I went back for my 25th college reunion this weekend, which reinforced my belief that college is wasted on the young — or, at least, that the young are wasted in college. Anyway, unlike Undergrad Me, Alumna Me actually attended a class inside a science building. The topic was vertical farming, an innovative practice of … Continue reading Growing Up: Vertical Garden Tour
I ordered a rain barrel for my Mother's Day gift, and last week I installed it in a corner of my yard where it has always been difficult to drag a garden hose. I pretty much can't shut up about how much I love my rain barrel, which makes it a snap to water beds … Continue reading Roll Out the Rain Barrels
You might remember last fall when Buttercup was busy making wooden games -- including Build Me Up Blocks and Build Me Up Battle -- with the very talented woodworker Pat McFadden. Since then, Pat has been putting her considerable carpentry skills to work on a gorgeous hexagonal garden bench, to protect the base of a … Continue reading Garden Variety Carpentry
If you feel like everything in the real estate and construction market is really expensive, it's not your imagination. In April, The Tennessean reported Nashville real estate prices were 13 percent higher than a year earlier. Meanwhile, lumber prices are at record highs. A Nashville lumber yard recently circulated a letter citing research that says the … Continue reading Timber! When Lumber Supply Falls
Any given day at The Wills Company office, there's a 12-foot strip of custom carved crown moulding lying on the floor, awaiting installation along the ceiling of a Nashville house. Chances are it was carved by Stephens Millwork. The Stephens family founded the company in 1918 and operated for many years out of the Shelby Bottoms … Continue reading Jewel in the Crown Moulding
A few months ago, I visited my former TCATN construction school classmate Maher Farag on the job at 1220 Exhibits in Nashville. A brilliant cabinetmaker, Maher was hard at work building exhibits for a museum that was opening in the spring. Mum was the word, so, as much as I wanted to brag on Maher, … Continue reading TCATN Grad Helps Build Equal Justice Initiative Museum
My colleagues at The Wills Company recently devised and executed a storage solution that is so clever I had to share. Here was the situation: A basement crawlspace accessible by removing a hatch from the floor of a coat closet. Sure, that sounds innovative enough in and of itself, until you consider that a 2x4 … Continue reading It’s a Gas, Gas, Gas
To those of you who would say the world is going to hell in a handbasket, let me offer you a rebuttal: Today, when I checked the little library in my front yard, I found a quilted heart. Yes, a heart that is quilted. Apparently, I'm not the only person in the world to find … Continue reading Be Still, My Quilted Heart
Nashville may be It City with a population near a million, but sometimes it still feels like a small town. Like the other day, when I caught up with my landscape gardening friend Peter Anderson. I met Peter about a decade ago, and I still credit/blame him with sending me down my "path of construction." … Continue reading A Constant Gardener
You might notice that Build Me Up Buttercup recently got a new subtitle. Where it used to say "Middle-Aged Mom in Construction School," now it just says "Middle-Aged Mom in Construction." That's because I finished Building Construction Technology classes in December and went to work for The Wills Company, a design-build firm in Nashville, down … Continue reading Pomp and Circumstance
Build Me Up, Buttercup 