Home Improvement Today?

I did this in the living room and kitchen counter top 5 years ago. Living room has had something plugged in since install. Kitchen gets moderate use.

 

check ebay they are cheaper

 

I put 2 in kitchen bar area, and am putting 2 in mater bedroom, 1each in spare bedrooms

 

Part 1 of 2:

We bought this house about 5 years ago and one of major selling points or bonuses was lots of mature landscaping. The front yard had a beautiful multi trunk Palo Verde tree that was probably 20 plus years old. The canopy had to be about 40ft across and the trunk was probably 20 inches across. It was huge. Unfortunately, it split down the trunk during a monsoon shortly after moving in. We planted another small palo verde in it's place, but it was infested with palo verde beetle larvae and was replaced with Palo Verde #3 under goodwill by the tree nursery we bought it from.

After about 3 years Palo Verde #3 was now 35-40ft tall. Unfortunately, despite heavy pruning and lots of tree systemic and fertilizer it too split down the trunk during one of our monsoon storm bursts. We were blessed that it didn't hit the house. Also, that it landed on a cactus in the middle of the yard that we didn't really like.
So after losing three palo verde trees over the past five years, yes three trees, we started looking at the local tree nurseries for a replacement. I really wanted a Semi Dwarf Crape Myrtle, but it wouldn't go with our desert landscape and technically isn't on the HOA's approved landscape list. We saw a few trees we liked, but the prices were all about a grand delivered and planted. Uh, nope.

We ended up looking a Lowe's of all places and found two really nice mesquite trees for $200. Perfect! I picked the best of the two and it was delivered for $79 yesterday. I figured $79 was a better idea than trying to lift it in and out of the Tacoma. I wanted to plant it yesterday, but a shovel only gets you so far when there's a large chunk of the old palo verde stump still stuck in the ground.

So, I had to have someone come back out this morning and grind the old palo verde stump a little more to get through that last 8 inches of dirt depth. We managed to get it planted this morning and what a workout! Also, my father's birthday happens to be on August 15 and although he passed away many years ago from cancer I figured this could a memorial tree and God willing, perhaps this one might last longer than a few years. Part 2 coming soon...

 

Part 2

We've got this 40ft stretch of side yard where there's not enough room to plant anything as the pool deck backs up to the fence. On the other side we have renters and their bedroom windows are right off of our back patio. This is the third set of renters in that house since we've lived here and they're constantly peeping over the fence and bringing their dog over on a leash to use our front yard as a bathroom. I guess our facility is nicer.

Anyway, I got the idea to build some cedar or redwood planter boxes and figured I could plant something medium height that would provide a nice privacy buffer. I picked up a semi dwarf pink lady apple, a semi dwarf ambrosia apple, a dwarf Lisbon lemon and a dwarf Kieffer pear. The purple vitex tree/ bush on the end will be going in the front yard and replacing the large cactus that the old palo verde fell on. I also picked up 2 hanging flower pots to go over the bbq, but still need to find some hardy plants or flowers for them. So here's a couple pictures of the backyard trees thus far. I still need to source a few items like extra potting soil and the cedar or redwood lumber for the planter boxes. The latter of which is proving to be difficult with the lumber shortage.

 

Looks like I'm going to have to put some in the living room.

 

I love that landscaping style

 

Love your yard, NO MOWING!

 

Finally got all the damn off the ceiling. Now, I gotta plan out some recessed lighting for the hallway and dining room. Hallway... easy, 3 lights down the center, done. Dining room poses a bit more of an aesthetics problem.

Based on my super accurate and absolutely to-scale diagram below...

1) Do you think I have the corner lights too close to the window wall, at 20"?

2) Do you think spreading out the lights on the longer hallway wall, in an attempt to make them more proportional, would look weird?

 

What size cans?

 

I kinda like this...in 6" lights.

 

Looking at Lithonia WF4, 4" led wafers.
The other option was going with 6" wafers, but only 1 in each corner. I think the smaller lights give a more modern look.

We're going with a chandelier over the dining table (center of room). Otherwise, I like this too.

 

You want 4' of spacing and 24"-30" off the wall with 4" cans. The layout that @wilcam47 just posted isn't bad. I'd move the wall side cans to 24" to get more space to fit the center run in. You can omit the middle one where the chandelier will go and I think it would look great. Lighting layout is always a bitch. You can second guess it forever but whatever you go with as long as it comes close to meeting the 4' guidelines it will look fine and give plenty of light.

 

Here's a handy tool for layout help.
https://blog.recessedlighting.com/recessed-lighting-calculator/

 

Helped dad put in some laminate flooring

 

Bookmarked thanks!

 

Thanks. I need to get my plans on sketchup or something to get the scale better. I've been putting blue tape on the ceiling to get a general view. I'll try tweaking a bit more to get that 4'.

Thanks. I actually came across this the other day and used it to get my initial measurements.

 

Something that I've learned over my last few houses with lighting is that it's important to make sure that the replacement bulbs are a standard size. Whatever you do, make sure they don't have proprietary replacement LEDs.

 

I'm looking for some recommendations for a paint sprayer. I need to paint some cabinets doors, doors and maybe stain a fence. What do you guys use??

Thanks for your help..

 

I've used a couple different wagners, both were crap. Ended up going brush/roller. Unless you go commercial grade (expensive) you probably won't be happy with the results. Just my experience, maybe other have different.