Home & Garden 2014Home & Garden 2014

April 2014&& April 2014April 2014&& April 2014April 2014&&&Home Garden

■ Rain Gardens ■ Do-It-Yourself Paint Project ■ Landscaping

■ Spring Cleaning ■ Interiors ■ Lawn Care

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Home & Garden 2014

Although rain gardens are among those home improvement projects that typically require con-tractors or those experienced in landscaping to install in residential yards, Val Streeter noted the personal and broader benefits of such a system.

“It can improve your drainage and direct your runoff away from your home’s foundation,” said Streeter, stormwater planner for the Tulalip Tribes, whose Natural and Cultural Resources Department recently worked with the Snohom-ish Conservation District to install a rain garden in the front yard of Grant and Glendy Morrison’s home. “It can also serve as the site for beautiful plants that attract a variety of wildlife. It’s a cos-metic and practical amenity for your home, but it also fosters a healthier watershed as a whole. Water stays cleaner and fresher when it’s in the ground. The longer it stays on the surface, the more likely it is to pick up pollutants that will eventually carry into Puget Sound.”

Streeter explained that the proper size of a rain garden depends not only on how much wa-ter is directed toward the parcel of land that it’s on, including water that comes from surround-ing parcels, but also the amount of imperious surface area around the prospective rain garden, including rooftops and driveways.

“You also need to look at the type of soil you

have, in the area where your rain garden will be sited, to see how well it drains water,” Streeter said. “If you’ve got really good draining soil, your rain garden should be equal to about 10 percent of your impervious areas. If you’ve got a really bad draining soil, with a high clay con-tent, it should be equal to about 20 percent.”

Streeter recommended the Tulalip Natural and Cultural Resources Department, Washing-ton State University and the Snohomish Conser-vation District as excellent sources of informa-tion for homeowners who are considering rain gardens.

“The Snohomish Conservation District in par-ticular offers great advice and a wealth of exper-tise, and in some instances will even help home-owners design their own rain gardens,” Streeter said. “Even if you don’t use a contractor, you’re still going to have to rent heavy equipment, like a backhoe and a mini-excavator, and you’re still going to have to find someplace to put all the soil that will be displaced by your rain garden. Even for a relatively small residential rain garden like the Morrisons’, that added up to about 10 yards of soil, and a contractor might have more options on where to put that than you will.”

Streeter noted that contractors also offer exper-tise on the proper soil to install in a rain garden.

“It has to be really good organic soil, with enough sand to allow for good drainage,” Street-er said.

Either way, the excavation of the hole for the rain garden should be followed closely by the installation of new soil and the placement of plants and rocks.

“Bigger plants will cost more, of course, but you’ll be able to see them bloom sooner, which could be good depending on the season,” Street-er said. “The rocks are there to provide proper

inlets and outlets for the rain garden, that won’t be worn away by erosion. Not only do you need to direct the surrounding water into your rain garden, but if it fills up, it also needs someplace where it can flow out into, whether it’s a drain-age ditch or another parcel of property.”

For more information, contact Streeter by phone at 360-716-4629 or via email at vstreet-er@tulaliptribes-nsn.gov, or the Snohomish Conservation District by phone at 425-335-5634 or online at http://snohomishcd.org.

Rain gardens benefit homes, watershed

Julia Gold shakes the soil slightly loose from the roots of a plant before placing it in a recently excavated Tulalip rain garden.

Even a relatively small residential rain garden, such as the one recently installed at Grant and Glendy Morrison’s home in Tulalip, requires a great deal of preplanning and labor.

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Home & Garden 2014

When it comes to do-it-your-self projects inside the home, Smokey Point Lowe’s assistant store managers Eric Sofie and Allen Rel advised homeowners to expect the unexpected.

“Whatever you do should be at your comfort level,” Sofie said. “You wouldn’t start off on do-it-yourself auto repairs by tearing apart your transmis-sion.”

Sofie identified bathroom renovations as one area where homeowners “can get a lot of bang for your buck,” although he warned that even what might seem at first like a relatively sim-ple replacement of a faucet, sink or toilet can often lead inevitably to more intensive repairs.

“First off, before you even begin, you need to make sure you’re not working on the only bathroom in your house,” So-fie laughed. “And once you’ve gotten to work, you could find mold under your sheetrock, or discover that your floor is rotten, or even have to locate matches for pipes that have since been discontinued, so you need to set aside a contingency fund.”

Both Sofie and Rel empha-sized that research is essential, not only to map out what types of renovations you want to con-duct, but also to determine what

sorts of inspections and permits you might need to obtain, from the city and the county, if you expect to do certain types of work on your plumbing or elec-trical systems.

Likewise, whether do-it-yourselfers shop at Lowe’s or another store, Sofie and Rel ad-vised them to inquire about the store’s selections of parts, rather than simply assuming that the parts they have on display are all that they have.

While a touch of paint of-fers a more simple method of sprucing up an interior, the duo agreed that shortcuts in paint-ing never wear well in the long run.

“Don’t go inexpensive with your paint,” Sofie said. “You may pay less on your initial purchase, but you’ll save more money if you don’t have to ap-ply as many coats.”

“If you’re looking to touch up your cabinets, you still need to do the prep work so that the paint will grab hold,” Rel said. “If it’s not primed properly, you could see it bubble up.”

Neil Nichols and Brent Stier, of the paint department at Ar-lington Hardware & Lumber, echoed Sofie and Rel’s advice that a quality paint job is one of the least costly methods of im-

proving your interior, but also agreed that you don’t want to bargain-hunting on the cost of the paint itself.

“Even at $40 a gallon, it’s a deal compared to what you’d pay for the same square foot-age of wallpaper covering,” Stier said. “Colors influence us psy-chologically.”

“For bathrooms, shades of green, gray and blue evoke the water,” Nichols said. “For kitch-ens, consider white or even red. You want food colors, but more dessert than dinner. It’s like your car. One of the cheapest ways you can maintain high perfor-mance in your car is to change your spark plugs.”

“Don’t buy cheap paint, though,” Stier said. “Again, you wouldn’t put $1-a-quart oil into a nice car, would you?”

Stier and Nichols both rec-ommended paint in the $30 to $40 per gallon price range.

“If it’s as low as $15, just put it back on the shelf,” Stier said. “The only reason to buy that paint is if you really like paint-ing,” he laughed, “and repaint-ing.”

Stier placed equal emphasis on the importance of selecting a proper paintbrush or paint-roller.

“If you get a cheap brush, you’ll be leaving marks all over your walls,” Stier said. “If you get a cheap roller, you’ll be dip-ping it back into the pan every 15 seconds.”

According to Stier, the key to selecting a quality brush is to examine its filaments, which should vary in length and thick-ness.

“On a cheap brush, all the filaments are the same,” Stier said. “It’s like trying to paint with a garden rake. That’s why that paint that’s laid down by those brushes looks so choppy.”

Moving onto other areas of household renovations, Rel

and Sofie agreed that kitchen renovations represent the most challenging and potentially re-warding home improvements that one can make.

“You usually only have one kitchen, so this is the one that will probably put you out the most while it’s being worked on,” Rel said. “At the same time, improvements to your kitchen and bathroom can add the most money back to your house’s value.”

Rel warned against anything less than having a 360-degree, three-dimensional plan in place, before starting any work on your kitchen.

“You need to sit down with a consultant, have pictures and measurements ready, and lay out any and all changes that you want to make, right then and there,” Rel said. “Whatever changes you make, you need to make sure the rest of the kitchen will still be configured to match them.”

Rel echoed Sofie’s emphasis on functionality by pointing out that non-slamming drawers and cabinet doors complement a household with small children.

“Of course, once you start moving things around in your kitchen, you might discover that

your flooring doesn’t cover all the floor under your cabinets,” Rel said. “You need to ask your-self how much work you actually want to do, and how much work your budget can cover. Remod-eling your kitchen cabinets can be an option, rather than just

replacing them, if all you want to do is improve your kitchen’s appearance.”

“Bottom line, your three pri-orities in any do-it-yourself proj-ect should be safety, preparation and functionality, in that order,” Sofie said.

Do-it-yourself priorities: Safety, preparation, functionality

Brent Stier, of the paint department at Arlington Hardware & Lumber, points out the varying filament lengths and thicknesses in a quality paintbrush.

Neil Nichols, of the paint department at Arlington Hardware & Lumber, recommends paint in the $30 to $40 per gallon price range.

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Home & Garden 2014

Bryan Fosmark and Zak Venturo have served the land-scaping needs of local homes for years with their Marysville-based Washington Lawns busi-ness, and one of the biggest mistakes they’ve seen prospec-tive customers make is not pre-paring properly for all aspects

of something as expensive and time-consuming as exterior landscaping.

“Some people will get into it before they’ve saved up enough money to do it right the first time,” Fosmark said. “You’ll save more money in the long run by spending enough

money that you won’t have to spend it twice, especially since it’s that much more expensive to try and fix something that you skimped on to begin with.”

Even with an experienced and competent landscaping designer, Fosmark warned homeowners to map out their

budgets for the next five to 10 years, since Venturo noted that the added expenses won’t nec-essarily end once the landscap-ing has been completed.

“You also have to budget for upkeep and maintenance, especially with water features,” Venturo said. “For example, if you’re installing a pond, you need to plan to clean it regu-larly.”

“So many people don’t plan adequately to deal with water drainage,” Fosmark said. “Just because you’ve planned a proj-ect doesn’t mean you’ll be able to stick with that plan if it’s not realistic.”

Joel Martinez, of First Choice Landscaping in Arling-ton, agreed that poor drainage is one of the most prevalent problems that he’s had to help his clients deal with in the Pa-cific Northwest over the years, but he offered some simple so-lutions that homeowners can undertake before they even call a professional landscaper.

“You want to lay down fer-tilizer, twice a season,” Martinez said. “The winter is especially important, because otherwise, you run the risk of dealing with moss in the spring.”

Martinez added that throw-ing seed down in the spring and fall also fosters a thick laws, that soaks up the mois-ture to avoid puddles.

“All my clients fertilize and seed enough that they don’t need to thatch their yards,” said Martinez, who explained that “thatching” involves es-sentially tearing up the yard. “If you get moss, anything under that will be dead, so you have to aerate it to reseed it. Worst case scenario after moss growth, you’ll have to lay down new sod.”

Martinez noted that keep-ing the edges of your lawn trimmed, where it meets the pavement, also aids its drain-age, in addition to neatening up its appearance. He likewise recommended raking your yard once a week, to help with weeds.

While many homeowners see more intensive landscap-ing measures as a means of enhancing their property’s value, Venturo warned that a poorly planned landscaping project that goes over budget will often lose them money on the resale market.

“People need to be pre-pared to invest as much in their landscaping as they would in upgrading their kitchens,” Fosmark said. “And

they need to have the foresight not to do things like planting trees too close to their houses. If it’s a dwarf tree, maybe you can get away with planting it as close as 10 feet to your house, but otherwise, I wouldn’t plant it within 20 feet, because those root systems will grow.”

“You should also be laying down lime in the spring and fall, if you have trees,” Marti-nez said. “Trees take nutrients from the soil, and lime restores the soil’s pH balance by putting those nutrients back into the soil.”

Martinez recommended Scotts lawn and garden prod-ucts as “kid and pet-friendly,” and touted the fact that Ortho weed and pest killers don’t seep into water systems.

“I’m able to treat my cli-ents’ lawns and gardens with 80 percent to 90 percent or-ganic products,” Martinez said. “I use all the products I recom-mend at my own home, and I’ve got kids, pets and a well.”

Venturo cited well-done hardscaping as one area where homeowners can yield returns on their investments, while Fosmark pointed to the over-seas origins of two of the most prevalent trends in gardening here in the Pacific Northwest.

“English and Japanese gar-dens have really taken off in this area,” Fosmark said. “The popularity of the Japanese style owes a lot to the high Asian population of the region, but just about anyone can find those color schemes appealing. And English gardens do well

here because we have a simi-larly rainy climate and kind of ground.”

“You’re not going to be planting a lot of cactus in this area,” Venturo laughed.

Fosmark recommended flagstone hardscaping, “be-cause it’ll be worth more than you paid for it, if it’s installed properly,” and agreed with Ven-turo that hiring a fully licensed and bonded contractor for such landscaping work is essential.

“What we always tell people is that you can get a landscap-ing job done fast, cheap or good,” Fosmark said. “You can get two out of those three, but you’ll never get all three.”

Both men lamented the cur-rent state of residential develop-ment, which they see as giving many homeowners substandard landscaping to start with.

“Many of those builders aren’t aware of how to install quality landscaping,” Fosmark said. “That’s why you might buy a home and find that you’ve got glacial till under your grass, or that your drain-age is garbage.”

The two landscapers, who routinely consult with soil sci-entists, praised Washington State University for promot-ing more green development, through measures such as rain gardens.

“Rain gardens are great for helping to treat pollution right on the site of the property,” Fos-mark said. “You should care about what you’re doing to the environment with your land-scaping.”

Landscaping can be done fast, cheap or good, but not all three

Bryan Fosmark, of Washington Lawns of Marysville, trims the edges of a client’s lawn, which aids with drainage.

Zak Venturo, of Washington Lawns of Marysville, mows a client’s lawn, working around puddles that could be prevented with seasonal fertilizer.

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Home & Garden 2014

Get spring cleaning done correctlySpring cleaning, as the

name suggests, is probably a task we all put off until we can motivate ourselves to deep clean and organize a room that has not been touched since, well, last spring.

But spring cleaning does not have to be a dreaded task. If ap-proached the right way, clean-ing a room can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Professional organizer and productivity consultant Monika Kristofferson, of Efficient Orga-nization in Lake Stevens, has some pointers on approach-ing a room in need of annual

cleaning. It’s amazing what can be

done in an hour. “I always tell clients to take a little at a time,” she said. “You can get a lot done in an hour or two without feeling wiped out in the end.”

Kristofferson said the most important part is to pick a start-ing point, an area that is the most obstructing to get any cleaning done. “People don’t know, usually, where to start,” she said. “So, I tell them to start where the most pain is.”

For example, when you have a room selected for cleaning, say a garage, start on the floor first,

where a mess is. “If you walk into a garage and you can’t move around, the pain would be on the floor,” Kristofferson said. “So before worrying about the shelves in your garage, you want to start on the floor.”

In addition to finding that starting point, it is also best to divide a room into workable zones. The zones can then be worked chronologically.

“Start with the visible clut-ter that is causing problems — that would be usually desk-tops, tables or floors — before going into cupboards or draw-ers,” Kristofferson said. “The benefit of that is it will get you motivated when you begin see some clear space opening up, and it will give you more room to work.”

When you are in the process of cleaning a room, you may run into some things that you may or may not need.

Kristofferson advises quick decision-making to determine wether something is worth holding onto or letting go. When looking at something, “go with you gut,” she said.

Though it’s important to make quick decisions, you should always ask yourself if

the item in question is indeed worth keeping or if it should be reused.

“If someone thinks some-thing is valuable, I encourage them to verify it,” She said. “If they’re struggling to make a decision, I would say keep it for now.”

Items can be appraised —she also advises to look at prices on eBay.

Another bit of advice is to not work alone.

Working with a friend will make the task more enjoyable,

along with keeping you focused and making faster progress.

“You can have one for the support and accountability,” Kristofferson said. “And work-ing with someone helps people make faster decisions.”

There are also things to be advised against when taking on spring cleaning. One thing is try-ing to do too much at once.

“When you’re de-cluttering, you have to make a lot of deci-sions,” Kristofferson said. “So that can mean physical energy, emotional energy or spiritual

energy.” Also, hold off on buying new

furniture until you have com-pletely finished the cleaning process. “The reason for that is you won’t know exactly what you need to buy to store what you’re keeping, until you know what you have left,” Kristof-ferson said. “And also measure your space for the size of the organizing products you need.”

For more tips on organiza-tion you can contact Kristof-ferson on her website at www.efficientorganizationnw.com.

Using a small tray for kitchen supplies keeps all related items in one-easy-to find place.

Using folders with labels can help maintain organization after spring cleaning.

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Home & Garden 2014

When you scope out a place to move into, or are looking to redesign the interior of your home, furniture can be down-right pricey.

Fortunately, Marysville and Arlington homeowners have an array of thrift shops and con-signment stores to look for items to furnish a home, all while sav-ing money and gaining some.

Saving money and keeping reused furniture out of landfills

are among the many advantages of shopping at these kinds of stores.

The Goodwill in Marysville, located at 9315 State Ave., is just one example.

“You can find something unique or a little different, and at a lower cost,” Goodwill’s com-munication manager Katherine Boury said. “You can find almost anything.”

Customers will not only find

deals in thrift stores, but also contribute positively to the en-vironment. “People feel good about shopping,” Boury said.

As opposed to buying new furniture, consumers can save literally hundreds of dollars by shopping for reusable furniture.

Many thrift and consign-ment store shoppers and owners believe that the furniture busi-nesses don’t make the products like they used to.

It is one of the reasons why people nowadays are searching for vintage items. Items that are not only aesthetically pleas-ing, but also items that will not break down.

At Lil’ Thrift in Arlington, found on 233 North Olympic Ave., owners Jeff and Becky Phebus said it’s one of the main reasons people shop for retro furniture.

“That is the hottest trend right now,” Jeff said.

Jeff said “re-purposing” ret-ro items is becoming common in the thrift business.

“I’m a re-purposer,” Jeff said. “I’m going take this mid-century stereo cabinet, and I’m going to turn it into a wine cabinet. It’s what society’s doing nowadays”

Multi-purpose items are es-sential for the budget-minded consumer. Old barber chairs can be used to furnish a room, and old speakers can be used as door stops.

The re-purposed items are versatile and can serve many purposes, along with being af-fordable.

“It’s $15 to buy this cabi-net. They can spend some time doing what they want with it,

or they can resell it,” Jeff said. “They can use it as a dresser or a TV stand.”

A similar cabinet at a main-stream store could cost up to $500. The difference in price is significant.

Indeed, the thrift business inspires creativity for renovation of its users and is affordable, but also retro items have another advantage, and that is quality.

It is rare to find a dresser in today’s market that is 100 percent wood and reasonably priced. Most manufactured items are now particle board.

Along with furniture, oddi-ties can also be found at thrift stores. Other retro items could be old toys that no longer exist.

Perhaps you not only want to save money but also earn a buck in the process? Consign-ment stores maybe an option.

Consignment Furniture of

Marysville, located at 1206 State Ave., allows shoppers to make money off of a piece of furni-ture they no longer need. “They make money on what they bring in,” Consignment Furni-ture of Marysville owner Chris Philippsen said. “We’re there so-called agent.”

“The main point I stress to people is the idea that I don’t like to see people throw money away on bad products,” Phil-lippsen said.

“I like the term, ‘finding money,’” he said.

And not incidentally, Philippsen also said that the quality of furniture now is not only overpriced but also not as well built. “It’s all cookie-cutter stuff. It’s huge, it’s massive and a lot of people are downsizing these days,” he said. “They’re moving into townhomes and want smaller items.”

Interior shopping for the budget-minded consumer

A small table with a lamp, and decorative piece can be purchased within $50 at Lil’ Thrifts in Arlington.

Page 61014957

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Home & Garden 2014

Lawns require the proper care in all seasonsWhen it begins to warm up and rain less in

Washington state, it usually means bringing out the garden hose and setting the watering appara-tus that’s been sitting in the garage for about 10 months.

But let’s face it, it rains enough in the Pacific Northwest that most Washingtonians don’t bother to install a sprinkler system.

Sufficient rainfall in the Evergreen State comes in handy, but there is still that brief period, in the summer, of consistent sunshine that can wreak havoc on Washington lawn owners.

Yes, grass can go brown and come back to green with no consequence, but some may want a more consistent green color throughout the year.

“Lawn care is very much a personal preference,” Arlington’s water resource planner Mike Wolanek said. “Some want a greener lawn, and some don’t care as much.”

When caring for lawns, Wolanek said to be con-scious of weather patterns. “Watch the newspaper for rainfall,” he said.

If it rains, then obviously you do not need to water that day.

The weather can impact the watering of your lawn and water expenditure. Watering on a windy day should be avoided. The wind can displace the water on a freshly watered lawn.

From an environmental standpoint, chemicals such as pesticides and synthetic fertilizers should be used to a minimum along with watering. “Do not use any more than you have to,” Arlington’s storm water manager Bill Blake said.

When water is added to a lawn laced with excess chemicals, it can cause a harmful runoff that can damage the water supply.

And when you do use chemicals, Blake suggests to read the manufacturers’ instructions closely.

During the warmer months, Wolanek said the magic number for watering a lawn is two days a week with an inch of water. You should be able to water enough to allow moisture to go deep into the soil and reach the roots.

Measuring how much an inch of water is varies from lawn size to the type of dispenser, but there are some conventional methods to find out how much is enough.

The old tuna can method is used when you run your watering apparatus for however long until the tuna can, or any even-sided cylinder, is full.

If you were to water your lawn two times a week, fill until the can is half full. That is how much water to apply for one day.

Blake and Wolanek advised lawn owners to refer to a water calendar to know which days to water and watering methods.

Arlington and Marysville lawn owners can refer to the water calendar provided by the city of Everett at www.ci.everett.wa.us/Get_PDF.aspx?pdfID=4564.

There are easy signs to tell if you have a suffi-ciently watered lawn or if your lawn is thirsty.

One way is to dig down into the soil and see if the roots are moist.

A less extreme measure would be to simply walk on your lawn.

“If you can see foot prints in the grass, your lawn is thirsty,” Wolanek said.

When mowing the lawn, it’s best to not cut the grass too short and spare two to three inches. Grass that is shaved too close allows precious moisture to escape the grass. “If you cut your grass too short, it will be too hard on the grass.” Wolanek said. In-

stead, just shave the top off. Leaving your grass longer will also prevents

weeds. Looking at the blades of grass to observe a

lawn’s health is easy to observe, the condition of the lawn’s soil should also be considered.

Soil health is important for a healthy lawn. Steve Smith, owner of Sunnyside Nursery in Marysville, said organic fertilizers are the best way to create a healthy soil.

The advantages of organic fertilizers and syn-thetic fertilizers are many.

“Organic fertilizer improves the health of a soil in generating a deeper root system,” he said. Healthy soil equals a healthy root system.

According to Smith, many homes in the area, for example, are built upon glacial till. Glacial till is soil that is rocky and has clay. “It’s really difficult for roots to penetrate that soil,” Smith said.

“The ingredients are the same, but come from different sources,” Smith said.

Organic fertilizers coming from natural sources are insoluble and tend to breakdown slower in the soil, then its synthetic counter-part.

“It stays in the root system longer rather than being washed away into the Puget Sound,” Smith said.

Synthetic fertilizers, being 100 percent soluble, can potential wash right through the soil, creating runoff. Also adding too much synthetic fertilizer can be damaging to plant health.

Along with using organic fertilizer, Smith said the best way to create a healthy soil is to ask “how does mother nature make soil?”

The leaves and other natural matter eventually breakdown to build up soil but that takes a while.

Smith said one way to make a less then ideal soil healthy, is to lay a layer of compost over the solid along with the organic fertilizer.

Sunnyside Nursery owner Steve Smith uses spreader to distribute fertilizer across his lawn.

Page 7

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