Next project

We've been busy, while we have worked at becoming parents, our new home is suffering from lack of attention. Once we return from Cancun (can't believe we are leaving in 4 days), we have a guy scheduled to construct our new brick wall. You might be able to see where the wood fence on the side and back is not looking to hot. After the brick wall, this grassy knoll will be cemented to create additional and much needed parking space.

Our home sits on the corner of one very quiet street and another street which is one of the main arteries that connects many people to the downtown of our fine city.

Why yes, that is a bus bench where people wait for public transportation.

Once we complete this task, we plan to attack the front yard and create an outdoor living space. Here is a picture of our very pretty, green front yard.

We live in a desert climate, not the desert, per se. I do not wake up looking at beautiful Joshua trees or desert mountains painted with shadows however, the temperature range from the end of May until the end of October swings anywhere from our low being 80 and our high being 110.

Living here my entire life - all 35 years of it (except for 2 years on the Central coast of CA) has left me with a love/hate relationship. This is where my closest friends and family reside therefore I love it, when it is 100 + for 10 straight days in a row - I hate it. I could go on......The good and bad equal each other out (at this point in time) however, I have to be honest when I think about the possibilities and freedom associated with this Master's degree in Teaching. Giddy with excitement am I with the thought of fleeing (ok, a bit dramatic) the surface of the sun and heading to a cooler part of California!

Ok, back to reality...
The goal is to increase our living space by turning the front yard into a place where we can throw parties and enjoy the outdoors (when it cools down). We got the idea from Sunset magazine and measured that if we take about 2/3 of the lawn we could acquire an additional 600 square feet of living space. Because the backyard is not entertaining -friendly, this is really our only option of space to convert.

The layout for the house below, not sure of how our layout will look yet. Toying with the idea of seeking a landscape arhitect but really trying to keep the costs down.

The final product in Sunset magazine and I could only hope our non- Eichler home could look 1/2 as nice. I'm loving the materials they used.

Not my favorite furniture but I do like the chalkboard in the back for the kids and the flagstone for the floor. I know it's overused, but I still really like it.

Here is the before of their home, it's quite different from ours, but I can still vision the potential that lies within our home.

Here is a picture of another courtyard/outdoor living space that I like, still too much grass though.

Here is a shot from our front door. Originally, we planned to stop at where the pathway ends but Duane is really pushing to enclose the entire yard. I have reservations, I want it to mesh with the neighboorhood and I really don't want to block any of the neighbors views. Ok, it's not like we blocking the view of the ocean but still I just want it to mesh. Duane wants to build a mini-compound (must be a man-thing).

The area to the left of the pathway that leads to our front door. It's in need of a good weed.

Spring, it's here!