My house remodel is finally finished. Carlos came over on Sunday and took some nice photos of the house. He really did a fantastic job. Here’s my labor of love:

The front of the house has cleaned up landscaping, and some fresh paint. The shutters I put on in the fall of last year.

I put in the dry creek bed in the fall of last year. There was a monster tree on the left that I took down because it hid the house and it scared neighborhood children.

I hoped the vines would’ve grown up and over the trellis by now, but plants take their time.


This is the South side of my house where the sun hits the hardest. So I designed it to be drought-tolerant and still pretty. Soon the Bougainvillea on the wall (on the right) will grow up and over the arch like it is on the left. The Mesquite tree on the right will grow to give a thick canopy of shade for all the space this side of the wall.

This is a big back yard for Arizona. The covered patios keep the sun from directly hitting any window. This keeps it bright inside but not too hot.

These chairs sit on a brick patio that Dad and my brother Pete helped me finish last fall. This is a shady spot where everybody likes hanging out. On the far side of the yard is low-water landscaping that took me pretty much a year.

Before: This whole south side of the backyard struggled to grow grass. The sun beat down, making it next to impossible to grow anything. The sprinklers stained the block wall.

After: The only thing from before is the fruit tree in the distance. After preparing the raw earth, I put in the brick pathway, the gravel, boulders, rocks, cactus, mounds, watering system.

Although you can’t see it that well, there is a full brick patio at the end of the path. Through the gate is the golf course.

This is the new travertine tile, expensive appliances, new sink, painted cabinets, etc.

I took down cabinets to the left and right of the ventilation hood so that the living room and kitchen are more connected. Now when you work in the kitchen, you can watch TV or enjoy the view of the backyard. The stove is pretty sweet.

You can really appreciate the new tile and paint in this photo. Before it was worn-out blue carpet and scuffed white walls. The French doors lead to the backyard. Through the door on the right is the kitchen.