A Tropical Garden Adjacent to Your Bedroom: Why not?!

By Larry Rettig (LarryR) February 17, 2008

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My wife was somewhat skeptical—okay, actually aghast—when I approached her about my yen to build a tropical garden in the midst of three bedrooms on the second floor of our 108-year-old home.

We already have three bedrooms, I reasoned, and there are only two of us, so we certainly don't need them all. Besides, there's a fourth room up there that's pretty much vacant. As a Zone 5 gardener smitten by tropical plants, this proposal made perfect sense to me.

Let the Negotiations Begin

"This is absolutely absurd! How are the plants going to survive up there without sunlight? You can't cram them all in front of the windows."

"Fluorescent grow lights."

"How are you going to get those big, heavy pots up there?"

"With a dolly."

"What if the pots leak or overflow and the water comes down through the ceiling into our dining room?" (which, much to my chagrin, actually happened several years later because I forgot to caulk a section of baseboard!)

"I'll think of something."

"Are you planning to have plants all over the room?"

"Yes."

"Well, I need to have a place for my sewing machine and some additional storage space."

"That's fine. I'll figure something out."

As you may have surmised by now, my wife of 45 years is truly a saint.

The Plan Unfolds

Having gained my wife's reluctant consent, I spent the next three weeks or so coming up with design ideas. I'm not very good at drawing up plans on paper, so I worked things out in my head. The time to do this, I discovered, was at night in bed before falling asleep. That's when the best ideas came to me.

First, I worked out a space compromise with my wife. The vacant room measures 15 feet by 15 feet. One third would be devoted strictly to plants, one third to a patio and a few more plants, and one third to a sewing room and storage.

The plant and patio parts were easy. I partitioned off the garden third of the room from the patio third by installing a latticework wall with a doorway in the middle of the wall to provide access to the garden from the patio. On the patio side of the lattice, I built narrow "raised beds" filled with rocks and sand that would hold additional plants.

In the garden proper, I used the same rock-and-sand mixture. Before putting it down, I exposed the brick on an exterior wall (see photo at left) to give some added interest. Then I sealed the wooden floor with roof sealer and covered that with 20-year rubber pond liner. The sand and rocks would provide a great deal of surface area from which water could evaporate to create a humid atmosphere. Pots could drip and leak to their heart's content, as the water was captured by the out-of-sight rubber barrier.

Next, I dropped the nine-foot ceiling down a foot and a half in the garden, so potted plants situated on the floor would receive adequate light. I installed a bank of 11 fluorescent light fixtures, using inexpensive "shop lights," and spaced them about a foot and a half apart. If you've ever checked out grow-light bulbs that purport to simulate the entire spectrum of sunshine, you know that they're very expensive. I solved that problem by purchasing both ordinary grow-light bulbs ("wide spectrum" Sylvania GrowLux), which represent primarily the warm spectrum, and "cool white" bulbs to cover the rest of the spectrum. Each fixture has one of each kind of bulb. An added bonus is the fact that the heat from the bulbs is sufficient to heat the entire room, no furnace or heater needed. The lights are on a timer, providing plants with 14 hours of daylight.

As a final touch, I added a fountain with a small pool. A concealed pump lifts the water from the pool up to a small downward-slanting trough. I filled the trough with activated charcoal, using a few rocks from the floor to retain the charcoal particles. This arrangement serves both to purify and oxygenate the water as it trickles through the trough and splashes back into the pool below without the need for an expensive filtering system. I stocked the pool with the obligatory goldfish.

Mindful of the fact that I would be adding a great deal of weight to the floor, I chose brick veneer and ceramic tile for the patio surface and installed them right over the wooden floor. Veneer probably wouldn't have been necessary, given the huge oak and walnut beams used by my forebears when they constructed this house, but I wasn't taking any chances. I most definitely did not want to hear what my wife had to say if the entire garden came crashing down into our dining room!

The Challenge

The real challenge was that last third of the room. How on earth would I create a space for sewing and storage, especially one that was compatible with a garden? It was at this juncture that our outside gardens, and in particular the brick cottage located there, were to provide the necessary inspiration: Why not build a cottage?

Given the limited space, I quickly came to the conclusion that I could only build a partial façade. To give the illusion of a complete structure, I built the roof so that it comes right out of the nine-foot ceiling where it meets the wall that separates the garden room from the master bedroom. The roof slopes down gently toward the patio to a six-foot height at the front of the façade. An entryway divides the cottage in half, with the door to our bedroom serving as the (faux) entry door to the cottage.

I wanted to use actual brick for the cottage exterior, given that the real cottage is of brick and that I had exposed the brick on one wall of the garden. Again, visions of a tangle of plants, pots, and plaster on our dining room floor from the added weight dissuaded me from doing so. I settled for brick paneling, accented with rough cedar plank "half-timbering."

The portion of the cottage on the left-hand side of the entryway became the sewing room and the portion on the right-hand side the storage room. I added a window and a window box to the sewing room side, so that my wife could sit and sew while viewing the tranquil garden outside. I finished the interior wall with the same brick paneling that I used for the outside, but covered it with stucco, exposing patches of brick here and there as I went. I covered the floor with a remnant of emerald green carpeting.

Inside the storage half of the cottage, I installed shelves, created stucco walls, and painted the bare wooden floor.

Perhaps you're wondering at this point how we get inside the cottage, since the entry door leads into the bedroom. The side walls of the cottage entryway are actually doors into the two cottage halves. From the outside, there is really no way to tell that the doors are there, unless you push against them. I installed spring-loaded hinges, so that the doors would need no telltale handles, would simply push open, and would close on their own.

Time for a Break

As I conclude this article, it's dark out, there's a foot or so of snow and ice on the ground, topped off by temperatures in the single digits and winds howling at 40 miles per hour. But in our tropical garden it's still daylight, the temperature is balmy, and the trade winds are calm. You'll have to excuse me now. It's time to go have a tall, cool one and catch some rays.

About Larry Rettig   An enthusiastic gardener for over 50 years, my first plant was a potted Meyer Lemon tree ordered from a comic book ad at age 15. I still have it, and it’s still bearing lemons! My wife and I garden on 3/4 of an acre, both flowers and vegetables. Although our garden is private, it's listed with the Smithsonian Institution as a national heritage garden and is on the National Register of Historic Places. We garden organically and no-till. Our vegetable garden contains a seed bank of vegetables brought to this country from Germany in the mid-1800s. An article on our gardens appears in the Spring 2008 issue of Country Gardens magazine. For more info: http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/m/LarryR/. Photos that appear in my articles without credit are my own.

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Subject: Garden Tour

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Posted by drapelady (from Denham Springs, LA) on February 20, 2008 at 3:28 PM:

What an awesome article and wonderful, ingeneous use of space. I looked in the Garden Tour section to see if you have one there. I wish you would create a Garden Tour of all of your plantings, inside and out. What a treat that would be.

Debbie

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 20, 2008 at 5:55 PM:

Hi Debbie--Thanks so much for the compliment. I'm relatively new to DG and spend most of my time at the Writers Forum and writing articles. I do want to get to know other folks and forums. I'll check out the Garden Tour soon. In the meantime, you're welcome to browse my blog at [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] It contains descriptions of our gardens, our seed bank, artwork, poetry, and lots of photos.

Larry

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Posted by rubyw (from Crozet, VA) on February 20, 2008 at 5:23 AM:

Aaaahhhh Larry - I knew there were others who think like I do. For a couple of years now, I have been wanting to do something along these lines. Being of the female persuasion and not having any experience with building construction, I don't have the skills necessary to do something to this magnitude. You have stirred the desire in me to begin working towards taking our spare room and making a garden room out of it.

You have certainly done a beautiful job with your tropical paradise. Ohhh...to be there while the fierce and icy winds blow outside, is a dream. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. It shows me that what I am thinking of doing is possible after all.

Great article.

Ruby

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 20, 2008 at 11:40 AM:

Many thanks for the compliment, Ruby. :-) I'll be more than happy to do anything I can at this end to help you realize your dream. Please feel free to contact me whenever you have questions. You might just be surprised at how much you can do yourself. In my book, being female is not an obstacle! :-) Larry

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Posted by rubyw (from Crozet, VA) on February 21, 2008 at 7:57 AM:

Thanks for the vote of confidence. The only thing that I know is going to happen fairly quickly is that we are installing a sliding glass door to the spare room in a couple of months. It will open on to outside deck and make it easier taking houseplants outside for warm months. There are already a lot of houseplants in the spare room but it is not set up the way I would for it to be. So far, I haven't the foggiest idea of how to proceed after that. So, I might have to holler at you some times. Thanks for the offer.

Ruby

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 21, 2008 at 3:05 PM:

Anytime, Ruby :-)

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 11:41 PM:

This is a rare fern, "Fluffy Ruffles," that I've had for about 25 years. I've only had to repot it twice!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 11:37 PM:

Looking out from garden toward cottage window

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 11:10 PM:

This plant is over 7 feet tall

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 11:07 PM:

Looking toward the hallway entrance

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 11:02 PM:

This door actually leads to our bedroom

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 10:59 PM:

This is a view to your left as you enter the garden

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 10:55 PM:

This is the interior of the right-hand side of the tropical garden area. As you can see, I have hanging plants as well as stationary ones on the floor. Can you identify them all?

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 9:47 PM:

Here is the first photo again, hopefully smaller this time.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 9:37 PM:

Shelair has asked for additional photos (all the way from Spain!), so here they are:
This first one is taken through a second entrance into the garden (from the upstairs hallway)

Sorry, this image is too large, at least on my monitor. I'll try again.



This message was edited Feb 18, 2008 7:42 PM

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Posted by olyenka (from Colorado Springs, CO) on February 18, 2008 at 7:24 PM:

I'm in zone 5 too, and with the same dream about a tropical paradize, sarrounding me. Thank you for this wonderful idea.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 10:34 PM:

Thanks for writing, olyenka. And you're welcome! :-) Larry

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Posted by frata (from Yonkers, NY) on February 18, 2008 at 6:57 PM:

Just read your article and think the room is great. I too have an inside garden room, but it is not built to the extent that you built yours. About 20 years ago, as my tropical plant collection continued to grow, I started this garden room. On one wall we installed an 8ft Lord and Burnham greenhouse window. The room has two additional regular windows besides. There are also 7 florescent light fixtures mounted on the ceiling and walls. These stay on about 12 to 14 hours a day. The room is packed with banana trees. palms, a toubichina, a screwpine, various draceanas and other miscellaneous tropicals. This room is used all winter long to house these plants as I have run out of room in my 10 x 17 greenhouse. In the summer, they are all put outside. There are approximately 200 plants packed into this room so humidity isnt a problem. The only place where occasional mildew turns up is around the greenhouse window where the humidity is probably higher than the rest of the room. Again, you have a great garden room there. I'm glad I am not the only obsessive tropical plant freak out there who just cannot get enough of them and the hot environment they thrive in.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 10:45 PM:

Thanks for your kind comments and for sharing your tropical garden story, frata. I'm happy to learn that I'm not the only one out there who indulges their plant whims. 200 plants in one room--WOW! I'll bet your outdoor garden is spectacular during the growing season with all those potted plants. I envy you for your greenhouse. My wife and I live in a historic district where permanent greenhouses are not allowed. Thanks again for sharing. Best--Larry

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Posted by marwood0 (from Golden, CO) on February 18, 2008 at 5:00 PM:

Larry,

Great idea and looks fantastic! I made a budget arboretum in my spare bedroom, complete with tropical plants, kiddie pool pond, fountain, waterplants, fish, snails, and crayfish. I even raised some quail and some orphaned sparrows in there. Since money was an object, I just set everything on the carpet or on patio stones on the carpet. I hung 8 florescent shop lights at various levels in the room, and make a brick shelf for sprouting seeds too. From the outside at night, light blasted through windows as if some alien spaceship was landing in my house.

It was great! For a while at least. In the summer, sun coming in through the windows would heat up the room to 100 degrees or more, along with lowering the humidity and killing off some of the plants (my house has no air conditioning). Dead leaves would fall in the pond and were always clogging up the pump. It was hard to keep up the pond water level from evaporation (ambient RH here is around 15%~30%). The water turned green too, and it was a lot of work to clean, so eventually I just left it greenish-brown. In the winter, the room stayed pretty warm with all the lights and an added heater, but the humidity still got too low, and with little winter sunlight, the 8 lights were not enough to keep some of the tropical plants growing. I added a humiodifier, but another problem was the electrical bill. I calculated that it cost me something like $7 per shop light per month in electricity to keep up (or about $60) and changing out the light bulbs every 6 weeks (because they lose efficiency) cost almost as much.

Finally, I started having children and it had to all go outside. Without a proper environment, most of the plants died over the next year, and I only have a few remaining window plants to hold me over through the winter until I can garden outside again.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 10:32 PM:

Thanks for sharing your story, Marwood0. Life does bring changes! :-) Perhaps when your children have flown the nest and you get to be my age, you'll have the room and inclination to try again. And you'll have learned from your prior experience. BTW, great photo of you and your son (daughter?)! Best--Larry

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Posted by shelair on February 18, 2008 at 1:43 PM:

Here in Spain this would be impractical but I have to say the idea is superb, pictures look amazing; can we have a few more? Good luck with the project , I'm very envious .....................................

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 3:19 PM:

Many thanks, shelair. What a pleasant surprise to get a post all the way from Spain! :-) Of course you can have a few more photos. The space is small enough so that I can't get any photos of the whole room in one shot, but I'll see what I can do. I'll try to post some more here later today. At the moment our dogs are bugging us for their afternoon walk-- in about 18 inches of snow! We had our third blizzard of the season yesterday. :-( I'm also in the midst of remodeling an upstairs bathroom and need to finish some wiring so that I can turn the electricity back on. After that I'll work on the photos. Best--Larry

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Posted by shelair on March 6, 2008 at 1:12 PM:

Hi Larry

Apologies for taking so long in replying. Thank you very much for the photographs. Do keep us updated on how the project progresses>
Here in Southern Spain we've bought a 5 year old house 16 months ago; built upon an old Almond terrace. There are 3 other terraces below us. The previous owners were not gardeners so most of the land became a wilderness. Over time we have managed to clear huge amounts of weeds, dig out dead almond trees [very difficult but rewarding ..........] then set about planning each terrace.
Each terrace is about 130 feet long x 40 feet wide. The 10m x 5 salt water pool is already in and working; we've planted small shrubs and from palms, near the pool but are careful not to plant anything that will drop its flowers in the water etc.
On the 3rd and final terrace we've started planning fruit and vegetable garden. Already sown are seed potatoes and 20 assorted soft fruit bushes [blackcurrant, loganberries, kiwi] . I intend to experiement with other vegetables but as we live in a very very arid area some of the plants won't survive but its a learning curve!
We do have various citrus and soft `fruit trees; cherry, pear, peach and pear plus a number of very old almond trees [last year we managed to collect 30kgs from the almond trees, and they hadn't been tended for years! so this coming year should be even more plentiful]
Anyway, at some point I'll attach some pictures for you to , hopefully?, see the progress we've made.

Have a good week.

Regards

geoff

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on March 6, 2008 at 6:17 PM:

Your project sounds wonderful, Geoff! Especially since the great outdoors in Iowa is covered with a deep blanket of snow and ice right now. Please do send me photos. I'm very interested in how you're creating what sounds like a piece of paradise. In my youth, I used to visit a relative who had a terraced slope. I think there were four or five terraces. They were planted with vegetables and fruit trees. In later years they were mostly neglected and overrun with weeds. The apple and pear trees still bore fruit, but it was barely edible due to insects and disease. I used to dream about how I would redo the terraces into a fabulous landscape with flowers and trees, steps leading from one terrace to the next, and interesting wooden structures. One of those structures became reality recently, when I installed it in one of our garden areas. Unfortunately, we have no terraces, as our property is basically flat. I'll send you a D-mail with a photo of the structure, which I call a "decorative lath house." I look forward to hearing from you again. Best--Larry

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Posted by woodspirit1 (from Lake Toxaway, NC) on February 18, 2008 at 8:27 AM:

I work with preservation groups and a museum. My preservation group locally designates sites for their future preservation.
I absolutely love the setting and landscaping of your National Register property. As for the interior, you can do almost anything there without damaging the architectural integrity of the building. Obviously, HVAC systems, as well as electrical and plumbing systems have to be updated.
A garden in an unused area was perfect for the space you had.I also think it enhances the interior. Good work! Very imaginative!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 4:23 PM:

Thanks so much for your kind remarks, woodspirit1. If you ever find yourself in the Midwest, we'd love to have you come to South Amana. Not only can we show you our gardens, but we'd enjoy showing you the extensive preservation work that has been done in all seven Amana villages. We also have a museum that regularly wins awards. Larry

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Posted by woodspirit1 (from Lake Toxaway, NC) on February 23, 2008 at 10:07 PM:

So cool. Can ;you give me the name of the museum so I can visit it on the internet?
I am helping a new group clean out an old cowboy museum and rebuild it into a local history museum. It is unimaginable to most folks why there was a cowboy museum in the mountains of NC. Well, the museum was named after Jim Bob Tinsley, who lived a lot in the west and even worked as a cowboy. But his passion was the preservation of old cowboy songs; many almost lost from the face of American History.
He was a great singer, dating back from radio days, and quite a character. Once he passed away, the museum lost its heart and engine and struggled to stay open. So, items have been moved to more appropriate places and we will keep a small, changing exhibit on him. He wrote several other books on subjects that interested him including the puma, the sailfish, and of course, the old cowboy songs. Bob was from Transylvania County here in the NC mountains and wrote a book called "The Land of Waterfalls." (We have about 250 major waterfalls but perhaps 1,000 in all).
Bob is also remember for his huge repertoire of very funny jokes and stories.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 24, 2008 at 1:50 PM:

Wow, all those waterfalls! The next time my BW and I visit the East Coast, we'll definitely have to check them out. Are most of them relatively accessible?

Here's a link to the Amana Heritage Museum: [HYPERLINK@www.amanaheritage.org]

The Amana Heritage Society operates the museum, which consists of the central location in Main Amana and outlying museums in several of the other villages. Lanny Haldy is the museum director. Be sure to check out the links page for additional information. The last link on that page is to a listing of our gardens at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

To learn more about our gardens: [HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com]

To learn more about communal Amana: [HYPERLINK@en.wikipedia.org]

That's important work you're doing. Kudos to you! :-)

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Posted by woodspirit1 (from Lake Toxaway, NC) on February 26, 2008 at 12:06 AM:

some are very accesssible, others take a short walk, others require hiking experience. sorry, no way to post a picture here

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Posted by janisbeth (from Rock Hill, SC) on February 18, 2008 at 8:09 AM:

I'd worry about adding all that humidity to the interior of the house. I'm envisioning mildew all over the place, rotting walls . . . earwigs and millipedes. . . . I have enough trouble with the bathroom, which is only occasionally humid!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 1:05 PM:

Yes, mold and mildew could be a problem, janisbeth. Fortunately, that's not the case for us. I designed the cottage with a four-inch gap between the exterior walls and the roof so air could circulate into and out of the cottage. The gap isn't visible unless you're lying on the floor. The window in the sewing part of the cottage has no panes, which also helps to promote airflow. While the air in the entire room is humid, there is no dampness outside the garden section. If mold and mildew should become a problem, I would recommend installing a fan. Additionally, I would recommend an inexpensive dehumidifier for the storage part of the cottage. By inexpensive, I mean one that simply heats the air a bit to lower the humidity. There is no pan to empty, no special wiring required, and it makes no sound at all.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 3:50 PM:

Some additional info: The garden is eight years old, and I just remembered that we did have some mildew on the wood trim around the windows once. I solved that problem by installing vinyl windows. Larry

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Posted by janisbeth (from Rock Hill, SC) on February 19, 2008 at 12:17 PM:

Sounds like you have it under control. I was really worried about your nice old house!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 19, 2008 at 5:45 PM:

Thanks for your concern, janisbeth :-)

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Posted by bogthing (from Lawrenceville, GA) on February 18, 2008 at 7:47 AM:

What a great space you've created. The plethora of home and landscape make-over television show's have nothing on you. A beautiful garden created within the confines of the home. Your idea will greatly benefit the thousands out there who require the greenery and light year-round but find it nearly impossible to aquire. Congratulations!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 4:28 PM:

Thank you so much for your kind comments, bogthing. One of the great rewards for a DG garden writer as opposed to writing for print media is the immediate and direct feedback. (Even negative feedback is helpful, if we can learn from it.) Larry

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Posted by Jax4ever (from Boxford, MA) on February 17, 2008 at 1:58 PM:

My DH has a fit over a few houseplants- he says all men feel this way!!! I would turn my entire house into a jungle if I could!!!!!! Maybe I should move DH OUT and the plants IN!!!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 17, 2008 at 2:28 PM:

LOL Where were you when I needed you, Jax?! It never occurred to me that I could move my BW out! LOL That way I could have gone ahead with my original plan, which was to tear out the ceiling in the garden room to extend the space up into the rafters of the attic, then add a dormer to the roof to provide natural sunlight. In all seriousness, though, I have to give my BW credit for saving me from some of my hare-brained ideas. :-) Larry

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Posted by Jax4ever (from Boxford, MA) on February 17, 2008 at 9:41 PM:

Maybe 2 people w/ hairbrained ideas could be a disaster!!!
I have had some schemes that, if I had any carpentry experience, could have completely destroyed any value my home has... unless I were to sell it to another plant nut!!!
My house is a "lean-to contemporary", meaning I have NO ATTIC, just cathedral ceilings in almost every room. If I were to put in lots of skylights, and something to improve humidity, I could live in a green house!!!!

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Posted by roybird (from Santa Fe, NM) on February 17, 2008 at 10:32 PM:

My D.H. freaks out at my outdoor planting ideas. I can't imagine what he would do if I started an indoor tropical garden. Great article!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 4:37 PM:

Thanks, Jax4ever and roybird for your kind comments and for providing me with a few chuckles. :-) Larry

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Posted by Jax4ever (from Boxford, MA) on February 19, 2008 at 1:48 AM:

Well, if your DW kicks you and your plants out, give me a d-mail!

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 19, 2008 at 1:56 AM:

Jax, you're a hoot! :-)

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Posted by threegardeners (from North Augusta, ON) on February 17, 2008 at 8:44 AM:

Thank you.
You have given me inspiration. Having an extra couple of bedrooms myself and a penchant for anything tropical, I foresee a greener future.
I've been wanting to get of the old carpet up there anyways...

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Posted by Debsroots (from Northwest, MO) on February 17, 2008 at 9:41 AM:

Fabulous article...how long did it take you to do this project?

You have quite the talent there.

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Posted by doccat5 (from Fredericksburg, VA) on February 17, 2008 at 10:11 AM:

Beautiful, just beautiful. Thank you for sharing!

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Posted by debilu (from Fingerlakes Region, NY) on February 17, 2008 at 11:21 AM:

Outstanding!

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Posted by amethystsm (from New Haven, CT) on February 17, 2008 at 9:06 PM:

that is really fantastic - it looks like something from a home makeover show! Beautiful work.

amy
*

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Posted by katsu (from Columbus, OH) on February 18, 2008 at 11:09 AM:

WOW!
What an amazing idea...it's like your very own park. Beautiful and very inspiring.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 4:17 PM:

Thanks so much, everyone, for your kind and enthusiastic comments. One of the great rewards of writing for Dave's Garden instead of for print media is the immediate and direct contact with readers. I love it! :-)

Debsroots: The project took about two months from conception to completion. I was not retired yet, when I built the garden eight years ago, so I only had evenings and weekends to work on it. I try not to be too compulsive about my projects, so there were lots of times when I chose to do other things in my free time . All of this is to say that one could finish the project in a much shorter time frame, depending on one's circumstances. Larry

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Posted by Dutchlady1 (from Naples, FL) on February 17, 2008 at 7:54 AM:

What a great idea and excellent execution.
One little note: the font is really small. You could ask Dave to let you go back in and enlarge it; I was struggling with it a bit with my aging eyes....

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 17, 2008 at 11:23 AM:

Thanks for the kind words, Dutchlady1, and thanks for alerting me to the small type. On my monitor it looks like 12 point. I'll check with Dave to see what's going on. Larry

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Posted by victorgardener (from Lower Hudson Valley, NY) on February 17, 2008 at 2:16 PM:

Wow - how cool, Larry! What an innovative idea. Certainly proves you are an addict! Have you estimated the total weight added? Also - any insurance issues??

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 17, 2008 at 2:43 PM:

Many thanks, Victor. I'm guessing that I added about 350 pounds to the load on that floor. But when you think about it, 350 pounds is the approximate equivalent of two people standing in that room, plus there's no heavy furniture like beds, dresser, wardrobe, etc. No insurance issues thus far...

Yes, I'm definitely an addict when it comes to plants--pretty compulsive! Glad I have a BW who keeps me in check! :-)

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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on February 17, 2008 at 9:33 PM:

Brilliant! But I'm hiding this article from DH... for now...

How much of the room's "footprint" did the cottage "rooms" take up? I couldn't tell for sure, but am guessing they were either 4 or 5 feet wide, leaving you, hmmm.... 10x15 feet to play with?

There's a nook of our basement (under our "morning room" upstairs -- which is crammed with plants, especially in winter) where I want to do something rather similar someday, only with a hot tub included... mmmmm

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 3:01 PM:

Ooooo, Jill...a hot tub! Now why didn't I think of that?! Do you suppose I could convince my BW to do her sewing elsewhere? :-)

Both cottage halves come out from the bedroom wall 55.5 inches. While that doesn't sound like much, I was pleasantly surprised what one can do, install, and store in that amount of space. The fronts of the sewing and storage parts are 79.5 inches and 60.5 inches, respectively. The entryway is 43 inches. If you do the math, the room is actually 15.25 feet. While the builders of the house built a very solid structure, they didn't fuss too much about precision! :-)

When you're ready to start building, I'll be standing by, ready to help, if needed. Larry

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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on February 18, 2008 at 3:10 PM:

Did you put up "greenwall" (the water-resistant type of drywall, the kind they use in bathrooms) on the floors and ceilings, or is humidity not that much of an issue?

I'm contemplating the best way to keep excess humidity out of the floor joists, as the basement ceiling is unfinished (bare rafters). I plan to (remember this is a "someday" plan, LOL) use glass blocks to divide the tropical hot tub room off from the rest of the basement. We did put in a couple of extra windows, so there's pretty good light in there already despite its elevation, but I'll still add more ceiling lights as you did.

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Posted by LarryR (from South Amana, IA) on February 18, 2008 at 4:04 PM:

You might want to take a peek at this thread ([HYPERLINK@davesgarden.com] where I address the mold and mildew issue. Two of the garden's walls are brick on which I used a sealer. The other two walls are still the original lath and horsehair plaster. I've had no problems with them either. I think for your basement location, greenwall would be a good idea. Is your basement naturally humid to the point where you have to use a dehumidifier in the summer?

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Posted by critterologist (from Frederick, MD) on February 18, 2008 at 4:09 PM:

We use a dehumidifier for the whole house in summer... Maryland is humid! Greenwall is probably prudent. Glad to know you haven't had a problem, and thanks for the link... I'll look forward to reading more! :-)

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