American Farmhouse: How to Live on a Small Farmstead

At the front end of gardening in Georgia, newly graduated from SMU into Jimmy Carter's 21% interest rates and few jobs, I lived above a 3 car carriage house.  Built in the late teens of the last century, red brick, wood floors, high ceilings, 3 dormer windows, 2 bedrooms/1 bath, living room, kitchen/dining, and a huge deck in back, high on posts, overlooking 50 rolling, open/wooded acres, behind dense woods an east/west train track, unseen but not unheard, bordered the back property line, with 3 horses, my favorite, Dan, a dignified Tennessee Walker who reminded me of Cary Grant, if he were a horse in late life.
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After a year in the carriage house, Miss Louise died, and we moved into the Big House, a red brick/white trim Williamsburg, 5/4 and a door, circular drives at the front and back.  Elegant proportions & details, though not large, oak floors aged the color of north Georgia sourwood honey, and a garden evolved over decades into blooms everyday of the year spread amongst, azaleas, hydrangeas, camellias, roses, mahonia, gardenia, iris, lilac, lily of the valley, forsythia, daffodils, cherry trees, magnolias, viburnums, sweet shrub, red bud, and more.
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Almost 2 years later I built my starter home, tiny lot, less than a quarter acre, in a new cluster home subdivision.  
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There I learned to garden.  Added another degree, Horticulture, & more importantly, 2+ decades of travel across Europe studying historic landscapes.
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A few weeks ago, I moved from my starter home to the country, time lapse 33 years.
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Now, with Beloved, I'm in a white clapboard American Farmhouse, ca. 1900, wide chipping gray painted concrete steps, framed on one side with a plumbing pipe handrail, step on to a wide/deep front porch, and finally you're at the front door, original to the house, its brass bell, with a turn of the latch, still rings loud at 115 years old, 11' high beadboard ceilings, a central hall 9' x 50', heart of pine wood floors, 4.5 rolling acres, open/wooded, pond, historically sited with house close to the road and property line, century old pecan trees lining the street/sidewalk, leaving space for orchard, potager, pleasure garden, livestock, barn, sheds, drives, and views of the trailing Piedmont before it turns to Coastal plane, dotted with neighbor's dairy cattle.  Many views pure Thomas Cole, 1801-1848, founder of the Hudson River School painting style.
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A homestead garden.  Horticulture joined with agriculture.  A garden never meant for amusement, instead, stewardship.      
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It's not uncommon to reach 100f in summer, nor a cow to jump a fence into the garden, deer/fox/coyote ubiquitous, myriad ant species continually on the march, flying insects further evolved than their city counterparts, timber rattlers and happily king snakes too.  But I have gotten ahead of my story.  There are no pleasure gardens, potager, paths, barn, orchard, chicken coop, focal points on axis, potting shed.  Yet.  And the pond, rimmed with trees & an earthen damn threatening breach has not been touched in decades.  Exciting times.
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Cannot imagine a more perfect proscenium.  The play, ours to write, build, and live.
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Time, land, house, weather, the project list, day job, and division of labor between the sexes are dominate.  No pretending I have control over time, weather, or the rest of the list.  Lifestyle choices honed in the city aren't useful here.  This house, and property, have it right about life, I've moved into my beliefs.  Wendell Berry made this choice years ago.  Without awareness, choosing to live in this house and on this property was the action step of Joseph Campbell's, Follow your bliss, and Jung's, Our lives are about getting the outside to match the inside.
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By now, gravel drives, paths, parking courts, barn, wrap around porch at the back of the house, sheds moved, chicken coup built, interior painted, front porch stained, were all to have been completed and plantings ready to be resourced from growers.  Instead, it's a list, and the house/property are in charge.  During this, I'm realizing, is a rich life.  No more fighting city instincts, the choice is made, stay in the new chapters, let them grow.  Zero regrets moving here but surprised at the depths of change.
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An acre of land, above.  Glad I know how to steward ornamental horticulture with agriculture, this homestead, above, does not and it's an expensive mistake.  Do you see the mistake/s?  There are no plantings maximizing pollinators through out the year.  Why does it matter?  Maximum pollinator habitat increases agricultural yields up to 80%.  In addition, no fencing to keep predators out, nor crops eaten by deer/rabbits, and where are the car & small tractor parked?  Finding the source for this pic, Mother Earth News, I discovered a better assessment of this garden, here.
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Pic, above, via Tim Cuppett Architects, here.
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Knew from first visit to our property, gravel, lots of gravel.  Drives, lanes, paths, parking courts.   Gravel is easy to work, affordable, historically accurate.  Ironically, it's also the best choice for living with timber rattlers.    
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 Pic of Vita Sackville-West by Cecil Beaton at Sissinghurst.

Clothes to garden are an issue.  Choices are year round regardless of 101f, snakes win.  Boots.  Cowboy boots, pants, pockets, long sleeves all against snakes/insects, and the phone in case something does happen.  Taking a direct hit from a century old pecan tree branch falling has been a thought.  Muck shoes for the chicken coop, rubber boots for wet days, 2 pairs of everything, front/back doors are so far apart, there is no trudging between.
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 Pic from, I Love Your Style.  Shirt by Isabel Marant, trousers by TopShop, boots by Grenson.  

A client lent me Amanda Brooks, I Love Your Style, well before moving to the homestead.  Already enjoyed, now, much resonates differently.  My homestead chores differ from Beloved's, often leading to the obvious, I cook dinner, yet this took weeks to realize.  Cooking, grocery shopping, pantry resources are a foreign language.  Have hired an expert to teach me how to menu plan, pantry plan, grocery shop, and wildly unexpected, teaching me how to use the freezer as a tool.  Asked a friend for input too, so far, my cooking = shopping/pantry/freezer/refrigerator lessons are in the kindergarten class, which is grand improvement.            



Pic from Veranda magazine.

Furlow Gatewood stole my heart, at first sighting of his potted hydrangeas, above, lining a drive.  I will use Limelight hydrangea, they are tough for heat/sun, similar large pots (already resourced the vendor), and drip irrigation.  First in inspiration, alas, they will be one of the last items placed in the garden.  Do not want to adjust them once sited.  Hearing Beloved's, "You're damn right I won't move them...."
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Pic, above, via here.

When I'm ready to put a new roof on our shed, I'll show the architect this shed, above.

The garden shed, ca. 1900, we're moving has a functional shape, not aesthetic, and was covered in aluminum at some point.  Once moved, the shed will anchor the new orchard at the front, and woodland and rolling Piedmont hills & lake view at the back, with chicken coop incorporated.  Getting the aesthetics correct, the shed will get a new roof line, matching one on the house, with awnings encircling the whole.
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Pic, above, via here.

Our front porch had been stained, long faded away.  Concrete steps are chipping grey paint.  When I saw this porch, above, I knew I had to go with the green.  Then, I discovered a similar shade of green was used by George Washington & Thomas Jefferson at their homes.  Remembering then, Monet chose an incredible green for his front porch.  I've been to all 3 homes, loved each.  Beloved is stuck on gray.
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Pic, above, from My Design Chic, you'll like the link, it's all about kitchen gardens.

My orchard/potager, will be gravel not lawn, and more orchard than potager.  Keeping maintenance low, yet fruit/vegetables/flowers, abundant.  Truly, I thought I would be planting it this month?  Instead, the only thing done has been burying one of my favorite chickens killed in a night time attack.  She was dug up, (armadillo?) 2 nites in a row, I buried her 2 more times.  Finally, Beloved, without being asked, took her in his Caterpillar to the back woodland and buried her deep.    
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Pic, above, from my previous garden, espalier apples at the front curb.  

Looking out my front door, from the central hall, is a perfect view into my neighbor's front door.  I don't 'do' that type of view.  Not in my realm.  Not a large garden space, Espalier pear trees will be planted for my view.  Obviously a better view for Linda, my neighbor, too.
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  Beloved has requested an outdoor shower.  This one, above, is in a client's garden.
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Pic, above, from a client's garden.
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Have decided to scare myself with daffodil bulbs.  When the garden is ready for siting daffodils, I'm placing a huge order with Brent & Becky's Bulbs.  Enough to feel it in the checkbook, and in the back while planting for days/days in late fall.  Why is this so extremely appealing?
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I know how to create a homestead garden but in this new layer, I must know, more finely, what to do.  Agriculture is weighted more greatly than ornamental horticulture here.  Jefferson in reverse, an old gardener but new farmer.
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Where to get the fine details?  It's humorous, needing to learn what is beyond books, knowledge residing, now, in people, kindred spirits.  
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Maine is well ahead of me, their Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, even in their name, is creating a culture of knowledge to be passed forward.  At the top of their website is this, "The history of every Nation is eventually written in the way in which it cares for its soil." - Franklin D. Roosevelt.  Signing the Soil Conservation and Soil Conservation Allotment Act.
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"MOFGA is the oldest organic agriculture organization in the country and is committed to developing a strong network of organic farmers. This network has helped them to attract and train the next generation of Maine farmers. Their Journeyperson program has 52-participants this year. Their apprenticeship program has roughly 175 beginner participants, each of whom is paired with a more seasoned farmer who can share their knowledge, experiences and best practices."
from, Martha Stewart's blog, her entire post about MOFGA, here.
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Eliot Coleman, Four Season Farm, has decades of organic experience with agriculture, livestock, & horticulture, "  

"I know of no other person who can produce better results on the land with an economy of effort and means than Eliot. He has transformed gardening from a task, to a craft, and finally to what Stewart Brand would call 'local science'."
— Paul Hawken, best-selling author and entrepreneur "
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Martha Stewart has a lovely slide show about Four Season Farm, here.  
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Keynote lecturing last weekend I learned about a program in sustainable agriculture in Wisconsin.  More resources to glean and adapt.
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Years before knowing I would move into our homestead, I've been reading Thistle Cove Farm.  Now, I look forward to scrolling backwards and take a lot of notes, to apply at our small farm.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO T

Small Garden Landscapes: 2 Opposing Views.

In France I learned to Sky Scape, which is landscaping with trees.  Until then I had never considered landscaping the sky.  Small gardens, especially, respond to landscaping the sky.  Which is why my tiny cottage garden lived BIG.
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More, I use trees with contrasting foliage textures, and seasonal blooms/berries/fall color too.
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Spring, below, Sky Scape in my cottage garden, Chinese snowball & Kwanzan cherry.
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Last weekend I was keynote speaker at the Clayton County Master Gardener Extension Volunteers 10th Annual Symposium.  My topic, The Garden View.  Another speaker's topic, Gardening in Small Spaces.
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My lecture included bits about small space gardening too, since I had 3 decades in a small garden.
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Amazingly, their small space gardening & my small space gardening were 180 degrees from each other.  Their view looked down at the small garden, literally, below.  Which I enjoyed, seeing the various small plant combinations.


Pic, above, from Better Homes & Gardens.

Top/bottom pics are my view of small space gardens, looking up, into trees & sky.



Though small, my cottage garden, with Sky Scaping managed the cluster home subdivision beautifully.  Both top/bottom pics were shot in my front yard, at least a dozen houses encroaching.
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Not in my realm.
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Obviously, the sky view, and the view looking down are both important.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Amazing venue.  More amazing was the finished product of the symposium.  Catered lunch, folder with handouts and vendor discounts, vendor booths, raffle drawings, snacks, extra drinks, excellent audio/visual help, etc.  Thank you Clayton County Master Gardeners for making my job easy.

Focal Point: Design Both Ends

If you are looking at a beautiful focal point (bench, urn, front door, &tc), you must be able to be at that focal point, turn, look opposite, and have a beautiful view.
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This front porch, below, intriguing on its own, owns a great view in the opposite direction.
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An allee, below, of conifers.  Pruned into an arching view.



From the street view, below, the same conifers retain their full exterior silhouette, with no hint of the surprise allee within.



And, the gap in the hedge, above, is permission and invitation to enter.
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Big impact plantings, balancing scale to the house, and a welcome.  More importantly, low maintenance, drought tolerant and deer resistant.
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Ca. 1900, these pics, from Enclosure Take Refuge, who found them from,  *Photos by Detroit Publishing Co., via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, made me smile at recreating, their garden design.  My previous garden had the exact hedge, except it was cleyera punctuated with tea olive.  They were 'plant of the week' at $1.97 from my local family owned nursery.  My hunt was for evergreen, full sun, size.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara
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Adore those front steps, adore.  Though totally not to code in our era.  And the darkly stained wood.

How to Copy a Large Landscape into Your Small Space

Great example of historic/classic garden design in modernist disguise, below.



Don't have a rural property?  Your home is a classic 60's ranch in a sea of other 60's ranches?  Yes, you can have this landscape in your front yard.
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How?  What exchanges to make?
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The meadow/woodland, above, are the street & neighbors homes, so, block that view, keeping the rest of this incredible landscape design.  Behind the stone/cement walls, plant an evergreen hedge.   Choose for zone, height, drought tolerance, resistance to insects/disease, and deer.
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This landscape, above, is pure jewelry for a 60's ranch house in comparison to their builder installed  ubiquitous foundation plantings long ago pruned into green meat balls & meat loafs.  
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More, depending on the size of your site, this design, above, has plenty of room for a golf cart to zip around.
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Most odd, copying this landscape design, above, into a 60's ranch front yard provides the same elements of space, calm, and beauty as in the larger setting, above.  Promise.  It's one of those odd things you learn after decades of designing gardens.  The sky provides different types of magic, and confers 'size' to small spaces.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Pic from Gardenista.

What Happens When 2 Queens Take on Pot

After Scotland, weeks of studying historic gardens, I came home the Queen of Pots.
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Years later, I encountered another Queen of Pots, Deborah Silver, below.
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She put me into a new chapter.



Deborah's take on pots made me realize, "Perhaps I've been harming myself, by only doing 'my' Queens Pots."  Harm?  Embracing the seasons, in honor & thanks.  Enjoying hunting/gathering, assembling.



















My Queen's Pot, above, so wonderful it can be empty. or planted.
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Deborah took my theme, and didn't 'plant' in the traditional sense.  She creates exterior floral arrangements withstanding 'weather', for months.  Seeing her pots, why-didn't-I-think-of-that?
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Bottom line?  Choose pots so wonderful they can remain empty all year, AND you have a choice of adding an exterior floral arrangement.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara
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Bottom pic from my garden, top pics from Deborah's recent post.

Creating the Perfect Front Door

Had a pair of platform cross strap sandals the same yellow, below, in high school, called them my 'school bus' shoes.
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Of course I clicked on the picture, for the yellow, then was delighted further.
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Length of the steps is gracious plenty, much too rare, and the real winner, placement of the urns.
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100% outside the door zone, no crowding, making the entry appear smaller.  The urns color, height & width, perfect.  More, they could be empty and still fabulous.  Better, notice the lack of foundation planting?  Swoon.
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Interior of this home, speaking from the curb.



Simple is hard.
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I spend a lot of time in my car going to jobsites, my little van is too noisy to hear when talking on the phone, so, it's the stereo.  Full spectrum, Mozart, Cole Porter, Edith Piaf, Willie Nelson, Bob Seger, The Cars, U2, you get the idea.  A lyric that goes deep, each time heard, Zac Brown's, "I've got everything I need, and nothing that I don't."
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Simple is hard, and that line should be the basis of a hymn.  A song of praise & thanks, sometimes a quest.
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It describes this front door, above, and garden.  Perhaps it should be a last question, designing your garden, "Does it have everything it needs, and nothing it doesn't?"  My last question, for years, designing a garden, when done, "What can I take away & it still holds together?"
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Garden & Be Well,   XO T
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Pic via Content in a Cottage.
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I always pack lunch for the car, today, waiting to be grabbed when I leave, by the front door on the table, peanut butter sandwich, raisins, apple, banana.  Have you read, Pillars of the Earth?  They were always packing lunch, bread/cheese/ale.  Can you imagine a crusty sourdough homemade bread, cheese from your own cow, who only eats from the pasture, and local brew ale?  Don't want the ale for lunch but the comparison always draws a smirk from me when packing my own bland road trip work lunches.

Flying Buttress in the Landscape

At first meeting, enchanted.  Understood, "You're a flying buttress."
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Frame your home, the garden, create rooms, mystery, with little effort.   Little input, big impact, what's not to like?
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Cathedrale Notre Dame de Paris has fly buttresses, shouldn't your home?
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Not a Garden Whisperer?  Don't see, below, a flying buttress?
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It's the evergreen hedge, scalloped higher at its end.
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Same flying buttress, below, inside view, vanishing threshold.



Another layer of interest, and function, below, in the garden.
 


Another 'ideal' to achieve, above,  See it without me mentioning it?
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Garden only.  No 'stuff'.  Ubiquitous USA plastic hose carriage on wheels tethered to a faucet, blessedly absent.  Common USA resin sign, "Welcome", blessedly absent.  Fluttering nylon flag in garish colors "Seasons Greetings".....
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Arcadia created.  And, lived.  No signs, flags, intentions.  Intellect engaged, action steps taken, lives well lived amongst chaos given to all.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Pics from Pentreath-Hall.
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This is a Voysey house.  Discovered Voysey by accident, researching an old hall tree I bought in the mid-80's.  It's a Voysey ! Second antique I ever purchased, go me!

Hydrangeas: Beauty, Pruning, Borers

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”  Anais Nin. 
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Hydrangea, friend.  We met in college, she changed every thing.  Not that I knew.  Her beauty, for sure, then realizing her ease.  Finally, understanding the unspoken.  This koan, a moment of intuitive enlightenment, in Earth time, for me, 2+ decades.
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The serpent enters.  Late frosts pale in comparison.
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Pruning hydrangeas had been talk of old wood, new wood, remontant, timing.  Now, enters, hydrangea cane borer.
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I've lost several hydrangeas due to, Hydrangea Cane Borer.




Hydrangea cane borers enter freshly pruned canes, tunnel down, and by the time you 'see' trouble, your plant is dead, or mostly there.






When pruning hydrangea canes, tip each cut with glue.  More, here.
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Garden & Be Well,    XO Tara
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Top pic I shot in Susanne Hudson's garden, bottom pics shot in my cottage garden.

Boxwood Fungus: We No Longer Design/Plant Boxwoods

Gardening is a safe lover to give your heart to.  She asks for everything you've got, in the wildest seduction.  Layers of intellect, strength, spirit, & more, you give.  Garden gives back, wildly, beyond measure.  A dirty lover, Garden dresses you in her garb, soil, foundation of life.  Bathing Her off, is privilege.
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Like cows in Pasture, Nature smiles at us on her Pasture.  We plant into Garden, we gussie her up with paths, houses, pots, benches, arbors, lighting, yet nothing compared to Garden's creations.  Think Grand Tetons, for starters.
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Fortunate souls tap into Garden's love, gaining insight, energy, answers, ideas, calm, the list is long.   Alexander Pope, ca. 1625, said it best, "God Almighty first planted a Garden."  We should do less?
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Susanne Hudson, her garden, below, called a few days ago, her boxwoods, over 300+ so far, dead/removed, due to the boxwood fungus.  Sharing her story, the facts of infection to death/removal, a timeline of many weeks.
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A few questions, then I said, "They are your sanity", "I know", she said.  Susanne is a matriarch, easily giving of her time/talents/grace to elderly parents, siblings, children & grandchildren, even her town.  Watering her boxwood, tapping into her relationship with Garden, has been the nurturing of sanity, calm, taking life's yoke with Garden, "my yoke is easy and my burden is light".     



Pic, above, by Tara Dillard, Susanne Hudson's garden, here.



Pic, above, Madison Cox Design, here.



Pic, above, Pinterest, here.
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I will not design or install boxwoods for clients until there is a cure found for boxwood fungus.
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No garden exists at our ca. 1900 American farmhouse.  Beloved & I have heated discussions about every Garden choice, except one, from the first, we knew 4 huge boxwoods would be bought from our supplier in North Carolina, and planted at the front porch.  No expense spared.  And, the only purchase at our new home with, "No expense spared", as an expectation.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara

Save Money: Do Not Replace Old Windows

Looking into your windows, from the garden, is a major element of Garden Design.
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Look into a window & see the back of a TV?  Not in my realm.
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Moving into a ca. 1900 American farmhouse, we were fortunate it retains every original window.
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Apparently Beloved thought our windows would not remain.  Instead, vinyl double glass energy efficient would be installed.  Really?
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Not in my realm.
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Yesterday, voila, found the math allowing me to keep every wavy lined leaded glass pane.  And save on energy costs.  Prior to this new information all I could tell Beloved was Jane Austen could not have written her books, looking thru energy efficient windows.




From an article, here, written by, Keith Haberern Professional Engineer, R.A. Chairman: Collingswood,NJ, Historic District Comm.

♦ U value of a single pane window (that old wood window): 1.10
 ♦ U value of a single pane window combined with a storm window: 0.50
 ♦ U value of an expensive new double pane thermal replacement window: 0.58
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 (remember that the lower the U value the better. You will note that your old wood window combined with a storm window is about 15% more energy efficient than that new replacement window. Those new windows will cost you, not save you money.)
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So I don’t have storm windows, the ads say I can save big bucks and lots of energy by replacing those “old” wood windows with replacement windows- right? My “old” windows have beautiful wood and wavy antique glass but they must be costing me a bundle?
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 ♦ Yearly energy saving between a single pane window and a new double pane thermal replacement window (on one 3’ x 5’ window): 625,922 Btu
 ♦ Annual savings per window if using gas heat at $0.95/therm: $9.65/ year
 ♦ Simple payback if you assume a decent replacement window will cost $400 installed: $400/ $9.65 year = 41 ½ years!!
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 (Not a good investment. You would do better by putting your money in a bank savings account! Also remember that as most thermal replacement windows will have a life span of 15 to 20 years, they will not last long enough to pay themselves off.)


Pic, www.OldHouseWeb.com.
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Another story, from the same link, below.
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When faced with $12,000 for replacing 21 existing windows in his own house, Don Hartley, Utah State Historical Society architect, figured a 77 year payback on the so-called “investment.” Instead he refinished, weather-stripped and added storms for $5000. and took $7000 to the bank. See the full article, WHEN YOUR WINDOWS WANTATTENTION .
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New windows are not meant to be repaired when they die.  Merely replaced.
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And, storm windows don't look like they did when I was a child, they've grown up too.
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Garden & Be Well,     XO Tara

The Telegraph: News in Gardens

With Google's keyword search certain people/topics slip into my mailbox, without effort.  Today, Gertrude Jekyll, in The Telegraph, arrived with more good links you'll want to read.  Save for later if you're busy, you'll like all of them.  Apples, politicians, boxwood health, bulbs inside for winter.
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These aren't projects, below, they're easy, fun, pretty.  Projects?  Not for me.

Plant projects to see you through winter

  1 of 11 View All

Pic, The Winter Garden by Emma Hardy,by CICO Books (£14.99). To order your copy for £12.99 plus p&p call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Boxwoods are planned for the front of our ca. 1900 American farmhouse.  May change those plans, and, will I draw boxwoods into client gardens?   With a warning, and no guarantee, yes, will put them in client gardens.  Make up your own mind, read below.  

From diseases to caterpillars: is it time to give up on box?

BOX HEDGES IN THE BOURTON HOUSE KNOT GARDEN CREDIT: ALAMY

Think gardening is not political?  California jurisdictions are considering making water a commodity.  What does this mean for you?  Have a pond on your property, and it's a government commodity, you cannot use the water without permission.  For starters.  More lightheartedly, politics & gardening, below.

Plotting the course of history: why Corbyn (and other politicians) love their gardens

THE PRIME MINISTER, THE RT HON WINSTON CHURCHILL, WITH HIS CHIEFS OF STAFF IN THE GARDEN OF NO. 10, 1945CREDIT: IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUMS

Meet Gertrude Jekyll, below.  Have loved knowing her since the early 80's.

Clue up on GertrudeJekyll, gardening's forgotten woman

GERTRUDE JEKYLL CREDIT: ENGLISH HERITAGE/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES 

How to have apples all year round

APPLE TREES CAN BE TRAINED TO ALL SORTS OF DESIGNS CREDIT: ALAMY

Garden & Be Well,   XO T

Best Dimensions for A Gravel Patio

Perhaps my little stories about gardening should be set within proper context, of their owners.  Every garden designed demands honoring its site, architecture of the home, and lives of the owners.  More than the mundane of plants liked, features wanted or where the main views from inside the house are, well designed gardens must travel with the owner's hopes & dreams, salve arrows & defeats, enrich beyond expectation.  And more.
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Last week, I went to an unexpected new client.  Friend of a client's garden I was at, she phoned & laughingly told my client she should bring me to her house when done, if I had time.  We did.
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Miss Unexpected owns an unexpected home.  Divorced/working, children, she rented a home as a base while looking for the 'perfect' new home.  Her landlord called, the rental house was being sold.  One child was very ill, she had zero time/energy to move again.  She bought the rental.
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Interiors mostly renovated, the landscape ripe for its turn.  A modest home, a covered/screened porch had been added at some point.  Not cheaply made, alas, poorly designed.  If a group of psychiatrists needs a setting to guarantee depression for all who enter, for purposes of testing new methods of healing, this is the space.
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Trying hard to salvage, at minimum, the roof, I could not.  Best plan for the existing screened porch, dumpster in the driveway, & hauled off.
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Once children are thru high-school Miss Unexpected will be moving to acreage she was raised on, and build a home.  Providing me a timeline & budget.  No matter the budget, one must live beautifully each day, life is not the end point, it's all the days leading there.    
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Gravel.  Beautiful, easy labor, cost effective.
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A kitchen door, solely, opens onto the new gravel terrace.  I added another door in her family room, now, a window.  Better flow, more use.  Game changer for how they live in the house, and entertain.



Pic from here.

Miss Unexpected has a slight slope in her backyard, stones, as below, must be used to edge the gravel, and ease of leveling the space.
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Pic from here.
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Minimum size for a patio terrace, 12' x 18'.  Less than this, don't bother, it will hardly be used, too cramped.
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We measured & set flags for her new gravel terrace, and I added a metal shed roof over 1/2 of the new space.  Ceiling fans/chandeliers, of course.
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Cost.  Amazingly, with stones/gravel delivered, she can do the labor herself.  She plans to, not to save money, she grew up on a farm and thrives upon the activity.
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Further away from the house, I put in a gravel terrace with a stone fire ring, and Adirondack chairs. Mom, her kids, dogs, friends who come over and that hunk of a man she's dating, have a new playground.
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Garden design with life story included, Mary Poppins completed her mission, off to another home/garden.
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Garden & Be Well,   XO Tara