concrete retaining wall?

'New Horizons' by Earth Designs www.earthdesigns.co.uk - Modern Garden design landscape in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire
Originally uploaded by Earth Designs - Garden Design and
Build




use these plants:Agaves and Aeoniums

more kithen ideas

no these are not mine....
but the top image is very close to our goal: the second pic is a good example of doing a cut through /pass through to living room, while still having some clear glass floating cabinet or shelf, I like the symmetry of the square of cabs.

window shade inspirations

there are ways to make cellular shades work for a room

Mediterranean Style Courtyard

Mediterranean Style Courtyard
Originally uploaded by David Andersen Garden Design

backyard to someday go this way- concrete retaining wall various sizes

Monsanto M.I.T. House Of Tomorrow

Monsanto M.I.T. House Of Tomorrow
Originally uploaded by Mod Dog

You have got to LOVE this- even if you don't get it.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

modern landscaping ideas

http://www.houzz.com/photos/professionals/1962/Blasen-Landscape-Architecture/start=80

see flickr , plastolux has great Modern Landscaping - by Thuilot Associates in pool set of modern landscaping

tags modern, landscaping, garden

plants for south hillside erosion control groundcovers:
books:WATER CONSERVING PLANTS FOR THE BAY AREA, published by East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD).
plants/trees for top of south hill erosion xeriscape/shade:Acacia, desert willow, chitalpa (30 ft. eventually)and palo verde.

PERENNIAL GROUND COVERS is a superb book by David S. MacKenzie and is published by Timber Press. It is full of practical information, easy to read, contains excellent advice to get started, has 315 beautiful colored photographs, excellent ground cover descriptions and selection charts.

majestic beauty fruitless olive: no fruit, slow growing tall tree , likes sun, dry.
plant with:Companion Plants
A Mediterranean inspired design would combine Majestic Beauty with Rosemary, Lavender, Rock Rose, Fig, Grape, Pomegranate, Sea Lavender, Jerusalem Sage, Chaste Tree and Italian Cypress. For a modern look, combine with the architectural look of New Zealand Flax, Yucca, Cordyline, Agava and a variety of other tender succulents.

fruiting pomegranate: for soun backhillside corners? Companion Plants
As part of the edible garden, use Variegated Calamondin Orange (Citrus reticulata 'Calamondin Variegata') as a companion. Contrast the orange-red blooms with the purple-blue exotic flowers of a Passion Vine (Passiflora pfordtii) or the white fragrant flowers of Chilean Jasmine (Mandevilla laxa).

nice use of color, limityed palette plantings

look at thomasfj's pics/photostream on flickr # 152- 154 eichler set for lanscaping idea

landscaping ideas front face

so we have a big ugly sloping yard of unhappy summertime grass needing far too much water and care for my taste.Besides afterall, who wants to stand outside in their front yard caring for grass when the backyard is SO much more inviting- and we ARE all antisocial eichler owners who live in walled off boxes unless invited over for drinks around here... ha. Really, their is too much street traffic to picture the front face as anything but a first appearance/ entrance and it just needs some simple feng shui and xeriscaping. The old sweetgum is really messy, prickly and gnarled, roots climbing over all the grass, tripping innocent passerbys soon and unfortunatley- has made desigjns on our sewer lateral. Tree guys want alot to remove it. uckk. so, after all the contemplating, I will probably remove it... but I need a tall fast growing full shade providing tree for a south facing front in need of lots of shade- hmmm. ( and one that won't get the sewer again) I am stuck here. any ideas anyone?

beam rot repair to do list for june 2010

IT looks like CPES is good stuff, order it all and start sanding when the rain stops.

http://www.rotdoctor.com

this worries me...

http://www.thebeamguy.com/beamfailure.php

I Love Eastvold's woodwork

mmm.

The Temporary kitchen

here's the cherry veneer- all for 350.00 o.k.for now.

KITCHEN??

so we have made the kitchen liveable for now, but it screams for some updating, the center cook island is small, awkward, and we need more storage space. The 1959 original cabinets are redwood which unfortunatly is sagging on center island, so pots and pans all fall towards the center. Originally, they had these old chipboard sliders for all the cabinetry and they were rotten and moldy... so we took them out and sprayed the entire cabinet bodies white( old dark speckled brown paint was pretty beat up and smelled . We then took 4x8 sheets of 1/8th inch cherry veneer ply and cut them , stained them with zar brazillian cherry, then hand fine sanded and added waterbased zar matt finnish, added some mid grade stainless pulls. they look great, work well enough, but we will be ripping the cabinets out and rebuilding the galley kitchen for more use-ability We had to put in a dishwasher and a fridge. The original sink was pretty gross , sad to lose the old strip stainless banding on porcelain, but it was icky after 50 years...so we put in cheapo stainless sink (ummm can you say "noisy") with high end faucet which will get moved into new countertops eventually . Here's some shots of the originals cabinets etc, pics of the temporary redo of cabs, and the ideas of what we hope to do this spring.

Main motivation:m we need to get new center island done before we can put in new floors!

new kitchen ideas?

we like the white countertop direction, as floors will probably be a bone whte Italian porcelain 12x24 tile... I think the wood cabinetry could look good with a walnut or cherry . Looking in to Marine grade veneer plywoods or solid core walnut/cherry for the front facing doors- anyone have any ideas on this? Corian? silestone? white concrete? I like white marble but it just doesn't seem reasonable to put that into an 8 foot center isle in this old Eichler. I read that silestone and corian stan and aren't great with heat- concrete artists cost as much as a granite top- (I hate shiny granite counter tops in Eichlers BTW)

porcelain tile like concrete- silly?

Apavisa- i think they are Italian...

landscaping

back hillside: clay, south face, drought tolerant, erosion control, california natives
Buckwheats: great for hillside erosion and butterflies . 10 ft trees on hillside: Louis Edmunds Manzanita
mountain lilacs for hill groundcover: Ceanothus Joyce Coulter

Common name: Creeping Mountain Lilac.

http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/arctostaphylos-stanfordiana-bakeri-louis-edmunds-manzanita

look at desert willow for flowering tree for birds -likes some water

house layou/t floorplan

the washer and dryer is located inside garage on back of hobby room wall-

atrium shade sails!!

get square steel tubing inserted into permanent ground receivers when redoing atrium floors?

http://www.backyardcity.com/shade/sails/GPU-Triangle11-Desert-336486.htm

or

landscaping has begun...

look at round pavers for side walkways by Thompson Building Materials.

door entry aiphone

http://www.aiphone.com/products/alpha-list/detail/db

bathroom fixtures and master bath ideas

who would think that a TP ROLL could get dressed up so nice?

FSB door levers and bath extras are on order...

http://www.fsbna.com/bath/82701013

this is nice master sink design

chimney leaking or roof leak? storm disaster

The torrential downpour and strong gusts woke me to the inside sound of water... dripping... on the stereo and tv this morning. alot of water. we were aware that the chimney needed some "flashing" repairs, but I wasn't prepared for this . buckets, mops, moving the electronics- and alot of hoping for the power of dehydration to visit the wet system.... ahhh. maybe needing roof work asap. joy!

shoji screens?

here is a wallpaper option from Bradbury and Bradbury

http://www.bradbury.com/atomic.html

to find the goodstuff( mid-cen -mod revivals)

http://www.backgarage.com/

wow fiber optic countertops? really!

http://concreteathome.blogspot.com/

How much rain would a flatroof take f a flat roof could take rain?

It' s raining cats and dogs. Yesterday my cousin and I dug out 42 bins of dirt and rock to allow drainage for half of the backyard- and we have a moving river today. good timing? not really, as mud should be moved while it is still in dirt form...

no house blueprints available? we have model E-111 not LA-81 but they are similiar

sadly, I have not yet located any blueprints from county or city, seems that Anshen and Allen did not submit them to the UC Berkeley architectural archives. Most other architects working for Eichler do have blueprints of all models available there if one submits a request and pays 75.00.

So where are the plumbing, electrical, radiant heat and air vents? We play "guess where it is" often here, while enjoying our favorite new red wine california find:" Menage a Trois" by Folie a Deux
2008 Red Table Wine. I was standing in line at Safeway ( not a fancy supermarket) and these two finely dresses gentlemen were buying 24 bottles. I had to ask. "So how do you like this one?, big party? or great wine find?" of course- it is a great wine find .We drink a glass every night with dinner and it is reliably smooth, deep, and robust and at 6.99 a bottle with 6 pack savings, who could ask for more.
ONE MUST DRINK RED WINE WHILE TRYING TO CREATE YOUR OWN BLUEPRINTS....ahhh. so this is the closest I have come so far

Shear wall removals?

We would really like to open the living room up to the Hobby room and bring down this blockade of light. The Hobby room 's outside wall is all glass, the largest sliding glass doors that we have ever seen. I think the intention was that one could have a lovely view while dining here, or doing their taxes and art projects, but sadly, we see only the neighbors' horrible mint green exterior siding renovation - her aesthetic is beyond comprehension. I was thinking of building a trellis outside of the huge sliders as there is a nice walkway /play area potential with a huge wisteria draping over the whole area to conceal our ridiculous neighbor's taste.

about the wall tear down: I had the exciting opportunity to see our other new neighbor's shear wall between the living room /hobby room while their mohagany paneling was removed and yes, there is a shear wall ( albeit mere 2x 4's in a cross x pattern spanning roughly 6-8 feet in center of wall). Also, the space has the potential to quite a grand open space with great views of the someday landscaped back yard and private open space hillside. I need to get some quotes from engineer for a header option here.

ikea cabinets refaced with walnut custom kitchen example

so here is a good example of what we want to do- although i think that using Marble would be silly- so we will probably choose cesarstone in white, we are thinking walnut veneer for the wood areas, but a dear friend who is a seasoned worker of wood has urged me today to consider real hardwoods for the cabinet slab fronts such as cherry or maple- and to look further at more cabinet / drawer base options ( and to forget ikea..). I knew it was sounding too easy last night

ikea nexus kitchen?

I love Redneck moderns eichler remodel work- great solutions!