We've one last landscape project to tackle: the laying of pavers in the side yard… and it's a big job that we'll need to hire out to someone with a stronger back… and a bobcat.
We'll need to regrade a bit (and remove some material… so a bobcat and a dumptruck), lay some decomposed granite, tamp and place the pavers, which we already have. It's about 600sqf of paving area. If you know of anyone, let us know.
Mulch, some more rocks and some final plantings on the driveway side… we'll see how the mulch path holds up.
The yard between ourselves and our neighbor, Steve, had been a bit of a twister. We didn't want grass and we needed to maintain some sort of pathway for things in/out the gate. Fortunately, Steve is very easy-going and was on-board with the plan to envision the space as one large one rather than two small ones… especially if we did the work and it was low-maintenance. I proposed a sort of "dry creek bed" arrangement and it was a go.
Ryan and Jaime showed up at 10am after Casie and I spent Friday night and Saturday morning gathering plants and some more rocks (free from the Ewing parking lot — someone dumped a small load of baseball-sized cobblestones and I asked if I could have them). So, on Friday, I got an idea/motivation, to tackle the rest of the
front landscaping and by Saturday afternoon, we had something in place.
Not a bad showing.
We tried to buy smaller sized pots so that (1) they'd be cheaper and (2)
grow-in a bit more naturally… and ended up with a lot of native or low-water plants like Ceanothus, Wax Myrtle, Tea-tree (definitely not native, but low-water), Flax, Sedum, Fescue/Grasses, Cotoneaster, Juniper… and a Corylus — which looks cool (but will take the most water). The most expensive plant (not counting the Burgundy Lace maple) was a sculptural, knobby (San Jose) Juniper for $40, which will serve as a specimen/focal plant next to the Corylus (Filbert/Hazelnut tree). All have a 1/2 gallon/hour drip head… hopefully just the right amount of water in the right place… and should be pretty low-maintenance.
We were also able to use up the big pile of rocks that we had in the back yard — gathered from various places in the yard when we stripped many of the overgrown trees.
Presently, there's not yet enough scale differentiation… there's still a lot of growing-in to do (some of the plants will triple in size), but…
I'm not sure why I haven't posted this earlier as we've had it for a while.
One of the great things about the previous owners of our house is that they saved a lot of stuff — in this case, original Eichler literature. When we first looked at the house, there was even the original check for the $100 deposit, but the kids likely kept that one. Fortunetely, for us, the eldest sibling sent these to us after the closing (thanks, again!)… so it seems good to share.
I'll eventually properly scan them in (these are copystand-like digipictures) and there's sme great old articles, too, from 60's home-magazines I need to add… but we've lots of things to tackle first. Enjoy.
The back yard is shaping up with the installation of a dwarf-fescue blend of sod. Thanks to Nathan from Labor Ready for the help with the installation. Sod from The Sod Shop in Martinez — Mello Jade. Thanks to Jacob for the installation of the redwood separators… one more to go and then were on to paving the side yard.
So, getting the correct hardware for the second order from Blinds.com was about 3 weeks in the making, but we finally got it right — and my faith in decent customer service was restored, thanks to Annette.
The main reason for the posts and pictures was to explain what was going on to folks on the other end of the phone (and ultimately, the vendor). Hopefully, too, these images will help them to get future orders correct.
The initial order came with brackets that were too short (that would not fit the blinds) and no covers. The second order came with brackets that were too long, and covers that were too thin and not a good color-match. The third order came with the correct brackets and covers — the same that came with our initial order last year. And now, we have lots of leftover parts…
It's useful to note that the mechanism has changed a bit. The new design is a bit easier on the install, but more visible in the end. Given that the measurements were not that hard to begin with, I do prefer the original, less-visible design, but this is what we've got.
We've installed two of the nine blinds… hoping all goes well for the other seven (which are side-by-side blinds for the sliding doors).
Thanks again to Annette and the team at Blinds.com…
Admittedly, we don't get out much, so when John-Paul (a friend and neighbor) mentioned a great exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design, I made a note to pay attention. Matt Kahn was not a designer that I was familiar with, even though I actually have some of his work in the form of vintage Eichler collateral. That's been rectified.
We're between semesters at work/school, so I took the opportunity to stroll up to Sutter and Powell at lunchtime and check it out. Some nice stuff — illustration, design, furniture, jewelry, painting and textiles — and definitely worthy of checking out if you're close.
I snapped a few pictures before I noticed a "non photography" sign in the very back of the room, so enjoy… and in the spirit of "pictures say a thousand words", here you go:
And, thanks, John-Paul, for the tip.
The exterior-lighting of Eichler homes — as most of you know — can be described as deficient at best. Along the way, we've been updating the electrical when/where we can, including adding a few additional exterior lights where we can.
One area that's ironically dark is the front of the house. With the low-wattage burn of CFLs, we leave the front entry light on almost 24/7 and the path lights come on at dusk. However, we really wanted a motion-triggered driveway light.
As you've seen, these can get really ugly and we ideally wanted to match the back light (a Remcraft fixture)– but I did not run electrical to the location when we had the roof done, so I though we were out of luck. Come to find out, penetrations in a foam roof are not all that uncommon, as long as you do it correctly (and seal it with the right stuff). An email to our roofer confirmed that Sikaflex-1A (available in Concord at White Cap) was the material of choice to seal the puncture. So, with a yellow tube of caulk in hand (and a drill), I proceeded to drill 2 holes in my roof — one where the light was to sit (in between the front garage doors) and another where the power was to drop down into the garage — in this case in an area to be triggered by a remote (off-light/off-center) motion sensor (the post and beam will eventually be painted brown almost hiding it). Weather-proof PVC conduit protects the wire.
So, in a few hours later, we had motion-activated entry lights that coordinated well with the Eichler design. Best of all, it works.
This weekend, Casie planted her succulent arrangements into a planter that we picked up months ago at American Modern Furniture in San Francisco. It was a shop that had a "going out of business" sale for about 2 years, but finally closed. They sold knock-off furniture and well as a few gems, including this planter made by semi-local craftsman and furniture maker, Ron Weaver. Ron shows up from time to time at the Alameda Flea Market, too… and you can email him directly at: mobeldesign@gmail.com.
While there's a few small things still left to do (namely replacing the front sidelight window and some trim painting… it will be dark brown), the front of the house is largely complete thanks to the help of Jaime, Jacob, Chris and Ivan.
Chris and Ivan are from Labor Ready, Jacob is a former student who's super-interested in craftsmanship and construction and Jaime is a landscaper who just launched his website: jzcruz.com. Neighbors Ryan, Kyle and Bret also joined in the fun by helping with the fence and pavers.
But with this weekend's installation of the sod (a low-water variety of fescue) by Jaime and crew, the yard is looking complete and a lot different than it was 2 years ago. The renovation's been a long process, but milestones like this make it seem worthwhile.
The "side yard" features natives (manzanitas, mostly, with flax along the back) fed with a drip system while the yard itself is fed by a simple, low-flow sprinkler system run by Rainbird-1800SAM bodies and MP heads — both purchased locally from Ewing Irrigation Supply near the Target in Pleasant Hill — they have a nice, walk-in shop with a great selection. The Rainbird-SAM bodies are nice as they don't leak as much — especially on the downhill sprinklers. The sprinklers are tucked into the corners of the yard off of the sod for a cleaner install.
The path lights are from a simple Home-Deopt kit that served well. We installed another identical kit in the back for path and up-lighting in the pepper-tree which has a nice effect. While low-voltage might seem daunting compared to LED-solar, it was an easy install and much nicer than LED. From an eco standpoint, I'd have thrown 2 sets of crappy LED solar lights away because of the low-quality (light-quality and build-quality) before I went back to low-voltage anyway, so the offset is okay by me.
Anyway, before and after pictures are below. The new landscaping has a lot of growing-in to do, but…
