One of the projects we punted on as we reached the end of our new house build and landscaping was the landscape lighting. Absolutely everything on this probably was taken down to the dirt, except two oak trees, an old fireplace, and 6 palm trees that were already here, but got moved around. So whenRead more about Landscape lighting[…]
It’s been about six months since I’ve updated our blog, and about 8 months since we received our final sign-off from the City. As with any project, there are always little things left to do. We did pull back some small items towards the end as we had construction fatigue, which also accounts for ourRead more about Continuing the journey … more new from old[…]
So far, we’ve made an outdoor dining table and bench from some of the redwood we recovered from the house we tore down. Here is a picture of the 4×6 beams that were in the living room, sitting room, and guest room of the old house. Here is the table and bench. We just askedRead more about More wood recycling[…]
It was finally time for us to wash the outside of the house; it was actually a bit past due. We wanted to wait until the end of all landscaping work, so we were past any activity that would dirty up the outside of the house again. And our house was filthy, from all theRead more about House washing[…]
We saw this nifty faucet in a newly remodeled Starbucks on a road trip a few weeks back and I thought it was interesting enough to blog about. It is somewhat hard to see, so let’s here is a better picture from the manufacturer’s website This is a single wash bar that has motion activatedRead more about Completely integrated faucet[…]
Two weeks ago, we got the final sign-off on the project. It came as a huge relief, as the project felt like it needed to be done. The final sign-off was a bit complicated. Technically, all we had left to be signed off on was the landscaping. But the landscaping sign-off was not simple, andRead more about Sign-off[…]
One of the last things we had to do to get signed off was to add the railings to our light wells. These light wells drop about 4-5 feet from grade into the bottom of light well, more then enough to require a guard rail. We opted for a simple cable railing that would beRead more about Light well railing cables[…]
Our landscaper suggested that we get our own mower for the maintenance guys will use. When a mower goes from property to property, it tends to carry weed seeds with it, and that is how lawns most often get weeds. Our lawn is a a hybrid Bermuda type, with a fescue overlay. What this meansRead more about Mowing the lawn[…]
To fully enclose our backyard for the dog, there were a c0uple of stretches of fence we needed. One was across the side yard. The other was across the back of the driveway, which includes a spot for the trash cans, and an outdoor shower for coming back from the beach, or washing the dog.Read more about The last of the fencing[…]
The storm water management for our property was designed by a civil engineer to met what our city calls Tier 3 storm water management. The tiers are just dependent on the size of the project, and ours was a large one, so we got the highest tier. The idea of storm water management is thatRead more about Storm water management[…]