Front landscaping: Before and After

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…