quote:

Originally posted by Qaanaaq-Liaaq:
Does the name musicasacra mean anything?

There’s a sit-up machine at my health club that looks just like the lounge chair. I bet it’s hard to get out of it.

A couple of years ago, IT started a topic on TNCR concerning a new room addition to the house. The room had an atrium. He posted some drawings of what it would look like. Did he ever have it done?

I love sacred choral music, so musica sacra -- sacred music.

Haha, some people have made that comment about the chair. It's fine to get out of though.

Yes, we are still planning an addition to our house on our side yard: a larger family room on the main floor (which will allow us to relocate the dining table to the current family room); upstairs, IT's larger office, another guest bedroom, and bath; and maybe a basement.

His other idea was to enclose the atrium space you mentioned by the current dining area, put in stairs, and build the addition above the house, but I think we're leaning to the unused side yard of our corner lot. The atrium space is an L-shaped small outdoor space, bordered by the the dining room tall wall of windows, our bedroom, and the garage. It's definitely unused space -- I should put some plants in there or something. A vertical garden would look really cool if I could manage that! You can see part of it below, the previous owner painted one wall yellow and the other bright red, and I haven't changed that yet. Lots of sunlight.



We try to do one house project a year, last year's was the backyard, the year before I painted the garish red/orange beehive fireplace (again, previous owner) to a soothing color, and the year before that was the music room. The fireplace -- I was so happy to get rid of the red/orange.



I think we'll knock out the beehive fireplace when the addition is ready to go, cut it back to a more manageably sized contemporary fireplace. It's ginormous, and we never use it.

There's always a house project, right! -- I enjoy seeing everyone's house & yard project photos here.

Buddy's looking great. How much does he weigh?

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel:
Buddy's looking great. How much does he weigh?

14 lbs or so

He sneaks into most of my photos.

I liked your music room the moment I first saw it.

Seems to me that you are from the midwest somewhere, no? How did you end up in Phoenix? How do you like living in the sun vs. living in the snow?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I liked your music room the moment I first saw it.

Seems to me that you are from the midwest somewhere, no? How did you end up in Phoenix? How do you like living in the sun vs. living in the snow?

Thanks, Steve.

Yes, I'm a prairie girl.

IT is from here. He was living in Berkeley when I met him, but on one of our first dates he asked if I'd be willing to move to AZ. Yes, I said, one of my siblings lives there.

I definitely prefer this climate. You don't have to shovel sunshine!

I also love the huge blue skies, you can see forever, reminds me of home.

can we see a picture of the salt water swimming pool? pretty please?

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
can we see a picture of the salt water swimming pool? pretty please?

I'm in Milwaukee on a business trip, but I found one photo on my flickr. The salt water pool is hour glass shaped and long, about 32 feet, with a waterfall at the top (which isn't running in the photo). You can see hibiscus, bird of paradise, bamboo, various palm, etc., around it. We added those plants and others in last summer's backyard project.

I might have a better photo at home.



It gets full sun in the morning and shade in the afternoon, which is nice in the summer. The salt water is very soft, like silk on the skin, and doesn't have a chemical smell.

:swoon:

piano party at ms and it's house!

Yeah..make it for the end of March, and I'll invite myself over.

What would you do in Phoenix/Scottsdale if you had only one evening and one morning.

Kids? Siblings?

Do you sing?

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
:swoon:

piano party at ms and it's house!

That's very like a pool of a friend of mine that I cared for while she was in Europe for three months. Hers was freshwater. I learned to hate it. Three cleanings a day to keep it just so. I'd never considered saltwater, but have wanted a pool here, regardless of the work. If saltwater is easier to maintain, I could be persuaded.

quote:

Originally posted by rustyfingers:
Yeah..make it for the end of March, and I'll invite myself over.

What would you do in Phoenix/Scottsdale if you had only one evening and one morning.

Kids? Siblings?

Do you sing?

End of March, we're probably in town.

In the evening, I would go to dinner at my favorite restaurant and maybe an evening tour of the Desert Botanical Gardens, and in the morning a hike on one of the mountains, with a great view of the valley.

Three siblings, and I'll get back to you on the kids.

I don't really sing.

quote:

Originally posted by ChickGrand:

quote:

Originally posted by piqué:
:swoon:

piano party at ms and it's house!

That's very like a pool of a friend of mine that I cared for while she was in Europe for three months. Hers was freshwater. I learned to hate it. Three cleanings a day to keep it just so. I'd never considered saltwater, but have wanted a pool here, regardless of the work. If saltwater is easier to maintain, I could be persuaded.

It is easier because you're not constantly balancing chemicals and dumping them in. The salt cell does need to be replaced every few years. Ours is due now. Replace the salt cell when it's starting to go/dead or you will need to supplement with chlorine tablets.

Three cleanings a day? Yikes. We have a weekly cleaning service, the vacuum, the skimming, the cleaning the salt cell if it needs it. We have trees in the backyard so we tend to skim it more often in the summer anyway.

BTW, on that atrium wall in the photo above, this is the sort of thing I'd like to do, a vertical garden, like the one I saw in Madrid. It might look cool with the right mix of plants, texture and color.

Has anyone done a vertical garden?

quote:

Originally posted by musicasacra:

quote:

Originally posted by apple*:
thanks for the LOL cats. I've come to really enjoy them.

What is the best thing you've ever eaten in your life?

Lots!

A perfect Chateaubriand with an amazing Chateauneuf-du-Pape stands out, and the brasserie burger and pomme frites at my favorite place in town -- that one I could eat about every day.

That I've cooked myself -- beef medallions with cognac sauce. Or maybe the goat cheese with shallots dip, that's addictive.

I'm crushed. At least I hope that a certain lunch at a certain Thai restaurant in a certain Pacific Northwet town is at least in the top 100.

quote:

Originally posted by musicasacra:
BTW, on that atrium wall in the photo above, this is the sort of thing I'd like to do, a vertical garden, like the one I saw in Madrid. It might look cool with the right mix of plants, texture and color.

Has anyone done a vertical garden?

That's going to be one of my future projects. I've been propagating sedums and other xeriscape-y varieties for a possible green roof project... but I may try a green wall instead.

One of my faves -- a post-it note yellow sedum makinoi just seems to get clobbered by every semi-hard freeze we get.


Can you recommend a good recording of the Victoria Requiem?