
Beyond The Pond: Water Features For Today's Lifestyle
By Sandra Nelson It used to be that your choice in water features was limited to a fountain or a pond. While both could be stunning, they didn’t always fit with the existing landscape or mesh with the environment. Today, there are all sorts of alternatives available, offering the perfect choice for any …

Add Some Blue To Your Landscape With A Water Feature
By Sandra Nelson
So you’ve been considering adding a water feature to your backyard, but haven’t quite decided if it’s the right decision for you. Having enjoyed ponds and streams, waterfalls and fountains in my yards for decades, I can give you lots of reasons why adding water to the landscape is a great …

Sitting Pretty — Part 3: Controlling the Climate
By Sandra Nelson One of the joys of a truly functional outdoor living space is the fact that inclement weather — days that are too hot or too cold — don’t force you back inside. Instead, these carefully designed spaces let you decide where to spend your days and nights. CLIMATE CONTROL …

Sitting Pretty -- Part 2 Patio Accessories
By Sandra Nelson Have you ever noticed that every season we have new marketing buzzwords directed toward us? Most of the time they seem so contrived to me ( I must be entering the curmudgeon stage of life ) but this year one did catch my eye. Almost every design article I’ve read …

Sitting Pretty -- On The Perfect Paver Patio
By Sandra Nelson
July 1959 was an exciting time for my family; It was the year that my father made his mark on our neighborhood. He became a local celebrity by turning our backyard into what was then considered a lavish outdoor living space. Fired up by pictures he saw in magazines, my …

Trends in Outdoor Kitchens 2020
By Sandra Nelson While outdoor kitchens have been at the top of homeowners’ wish lists for the last few years, ideas about what those kitchens should look like are beginning to change. No longer just a spot to grill, outdoor kitchens today are fast becoming the heart of outdoor living. They include options …

Poolscaping -- Transforming Average to Outstanding
By Sandra Nelson My daughter recently lamented that swimming pools are the new toilet paper this summer — not to be found anywhere. She moaned that she missed being outdoors, enjoying her surroundings and dangling her feet in the water while the kids splashed and played. Granted, she was talking about a kiddie pool …

A Tropical Paradise -- Outside the Tropics
By Sandra Nelson
Lush, vibrant, idyllic. — A place to kick back and relax in luscious, green surroundings. . The gentle murmur of falling water and the perfumed fragrances of summer flowers — the perfect vacation spot, but in your own backyard! The key to creating this personal tropical paradise — no …
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