Corrugated metal, often used as roofing, serves as siding here.In my upcoming small-houses book, a few of the houses cleverly adapt materials for different uses. Metal roofing, for instance, on a house might appear as siding on an outbuilding, or vice versa. In both appliations, the metal is highly durable. Its use in different locations can help tie different buidlings or different elements of one building together. Since there's a huge range of metal products that are adaptable to both installation types, there's plenty of room to get creative, all while potentially unifying a collection of buildings or a collection of building elements. A multipurpose material can be a good fit for a house chock-full of multipurpose solutions.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Drought-tolerant sedums are a popular choice for planted roofs.My new book for The Taunton Press, tentatively titled The New Small House, is well underway. We've been busy selecting houses to feature, scheduling photo shoots, and beginning to create the content that someday (hopefully) you will find on a shelf in a store near you. As the book takes shape, I aim to share here some tidbits of what I'm learning along the way. 

A few of the houses in the book feature planted roofs, which provide insulation and an effective away to mitigate storm-water run-off, all while beautifully complementing the landscape and the air we breathe. A New-England homeowner I interviewed mentioned that Motherplants was her source for planted-roof inspiration. One visit to the website, and you'll see why. I have to admit I pondered if someone like myself, who doesn't have a planted roof, might order a planted pre-grown mat to place in her garden/yard as a starter-garden of sorts. (Keep in mind, I'm a bit of an idjit gardener.) The planted mats are simply that lovely. Give it a look, and consider where you might incorporate a planted roof. I've already proposed one to a client for her backyard retreat...

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

Here's another clever object-turned-planter à la the planted bench that I posted not long ago. What's especially brilliant about this intervention is that the bed frame isn't actually planted. It's merely placed such that the plantings appear to emerge from the frame and spill over like generous bed clothes. Our expectations of what a bed is and how its frame might be planted enable the gardener's slight of hand.

Plus, it's fun to see a well-realized pun flourish.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast

I've been lamenting how I haven't had time this spring to post my usual list of recommended upcoming New England garden tours. Then, today, much to my delight, I discovered that WBUR's The ARTery did much of the work for me. Follow The ARTery link to plan your garden tour outings for the 2014 season. I'll be headed to the Newport Secret Garden Tour on Saturday and hope to see you there.

by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast