Tag: Paints & Stains

Rental Garden Makeovers: 10 Best Budget Ideas for an Outdoor Space – Gardenista

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This week, we’re revisiting some of our all-time favorite stories about gardening in New York City. Cultivating plants in the Big Apple comes with challenges—yards tend to be small and shady, and privacy is rare—but if you have the patience, these urban gardens can produce some big-time magic. Behold…

Most renters, especially if they’re not planning a long stay, prefer not to spend too much time or money fixing up someone else’s property. But what if they still want a nice outdoor space? We asked Brooklyn-based garden designer Brook Klausing for recommendations for finessing a space that you don’t own. Not only has he done it for clients of his company, Brook Landscape, he also has plenty of personal experience, having fixed up several rental gardens for himself.

To start, Brook suggests, figure out what your goal is and how much time you’re willing to commit. Maybe you only have a year’s lease, and just want a weekend project. Or maybe you plan to be there a few years, and you’d love to spend the summer playing in the garden because you enjoy the process. Either way, don’t get overly enthusiastic and embark on something you won’t finish. Assess your own ambition and organize a project that’s right for you.

His other directive: Go big. “Don’t get distracted at the nursery and pick up a lot of random small things just because they’re cute,” he advises. Better to start with strong moves to organize the space.

Read on for 10 more rental garden tips from Brook:

Photography courtesy of Brook Klausing except where noted.

1. Accentuate the positive.

Above: Take note of what’s great about the space and find a way to accentuate it. With judicious editing, Brook created focal points in a backyard garden.

“If there’s a great view or a tree you’re really into (even if it’s in your neighbor’s yard), clear out any weeds or shrubs that are in the way and position your seating and enhancements to maximize the sight lines.” By the same token, identify what you don’t love in the space and remove or, if that’s not possible, downplay the distraction. (See below for suggestions on dealing with ugly walls and fences.)

2. Prune boldly.

Above: A smoke bush (at L) is a visual focal point in a backyard garden designed by Brook Landscapes.

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August 26, 2025
Steal This Look: Summery Curb Appeal in Martha’s Vineyard – Gardenista

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We know summer’s almost over, but we’re clinging to it for dear life in its final weeks. One way to extend the easy-breezy, school’s-out vibes? With a front door that calls to mind cool ocean waves and sandy feet. We spotted it over on Remodelista and couldn’t resist tracking down the elements that make it […]

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August 23, 2024
Gardener’s Dozen: Jinny Blom’s Outdoor (And Indoor) Paint Collection – Gardenista

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“White is not a good color in a garden,” says internationally-renowned landscape gardener Jinny Blom, whose paint range launches today. Over the last decade or so she has worked on developing colors that “read as white” when seen in a landscape—as well as better choices for railings than the usual black, and an accent red for furniture that is as beguiling as a Ladybird poppy. Her manufacturing partner, venerable London company Mylands, offers this collection in three water-based finishes: exterior masonry paint, marble matte emulsion (made with crushed marble), and a plant-based multi-surface paint (the latter in matte, eggshell, satin, and gloss). They are distributed in the US.

Photography by Britt Willoughby.

Above: Bespoke railings require proper paint colors, variations on black. Seen here: Murmuration.

“Mylands has an exceptional understanding of color as a mood-altering background, so in that we share a common language,” writes Jinny in her recent book, What Makes a Garden. Railings are normally underplayed but since Jinny commissions miles of them, it stands to reason that she is as interested in the color of metalwork as she is bothered by something that is the wrong color. “If you ever want to know where color is going wrong in a garden, just take a load of snaps on your phone—it’ll jump out immediately.”

Above: Railings in Murmuration (at left) and window frames in Cooper’s Earth (right). Considered color for metalwork, masonry, and wood enhances good planting.

Mylands is the oldest family-owned paints and polishes manufacturer in the UK and has been quietly servicing the entertainment business and Buckingham Palace for decades. Its eco-credentials are excellent, although those are not widely broadcast either: Their intense hues are the result of earth pigments and natural resins, they are low in VOCs, and their paints are solvent-free.

Above: Ready for red? Blomster is a beguiling accent color, set here against Cragside. For the window frames: Cooper’s Earth.

Jinny asked the artist Susan Hirsch to help her develop the colors she had in mind. The origin of Blomster red was an old faded chair that she’d noticed once, outside a house: “I recognized it again once she’d finished mixing.”

Above: Seats in Blomster, table in Woodnight.

Above: The color Rain, reminiscent of shutters in France, as seen here.

Above: Window frame in Grail, “a cool, modern ‘white’ substitute.”

The five tones that Jinny developed to use in place of white are: Grail, Rain, Sprig, Sargasso, and Cooper’s Earth. “Natural light is very powerful and bleaches most colors, so don’t be afraid of experimenting with tones instead.”

Above: Mylands x Jinny Blom. Left column from top: Blomster, Grail, Woodnight, Rain, Sprig, Sargasso. Right column from top: Haar, Equinox, Cooper’s Earth, Murmuration, Cragside, Riverine.

For more on natural exterior stains and paints, see:

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March 26, 2024
Pine Tar: A Sustainable, Natural Wood Preservative and Stain

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Venmo, dishwashers, those Instagram filters that give tired faces a glow-up—we can all agree our world has benefited from progress. But some things don’t need to be improved upon. Case in point: pine tar.

Pine tar has been in existence since the days of the plundering-and-pilfering Vikings, who distilled the stuff in large quantities and used it to preserve their wooden ships. If it’s potent enough to waterproof these vessels that sailed the rough waters of the North Sea, it’s surely good enough to protect your wood fence, deck, garden shed, barn, or home.

To learn more about pine tar, we reached out to the folks at Earth & Flax and Sage Restoration, two North American companies that specialize in natural Scandinavian paints and wood finishes, as well as Emil Jespersen, cofounder of Danish-Norwegian architecture firm Jespersen Nødtvedt, who recently worked with pine tar on a project for a client.

What is pine tar?

Above: Plywood painted with pine tar clads the exterior of this cottage in Sweden by architect Johannes Norlander. Photograph by Rasmus Norlander, courtesy of Johannes Norlander Arkitektur, from Architect Visit: Johannes Norlander in Sweden.

Pine tar is a natural marine-grade wood preservative. Traditional pine tar was made by essentially cooking down pine stumps in fire pits to yield a syrup-y, dark-colored, and resin- and turpentine-rich liquid. Today, most pine tar products are produced in kilns (using heat only).

Post-Viking Age, pine tar is primarily used as a finish for decks, fences, facades, and roofs in Scandinavian countries, but interest in the wood preservative is growing in the U.S. “What’s old is new again. People are looking for alternatives to modern chemical finishes, and architects are looking for something new to offer clients,” says Michael Sinclair of Sage Restoration, which is based in Tamworth, Ontario. “Our sales have been increasing every year.”

Natalie Yon Eriksson, founder of Philadelphia’s Earth & Flax, agrees. “This trend is going strong. Pine tar has been used with or in place of the traditional Japanese shou sugi ban burned or charred siding treatment,” she says. “The best aspects of pine tar are that it is sourced from nature, using a waste product from the timber industry, and is an exceptional natural wood preservative.”

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March 15, 2024