Growing Plants Can Be A Source of Satisfaction No Mattter Where You Live

I’m a big fan of house plants and I’ve been growing them for a few years now. No matter where we lived, it was important to me that we have some plants indoors, and when possible plants outside, as well. I find it very enjoyable and satisfying to have a lot of greenery in the home, caring for the plants, and watching them grow. I’m sure a good part of that has to do with feeling like I’m bringing the outdoors inside. Mostly I’ve had non-flowering plants in the house, such as spider plants, snake plants, pothos, and wandering jews, but we got a gift of hyacinths once that made the whole house smell wonderful and I’ve had african violets as well.

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One of the really interesting aspects of horticulture is the discovery of unusual root systems when transplanting. I was amazed to see the spider plant’s roots, some of which are actually like long balloons filled with water. Knowing this makes me feel better; if I haven't watered them in a while or the soil feels dry, at least I know they have their own water bottles with them.

The previous two homes we lived in both had yards and we tried our hands at gardening. The first time we bought a variety of tomato plants and I worked hard clearing the land, with a shovel, to make space for them. I think we had about 8 plants and enjoyed having fresh tomatoes to eat. There is nothing as good as home grown tomatoes; the ones from the supermarket don’t even come close.

The second house with a yard that we lived in had been planted many years earlier, by a previous occupant, with many perennials. We enjoyed watching a variety of plants and flowers bloom during the course of the spring and summer. All different kinds of flowers popped up at successive times, so even when some faded, there was a new crop of another type. We had tiger lilies, and miniature roses, tulips, a mimosa tree (which was not native to the area, really needing a warmer climate) bloomed for a short time, with its lovely pink fronds that fell off too quickly, and many others whose names I’ve forgotten or never knew. It was so wonderful sitting in the backyard and enjoying the flowers. I always felt grateful to the person who cared for the garden, once upon a time.

One season we decided to plant our own vegetables. We worked very hard clearing out a small plot of land near the back porch. We bought a variety of plants including peppers, tomatoes, squash, rosemary, thyme, and more. Unfortunately, despite all our hard work, we were not very successful. That year not only did we had an especially wet spring and summer which was not conducive to good plant growth, but discovered that we had a groundhog problem as well.

 We valiantly tried several methods of keeping him away from our plants. To our dismay, there was not much he wasn't fond of! After trying some natural animal repellants, we finally decided to get fencing. I don’t think it was the right type, but I don’t think there was much that we could have done to keep him out, anyway. He just dug deeper, or found the one weak spot in the fence. Eventually, we gave up.

In our new home, a couple of continents over from our last one, we have a wonderful terrace for plants outside our huge picture window in the living room. The weather here is quite warm, even in the winter, so all kinds of plants grow here year-round; I bought my tomato, pepper, cucumber, and eggplant from the nursery in October! My success has been mixed to this point. I was really enjoyed watching how our cucumbers, which grow on vines were putting out little tendrils which found the nearest post to wrap around and continue their climb. The pepper never did well and the tomatoes were not as plentiful as they should have been and a ferocious wind ultimately decimated my cucumbers. I still have one eggplant plant and chives growing as well as chrysanthemums, spider plants, and a succulent with pretty little flowers, which I’ve been propagating lately. For now, I’m going to concentrate on plants that grow easily with minimal care.

Moving isn’t always easy, but being able to have plants growing all around and has helped make the transition easier, quickly turning my apartment into my home.

You Don’t Have to Move or Renovate to Change Your Home’s Layout

One of the things that I hate about houses or apartments is when the layout is such that front door opens into the living room or dining room and you have no privacy when guests come by. Our first home as a married couple was like that. We were on the bottom floor of a two family house, with our own side entrance. Our small kitchen was not an eat-in-kitchen and had no dinette area. What we did have was a long room which served as a dining room and living room adjacent to the kitchen. Unfortunately, our door was located there too. When anyone came to the door, they immediately saw our dining table, and if it was during meal time, they saw us eating. This might not bother everybody, but I really didn’t like it. 

Our next apartment was also in a two family house but we were up one flight and we often greeted anyone coming to the door at the bottom of the steps. And the single family house we moved into after that had a front foyer and privacy wasn’t an issue at all.  It was so nice to be able to have people come to the door and not see into your whole house! That lasted for a while until our landlord sold the house and we had to move. We found  a house which was about 80 years old at the time and had a very comfortable feel. We actually liked the layout a lot, including the front and back porches, and closed off dining room with built-in barrister bookcases. Unfortunately, the front entrance afforded no privacy; when opening the door you could see the entire living room. That would not do anymore!

At first I thought I would buy decorative room dividers in order to separate the front door from the rest of the living space. That way, one could greet visitors without exposing everybody relaxing in the living room to the right. Once we moved in however, it became quite obvious that our bookcases would serve this purpose for us and they functioned quite well as an additional “wall” separating our front entrance from the living room. We placed our bookcases with the shelves facing the living room, so the backs were facing the door. They weren’t pretty but they served the intended purpose and, in fact, I received compliments about the creative and functional way I used the bookcases. 

Our current home is an apartment, again with a front door that opens into the living room area. The previous tenant had used this space for her dining room as well, but we chose the area off to the side, where they had set up their computer, for our dining area. I decided to again “build a wall” separating the front door from our living space with bookcases and cabinets. Since this apartment is much smaller than our previous homes, I used some additional ingenuity to make a space for myself and my computer.  We set up the space so that our “living room” is toward the front of the room; our three-seater couch is furthest back in the room and faces the front picture window,  our two-seater and over-sized chair are alongside and catty-corner to it , closer to the window. This left me with a space between the back of the couch and the bookshelves. I took a small desk we had placed next to the door and moved it so that it would be back to back with the couch and placed my laptop on it. I now have a foyer, computer spot, and living room – 3 separate areas where there used to be one!

I really enjoy coming up with creative ways of solving problems, especially those in the home. It is so important that your living space feels comfortable and is functional in the way that you need it to be. Whether you spend a lot of time at home or it’s just a place to eat and sleep, it’s important to enjoy being there. So, if the room layout of your current home or prospective one is not to your liking, for whatever reason, often creative use and placement of furniture can make all the difference.

Making Your New House or Apartment Feel Like Home

Many people move frequently and have to reestablish their home life in a new location. One of the most important things that people can do in order to make themselves feel comfortable in their new surroundings rather quickly, is to do things that mean “home” to them.  Most of us can do things that give us that “home on the range” feeling even before we’ve finished unpacking everything.

I once read an article about a woman who moved around a lot with her family. When packing, she put all her curtains into one box and it was unpacked as soon as she arrived in her new home. Those curtains were hung up right away. Each time she found a different way of hanging up those same curtains, which gave her and her family the comfortable feeling of being home. “What a great idea,” I thought, "something so simple as putting up curtains to give your new home such an important feeling of familiarity. While this actual idea has been impossible for me to implement since we have been using basic horizontal blinds in the many homes we lived in and there was nothing special or homey about them, I've been able to implement her idea in different ways. 

One of the first things that I’ve begun to do is make sure that I’m comfortable with the layout of the furniture, even before all the boxes are out of the way. Sometimes this is easy. The rooms are big and it is very obvious to me how to place the furniture. (It also makes my husband’s job easier, since he’s the one who does most of the furniture moving and shifting.) More often than not, however, this takes a good deal of work since each house has differently shaped rooms with different dimensions; often closets and windows are not in convenient places. “If I was building this house or remodeling,” I’d say to myself, “I would have put the windows here and put the closets there.” But of course, since I was doing neither, the best I could do is find a way to arrange the furniture that looks good and feels right to me. I do, ultimately, hit upon just the right setup that looks natural and works well with the layout of the room.

Our last move, a little over a year ago, was to a different continent; making my home my own (so to speak) was even more important this time, since so much of my environment was unfamiliar. In addition to arranging the furniture to my satisfaction, I also made sure to buy a number of plants, mostly for our terrace. I love plants and caring for them and watching them grow, gives me a lot of satisfaction. 

Not everyone changes homes frequently, but for those of us who do, it’s nice to have different tricks which can quickly make our new house or apartment into our home.