sweetgum , liquid amber unwanted tress that refuse to "leave"

well removal  is not for now... its roots traverse nearly 25 feet of lawn. I want to xeriscape lawn.... plant groundcovers around the roots? should never cover the roots with more than 1/4 inch soil per year, could kill tree- oh wouldn't that be soooo sad! ha.

anyways, groundcovers?:
The simplest solution is to replace the grass with mulch or a ground cover such as goldenstar (Chrysogonum virginianum), barrenwort (Epimedium), creeping lily-turf (Liriope spicata), Allegheny spurge (Pachysandra procumbens), Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis), creeping myrtle (Vinca minor), or barren strawberry (Waldsteinia ternata).

ikea hacks for bathroom solutions

http://ikeahacker.blogspot.com/search/label/bathroom

closet doors

ikea hacks with pax systems...
http://www.ikeafans.com/home/ikea-hack-pax-doors-as-room-dividers-and-closet-hiders/


or google flat track sliding door sytems/hardware

bath design ideas

found these in bath section of heath ceramics installations

front yard fence?? Trellis Stix

these are really fun and look nicely made, many choices and also trellises and arbors, gates etc... wow. I like them so much that I will need to be careful to not make our house look like some tea garden woodworking shop...

see  http://www.latticestix.com/product_info.php?cPath=468_476_482&products_id=867

Barn Owls sighting in backyard!

I walked outside  tonight after hearing the "grow to love it sound" of our "eat the rats"  friends- the screeches of the  Barn owls. 15 feet into our backyard, perched in a  short bushy pine tree was the beautiful white disc face - staring at me and doing that funny head dance they do while feeling curiously threatened. Sky dark indigo, glowing owl face within a jump of me- so awesome. It was probably the male (smaller and whiter than the female- and less busy tending the screaming hungry babies). He  looked at me for nearly 15 minutes before growing bored and going hunting...When we moved into our house, they were nesting directly across the street in neighbors  huge palm tree. My first painting party before we moved in  involved 6 mommies  from my hospital nursing group, 2 gallons of Ben Moore no VOC robins egg blue, an MP3 player,  3 Extreme pizzas and lots of good wine- albeit in plastic cups. It was a good time and we DID get the room painted. Shortly after the kid room was painted and the party had disbanded, I pulled up a rickety left behind painting chair from the sellers, placed it out in the atrium and had some more wine to toast our new home. It was dark with no lighting in atrium, past midnight, and I was not driving anytime soon. I leaned back , looked into the stars above and saw a flash of silent white bird belly float overhead, then the screeches and strange racket began. They screeched for nearly 2 hours. I love them. The constant night sounds give me a  feeling of inclusion and balance-  the natural world is here even with the cars and phones  and hectic human activities.

http://www.hungryowl.org/:

great local folks dedicated to helping owls, building nesting boxes, live web cams etc...  check out their site!

  I hadn't heard them for some  6 months now and had grown worried that a  neighbor had ignorantly set out rodenticides or round-up.   ( It is illegal to disturb their nests and using poisons near their nesting areas is just stupid).   I am so excited to know that they are back. The local rodents are not. now... should I make an owl box? 

another landscapiung rampage

look at:   (their site was down earlier...) http://www.orangestreetstudio.com/project-index/residential/bubalo/

pics from awesomeness:

corten steel walkway with underlights...

http://www.acochran.com/

more landscape design .. obsessing finally a hill solution

http://www.robsteinergardens.com/gardens_main.htm

All charms fly

All charms fly
Originally uploaded by pragyakothari

just love this

roomba gets stuck in living room

yes, embarrassing- we got one. the white floors are gracefully attracting the outdoors in... as the house was intended- it does bring the outdoors inside, grass, mud prints from little feet etc.  So our new  clean bot started out doing well, but when I checked on it 1 hour later, it had traveled into kitchen area from living room (after leaving half of living room in disarray), and then promptly gave up on kitchen( who wouldn't?) and went straight back to cleaning the very same area of LR that it had already done. Bot had a  brawl with my laptop cord and it finally won, yanking it under the sofa. I finally picked the thing up and smacked it down in the place where I WANTED it to clean. it still made a mad dash for the area it had previously cleaned twice. I think it has a bad case of OCD and I will not be able to  rely on a  compulsive Robot to clean my  disordered floors in a  frenzy when I am expecting company within 2 hours- its still all me baby. ( I will torture it with the dustbunnies under the beds on a  regular basis) this is where the Bot shines! it does need some  sort of  happy face decal  on it soon.

kitchen in need of party seating and side table

http://www.nooddesign.com/p-664-costa-del-sol.aspx

http://www.nooddesign.com/p-849-xl-platter-with-legs.aspx

finally! the DWR wallpaper link...

I fell in love with the pages, then couldn't find the source- now I have it, gotta get me some...

http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=13

http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=13

http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=13


http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=13

http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=13

http://www.cole-and-son.com/collection_detail.asp?CollectionID=113

atrium has cactii and rocks

oh finally some river rock and cactus, Iris for temporary experimental fun ( how much su n do they need??)  and some curly Q grass that gets curlier as it grows and it loves clay heavy poorly draining soil- now what plants can you say that you have heard can handle that!

 oh... and there IS a COPPER water pipe just 2 inches buried (original  c@ 1959 copper water lead for  spicket/ faucet in atrium) in E-11 its just below corner last 2 mistlite panels near atrium bedroom/office corner along long atrium planter run below mistlites. easy to hit with shovel, digger beware!!!

nice plants for patio

http://www.houzz.com/photos/38566/Avila-Valley-Estate-mediterranean-landscape-other-metros

nice concrete outdoor wallseat

http://www.houzz.com/photos/47973/Back-Bay-Retreat-contemporary-landscape-san-francisco

concrete patio desperation/ deliberations

its big.  its just ugly. it doesn't feel nice. it grows algae.  its fun to sit on if we had some good chairs.
can we simply powerwash and fill in the cracks with this? carving out the epoxy crack fix it attempts with cement cutter? hmmm. then making interesting line of inlaid straight stone? project  cost sounds much better than excavating right now.

http://www.naturalstoneoutlet.com/stickblackmarble.htmlhttp://www.naturalstoneoutlet.com/stickblackmarble.html

planters

http://www.bronzino.co.uk/collections/ocean/urchin/

deck integrate with yard stone cement images

mylandscape has wonderful work, inspiring images here

http://www.mylandscapes.co.uk/index.htm

ipe deck (fsc) and demo patio?

we are thin king of sayng goodbye to all the concrete, after a year of living on nothing but old concrete, the appeal has worn off... so have our feet.

white walls

theurbangardendecospotter.typepad.com > Outdoor rooms: explore the new options

shade furniture

By the ever edgy and crisp Gandia blasco PRODUCT modulo tergola DESIGN josé gandia Site Meter

FOUND AT

theurbangardendecospotter.typepad.com > Outdoor rooms: explore the new options

garden design website to look at constantly!

http://www.myurbangardendecoguide.com/gift_ideas/2.html

water features

http://www.zinio.com/reader.jsp?o=int&pub=113272806&prev=sub&offer=114410433

see koi pond corner house wrap...

great magazine to subscribe at

Garden Design
Design-conscious readers serious & passionate for the beauty of gardening

fencing? hmmm

http://www.demakersvan.com/

no more pavers- make your lines....

http://www.frederikmolenschot.nl/

bloomstone

_
The stone floor is cut in a way that the seams create patterns.
In this way it is possible to have an endless stone surface without
tiles, or to have decorative iterruptions in a tile floor. By using
certain natural stone types, decorative parts can be highlighted
by a traditional technnique used during finishing the floor.




project: in collaboration with Joris Laarman
material: chinese basalt
size: variable
photo: Boris van Hoof, Ideal House Cologne

solid pavers poetry when wet

http://www.frederikmolenschot.nl/

craftsmkan modern

this work is stunning- love the little round table... afraid to call for a quote because you just know it will hurt the ears...http://www.bassamfellows.com/

wallpaper art

http://www.namarococo.com/home.html

stuff

fountain     http://www.decoratorfountains.com/DF76994.htm?cm_mmc=FROO-SH-_-Fountains-_-Fountains-_-DF76994


solar   lanterns       http://www.formplusfunction.com/products/detail/9648

j molds sheetrock tektrim , wall integration

http://www.tektrim.com/case-studies/detail/residence-manhattan-beach/http://www.tektrim.com/case-studies/detail/residence-manhattan-beach/

fireplace sprucing?...

wall panels

http://www.marlite.com/designer-wall-systems/designs-volta.aspx

architects give me vision...

wow, Marmol Radziner and Ass. go look at his houses...nice work, great desert house.

shade sails for burning corner of atrium

Reisinger rigging- Architectural and landscape rigging

sails and hardware/ cool steel wire and nut trellis

pavers

these will work for poem stone walkways

http://www.builddirect.com/Sandstone-Pavers/sandstone-pavers-Summer-Beige/ProductDisplay_9683_c2_10056120.aspx

window film for privacy baths?

cool
emma jeffs adhesive film in Orba

from http://www.2jane.com/decorative-window-film-orba.aspx

interesting eichler pallette/ remodel

look at: http://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/show_story.php?id=15284

garden

The Watershed Nursery
601-A Canal Blvd., Rich, CA 94804
510-234-2222 www.thewatershednursery.com
Species Availability as of 2/01/2010

eichler art/ drawings for sale

http://www.crussellfinearts.com/page_eichler_04.html

to go to this show in Orange CA: Please RSVP for Sunday at crussellj@earthlink.net
and they will email you a personal invitation.

Exhibition run:

February 20 to March 20, 2010
Opening Celebration February 20, 4 - 8pm is FULL

Closing Party and Panel Discussion on Joseph Eichler
March 20, 2010 4 – 8pm
Panel Discussion starts at 6:30pm including:

Mike Sasso; Eichler owner, Artist and Realtor.

Jon Webb; Eichler owner and President of Affordable Housing Access.

Alan Hess*; Historian and author of The Ranch House, Palm Springs Weekend, Oscar Niemiyer Houses and Viva Las Vegas.

front doors of others... we like it

we saw a door that we loved today. I snapped a picture, and found something by Sandor that is a bit like it.. first the neighbor's inspirational door


Sandor door option- they make it in 10 different wood surfaces and optional metal strips at different thicknesses. While these are NOt a standard eichler look... they are sleek, minimal, modern, fresh and I would really enjoy coming home to it.
FLV180 – Modern Minimalist Horizontal Woodgrain Interior/Exterior African Macore Door

Living Room

here it is at the beginning...stay tuned for the fireplace redo- hopefully smooth plastered cement with small slit alcohol insert and flat screen mount with sliding panels by 3form to cover the imposing boob tube.

patio/atrium furniture

by "florastyle" by modaluce
yes.





wow. neat. have to get one, but no tree is strong enough in backyard. boo.