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Memories of Queen Elizabeth II from a Walla Walla gardener |
The first time I met Queen Elizabeth was on a Monday afternoon the third week of May, 2003 at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. The occasion was the opening day of the flower show, a day anticipated, planned and worried over for a solid previous year. Proposals to participate in the show are submitted almost a year in advance to the Royal Horticultural Society. For over 100 years the show has been held the third week in May, the date and occurrence only disrupted by the World Wars and lately COVID-19. It is held on the grounds of the Royal Hospital in the Chelsea district of London, a venerable…
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U.S. will turn into a buyers’ housing marke in 2023, most experts say. Here’s where you’ll see the biggest declines.
Frustrated by the housing market? Housing experts say they’re expecting the market to tip back into buyers’ court by 2023, according to a new report. Mortgage rates are approaching 7%, but home prices are only slowly coming back down and inventory is still tight compared to pre-pandemic levels. Still, the U.S. housing market will shift in favor of home buyers by the end of 2023, 44% of 107 economists and housing experts polled by real-estate company Zillow for its Home Price Expectations Survey said. And 12% of these experts believed that shift will happen sooner — that is, this year. Yet roughly 45% of experts surveyed by Zillow say buyers…
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12 Best Christmas Gonk Decorations
very.co.uk Gonks — ornamental gnome-like figurines — have become one of the most sought-after Christmas decorations for 2022. From bedding to tree decorations, the gonk trend is showing no sign of slowing down. But what exactly are they? What is a gonk? According to Scandinavian folklore, gonks guard the home and protect people from misfortune. It’s thought that many Nordic households would leave out a bowl of porridge during the winter solstice so that gonks could feast and join in with the festivities. Over the years, these stories and traditions stayed with the locals, and gonks eventually came to be paired with Christmas. Commenting on the popularity of gonks, a…
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10 Of The Best Bed And Bath Remodels From Fixer Upper
Rob Kim/Getty Images Known for their innovative and authentic style, stars of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper” Chip and Joanna Gaines often focus on remodeling recently purchased homes that need plenty of grunt work, giving them a new style inside and out. The real estate and design duo hosted five seasons of the original show and returned in 2021 with the Discovery+ series “Fixer Upper: Welcome Home.” With a modern farmhouse flair habitually showcased throughout, the creative couple continues to transform drab houses into dream homes. For their bathroom remodels, depending on the space and interest of the client, the Gaines’ might expand on smaller spaces of a bathroom by removing superfluous walls. Then they…
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Family’s mysterious ‘Stranger Things’ Halloween decoration wows
With Halloween just a month away, one Illinois family’s epic decorations are delighting and baffling fans far and wide. David and Aubrey Appel of Plainfield, Illinois, are the masterminds behind a levitating young woman in front of their house, which just so happens to be the fictional Max Mayfield, played by actress Sadie Sink, from the hit show “Stranger Things.” Their eye-popping stunt is featured prominently in a now-viral TikTok video post that has social media users wondering just how they pulled off such sorcery. Courtesy David and Aubrey Appel Aubrey and David Appel love to go all out for their home’s annual Halloween decorations. The post, which has accumulated…
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Ten residences with deliberately unfinished interiors
A holiday home in northern Italy that was decorated on a budget and a Hackney apartment with exposed concrete walls are among the residences in this lookbook, which showcases interiors that have been left purposely unfinished. Peeling wallpaper, floors that have been left untreated and hanging cables give character to these interior design projects, which look as though they’ve been abandoned halfway through decorating. By stripping back the properties down to their shells, the interior designers have given the occupants of these homes the chance to complete them according to their own tastes and resources – whether that be filling them with quirky items or keeping them minimalist. This is…