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…

As you might have read, we're real fans of Blinds.com solar shades. So much that we recently ordered shades for most every window and sliding door in the house. The order arrived the other day, but we had to set it aside as other projects took priority.

Today, I'm dreadfully sick at home and in the attempts to be somewhat productive, I opened the boxes today. Unfortunately, it seemed they shipped the wrong hardware and/or the right hardware fell out of the damaged box. So, since I have a digital camera and a website, I thought I'd make the Customer-service call a bit easier by supplying pictures.

Annette was great to work with over the phone (she even called me back to confirm something), and we're looking forward to some shade soon with the new hardware and end-caps they'll be sending. Hopefully before guests arrive as the guest-bed is the shade resting place for now.

One thing to note is that the shade mechanism itself seems to have changed a bit, and perhaps not for the better. The old style was a twist-and-lock end cap whereas the new style is a retractable, tension-fit cap. The old style seems way more sturdy (albeit more finicky when mounting the brackets, but accurate measuring isn't that hard), so we're hoping for the best. I hope that — because of the error with the brackets — that they didn't give me the wrong mounting mechanism, too. That would suck as it would mean re-making all nine shades.

All in all, it's still been a very positive experience with Blinds.com… So, in the hopes to get the right hardware fast, here are some pictures…

We've salvaged some sliding doors (sliding panels only — all sizes) from a house under renovation and will be stripping them (handles, actuators, rollers, etc)… and will be warehousing the parts in our garage for posterity.

Unfortunately, the entirety of the doors will have to go soon (frames, glass). The doors themselves are presently intact, so if you need a whole sliding panel, please let me know ASAP. They've been painted white, but can be restored easily.

After this weekend, the doors will be gone, but we'll have all of the parts we were able to salvage… so if you ever need anything, drop me a line.

(Thanks to Erina and Alan for the donation of the doors and parts)…

With the help of neighbors and friends, Ryan and Bret, we were able to get the pavers placed today. Tomorrow, I'll place the landscape lighting and finish off filling around the pavers with pea-gravel, but getting these in-place made a huge difference to the front of the house.

Special thanks to Tony at Bertotti Landscaping for the supply of the pavers.

This month's been particularly busy yet not well documented — hard to hold a camera when your hands are wet and covered in dirt (yes, we were outside). But the lack of news does not indicate a lack of progress… we're in the midst of the following:

• A low-retaining wall along the side garden
• A higher "sitting" wall a bit further down… this will eventually be faced in Eichler siding (it's constructed of 3 stacked 6X6s) with a bench-top.
• A decomposed granite pathway… two yards down, one more to go. (fyi: Tamping by hand is a pain in the ass.).
• Installation of a 4-zone irrigation system run by simple hose-timers… we don't need much water, but when we do need it, we often forget about it, so best to make it semi-automated. We ordered (and have so far been impressed with) a few items by Claber (ordered from Amazon): a hose reel, timers, and other irrigation bits… we like the orange color. Still need to work on filters and pressure regulators. (The image below also shows our wall-mounted AC/heater unit from LG)
• Planting of Casie's garden: tomatoes, squash, herbs, lettuces… can't wait 'til july. Getting good soil in there was more problematic than necessary. Lesson learned: when you need lots of stuff, buy by the truckload, not by the bag.
• Planting of natives along the side garden. Manzanitas (shrub and groundcover), pacific myrtle, ceanothus, juniper and sedums join the existing dogwood, maple, fig and guava trees.
• Demarcation of some planting/lawn areas in the front and back… sticking with the original redwood separators
• Installation of landscape lighting along the side garden. The pepper tree looks cool when up-lit.

Still to come…

• Sod… looking to create two small "lawns" in the front and the back. As much as we'd like to xeriscape, imho, it looks a bit desolate and unkempt. We'll likely install a low-water turf-grass and have that be the *only* thirsty plant in the yard (and a small patch of it at that). We haven't had terribly good luck with sod in the past… hoping for the best here (planning on calling the "sod shop" in Martinez… shying away from the rotting bales of sod at big-orange.)
• Stepping stones: Thanks to Tony at Bertotti Landscaping, we'll be installing these 24X24 concrete pavers throughout the yard — here in a 2X2 pattern accented by landscape lighting.

A special plug: Looking for California natives was tough until I found Buckeye Nursery in Petaluma — a joint also run by Tony Bertotti (see above) of Bertotti landscaping… lots of manzanitas, ceonothus, etc… much better than the catch-as-catch-can finds at local nurseries and the big-box stores. Check them out.

Casie's birthday is this week and she's wanted a garden for some time… and now's a good time to start planting. We've planned a decent spot in the side yard, but the plan called for the construction of a retaining wall… which also meant clearing a lot of dirt, etc… but Monday (and a lack of fence boards) found me starting (and nearly finishing) the wall… materials off the truck by 11am and the last screw drilled at 6pm…

The wall is made of three stacked redwood posts (4X4), so it's about 12in tall (9, once we get pavers/gravel in), but it helps to level out the otherwise uneven yard and created a nice barrier. The first course of posts is anchored into the ground with several 1/2in rebar supports (drilled and pounded… I used 2 foot  pieces, so they go a good 20in into the ground. The second course is bolted to the first with 1/4inX6in galvanized bolts and the top course is toe-screwed from the inside to the course below it… all in all creating a fastener-less-looking wall with some visual heft. I backfilled with a bit of left-over fence post mix (and instaled on a bit of paver-base), so hopefully it'll be stable. We also had lots of dirt left over from the front walkway dig-out (post to come), so we have some good backfill for the non-garden area.

This weekend will be plumbing for a drip irrigation system… and hopefully by Sunday (her bday), she'll be planting tomatoes.

Edit: Jeremy asked for more specific information… here goes.

The fence project is about 24 boards from being finished on all four sides… unfortunately, I'm out of stock and Home Depot has gotten in some super-crappy lumber the past few loads (I've been to 3 stores… oddly, all within a 15mile radius) and I'm presently unwilling to pay Dolan's lots more for only moderately better stock ($5 vs. $8). But here are some images…

I can also share a few experiences:

• A pneumatic nail gun is amazing: I used galvanized nails for the rails (toe-nailing) and face nailing in this stretch of the fence (as opposed to brackets and screws on the first). Installation went 5X as fast.
• Cutting all of the posts to the same height (thanks to the mason line and line-level) and then installing the top-rail on top on these (and face nailing into the post — creating almost a bridge-like look) is much easier, cleaner looking and potentially much more stable (than using brackets installed lower on the post). Then installing the bottom rail in the opposite direction makes for (1) a good place to face nail the kickplate and bottom of the fence boards but (2) makes for a more stable fence.
• Installation of kickplates (base boards) is initially a pain, but it
  keeps the neighbor's terrier, Peaches, out of our yard and makes
  installation easier, too… just set planks on top of the plate and
  nail.
• Rental of a 2-man auger — although expensive — was a real time and back saver for re-digging the post-holes.
• Hiring out a bit of the manual labor for the tear out is a good way to spend a few hundred dollars and not herniate a(nother) disc.
• On one side — to save the neighbor's pretty flowering crabapple tree, we jogged the fence half-way down the line, likely giving up about 3in of yard, but saving the trunk of the tree (and the sightline of the fence)… oh well.
• Zinc-based wood treatment smells funny… so it better work to help preserve the base of the posts and cut ends of the pressure-treated lumber.