The family of six was “busting at the seams.” Living in a small house in Oak Park, Micah and Emily Baginski and their four children needed a bigger place to call home. But there was a catch. The couple wanted to build a new home in the established neighborhood of Curtis Park, where vacant lots are few and far between. After a year of searching, the opportunity finally presented itself.
I’ve been visiting gardens most of my life. I’ll never forget being an excited little girl in the hedge maze of the Governor’s Palace gardens in Williamsburg or a teenager stunned by the beauty of tulips in the Netherlands’ Keukenhof gardens. I’ve been to hundreds of gardens since then, and have never lost my initial joy and sense of discovery.
It’s good to have friends. That’s what Dr. Patrick Browning came to embrace when he committed to the daunting task of designing, constructing and decorating his new abode. “I had this great complementary group of friends who each had their own skill set that was perfect for building this place,” Browning says.
Jan. 6 was a blustery day, followed by an even more blustery night. Winds gusted to nearly 60 mph. We’d been warned by weather reports and thought we had battened down the hatches.
Our climbing roses were pruned and secured to their archways. I’d cut back other long branches that might whip around. My husband cleaned the gutters and storm drains, and put away loose items. Let it blow!
Even though it’s tempting to cocoon inside, winter is the time for Sacramento gardeners to pick up our tools and go outdoors. The work that we do in the next few months lays the foundation for the rest of the year. Winter is pruning season for roses, grapes and most deciduous fruit trees. Pruning encourages the growth of fruiting or flowering branches and controls a plant’s shape and size. Pruning can also improve a plant’s health by removing dead, diseased and damaged growth.
Built in 1931 in one of Sacramento’s most celebrated neighborhoods, the brick Tudor exhibited a footprint typical of that bygone era.
The kitchen was small. The rooms were segregated. Storage space was scarce. But homeowner Katherine Bardis, who saw past the bright blue fuzzy carpet from a long-ago update, knew she could turn the two-story structure into a show-stopping place to call home. “The craftwork in the home was phenomenal,” Bardis says. “You could tell the bones had a lot of room for greatness. The house gave us a really good foundation to be creative.”She knows what she’s talking about. As co-founder of Bardis Homes, a company launched in 2012, Bardis is experienced in home construction, land development and interior design. She was born to the business. Her father Chris Bardis built thousands of homes in Sacramento and around the West.
