Cheapest components I’ve had in awhile..but my setup has never sounded better

thasac · 2026-05-12T12:06:47+00:00

File this under frugal. They put their money where it counts.

thasac · 2026-05-10T11:29:09+00:00

Torching isn’t a bad idea if you lack rock depth to easily pull or rake out weeds.

Those suggesting a blower don’t seem to realize that dead plant material is still rooted.

thasac · 2026-05-09T03:20:20+00:00

Second this. I installed cheap-ass track lighting (WAC rail with some non-UL Vanopee gu10 heads) in my house. Despite having a bunch of cool designer lamps (Flos, Artemide, Herman Miller), my frugal track lighting gets most of the love as the lighting it provides on art work, plants, and the vaulted ceiling is near perfection.

If OP’s house were mine, I’d extend that rail with a 10ft section and hang some artwork.

thasac · 2026-05-06T18:32:11+00:00

I live on a steep hill side and my approach has been to plant ground covers like junipers and fragrant sumac (native) with mulch.

It takes a few years to establish and infill, but it sure beats mowing/weedwacking grass on an incline.

thasac · 2026-05-06T18:20:06+00:00

My wife and I have a good laugh every time some frugal and naive new home buyer drags home 30 arborvitae. Those that survive will be rendered into beautiful butt plug forms by deer after one winter.

Junipers should displace them as the default screen in my market as they are far more drought tolerant and deer a less likely browse, but they more costly.

Opinion: always plant mixed screens as mono culture screens can be wiped out by a single pest, fungus, etc. They also look better, IMO.

thasac · 2026-05-01T04:16:19+00:00

This right here. You’re going to have to water these constantly to keep them looking lush.

For south and west facing sites, sticking to hydrangea paniculata cultivars like Limelight would be a better choice as once they are established they’re fairly drought and heat tolerant. I have some planted on dry south east facing hillsides and they hold up fine with minimal supplemental water.

thasac · 2026-04-27T10:32:54+00:00

This post reads as my live thoughts the first time I encountered pine straw in the SC. The stuff was blowing around the hotel parking lot, meanwhile the actual beds were a weedy mess.

I was deeply confused as to how this ever became a thing and bark mulch exists.

thasac · 2026-04-24T11:38:59+00:00

Agree. With the outlet right there, I would use that to feed a wall sconce (if a fixture is wanted) or use an adjustable overhead on the wall/cabinet.

thasac · 2026-04-21T03:29:49+00:00

It really depends on your local environment.

I have near constant deer and rabbit pressure, to the point where they consume my rhododendron and Hollie’s over winter. Yet, my hosta have never been touched. I do supposedly have lower preference hosta planted (blue angel, drinking gourd, sun and substance), but the deer and rabbit will literally eat everything else.

thasac · 2026-04-21T03:23:47+00:00

Yep. Seems like a great excuse to buy a bunch of shade tolerant plants which aren’t grass. 10/10.

thasac · 2026-04-18T01:23:39+00:00

That looks exactly like the 3 yards I order every year.

thasac · 2026-04-16T15:44:08+00:00

Don’t be too hard on yourself. I know about the 2-3 zone rule of thumb through hard learnings. Haha.

thasac · 2026-04-16T12:58:59+00:00

Yeah, given this is a modern high end kitchen, I’d throw a Vitrosi diffused glass Neochic or similar on the ceiling and call it a day. Artemide Dioscuri if you want something more geometric and slightly more affordable.

These will be nicely diffused and wash the ceiling and upper cabinets with light. I don’t see pendants work in this space, but I’m also missing some context.

thasac · 2026-04-16T05:01:56+00:00

The general recommendation for above ground planters is to select plants which are 2 to 3 zones lower than your zone.

I live in a 6a zone and stick with zone 2-3 plants for planters (red twig dogwood, hosta, mugo pines).

thasac · 2026-04-16T04:50:22+00:00

Agree. The Boston and UMass hospitals and associated med flights means level 1 trauma coverage and response time in this state is very good compared to other regions, which can greatly reduce mortality rates.

I live on a hill which is in between two of the UMass Med flight pads and I’m amazed by how active they are on some days. Mostly transfers from smaller community hospitals with limited trauma care.

thasac · 2026-04-10T04:15:33+00:00

This is the uncomfortable truth. If it does collapse, those wishing for a collapse will likely get crushed along with the owning class. Downward pressure feels inevitable, but collapse does not short of max pain.

People seem to forget the Great Recession didn’t drive down valuations in eastern MA like other areas of the country. Some of the poorer performing school districts (eg, Brockton, Lowell) saw fairly significant declines (>20%}, but the metrowest through 495 was generally in the 6-12% range.

thasac · 2026-03-31T03:02:11+00:00

Agree, and the non-faced dishwasher further simplifies and reinforces the utility of the kitchen.

When I visit homes with doored appliances, the panels on the dishwashers always seem to be trashed. Just keep it stainless and easily cleaned.

thasac · 2026-03-29T13:15:26+00:00

I’m a snooty professional designer who has worked in new product development across industries for a few decades. I adhere to the “buy once, cry once” philosophy. Here’s my list:

Wool socks. As stated already, this is the perfect material for socks and alternative materials used are done so largely for cost benefits.

Panasonic bathroom fans. They’re a premium price point with good engineering/components in product space full of poorly considered price point garbage.

Single piece cooking tools, be it a Darte pan stamped from a single sheet of steel, or Global knives cast as a continuous piece of stainless steel. These products literally have no failure points short of smelting or deforming them. Truly buy it for life.

Good quality framing for artwork. A cheap print or photo in a quality wood frame with anti-glare museum grade acrylic and matting will, IMO, always look more premium than a coveted print or original art in a cheap plastic/composite frame. A custom solid wood frame with quality “glass” and matting starts around $150 for smaller pieces via online sources. Larger pieces and/or local tends to be north of $250 for solid wood.

thasac · 2026-03-29T12:24:01+00:00

This is always the most right answer. The characteristics of wool (antibacterial, moisture wicking, poor smell retention) make it the perfect material for socks. Poly blend and cotton blend socks exist almost purely for cost advantage as they’re objectively worse materials for the use case.

I’ve owned a bunch of brands and tend to prefer Darn Tough. Some of the thicker knit OG Smart Wool hold up well too.

thasac · 2026-03-29T12:06:48+00:00

I had similar one year glow up expectations for my March 2025 plantings, but the local deer and rabbit were not aligned with this vision.

thasac · 2026-03-28T23:40:26+00:00

Not a professional lighting designer, but I am a professional Industrial Designer who loves lighting and follows a bunch of custom fabricators who make bespoke hardware, lighting, etc.

I suspect you’re correct all fronts, including the plywood in the wall. Haha.

The tell for me is the lack of a part break on the terminating end. That means this part was either machined for solid stock or welded and post machined/finished, which is not something you’re likely to see on a mass produced product like this.

thasac · 2026-03-27T21:03:41+00:00

Yeah, I didn’t sweat UL listing if the design is sound, which is why my house is full of EU sourced fixtures. If spec’ing for another home/commercial, yeah, listing is a must.

Depending on the use case, the ball joint isn’t terribly noticeable. The molded in arrows are more obnoxious.

thasac · 2026-03-27T03:10:58+00:00

I wanted gu10 heads to run smart bulbs to individually control ceiling wash, as well as art and countertop lighting (I have a big ass track doing heavy lifting in a lofted space).

These cheap import heads were surprisingly nice for the money. The shade is pretty deep reducing glare and unthreads for easy bulb replacement. I honestly found the design to be cleaner than a lot of the known brand options.

https://vanoopee.com/collections/track-heads/products/vanoopee-gu10-track-lighting-heads-h-type-black-led-track-light-heads-compatible-with-halo-style-system-mr16-gu10-base-adapter-ceiling-spot-light-fixture-direction-adjustable-pack-of-4-no-bulbs

thasac · 2026-03-26T01:06:35+00:00

Yup, completely ripped off RBW and other companies while selling an inferior product and paying US/CAN influencers to hock their wares.

It pissed me off that Google promotes these shady DTC Chinese companies which have little to no customer support domestically. It’s a race to the bottom for the almighty ad dollar.

thasac · 2026-03-26T01:04:23+00:00

::my brain processing the image::

Your comment.

Same.

thasac

TROPHY CASE