Home Improvement and Real Estate Site

Learn how a Los Angeles gardener has designed and constructed a system to collect water for his garden and landscape. From the Southwest Yard & Garden series.

The Raingarden: Your easy contribution to cleaner water

By Steve Hoogenakker, Showcase Landscape.

Many folks are not aware that the rain that runs to our storm sewers does not go to the municipal plant for treatment. It used to, but as growing communities increased pressure on treatment plants, cities nationwide disconnected storm sewers and routed them directly to the nearest lake or stream. In Minnesota, pride in our natural resources is strong, and residents are willing and eager to do their part to protect water quality.

Raingardens are a fabulous way for Homeowners and Townhome Owners to protect water quality. It is a garden or landscaped area with a very slight depression (usually 6-8 inches). A raingarden is designed to capture stormwater from rooftops, driveways and even streets, allowing it to soak into the ground along the deep root channels of beautiful plants (some native and some conventional).

Some of the benefits to CICs include an aesthetically appealing landscape feature, increased bird and butterfly activity, and credit for reduction of stormwater -which some cities are beginning to charge fees for! The list of benefits to the environment is long.

The current system of storm sewer pipes contributes largely to flooding and poor water quality in all water bodies. The water runs off so fast, our natural systems cannot absorb it. Prior to urbanization, stormwater soaked into the ground. Some of it made it all the way down to aquifers and some of it flowed slowly and laterally through the ground to lakes and streams. By the time rainwater reached a surface water, it was scrubbed clean by soil and microbes and cooled to the temperature that fish and other aquatic critters enjoy. Gutters and pipes allow over-heated stormwater to flush all the pollutants that collect on impervious surfaces to water bodies that are not able to treat or absorb the impurities nor are they able to accept the sheer volume – leading to serious flooding. Raingardens begin to repair the natural mechanism that slows, cleans and cools stormwater.

What about all the stormwater ponds that CICs have, aren’t those meant to protect water quality? The quick answer is, yes, they were originally intended as an answer to the Clean water Act mandate that stormwater be treated on site in new construction over five acres.  They do keep stormwater and pollutants out of local lakes and streams, unfortunately they merely collect and concentrate those pollutants.  They, just like natural ponds, do not have the capacity to treat stormwater. In addition they often become eyesores. 

To intercept the stormwater that is piped directly into storm ponds (and would not be served by a buffer), raingardens can be installed in the path of down spouts and near the curb with curb cuts.  These curbside raingardens allow water from streets to flow into the garden.  They are designed to over flow back into the street if their capacity is exceeded, not into the lawn. All raingardens are designed to be dry within 24-36 hours after a storm to keep mosquitoes from breeding in them. Mosquito larvae need seven to twelve days of standing, stagnant water to mature. Raingardens actually act as ‘traps’ when mosquitoes lay eggs in them and the water drops since they cannot mature! In contrast, raingardens provide vital habitat for many desirable critters like birds and butterflies.

The city of Burnsville recently studied the effectiveness of raingardens.  They installed 17 residential raingardens to capture street and roof runoff and measured an 82% reduction in runoff in 2004!  They measured a 90% reduction in 2005 and a 93% reduction in 2006- illustrating that as the plants mature (and the root structures create more channels) the infiltration rate increases! The city of Maplewood has actively employed raingardens in city street reconstruction projects for over 10 years! Cities across the country are embracing simple raingardens to address serious stormwater problems including Kansas City, MO (with its 10,000 raingarden program launched in 20060, Portland OR and Chicago IL.  The ‘ground work’ has been laid and practitioners have learned how to make raingardens work and look beautiful!

With both raingardens and shoreline plantings, proper plant selection and installation and maintenance are critical to their success. There is a wide pallet of colors and textures that will tolerate the water fluctuations common to these landscapes. Raingardens can be designed to be virtually indistinguishable from conventional gardens and landscapes while performing an important community service!  Be sure to consult a contractor that is familiar with native plants and shorelines when pursuing projects like these.

Even if raingardens and ponds are not part of your landscape, a native garden can achieve environmental goals and can be incorporated into any plan. A simple butterfly garden can bring bright bold colors and delightful wildlife to an outdoor living space. They require less water and no fertilizers or weekly mowing and in that way, conserve water and other resources as well as protect water quality!

If your CIC is searching for ways to help the environment, they need not look far.  Take a close look at how stormwater is ‘treated’ in your community as ask, ’is there a better way?’.

Steve Hoogenakker is landscape consultant/contractor with 20 years experience working with cic properties and can be reached at 763-213-2410 or Steve@Landscape.Pro. This article can be reprinted as long as all Steve’s contact information is included in the article.

For years, the kitchen was neglected in New York City, and regarded as that room that nobody goes into. More and more people, however, have finally realized that the kitchen is one of the most important rooms in the house – not just to cook, but to feel at home in. Families converge in kitchens, and there’s nothing that smells like home more than something great cooking in the oven or on a state-of-the-art stovetop.

Here are some of the hottest kitchen trends in interior design and renovation that suit city life, and bring home and hearth for those who eat, as well as for those who cook.

Go with the Flow:

And make your kitchen an integral part of your living area with open spaces. An open kitchen allows everyone to hang out while the pasta sauce is simmering on your stove, while you pay your bills, or while the kids have their after school snack in the kitchen table. When you look out from your kitchen, isn’t it nice to see your living area, a glimpse of the dining room, and maybe even a view from your living room window?

Continue your flooring from the kitchen to the living room to create a feeling of space.

An Island Adventure:

Having an island is becoming more and more functional in today’s kitchen. There are eating islands with bar stools, there are cooking islands with a stove top, and very often an oven, and there are preparation islands, equipped with a second sink, a garbage disposal, and lots and lots of drawers for easy access. If you can plan your kitchen with an island in mind you will benefit from beautiful design and a convenient work area that will provide your kitchen with extra space.

Clean it Up!

One of the hippest trends in kitchen design is imported from Europe. Long, clean lines, kitchen cabinets all at the same height, lots of stainless steel, clean cabinet doors with simple handles, and long stretches of open counter space. The resulting look is clean, crisp, and modern. You can twist the modern look by curving your angles – make your island half-moon shaped rather than rectangular, or one part of your counter and cabinets flow with a sweeping curve. To complete the look add stainless steel appliances.

Culture Shock:

A recent trend in kitchen design is to apply an ethnic look and feel to the kitchen, emphasizing a specific country style: Santa Fe, Tuscan, French modern, Old English, Mexican, Spanish, and so on. The important thing when doing your kitchen cultural, is to pick one theme and stick to it. Don’t mix and match too much – Santa Fe styles have more than enough color on their own without mixing in Provencal. These kitchens are usually more “country,” than modern, but certainly are homey, and when well designed, a masterpiece to eat in!

Steel Sharp:

Stainless steel is back, as the lit torch for modern, sleek, new kitchens. High-end kitchens tend to emphasize the shiny (or matte ) steel design in appliances, cabinet fixtures and assorted kitchen accessories.

Stainless steel gives your kitchen an extremely clean feeling. It appears sanitary, and it gives a kitchen that “this is a real cooking place” feeling. Stainless steel countertops and appliances are very popular at restaurants and large kitchens.

Colorful Appliances:

Some of the bolder home decorators are brining color to their kitchen appliances. It started with the rainbow hues of the KitchenAid mixer, and has more recently been seen on refrigerators, ovens, blenders, and even Aga stoves. This unique touch of color on appliances that used to be white, beige, or steel at best, is bringing even more life to the new center of the house. A red refrigerator, a purple Aga, or even a cheerfully yellow KitchenAid can give your kitchen that extra spicy punch!

Every one of us has own desires and aspirations for different finishes, looks and feel that suit our needs, lifestyle and investment level. The busy professional people prefer their kitchen and bathroom to have a modern integrated feel and look. Grace and style can be created in your kitchen and bathroom with few changes made to the existing ones.
The kitchen is the most valuable area of your home because it is the heart of your home and is in fact the family meeting place. Remodeling or enhancing your kitchen adds extra style and light to your kitchen.
There are few things to consider when you plan for enhancing your kitchen. Changing the cabinets, countertops and flooring of your kitchen can do wonders with respect to style and ight kitchen cabinets, fancy floors and attractive countertop patterns can give an eye-catching look to your kitchen.grace of your kitchen. A fresh coat of paint, new wallpaper or changing the window treatments can refresh the style and look of your kitchen. Splashy tile, bright kitchen cabinets, fancy floors and attractive countertop patterns can give an eye-catching look to your kitchen.
The cabinets of your kitchen must be attractive and decorative. Custom kitchen cabinets are best for small kitchens. Soft shaded cabinets are quite appealing. The choice of your kitchen countertop must depend on the look you want and the sort of work to be done there. Latest model faucets give a richer look and an extra convenience. Energy Star appliances which use less energy than the standard models, modernize your cooking area. New stainless-steel appliances provide fresh look and energy efficiency to the kitchen. Lighting in the kitchen should provide illumination to all the work spaces in the kitchen. The kitchen flooring must essentially be durable, attractive and easy for cleaning. Hard surface floor, such as tile, hardwood, marble, or concrete are easy for cleaning. Large deep drawers enable you to easily find and grab pans. Pull-out shelves offer easy access. Dress up the kitchen windows with curtains, shades, and valances to add extra style. Changing the old windows with energy-efficient windows provide breathtaking views of the garden outside.
The bathroom is the second most valuable area of your home, next to the kitchen. Remodeling or enhancing your bathroom adds extra style and value to your bathroom.
There are few easy ways to consider when you plan for enhancing your bathroom in order to give a new look to your bathroom. You may enhance your bathroom to make it versatile, functional and sensational. Just by replacing the vanity tops, faucet and toilet can make a big difference in the entire look and feel of your bathroom. Latest model vanity tops, faucet and toilet give a richer look and an extra convenience. Lighting in the bathroom should be proper. The bathroom flooring must essentially be durable, attractive and easy for cleaning. Changing the old windows of your bathroom with energy-efficient windows provide extra freshness and energy-efficiency.
If you are planning for remodeling your kitchen and bathroom, you may contact a design professional who can manage your remodeling project, estimate the remodel cost, and choose the right kitchen and bathroom items in order to update your kitchen and bathroom with a new look. When you plan for remodeling your kitchen and bathroom, you have to decide what to change, what to keep and how much you can do based on your budget. Make your kitchen and bathroom both friendly and functional with creative decorating ideas.
Samehta is a Copywriter of http://allphaserenovations.com/.

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Kitchen Gun & Toilet Grenade

Real Estate Business Investment is a good way to earn huge profits and generate huge cash flow. There is a slight difference between Real Estate Business Investment and other types of investments. Real estate business investment requires good knowledge and ability to invest in good piece of land. Sometimes heavy investment gives bad results and sometimes with a small investment you can earn huge profits. Investors ,specially small investors should be alert at the time of investment in real estate. If you have made up your mind that you want to rent your property then you should have sufficient knowledge about tenant problems , Laws about tenants and requirements of tenants. You should be aware of all financial as well as legal requirements for your real estate. Investment goals are the primary factor for Real Estate Business Investment.

Real estate market offers different types of strategies to invest in real estate. You should choose the best strategy as per your requirements. Efficient real estate business investors are able to make their fortunes in real estate business. People who invest in this business can live comfortably. They don’t have any tension about their survival. They can earn more and more profits with single right time real estate business investment. Investment in real estate business requires great commercial skills and knowledge like other businesses.

Real Estate business needs additional risk because sometimes you’re at risk in this business. That is why a person with a great will power can easily handle this business. Forecasting in real estate investing can spoil your future so don’t overestimate your investment. Investment in commercial real estate business is the best way to get more revenues. Always keep in mind that a right time investment is the best opportunity to earn more profits. You should consult financial advisors that will provide help to find the best commercial real estate. Investment in commercial real estate is good for large as well as small-scale businessmen.

More and more people have been getting into this market for real estate business investing, but the most successful will be those who can create a winning real estate business plan. This plan will serve a number of different purposes, and it is important for the investor to understand just how important such a plan can be. On the one hand, a well thought out, professional and polished real estate business plan will help the real estate investor to attract the capital he or she needs to close those once in a lifetime deals. The secret to success in the world of real estate is that so many of the transactions can be done using other people’s money, and that is where the real estate business plan comes in. The real estate business plan will detail to all those would be investors and money lenders just how the business is destined to succeed. In addition, a well written real estate business investment plan can also serve as a blueprint and a guideline as this moves forward.

It can be quite difficult to get such a business off the ground, especially when a slowdown in the market makes the world of real estate a bit more challenging. Having a real estate business plan at hand will help to guide the business as it grows. Preparing a high quality real estate business plan is well within the means of most real estate investors, but it is a good idea to ask for help from qualified professionals when preparing such an important document. For instance, having an accountant or other tax professional take a look at the real estate business plan can provide some much needed insights. In addition, having the real estate business plan reviewed by a qualified real estate or business attorney can ensure that the document is legally sound and that it contains no errors or omissions. After all, this real estate business plan will form the cornerstone of the new enterprise. It is important that it be a quality document.

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The art of designing, creating and maintaining the greenery and green areas is commonly known as the landscape gardening. A house looks like a paradise if it is surrounded by a beautiful, well maintained garden. If you want to lend that beautiful look to your garden, you can do it yourself or take the services of professional landscape gardeners.

It is very important for a gardener to know the basics of landscape gardening. A landscaping project may involve understanding the client’s needs and tastes, closely working with architect, preparing ground for planting, transplanting the nursery stock, deciding over the species of plants, designing basics and more.

Knowledge of the certain specific elements of landscape designing is important to create a design which works and sustains. Understanding these landscaping basics is not difficult and you will learn gradually when you start working over a project.

Unity:

Whatever the design, you should ensure that there should be unity among the various elements. Consistency and repetition in shapes, colours, heights, and numbers can easily bring that element of unity in your garden. In the same way, symmetry is another way to enhance unity.

Balance and Harmony

Keeping balance and harmony among various styles, species and styles is important. Having one plant or flower in abundance and other in scarcity creates imbalance. Balance in colours, shapes, sizes and heights is important to keep the general balance.

Simplicity

Try to keep the design simple to have a neat look. It does not mean that you have limited options of designs and patterns. Avoid usage of large number of colours or types of plants or more. Usage of more colours or plant species confuses the eyes and creates disorder.

Create a Focal point

Create a central idea and expand your design around it. It is very important to have a central theme. You can use something like fountains, special tree, bush or statues.

These are some basics of landscape gardening which can be used in designing any kind of garden whether small or large.

Let us share some tips for landscape gardening.

First task is to prepare your land which you intend to use for gardening. Remove unwanted stuff like small trees and shrubs which you do not want. If you want to keep some but move somewhere else, spray them with “Wiltpruf”. This should be done one day before you want to move them.

You would also need tools like saw blades, shovels, trimmers and cleaning pruners. Keep them near you, at an easily accessible position.

You should have plan about your landscape garden. You should know exactly what you want from this project. You should have flexible approach. If you have an existing landscape, take notes of what do you like and what you do not like.

If you follow these basic tips and ideas, your landscape gardening project would give you best results.

www.gardenersurrey.co.uk

cozumelrentalhomes.com PLEASE VIEW VIDEO IN HIGH QUALITY (Need more space? Ask about the optional second casita!) Casa Olivia is perhaps the perfect Cozumel destination for one or two couples vacationing together, each wishing to have their own space. You will be thoroughly charmed by this Cozumel Vacation Rental which is comprised of both a main house and a delightful private casita, each with it’s own bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living quarters. Travelling with a family? The kids can even have their own private quarters … just like Mom and Dad. Casa Olivia’s main house is open, cheery and inviting. On the first level of the villa you will find a large living room space with dining for up to six, a fully outfitted kitchen with view overlooking the pool and yard, and a second seating area which boasts both a studio day bed and an adjoining half bath. The whole second floor of the main house at Casa Olivia houses a master suite with private full bath and shower, a computer alcove where you will have access to highspeed wireless internet services, and a very special balcony overlooking the pool and gardens below. Like the main floor, another studio bed can be found on this level along with cable TV and DVD player. There is even a mini fridge upstairs…perfect for keeping that special bottle of champagne on ice! The other members of your party will enjoy their own private accommodation in the thatched-roof casita, located just past the pool in the back yard. This …