Steps to Being Green

I really wish I had taken a picture of the old, crumbling concrete steps before I had the crew I work with in garden design come and build something much more organic. My idea was to use truly local materials (almost everything is from within 2 miles) that both supports local businesses, reduces my carbon footprint by not using petroleum derived products, improves permeability of water to the earth, and creates a lovely natural, green path up to the house. This fall I transplanted some different types of local mosses that are now dormant within the cracks. I have also planted many bulbs in the surrounding flower beds that I look forward to seeing in the spring.

The stone steps bring back some charm to this old carriage house and beg for more perennials next year. Sometimes just taking the risk to do something very different upticks your real estate property quite a lot and makes your dwelling that much more memorable to others, especially with its sustainable approach to design. I love that the stone is sourced locally from Hopewell, literally just a stone's throw away!

Wee Patio and Path to the Carriage House

Sometimes the best laid plans need to be pulled up and relaid. This fall, I had my landscape crew regrade the patio and all walkways. I integrated a couple of bits of solid bluestone at each landing. We left all of the beautiful old moss on some of the brick and installed my sundial as a focal point in the garden. True English boxwood stand as lovely anchors in the perennial beds. Everything else had gone to hibernate over the winter, but I will share photos in a future spring post when the plants come back to life. Ivy is spilling over a most unusual wall made out of telephone poles from the fifties. It is a bit quirky, but it works as an original fence between neighbors.

What makes an outside patio in a small lot so vital is that it continues a very social element for a small town feel.  To live on a Main Street one mingles with the sound of the trucks, a few proud sirens from the fire engines and the romantic whistle of the freight train.  I have to say, all of it binds me to this Hopewell village.

A Cupola and a Mermaid

As I mentioned in At Home in Hopewell, our renovated carriage house does not have a garage. Instead, I purchased a classic cedar shake shed to hold all of my gardening tools, bikes and other outdoor toys. The cupola on top is made complete and distinguished with a swimming copper mermaid.  Of course, it has a bit of whimsy because where are mermaids really to be found in Hopewell Valley? I also added a complementary accent on the carriage house itself by gracing the chimney with a custom copper cap found on old homes and farmhouses. It is lovely to collaborate with an artisan who still works with copper.

I have found that with a little piece of real estate, it is so important to get the details right. A garden, a bird bottle, a sun dial or a chimney cap all bring eye-catching accents together to make a house a home in our most charming village of Hopewell boro.

Summer Window Boxes and a Bird Bottle

One of my first projects over the summer, soon after we moved in to this carriage house in Hopewell Boro, was to fill the windows with coleus, ferns, verbena and impatiens. I also put the bird bottle up for wrens. There is such a simple happiness in connecting the outside world with the inside. By turning your windows into sweet little bird habitats and bumble bee havens you do much for your flowering perennials. It is just lovely to have greenery and color at eye level. Now that the brick walkway to the house has been relaid, the window boxes hopefully give our visitors a bit of natural joy along the way to our front door.

At Home in Hopewell

I recently bought a carriage house built in 1890 in the historic district of the borough of Hopewell that backs up to Hopewell's preserved open space. I learned first hand how knowing one's needs and moving swiftly were the keys to finding home!


When I was considering a move in spring of 2009, I concluded that it was definitely the time to buy. Prices are within reach in a way we have not seen in years. I decided to take the plunge myself and move from a more transit centered environment to the walkable village of Hopewell Boro.


Some of the considerations that made it an easy transition was knowing that the schools in Hopewell Valley are very solid and that the village is an easy walkable community.  Its roots feel bit like Vermont. Many small town community events such as films at the historic train station  and farmers market give it a down to earth vibe.


Then what to buy?  I knew that I wanted something that I could manage on my own and a property that would lend to all of the charm of this sweet little village.  Hence, I found something that had been on the market quite a while which had not adjusted in price for the new world order. I went to look at it along with about three other properties in the Boro. What I liked about this property at first glance might have been easy for others to overlook without a clear vision. There is no garage. That is solved with a lovely cedar shake shed charmed with a window box to boot.  Many projects were left undone when I found this property. An old fence was in need of repair and a new fence had not yet been painted to match the house. Appliances needed updating and a water softener would need to be added. A beautiful old brick patio needed to be pulled up and pitched properly away from the house and relaid. The yard is extremely small but will be transformed into a perennial garden with many native plants to flourish.


While I studied all of this I also looked at the comps and prepared my first offer. I knew what had to be done with this house and I knew where to stop with my final offer. This is where I had to be a professional even to myself. I knew the number that this house should sell for and I had to be prepared to walk if I had an unreasonable seller.


I would say one of the most important things to start with in this process is a clear vision of what you need and want. I needed a solid and not overly large house. I needed the backup of great public schools and I needed to be close to the equestrian life that is so important to my daughter and close to her friends.


I knew that I could handle some amount of renovations that I would be pleased to make on my own instead of paying for someone else to have made those decisions on my behalf.


I knew that I would enjoy the 50 acre parcel of open space behind this house that is easily accessible to anyone living in the Boro.


After I was clear about my needs, I made a swift offer with a 30 day closing.


We are enjoying the process of making it our own and folding into an old community vibrant with new life and proud to hold to its village character. Come visit sometime!

Gardening at an Arts and Crafts California Bungalow

I started the process of designing a garden for this property in Princeton Junction with the desire to honor the bones of the dwelling. This is a classic small, California-style bungalow built in 1928 by a local architect from Trenton, NJ.  It was designed at the tail end of the Arts and Crafts movement when the vision was for nature and our inside space to flow seamlessly from one to the other. The garden should invite you in, and the front porch should allow you to drift right out again. It should almost feel as though one does not know where the garden ends and the bungalow begins.

Wysteria climbs the roof and provides delicious shade as the summer heats up. Climbing roses balance the other side of the front of this home for a celebration of color and fragrance through the last week in May.

Since this house has had no additions to speak of, I really wanted to keep the feel of the garden old fashioned and sensible, just as the architecture is itself. I went to work planting heirloom bulbs, dwarf to large hostas, ferns and native woodland flowers. I especially enjoyed selecting the sun loving perennials.
Peonies, hollyhocks, Grahamn Thomas roses, Black Eyed Susans, Coneflowers, Bearded Iris, Japanese Iris, Hydrangeas, Clematis, Monarda and several tree peonies... just to name a few sun lovers.
These perennials keep the butterflies happy year after year, and a few goldfinch also.