It is very lovely where we are, we are surrounded by commercial nurseries because we have such great growing conditions right where we are. We feel very, very blessed We do spend huge amounts of time outside, here. I have an entire outdoor kitchen, in fact (both of us being of Italian extraction, we must have an awesome kitchen, lol!) We are all doing well, I am recovering from a shingles outbreak, which I'm kind of young for and had not gotten the vaccine, yet. I would not wish that on my worst enemy. So, I would admonish anyone who had chicken pox as a kid, to talk to your doctor about the wisdom of getting a shingles vaccination. I'm hoping I don't end up with permanent nerve damage from that outbreak, ugh. All the family is well, and we're gearing up for our annual July 4th shindig! Jades are doing great! One is big, one is still small, and I might have a little something for you, hint, hint :-) Patty S.

Hi Chris, I very much like having a SWG...the saltwater is softer on the eyes/hair/bathing suits, etc. I got it as an upgrade to the original contract because everyone here seemed to like them quite well. Originally, the unit that was installed 2 years ago was a Watermaid. The Watermaid runs with a higher salt content than most other manufacturer's units (6,000-7,000 ppm compared to 3,200-3,500 ppm in most units). Prior to running into the problem with the salt water corroding the pool cover, I did not particularly like the Watermaid as it tended to develop air bubbles when i switched the solar heating on and off and the SWG would often stop working after the solar was running. The unit MV replaced the Watermaid with is an Intellichlor. So far, so good (although, truth be told, I actually preferred the feel of the water with the higher salt content). As to coverstar v. coverpools, I can't say that I can truly compare the two. MV pools uses Coverpools so CoverStar was not an option. Had I wanted to go with Coverstar, I probably would have had to have subcontracted that portion out. Because I wanted it to be an inground unit, it had to be designed and built together with the pool. The CoverStar cover I had on my last pool was a much simpler system -- it was an aftermarket, deckmounted unit. It was not connected with the sheer descents, so there were no sensors to break down, no SWG, etc. Therefore, I can't really compare the two units, as it's not an apples-to-apples kind of comparison. Customer service (Alternative Pool Systems for the CoverPool and PoolSafe for the Coverstar) for both companies is excellent, though...I'd probably say Eric from Alternative Pool Systems (the one Mission Valley Deals with) would get the nod, as he has been exceedingly responsive and was totally on top of things with the corrosion issues). As for the decking, I purchased the pavers from Ackerstone in Corona. I liked their selection much more than what I had seen at RCP and KRC. Except for Friday mornings when Ackerstone sells their overruns at a *tremendous* discount to the general public (I got pavers that normally sold for more than $5 sq. ft. for $ .80 a sq. ft (yes, 80 cents!)), they only sell to contractors. Since I was in the process of a home remodel at the time I was able to use my contractor to effect the purchase. Southwest Boulder in Fallbrook is a distributor for Ackerstone, and I also bought additional pavers from them when I purchased my flagstone (they have a great selection!) as the delivery costs were lower. The coping and most of my decking, seating and retaining walls were installed by MV's mason - Uriel Hurtado. Notwithstanding a couple of issues that arose with the retaining walls owing to an over-zealous building inspector, Uriel was a pleasure to work with. He had some very creative ideas, and was very fair with his pricing. After the remodel/addition was finished (which was nearly 4 months after the pool was done), I took on landscaping and needed to make some changes to the decking (we moved a couple of doors going out the the deck and added a door to the master bath and guest bath). These were done by my landscaper as the pool had been completed and we had since moved on project-wise.

Since you asked, I will respond to a few things I see. First, yes your spa front looks crooked due to the middle front, 3 rows from bottom. Have them fix it while the masons are still on the job. It will drive you crazy visually as you sit on the patio looking out at it and the view, and it may affect water flow and sound. Not a huge deal. Also the spa looks a bit high in the rear left side, could be your pictures. Second, I sure hope the masons secure those boulders with more mud than shown on the rear of the waterfall since you are in Cali and on top of a hill, don't see any rebar to hold them during a shaking. Please, don't take offense, just trying to prevent you some future headaches, from a p'o ed hardscape contractor in Vegas who wishes guys would do their jobs right the FIRST time........ just got on here to relax after a crap day and look at gorgeous pools, which yours will be.........soon, Barb

I agree with the advice to hire a local designer. The yard is too chopped up to make meaningful suggestions from the pictures. Based on the "like succulents" comment, I would remove any shrubs that are in the "green meatball" stage which is overly sheared because it was in appropriately planted to begin with and replace with shrubs that are more casual to compliment the tropical palm look. A proper irrigation set up would also be advised when doing the renovation or as a first phase. Also consider using synthetic turf in areas where the old grass died but not as much square footage to save on overall costs. Maintenance should also be a consideration when developing a new design. Homeowners who are not willing to spend time in their gardens should have primarily plants that are diehard and tolerate neglect. Container plants need to be properly watered on their own irrigation station separate from the plants in the ground. The best bang for your buck would be to hire a local APLD certified designer to do at least these three things: 1) Recommend what to keep and what to remove (may or may not need to create a sketch, but could use the aerial photo to create zones or spaces to refer to 2) Develop a plant palette / list of plants 3) Hire them back to perform the placement after demo and irrigation is set up (This assumes no hardscape will be added or modified) Laypersons and contractors who are simply the installers who simply follow a plan of a planting plan don't realize that if the designer were digging the holes for the plants, they would invariably move them to appropriate spots regardless of where they appear on the plan. Field placement is far better than relying on a 2 dimensional plan. But not all designers get to be present during installation. That is one drawback of a design only unless you are willing to do it yourself and hire them back for the install process. If you do hire a designer, make sure the preliminary design is sent to a few licensed contractors who can give pricing and make sure the preliminary design is sufficiently detailed so as to provide meaningful pricing rather than ballpark figures.