I went from a private 1 1/4 acre where I could do whatever I wanted to a very small city lot on a block with very formal lawn and boxwood type yards. My BACK yard is full of all the plants I love, mostly in pots. The side yard has been turned into my vege garden (the people in the neighboring business don't mind cause they get fresh fruit and veges from me!) As for the front yard, we have mostly done flowers in pots, added a few iris, done the helstrip in succulents (which I get many compliments!) We are, this summer planning on converting our lawn and boxwood to Ca native and succulents. Got rid of the boxwood the other day, just deciding what to line the sidewalk with. It's NOT going to go away, but you will probably have to do more in containers. Look into the container gardening forum, garden junk, small space gardening sites for ideas. Have FUN! ORRRRRRR get a bigger place ;)

" If I ditch the apron-front/farmhouse sink and opt for standard undermount, will I save on the cabinet cost?" No. A short apron sink is designed to fit in a standard cabinet which you will have to buy anyway. Self-scribing apron sinks are virtually no more difficult to install. Will a standard undermount sink mean I end up spending more in granite countertops?" No. "Which is the most cost effective route?" You need to think comprehensively. After your remodel, you'll have money in your checking account again, I promise. What you don't want is money in your checking account and regret that you didn't spend it on the sink you really wanted every single time you make coffee in the morning. Remember, the free sinks that granite fabricators offer are complete junk. They buy a hundred of them on a pallet from China for $29.00 each or so. You can make an informed sink decision or you can fall victim to a loss-leader sales pitch. By the way, I make a real nice living trading sink choice regret for cash.

A few things that came to my mind.... Depending on what your soil composition is (mine is black clay), DIY-ing a fence could possibly be one of the biggest pains-in-the-rear you've ever had the privilege of inflicting upon yourself, lol. I'm not discouraging you from doing it, but learn the best method/materials for your soil type. :-D Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise that your landscaper quit. Every single tree in my new-construction neighborhood was planted too deeply for our soil, with a mulch volcano as well (no idea if the same company did all of the landscaping; there are at least 6 different tract builders), causing a ton of trees to struggle. It's frustrating and sad. If you do the plants yourself, you will know where the in-ground irrigation is. Bonus if you do the irrigation lines for the flower beds yourself. I have no idea what the heck the landscapers were smoking when they installed the hoses in my mulched area, but good grief it was awful. Depending on your USDA Zone, if your build finishes in February 2022, be careful with new plants. Transplants don't typically enjoy getting new environments and then getting zapped with a late, unexpected freeze. ;-) Wishing you luck!

I briefly saw someone's deleted condescending comment about parrots. FYI, anyone who may not understand about parrots. Some are genetically and and biologically from sub-tropical/tropical environments. Yes, I know a lot about the wild parrots as I have seen them and they used to nest in our giant palms where I used to live. Our parrot is not, and never was, wild. Some parrots in captivity look like this: Those are not images of our bird. Our parrot is some version of that, depending on time of year. I am not going to get into the causes or veterinary reasons for this--they have been explored (by us) with the state's finest avian experts. He DOES have special health conditions that absolutely 100%, no doubt about it, with multiple avian certified veterinarians' opinions attached, require the house (or what I mean is, his immediate area within the house) to be warmer than 65degrees. BTW, setting the thermostat at 65 degrees does not necessarily mean the house or upstairs maintains itself at 65degrees. It just doesn't. Different parts of the room are warmer/colder, and I, fully clothed, with a jacket on, am often cold (I would say "freezing" but not actually freezing---but I'm born and raised in SoCal and this is a cold winter for me--my hands are always cold). So, if I'm cold, how is a semi-bald parrot who weighs about 1 pound and is shivering, going to feel? He is over 30 years old! It is not known how old the "wild" parrots of SoCal typically get. And who knows if they die early because in their old age they can't withstand the sometimes freezing temperatures of L.A. We take excellent care of our parrot. He is upstairs during the night (with me), downstairs during the day (with everyone) in the main room of the house. We have had him for almost 30 years and he's awesome in so many ways, and I don't need to defend our caregiving/concerns or care of him. I am only interested in saving money by using the upstairs heater appropriately so as not to burn out any motors, nor resort to space heaters which are unsafe (my understanding). Other years, we have heated the downstairs during the day. With 7 adults living here of 3 generations, there are different needs for heat/hot showers/dryer usage, but none takes precedence in terms of comfort over our bird, which is why I brought it up.