Monday, July 28, 2014

Taking Commercial Ideas for Residential

 My team is putting in landscaping at a new commercial site.  Had time to peak at the interior decorator's work.  This is the welcome zone, next 4 pics.  More than colors, lighting, flooring, textures etc.  Their work has to 'sell' the project and project a realm of comfort, fun, value, and safety.  This is college student housing 'today'.


The owners of the site have millions invested, they are not making any mistakes with their interior design team, or the landscaping.





Tile 'wood', above, in the large foyer.  Some 'wood' tile is exterior proof, not all.


Exterior block fascia, above.  Good solution for many stucco or lapboard homes in the South, update the cinder block 'foundation'.


Amenities area, above, look closely at the tanning shelf in that pool.


 Alas, typical soil for planting, above.  Great for buildings, bad for plants.


 Grading, above.  Get it wrong and decades of trouble ahead.  Rare the project affording a fix later.


Trees, above, cannot be planted by hand only.  Machines to move/site/dig, men to finish.


At the end of the day.  Several weeks to complete the project, the team will eat out but mostly take turns cooking.  
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Every commercial job teaches me something new for residential.
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Garden & Be Well, XO Tara
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Pics on the job.
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Watched a new team member digging with the guys, he was handling the shovel letting his back do most of the work.  Mentioned to him, up front, to watch the guys and copy.  Of course they were all pushing the metal shovel head with their heals.
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Intuitive to the guys.  I had always pushed in with the arch of my foot until reading Graham Stewart Thomas.
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Small fact, big difference.  
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No excuse for wearing flips on the job.  Except my job was merely taking a few pics.  Another excuse?  Do you understand how hot/humid the South is in summer?  Wellies, Birkies & Justin snake boots nearby in the van.  Last excuse, much too old not to wear what I want !
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For a beautiful garden & home filling you with joy, become my client, local/on-line.
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Award winning speaker, hire me for your group, local/out-of-state.
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Books by Tara Dillard, Amazon
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Tara Dillard & Associates Design: farm to city pied-a-terre.
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Construction by Award Winning
Shaefer Heard Construction, licensed home-builder, renovation - new construction.  Heard's Landscaping a unit of SHC.  3 decades of service.

2 comments:

  1. I wear black flip flops all summer long :)
    Speaking of grading, we did not get enough proper top soil (and we didn't know).
    So now our grass looks TERRIBLE. Sigh.
    Decades of trouble ahead if we don't replace it the experts say :(
    x
    Maria

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  2. The potential of that blank slate. I suspect they will get it right.

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