reasonably thorough, the diagrams clear and understandable. There are two options for hinge installation spelled out.

The operation of installing the hinges can be awkward due to the tight space between the panel and sink. Stubby screwdrivers are an asset for this job. If you have a garbage bin secured to the inside of one of the doors, it will make the installation process difficult. The hinges are single piece assemblies which attach to both the front panel and cabinet wall. Unlike two-piece hinges, this means that one of the fastening steps must be done from behind the installed panel.

Mounting the tray to the inside of the panels was simple enough. Two screws secure each tray through slotted holes. This provides for a nice feature: the trays themselves are removable, which makes them easier to clean.

Positioning Handles with Two Posts on a Drawer Panel

This is a dark art that bears expounding upon, because if you get it wrong there are no do-overs:

  1. BMeasuring for kitchen drawer handle positioningefore deciding where to position the handles, the first step is to look at the surrounding drawers and cupboards themselves. Are they level with each other? Ours were not (just for the record, they came with the house!), so we decided to position the handles slightly higher or lower on each drawer, so that the handles were all level each other, creating a nice flat line. We rested a long level on top of the neighbouring handles, and then figured out our height adjustment factor for each post.
  2. On the handle itself, measure the distance between the centre of each post. Record this number.
  3. Measure the width of the panel. Subtract the distance between the posts, and divide by two. This is how far to measure in from either edge of the panel to get the horizontal coordinate for your drilling point.
  4. Measure the height of your panel. Divide by two, and that is the vertical drill position (if you need to, factor in your height adjustment from step 1).
  5. Rubber glove storage tray
    One of the tip-out trays installed, and shown in action.

    When drilling, drill with a tiny bit first. It will be easier to keep the drill bit level (so your handles don’t end up at an angle) and you run less risk of creating visible cracks or lifts in the panel surface (especially if it is laminate, like ours). Most importantly, a smaller bit has much less tendency to skitter or skate on the work surface, and the small hole can serve as a guide to keep your large bit on course. Starting your hole with a punch is also a good idea to ensure that your bit does not drift. Once you have a nice straight hole, repeat the process with the bit size that is correct for the handle attachment screws.

Hints and Notes

  • Before going ahead with this project, ensure there is enough room between the sink and the cabinet panel for the tray – you should have at least 2 ½ inches of clearance.
  • The kit cost is about $25.00, and the extra set of hinges (also from Lee Valley) about $11.00 (plus tax).
  • I was initially worried that handles mounted right under the sink would make it harder to get into the sink (I am on the short side). This proved to be unfounded – there was no difference in sink accessibility in the end.

Overall, I would say this project was a complete success: precious counter space has been reclaimed, and the whole effect is visually more pleasing. It has not bothered me at all to have an extra step (retrieving the gloves and scrubbers) added to the dishwashing workflow.

After Kitchen storage installed

...and after installation of tip-out trays, with cleaning tools stored out of sight. Much better, no?

 

by Jennifer Priest

 

The Personal Growth Benefits of DIY Renovations

Jan 272012

Personal growth through home renovationsDIY renovations are a financial necessity for many of us, especially in this tough economic climate. Doing your own repairs and home improvements not only saves money but also adds to the value of a home. I have come to realize, however, that there are many ways in which DIY can make you a better person. Here’s how:

Increased Strength and Stamina

While it would be ridiculous to claim that renovations work is kind to the body, it does bestow some benefits. Hours spent sanding plaster, driving screws or pulling nails will make you physically stronger and give you the kind of stamina that an hour-long treadmill session can never provide. Renovation work burns calories too! The trick is to avoid rewarding yourself with fatty treats after a work session.

In an age where so many spend their free time on the couch, there’s a lot to be said for getting up and just plain moving about, even if you’re not running a marathon. The most important thing is to not push yourself to the point of injury: take your time, use correct body positioning, and if you’re too tired to maintain good form, quit for the day.

Increased Research Skills and Knowledge

I’ve always believed that education – of any kind – is never wasted. Expanding your horizons in a new direction will help provide new perspectives on things you thought you already knew. Every piece of learning helps you to learn other new things more easily.

I tend to bite off more than I can chew, but at least I’m sensible enough to know when I’m out of my depth. That’s the time to sit down and do some research – go online, read books, and talk to others with more experience than I have. Going through this so many times has made me better at learning new things.

Increased Planning Skills

All renovation work involves project management, which is a skill that everyone needs. Having to sit down, visualize the end result, and then break that down into parts will allow you to create a logical task order. Exercising this kind of thinking will help you no matter what your line of work is.

Increased Patience, Perseverance, and Emotional Control

One of the greatest benefits I’ve found in learning to do renovation work is an increased capacity for patience with myself. We aren’t born with construction or design skills; they must be learned, practiced and perfected. This takes time, persistent effort, and patience.

Like many DIYers, I have run into situations where I’ve had to face the fact that I’ve messed up. That sinking “oh no” feeling you get when you realize that you have to undo all of your hard work and fix it is very difficult to face. Familiarity with the occasional slip up is humbling in a very healthy way. You learn to cool your frustration and develop the ability to admit your mistakes. After all, the more quickly you do that the sooner you can get on with making it the way it should be.

Frustration can also make you want to throw up your hands and give up, perhaps spending a lot of money to hire someone who can do it properly. Going through the process of figuring out where you went wrong, pulling everything apart, and redoing it forces you to let go and forgive yourself. Sticking with the project through the tough times builds a depth of character that may be unfashionable, but I think is essential.

These mistakes also help keep your ego in check when things go flawlessly. When the work goes off without a hitch, it prevents you from bragging to anyone who will listen. While honest pride in a job well done is a boon to your confidence, I’ve seen some people who turn into utter snobs, dismissing anyone who isn’t at their level of expertise. As one of my math teachers once said to a group of his A-students, “let it go to your heart, not to your head”.

Appreciation for the Skills of Others and for Quality Craftsmanship

As you go through the baby steps of learning new skills, you develop an understanding of just how good experienced renovators and professionals are at what they do. When you spend an hour trying to plaster a drywall seam, you gain a new appreciation for those out there who can do it better than you do in a fraction of the time. My recent experiences in plastering were punctuated with a humbling look at a couple of videos by one of my Obi Wan Kenobis of plastering, mudslingpro, in which he makes it look so easy. The only way to gain this level of skill is practise.

Because I now know first-hand the struggle of trying to work bubbles and ridges out of the mud, I can honestly say I will never look at a wall or ceiling the same way again!

Spiritual Growth

A long renovation project can be like a mythic journey through the underworld. When a renovation is long and taxing, and you feel you can’t even look at your work area any more, that’s when you really learn what you’re made of. You face your limits and somehow push them back just a little bit every time, gradually becoming more than you were.

Even a single work day can be an emotional death and rebirth. After a long work session, when you’re exhausted and covered in dirt, you are like an incarnation of utter wretchedness. Everything is sore, you’re thirsty and miserable, but somehow you keep going. Somehow, you even enjoy it, and even laugh at what a pathetic creature you are.

And then, redemption: you can shower at last! No simple hygiene exercise; it is as though the heavens open to let the water fall. You emerge clean, reborn, and looking at the world through new eyes.

You can’t pay for an experience like that; it must be earned. But once you have it, no one can ever take it away from you.

 

by Jennifer Priest

 

 

An Introduction to Soil pH – How It Helps Your Garden Grow

Dec 182011

Soil pH and Soil EcologyThere are many worlds within the earth below your garden: it is the stage of many complex chemical processes and interactions between processes. Soil is a mixture of tiny mineral particles of many kinds, organic matter in various states of decomposition, and water. Living things like fungi, bacteria, earthworms and insects live their lives there, contributing to soil aeration, its organic matter content, and sometimes playing a vital role in chemical cycles like the carbon, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorous cycles. Rain falls, replacing the water in the soil, and sometimes carrying nutrients deeper underground. Most people go about their lives never giving a second thought to the wonderful intricacies of the world beneath their feet.

Gardeners are lucky: through our increased interactions with the soil, and our attempts to get a healthy, beautiful display of plant life, we encounter this gateway to deeper levels of inquiry and understanding. As the passion for gardening develops and more challenging goals arise, the desire to geek out on the juicy details comes with it!

Everyone knows that plants need sunlight and water, and most gardeners know that getting healthy plant growth requires the specific amounts of these that the plant has evolved to require. Experienced gardeners, however, know that truly fabulous garden displays require a fuller understanding of soil ecology. A great place to start is by learning about soil pH, and how to work with it for healthier plant growth. What follows is a high-level explanation of how soil pH works, to serve as a springboard for further research, as this particular rabbit hole goes very deep indeed.

Soil pH is important primarily because it affects how efficiently a plant can absorb the nutrients it needs from the soil around it. The soil could be full of mineral goodness, but if the soil is too acidic or alkaline for the plant, the plant won’t be able to absorb enough of what it needs through its roots. In extreme cases, nutritional deficiency and death of the plant can follow.

Plant Nutrition Basics

People understand that they need vitamins and nutrients to stay healthy. Plants work in a similar way –they need specific nutrients to use as building blocks and to help them with their chemical processes. Unlike with people however, the ability to acquire nutrients can change with the soil surrounding the plant – that’s where the pH comes in.

Plants need 17 principal macronutrients and micronutrients, but hundreds can be found within plant tissue (see the Resources section below for sources of more information on this). These are the nutrients that plants need from the soil the most:

  • Nitrogen (N) is a component in amino acids (the building blocks of proteins), DNA (which allows cells to grow), and chlorophyll, which is the pigment that plants use to make their food from sunlight in the process of photosynthesis. Curiously, even though the atmosphere is full of nitrogen, it is in a form (N2) that plants cannot use. In order for plants to be able to absorb Nitrogen, it has to be converted into other forms like ammonium (NH4+) or nitrate (NO3-) by bacteria. You can learn more about the Nitrogen cycle on Wikipedia. Sources of nitrogen include animal manure and urea.
  • Phosphorous (P): is needed as a major part of cell membranes and also in ATP (adenosine triphosphate, a necessary component of metabolism), and is essential for cell division and growth. Phosphorous can be difficult for plants to acquire: phosphorous tends to become immobilized by other soil minerals. Phosphorus may also bond with clay and organic matter. Common sources include rock phosphate, bone meal, or guano.
  • Potassium (K):  plays many roles in plant cell biology: in synthesis of proteins, activation of enzymes, and in the opening and closing of the stomata (pores used for gas exchange by leaves).  The most common source of potassium in agriculture is potash.
  • Calcium (CA): Calcium plays a role in maintaining firm cell walls and cell membranes, and in enabling nitrogen uptake. Calcium itself is alkaline. Lime (calcium carbonate) is a common source of calcium.
  • Magnesium (Mg): is the central molecule in chlorophyll, and is also needed for synthesis of amino acids, proteins, and sugars. Sources include dolomitic limestone and magnesium sulfate.
  • Sulfur (S): is an essential part of many amino acids (and therefore proteins), and is essential for chlorophyll synthesis and production of enzymes, amongst other things. Potential sources of sulfur include manure, Epsom salts, and gypsum (including recycled drywall, which is used on some crops, like corn).

What is pH?

Hydronium IonPH is a measure of the acidity of a substance. The specific items being measured are hydronium ions (hydrogen atoms with a positive charge, bound to a water molecule) – specifically, the proportion of positively charged hydronium ions to negatively charged hydroxide ions. As you increase the concentration of hydronium ions, the substance becomes more acidic. “PH“ stands for the power of hydrogen. The opposite of acidity is alkalinity – as a substance gains hydroxide ions, it becomes more alkaline.

Hydroxide IonThe pH scale ranges from 0 to 14 with low numbers (0 to 6.5) being acidic, high numbers (7.4 to 14) alkaline, and the neutral zone ranging from 6.6 to 7.3. The pH scale is logarithmic – this means that something with a pH of 6 is ten times more acidic than something with a pH of 7. Why are the low numbers acidic when we’re measuring how many hydronium ions there are? It’s a result of the equation used in calculating pH.

Distilled water is an example of a neutral substance, vinegar is acidic, and bleach is alkaline. At the positive and negative extremes of the scale, you find substances that can be corrosive or otherwise dangerous.

Most plants tend to be happier in the middle of the scale, around neutral. But many plants prefer soils that are either slightly alkaline or slightly acidic. The good news is that it isn’t hard to learn the pH of your soil and amend it so that your plants can get what they need.

How Plants Absorb Nutrients from the Soil

Cation and Anion Exchange in Cells of Root Hairs

Cation and Anion Exchange in Cells of Root Hairs

Plants absorb nutrients from the soil through their roots using processes called cation and anion exchange. A cation is a positively charged ion (as opposed to an anion, which is negatively charged).

An element becomes a cation or anion when it is in solution (dissolved) in water. The water takes the form of tiny micro droplets that either adhere to the surface of soil particles (which attracts cations) or are between soil particles (which attracts anions).

Cation Exchange

All very small particles carry either a positive or negative charge. Soil particles have a negative charge, which is what attracts and holds the cations in the solution, until they are “grabbed” by the plant root. The fine hairs of the roots are negatively charged, and attract the cations (opposites charges attract and like charges repel each other). The plant releases a Hydrogen ion (H+) to maintain the overall balance. In cation exchange, plant roots are trying to take in cations like potassium (K+), magnesium (Mg++), calcium (Ca++), and ammonium (NH4+) in exchange for the Hydrogen (H+).

Anion Exchange

In anion exchange, the plant absorbs molecules like phosphate (HPO4-) and ammonium (NO3-) and return things like bicarbonates (HCO3-) and hydroxyls (OH-). Other key anions include phosphates (PO4), sulfates (SO4-) and chlorides (Cl-).

Because anions are negatively charged, they tend not to get fixed to soil particles, and therefore are more easily washed out of the soil.

Respiration and Photosynthesis

There are other ways that plants absorb other elements. For example, plants obtain carbon (in the form of carbon dioxide) through the stomata in their leaves during respiration. The plan then builds the carbon into sugars and starches during photosynthesis.

How Soil pH Affects Nutrient Absorption

As time passes, if the complex interplay of soil processes does not remain in balance, excessive cation exchange will acidify soils, and anion exchange will make soil more alkaline. In cation exchange, it is the H+ ion accumulation that gradually acidifies soils. An example of this is in the absorption of ammonium and the return of bicarbonates. As pH changes, the chemical reactions that can take place also change. This will affect how available the different nutrients are to plants.

Soil pH and Nutrient Availability

Soil pH and Nutrient Availability (from Wikipedia)

In acidic soils, the abundance of H+ ions displace other cations adhering to soil particles, making the nutrients unavailable for absorption by plant roots. Acidic soils also slow or stop the actions of bacteria which change nitrogen into usable forms, and can also make other elements less (and sometimes more in some cases) available to plants. The elements plants need are still in the soil (at least until they get washed away by the rain), but when pH changes they may not be usable by plants.

In acidic soils, for example, phosphous can become bonded to other elements like aluminum and iron. In alkaline soils, phosphorous can become inaccessibly bonded to calcium.

The chart above will give you a quick look at what elements become available in proportion the soil pH. It’s important to remember that not all nutrients are affected in the same way.

Learning the pH of Your Soil

Your local garden centre should have soil pH test kits, which generally take the form of small test tubes and a supply of chemicals, or a meter. The idea is that you take a soil sample, mix it with distilled water (because it is neutral, whereas tap water potentially is not), and bring it into contact with the chemicals or the meter. You may want to confirm the efficacy of your kit, however, as I’ve seen a couple of sources complaining that some kits do not give correct results. Meters are more reusable and generally recommended for anyone who will be doing a lot of gardening over time.

The important thing to remember is that the pH level can vary widely, even in small areas. The amount of water received and retained in the area, the kinds of plants living there, and how long the same species have been in the same spot will affect the pH. For example, most conifers will acidify the soil around them over time by dropping needles. To counteract this potential for variation, do several tests that will tell you what is happening all over the garden. Some people like to mix soil samples from all over their properties and do one test, but I don’t think that will give you a real picture of what is going on in different spots.

Amending Your Soil

The ideal strategy is to learn the pH of your soil, and then plan your garden so that you are using plants that like those conditions. This way, you won’t be constantly fighting the natural state of the soil. When this isn’t possible, you can mix in additives, ensuring that everything is well mixed in. When plants are already established, you will need to add treatments to the surface of the soil and wait for the rain and earthworms to distribute them.

If your soil sample tests just slightly out of range of what you’re trying to achieve, try using compost. Compost is generally known to be a great overall neutralizer of soils. You need to be careful with compost, however, and make sure it is made of a variety of sources. For example, coffee grounds and tea leaves can be acidic (depending on how long they have been rotting), so if your compost contains a lot of this, with nothing to balance it out, it can have an undesired effect. You may want to test your compost and see what level it’s at.

To further acidify the soil, you could try mixing in peat moss, or even aluminum sulphate.

To alkalize the soil, try wood ash (as long as the wood burnt wasn’t treated with chemicals or paint). It is also common practice to add agricultural lime.

Resources For Further Reading

  1. Check out this post on the Cheap Vegetable Gardener to learn more about macronutrients, micronutrients, and diagnosing plant nutrient deficiencies.
  2. This is a great introduction to soil ecology in general
  3. More on plant nutrition processes on Wikipedia

 

by Jennifer Priest

 

Clutter/Declutter: Transitioning to a More Minimalist Lifestyle

Dec 032011

ClutterArchitect Mies Van der Rohe famously said “less is more”. When your home is a small house or apartment, this phrase can become a lifeline – especially if your taste in décor is contemporary. It can be very difficult to change from a hard-boiled packrat to minimalista, but the rewards are many.

Over time I have developed a need for a certain amount of negative space in my interiors. As a girl I covered every conceivable inch of wall space in my room with images, every surface with loved objects and things I had made. Into my twenties the packrat tendencies solidified. Books, tools, records, clothes, artwork, curios, and design accessories abounded until my apartment became as full of treasure as Aladdin’s cave. I was never at the point where I was paying to store things, but I was headed there.

In my very late 20’s something happened: I started getting a feeling as though I couldn’t breathe. I determined that this sensation wasn’t physical, it was emotional – I was so surrounded by stuff that I felt crowded all the time. Any attempt at cleaning involved shifting around so much stuff that I felt like I was sucked into a game of furniture Tetris every time I wanted to push the vacuum. I was drowning in my own possessions.

That’s when the long road to less began for me. That’s the secret – as with any kind of recovery, you have to want to change, and be committed to going through the painful stages it demands.

Treachery of Images by MagritteMake no mistake – it was painful. Getting rid of artwork you’ve created and heirlooms are especially difficult. We keep objects because they remind us of loved ones or ideas, or just because they are beautiful or fun. The key is to remember that your grandfather’s favourite reading chair is not your grandfather, or your love for him. As René Magritte conveyed in his famous painting Treachery of Images, “this is not a pipe”. It is a picture of a pipe. The symbol is not what it represents.

Once you have made that connection, working on the problem becomes possible. What follows are strategies for reducing clutter in your home. Remember, this does not need to be one great traumatic upheaval; it can be a process that takes years. Persistence is what wins in the end.

Putting Your Treasure Trove on a Diet

How do you decide what stays and what goes? By its usefulness. I’m a fan of (if not a strict adherent to) to the “1 year rule”: if something hasn’t been used in a year, you’re unlikely to use it again at all. Hard core pack rats have difficulty with this one – their argument can be summed up as “it might come in handy someday”. While I acknowledge the special thrill of being able to fix something with a long-hoarded jewel, I am not convinced it justifies entire rooms full of odds and ends, the collapse of civilization notwithstanding. Where I personally draw the line is if the item is in good repair or not. I don’t tend to keep pieces of things, but entire things that work well. I also consider the amount of room an item occupies.

At a certain point, you will need to face the fact that you are not going snowboarding/making wine/racing ostriches any more. For me, three years is the limit: if I haven’t used something in three years it needs to go (but I make exceptions – the time limit for me is 1 year for clothes, and 5 for books). The point is not where exactly that cut off point is for you, but that there is a cut off point. The exact time you will allow unused things to take up space can become stricter over time, or be stricter or weaker for different types of things.

Once you’ve decided that an item is low-hanging fruit, there are great ways to give it a new home. It’s up to you whether you give, sell or donate, but I always try to give away items I can, and match them with people who will really enjoy them.

  1. For objects of sentimental value, give them to someone who will love them. Family members often enjoy receiving heirlooms.
  2. For decorative items, find someone who has a collection of similar items. An Egyptian lantern that sat in my basement for years has new life and purpose in my sister’s lantern collection on her deck.
  3. Make a bit of money by selling nicer objects. Online sales listings can be great if you don’t mind shipping preparations or strangers at your door. Antique dealers and consignment stores are also a great alternative. Garage sales are also an option if getting rid of things is more important than getting a better price.
  4. When all else fails, donate things to charity.

Collections can be easier to deal with: you don’t have to get rid of everything, you can just weed the garden, so to speak. Decide how the collection will be displayed or stored, and use that to determine how many items have to go in order for the collection to fit. Start by choosing the obvious favourites as keepers, and proceed until you know which ones have to go through the process of elimination. This can be easier than actively trying to pick ones you don’t like, if the problem is that you like them all. Music or photograph collections are easy to downsize if you are prepared to do the work of digitization.

For items I found particularly hard to part with, I took photographs of them. Having a smaller, easier way to store memories can help you let go. To my surprise, I’ve found that over the years I have never looked at them.

Controlling the Purchase of New Things

Impulse purchases are a huge source of clutter. Compulsively buying new things all the time may be good for the economy in the abstract sense, but it’s bad for your personal finances and for the environment. Almost everything ends up in a landfill one day, and pollution from manufacture and transportation is heartbreakingly destructive.

  1. Stop buying new things unless they have a very specific purpose or place in your home. Train yourself to appreciate things, and even want them, without having to buy them.
  2. Adopt my rule: for anything you buy, something else has got to go to make room. This makes buying a lot harder as time passes, because you have to think of what has to go.
  3. Before you buy, know where the object will be stored when not in use.
  4. Refuse to buy before you find the perfect fit. Don’t buy the cheap coffee table to make do until you find the perfect one. Save the money and put it towards one you really like. Use a stack of books or a box – anything – until you find what works.
  5. Have a plan before you buy decorative objects. Tastes can change over time, and planning the décor of your space can help you decide if an object is worth buying in the long term.
  6. For holiday giving, make sure loved ones know what you would enjoy receiving. When I started distributing my wish list years ago I got laughter from my family, but now I am asked for it if Halloween rolls by and I haven’t created it. The important point is to avoid giving stuff to people that they don’t want but will feel guilty about not keeping.

The Promised Land

Why go through all of this? The psychological rewards are subtle but profound: you will simply feel better when you have more space. Have you ever walked into a large building and just felt yourself emotionally expand? It’s like that. I would also combine it with the feeling you get when you’ve spend a day cleaning, and wake up the next morning to a beautiful place that looks new again.

What we see and how we react to it influences our moods and our overall sense of wellbeing. I don’t know why, but we get pleasure and happiness from beauty, and this can open up new possibilities in our lives. When we feel good, we’re more likely to do what’s right for ourselves. Since I began my mission to reduce my clutter, there are exactly two items that I have gotten rid of that I now regret (both are articles of clothing). I don’t feel upset about this, however, as the benefits outweigh the minor regret by an astronomical amount. It has been more than worth it.

Getting rid of items can also be part of your décor education – whittling down your possessions over time can make you feel like Michaelangelo carving away stone to find David. I will leave you with a final thought, a quote I came upon not too long ago and has been of immense help to me in moments of weakness:

“There is no design without discipline. There is no discipline without intelligence.”

-Massimo Vignelli

 

by Jennifer Priest

 

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