by Carollynn on 28 March 2014 
Blog is a work in progress
Pardon my, err, dust, so to speak. I’ve been playing with the formatting and features on the blog in hopes of giving you a better experience. I’ve added social media features, related content and new images all in hopes that it will make reading my blatherings more pretty and palatable, and overall more user friendly, for you.
See anything new that you like? Let me know.
Is the blog doing something weird or that you don’t like, then REALLY let me know. I’m happy to fix the broken stuff.
Thanks for your help in making this little blog, be all it can be.
by Carollynn on 23 March 2014 I wish I could say that I specifically styled the living room mantle for spring, but that would be untrue. There’s no springtime-iness in this mantle (yet). What is true is that I finally bit the bullet and purchased a Louis Phillippe reproduction mirror. I’ve been drooling over these for many many years.
Louis Phillippe mirror in blogger Karina Gentinetta’s home
Read on for more ‘Gumbo goodness…
by Carollynn on 17 March 2014 Happy St. Patrick’s Day?
Green is typically the color most associated with St. Patrick’s day. So it was a bit odd, but sadly, not unexpected, for white is the color of this St. Patrick’s Day.
Here is our deck furniture, dressed in her snowy finest for St. Patty’s Day. Read on for more ‘Gumbo goodness…
by Carollynn on 7 March 2014 Spring is surely around the corner, right?
Right. Here in the DC metro, the snow from Monday’s snow event is almost melted (yay!) and the forecast for this weekend and slightly beyond is warmer.
As in it supposed to be in the 50’s tomorrow and even more warm early next week.
Can I get a Whoo hoo!?
Here’s the image on my desktop that has seen me through the winter. It reminds me that spring IS almost here, and soon the outside landscape will be beautiful once more. [continue reading…]
by Carollynn on 1 March 2014 
Ugly cracked, rust stained retaining wall
You might think I’m talking about digging out from all the snow, but no, we had some warmer weather (I can’t believe I get excited about 40-50 degree weather, but there it is.) and some rain, so most, if not all, of the snow in my neighborhood is gone. Yay!!!
What I’m referencing is how we built our new deck. It started with removing the ugly, stained and cracked retaining wall, along with the rusted and busted iron railing. It had to go. [continue reading…]
by Carollynn on 23 February 2014 This post is a long time coming. We purchased our house in August 2006, and for the first two years, we concentrated on making the inside livable. There was a significant amount work to do just on the first and second floors that we really didn’t have much time, energy or money to pay attention to the exterior of the house. If you’re renovating your house as well and you need emergency fund, visit here pounda.co.uk to learn about a personal loan application. It will be helpful in handling a financial issue. The only landscaping we peformed was on the front of the house – removing some problematic trees, such as an overgrown arborvitae that blocked the living room window, and planted a few crepe myrtles so I wasn’t so homesick, but the backyard remained unchanged.
It looked like this for many many years. I entertained folks in this very backyard. I cringe at the thought.
The backyard we purchased – pre move in state
