You Shall Not Pass: A Tale of Two Gates

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Gate in Progress. Still needs posts to be trimmed (and
possibly ensconced in brick), surrounding rail fence
to be finished and some red, red paint.

I'll use anything as an excuse to throw down a Lord of the Rings quote (and apparently a bastardized title of a Dickens novel, because I'm all about literary reference mashups), even when it comes to something as innocuous as a handmade wooden gate. But it's a pretty awesome gate! Designed by Devin and I, built by Devin and his dad, our new gate took the place of our previous method of securing the land – a very long, very heavy metal chain that was the bane of my existence on several separate occasions. The bane!

Let me break it down for you. In order to lock the chain to a post, I would have to sling it over my shoulder, drag it through the gravel, and then pull with all my might until I could get the lock through it. A few times my hair got

Partial photo of makeshift chain gate, because it was
shady like that.

caught between the chain and my shoulder. More than a few times I pinched my fingers between the chain and the lock, or in the lock itself. This all makes me sound pathetically feeble and incompetent, but I swear it was quite a process. Hence the new gate.

There's something about an old red gate and
an old red barn in newly fallen snow.

It still needs to be painted and I am dead set on red. Devin's reaction to this ranged from "bitch you crazy" to "cedar stain is sort of red" before he finally proclaimed "you just pick the colour and I'll close my eyes and paint it on." Now that's love. I've narrowed it down to three colours from Benjamin Moore – "Caliente" (very red), "Merlot Red" (reddish-orange) and "Mars Red" (reddish-brown). Every time I go to pick out paint colours I always end up wishing there was one called "This is the Colour You Want." (I'm paraphrasing a line from a TV show or movie, but I can't remember which one at the moment... because that's just how my mind works these days).

How do you feel about a red gate? Too bold? Not bold enough? Just right? Do you have any gates (or evil gate-impersonating chains) at your house? If so, what colour? If not, what – you just let strangers come and go as they please? You a hippy or something? Please scroll down... just a little further... little more... too far! Okay, right there... click on that link that sadly says "no comments" and make it go away already. Thanks!

The Architecture of American Houses

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And now for an Of Houses and Trees first… a short post! Think it can't be done? Well, I'll show you. I'll show you all…

I came across this poster (click here for the option to zoom in) awhile back and knew I had to share it here in honour of my The Houses in Which We Live series. I'm not really a poster person (anymore, I should say, because lord knows many a 90s heartthrob once lined the walls of my forest green bedroom), but if I still were I would order this one up pronto as it combines several things that I love: architecture, history and tiny versions of things. It also reminds me of The Cat's Meow Village, which are these little handmade wooden collectibles featuring everything from period homes to monuments to signposts (I'm looking at the one of a Golden Gate Bridge sign sitting on my desk as I type this). My mom used to have a bunch of them lining the trim around our staircase and a dear friend of her's also had an impressive collection (this is the same friend with the plastic toy toilet I so coveted).

But, alas, I digress. And digressing is not allowed in short posts.

What's your favourite architectural home style? What style do you think we could live without (the fact that a "McMansion" is even a thing is very sad indeed). Let me know in the comments and perhaps I'll use your suggestion for the next entry in my "The Houses in Which We Live" series!

Real Life Home Design Board No. 1: Living Room

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I've decided there needs to be a word/phrase for when you're inspired by other people's inspirations (like what happens on Pinterest all day every day and into the wee hours of the night too). How about inspiration squared? Ininspiration? Reinspiration? Well, whatever you want to call it, I got it big time while recently reading the blog The DIY Mommy, specifically the Our DIY House series, which features the building and interior design process of a new foursquare-style home.

The blogger, a trained graphic designer, went through each room of the home and made up what she calls a "Mood Board," which essentially is the Photoshop equivalent of cutting images from a magazine and gluing them to some white paper. It's a super fun way to think about what you want your new home (or old home, if you're redesigning) to look like. And when I say fun, I mean it's pretty much the most fun a home design lovin' gal with decent computer skills can have while their almost two-year old naps for three hours. Seriously. I had way too good of a time doing this. So much so that I'm limiting myself to just doing the living room until I've actually finished designing the house itself. Because no house equals no reclaimed brick fireplace. So here it is!

1. Medium Toned Grey/Brown Wide Plank Laminate Flooring
2. Barnwood Framed Mirror
3. Benjamin Moore Paints Bennington Grey (field colour) and Mink (accent colour)
4. Green Microsuede Storage Ottoman (already own)
5. Reclaimed Brick for Fireplace (see below)
6. Sisal Rug with Brown Border
7. White Floating Wood Mantel
8. Bookshelves for Built-In Storage (see below)
9. Dark Brown Leather Couch (already own)
10. Woven Twig Lamp (already own)
11. Blue, Brown and Green Distressed Console Table (already own a plain brown one)
12. Blue, Brown and Green Striped Fabric for Curtains (already own)
13. Blue, Brown and Green Floral Fabric for Toybox Ottoman (already own)
14. Various Throw Pillows (already own, except for blue one)
15. Blue Microsuede Wingback Chair (see below)

You know the saying "blue and green should never be seen except for in the washing machine?" I don't even remember where I initially heard it, but it's one of those weird things that has stuck with me since childhood. You know, like my face.

Nowadays, previously unheard of colour combinations are de rigueur (meaning that if you don't have unexpected colour schemes in your house you shall henceforth be known as a social pariah). I blogged about one of my favourite unusual combos, blue and orange, in this post. Another trendy hue pair I currently adore is yellow and grey (which I will be blogging about at a later date).

And, since one theme of this post seems to be limiting myself, I have decreed I am only allowed to go into detail about three – that's right, only three! –  of the pictured items or else I will carry on for always and forever about how much I love barnwood frames/how much I dislike leather couches (but since we already own one I'm-a gonna to roll with it).

#5 – Reclaimed Brick for Fireplace

Very excited about this idea. Reusing an old material is not only good for the environment, it also brings character and history to a space. A quick browse on Kijiji tells me that you can buy batches of recycled brick from various independent sellers, there's also businesses like Architectural Clearinghouse where you can find used construction materials. While stock is constantly changing, I'm hoping I'll be able to find some previously loved brick when the time comes.

Built-ins/fireplace situation will be
similar to this, but I'd like the brick to
be floor to ceiling, please and
thank you.

#8 - Bookshelves for Built-In Storage

I plan to put some sort of built-in shelving in pretty much every room in the house (even on the staircase's landing). And, with the magic of Ikea (you know, the cheap European kind of magic), you can buy some plain old bookcases, slap some moulding on them and – voila! – custom cabinetry fit for your collection of first editions. Or your porcelain cat figurines… Because, as the saying goes, one person's Orwell is another's Persian.

#15 - Blue Microsuede Wingback Chair

When I was looking for furniture to compliment that which we already own I wasn't planning on throwing a blue microsuede chair into the mix. But, when this photo came up in Google image search, it took me back to the many hours I spent sitting across from my grandma in her living room. Me in a black leather La-Z-Boy, and her in a chair that looked just like this. Although she's no longer with us, the chair now resides in my mom's dining room (and, knowing my dearest mama, perhaps one day it will be mine).

There you have it! It'll be interesting to see how many of my ideas make it into the final product. But, truly, it doesn't matter what does and what doesn't. For me, the best part of this whole process is the dreaming.

What's your favourite unusual colour combo? What are some of the features in your dream living room? Do you collect first editions, porcelain cats… or something else? Viva la comment!

Mr Sun, Sun, Mr Golden Sun

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Me and my sibs, being all one with nature
and stuff, circa about a million years ago.

I don't remember when I got hooked on being green. I mean, I've always adored nature. Trees. Lakes. Dirt. My family's annual (and sometimes bi or tri-annual) camping trips (usually to the majestic Rockies) led to a love of the great outdoors and all that it represents being wound into the very fabric of my being. But did I always recycle? No. Was I always that person – you know, the one who dies a little inside when someone at a birthday party throws away a paper plate, or licks clean plastic cutlery and puts it in their purse so it can later be reused? No. No, I wasn't.

I'm a firm believer in the fact that green living is about integrating eco-friendly choices into reality. I clearly recall that I didn't start blue-bagging until I lived in my first apartment, which had recycling bins in the parking lot. I didn't start separating organic waste from the rest of the garbage until I moved to Stony Plain, where we have Organicarts that are collected on a weekly basis.

Then there's this whole solar power thing. I'm not sure where my obsession with it began, but I do know that when Devin and I first started talking about building a home it was something I brought up very early on. And though he certainly was intrigued by the idea, he also tends to be a bit more pragmatic than I about this whole "let's save the world" business.

Fast forward a few years (and, you know, throw a baby in there just for fun) and the phrase "solar farm" (as in on our land) has actually befallen my ears via the mouth of my husband several times as of late. Be still my David Suzuki-lovin' heart!

So here's some info on solar power – specifically geared toward our Albertan climate, which we all know comes with its own set of… shall we say quirks?

Ironically, this photo was taken in British Columbia.

Alberta is Mad Sunny, Ya'll

According to a recent study by the not-for-profit Canadian Solar Industries Association, "Alberta's solar energy resource is almost one million-billion kilowatt hours per year" (or 1,000,000,000,000,000… I didn't even realize there was such thing as a "million-billion"). Alberta is the best solar energy resource in all of Canada and, fun fact, even though Okotoks is more than 25 degrees of latitude further north than Miami, it still is a greater solar energy resource than "The Magic City" between the months of July and October.

Just think – this could be you! For serious though,
brushing snow from solar panels may not even be
necessary as "the albedo effect," i.e. sun reflecting
off of snow, "can make a panel generate more
electricity in the same way that it gives
skiers sunburn on sunny winter days." (Source)

Unlike Most of Us, Solar Panels Like Cold Weather

I attempted to paraphrase (and then deleted) this article because of the nightmare-inducing equations, but then I found this one, which explained things just the way I like it – with words instead of numbers. Plus, it gives a grand total of nine explanations about the relationship between solar panels and temperature, one of them being: "As the solar panels get hotter, they will produce less power from the same amount of sunlight [than a colder panel]. Normally, electrons at rest (low energy) are excited by the sun (high energy), and the difference between their excited and rest energies is the potential difference (voltage) . . . Because we produce power from the difference in the states (at rest and excited by the sun), if the electrons have more energy at rest (your solar panels are hotter), the difference between the rest energy and excited energy (from the sun) is smaller, and our solar panels will produce less energy." What do you think, should I change my header to read "Of Houses and Trees: A Blog about Architecture, Interior Design, DIY Projects, Trees and, Of Course, Excited Electrons?"

The days of ginormous solar panels protruding from the
rooftops of only the crunchiest of hippies are coming
to an end. Behold... solar shingles!

"This is Oil Country" is O-V-E-R

No, I'm not talking about Connor McDavid (but, since I did bring him up, let me just say that poor kid is never going to live up to everyone's second-coming-like expectations of him – he's basically Barack Obama on skates). I'm talking about the glorification and shortsightedness that permeates our oil-soaked culture. Yes, we have a lot of oil. We get it already. But, as aforementioned, we also have a lot of sun. So pardon my idealism, but would it really be so hard to divert just a teeny bit of the time, the energy and the monies we put into the oil industry and send it on over to solar (and other alternative and renewable resources)? "That will never happen," you say. "It's all a conspiracy," you moan. "There are people who would have you shot just for saying that," you intone, twirling the tip of your handlebar mustache between your thumb and forefinger. "Bah," I scoff. "Change is coming," I muse. And then, I break into song… here comes the sun, little darling...

What say you? Is oil over? Have you ever thought about looking into solar power or other alternative energies? Do you care about where your power even comes from, or are you more of a "as long as I can binge-watch the new season of Orange is the New Black I'm all good" kind of person?