About Lianne
I am a native Southern Californian and a graduate of California State University Long Beach. My husband and I started out here at Hanbury House in 1997 with an unimproved World War II era house on a postage stamp sized lot, and we slowly transformed the yard into a small scale victory garden and little vintage home.
I studied horticulture at Orange Coast College and I have a B.A. from CSULB. At work, as a horticulturalist with a non-profit, I have the pleasure of caring for a wide variety of vegetable gardens and nature spaces filled with California native plants, as well as supervise a team of fellow gardeners.
In my free time I have helped out with the California Rare Fruit Growers, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, a local food bank harvest group, my parish, the local library, youth sports, and each of the kids’ schools.
For more than two decades, I have been passionate about organic gardening and permaculture. However, I am a firm believer in Integrated Pest Management, and often refer readers to UC ANR resources.
I have a love of science, learning, home improvement, history, the outdoors, native plants, fruit trees, geophytes, and arts and crafts. Here at my Hanbury House blog, you will probably read about it all.
I have been sharing my enthusiasm for gardening here at HanburyHouse.com since 2009.
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If you would like to contact me but prefer to not leave a comment on the blog, feel free to contact me at lianne “at” hanburyhouse “dot” com.
Hi Lianne,
thank you so much for the picture of how to distinguish male and female chicks. I live in Stockholm, Sweden and have ten baby cochin chicks (now soon 5 weeks old) Your pictures helped me the most!
Lovely website, keep it up!
Sincerely
Catrin Eriksson
I am happy to hear it. I love Cochins. They make the best all around backyard chickens in my opinion. I hope you enjoy your new chicks. Thank you for letting me know it helped.
I was wondering you have a problem with bad smell from your greywater surge tank? I was told that just a bit of water discharged from washing machine would stink badly within a day. Thanks!
Hi, If not used or cleaned regularly, it can get smelly, but I don’t usually notice any bad odor much because it goes into the tank only to prevent a clog in the washer machine pump. Grey water should not be stored. I don’t use the surge tank/trash can as a storage tank, instead it goes straight out the bottom open hose bib to a hose attached at the bottom where it goes to my fruit trees. The only time I ever close the valve and use it to hold water is when the water needs to cool off if I did a load in hot. When I don’t want water flowing out of the tank, I switch the diverter inside the house to empty to the sewer instead of the tank.
I do tip the tank occassionally to make sure no sediment collects in it. I wash it out every six months or so.
Hi Lianne,
I have been living in my 1951 Cape house for over 30 yrs and have always hated the black trim with blue tile . After looking at your photos, I think I have changed my mind. Looking forward to painting the walls . I have had wall paper on for some time. Not sure if I want white paint, also love a light lime green. Will have to see how that pans out. Love the way you decorated it.
My neighbor has the shrimp pink tile with black trim and added a black tile floor and black wallpaper. Looks lovely.
Thanks for posting and good ideas.
You’re welcome. Thanks for visiting my blog.
Lianne,
I found your site looking for old tile. Where did you find the blue tile you used in your bathroom? Thank you and good luck with the chickens!
Geoff Nelson
My blue tile came from a local Southern California tile manufacturer. It is called B & W Tile. They are in Gardena. They even custom make pieces.
Hi Lianne- Very nice work! You and I are birds of a feather having the same interests. Thank you very much for taking the time to make your blog. I lived in Los Angeles for 12 yrs and am currently in Iowa for family but will be headed back to socal at some point.
Recently, we purchased a mid century ranch. I love it-solid as a rock- and love the original tiled bathrooms. One light-yellow/black the other black/white. I am curious to know if you know of a way to revive the worn/scratched/dull tile? I will regrout to clean it up, however the tile on the floor is somewhat worn. maybe a clear glaze or something?
Thank you, again-
Brenda
Hi Brenda, thanks! And I am glad you found my blog.
In the past, I have been able to touch up small chips with nail polish the same shade, but I have not completely re glazed any tile. Usually floor tile back in the 1940’s and 1950’s was a matte finish to prevent slips and falls, kind of dull or worn in comparison to the wall tiles. The old original jadite green tile I uncovered under my bathroom floor was matte, as well as that is what the local tile store B & W, still makes specifically for floors in the retro mid century colors. If it is just the floor, I would leave it as is. If it is the ceramic counter or wall tile, I am not sure what will bring back the glow and hold up to daily wear. Best wishes preserving your MCM ranch.
Lovely blog! I ‘discovered’ you when searching for information about crowing bantam hens! We are going to follow your suggestion for boxing her at night. All the best
Thanks for stopping by my blog and for the compliments. How is it going with your crowing hen?
Hi Lianne,
You have a very informative and enjoyable blog! Loved seeing the pictures and reading about your fruit trees and chickens!
I live in NorCal and have a backyard I’m working on to transform into a ornamental + edible landscape and totally subscribe to your idea of a simpler life, even in a big city and a small lot.
Keep it up!
GoodLotter,
You also have a lovely blog at A Good Lot. I wish I had chronicled the progress of changing my yard from a backyard of weeds and grass and junipers like you are doing. Back in the late 90’s, I never thought to photograph everything or write it all down.
Hi Lianne,
It is a pleasure to look at your website. I actually am living in my childhood home and we have the black and mint tile bathroom. I am going to use your idea and I picked out a Benjamin Moore Gray that I hope works Gray Cloud 2126-60. I would love to stencil, but I am having trouble finding the stencil pattern you used. I love that one.
Do you have a name of a vendor where you purchased the stencil?
Hi Lianne,
Me and my wife moved in a house where we plan to stay put for some long time and wanted to plant some raspberries in our backyard. I came to you blog noticing that you sell baba berry raspberries plants which I came to believe are probably the best for our LA location. I would like to buy some plants locally from someone who knows local specifics well and can give us some advice.
So, the questsion is if you have any plants for sale (or maybe will have later on – I assume best planting time is fall, but forgive me if I am wrong)?
Sincerely,
Alex Tarra