Here's a photo of the front door...Taken on a rainy day. Looks a lot brighter in full sun. The door 'people' called the glass rain glass and it's original. We'd like to keep it. To put the new doors in (there are two...One will go in front of the other), they will have to rip out the entire door transom but we'd like to keep the original rain glass. Our landscape architect friend was here today and he happened to mention if we want to keep the original mailbox to paint it white. I agree.

the new pavers will need to go into the front door and into the foyer. There's a lower level so it won't interfere with the rest of the floor.

We want to buy a new modern stone, wire or something to replace the chair so packages and whatever can be left there and not on the floor. I haven't started to shop yet but imagine it will be easiest to find online. We're not thinking of putting a chair there but a stand of some sort. Something simple and modern.

We'd love to find an amazing ceiling light!

Any ideas on pavers, a table or light would be appreciated...Thank you for looking.

(Am feeling a little worn from 'looking' at palm trees and bamboo. Am going to need to find someone with a grinder or something to dig up the existing bamboo by our pool. I'll share the before pictures. That might be my favorite area when it's done but it's a bit of a mess now.

Wanted to share that we've decided to try something on the long brick walkway that my husband watched a youtube video on. He would trowel a cement thin set over it and then sponge it off and then paint it. If we wanted it he could put a finish over that but the videos I've looked at with him show a pretty great look for next to nothing with the cement then paint. With the step up and inside foyer we would match a shell/coquina tile that matches the paint color.

My husband walks 10 miles a day and takes pictures of old and new houses and very few have walkways that match the step up and entryway. The majority of new houses are using pavers and people don't want those at their front doors.

My husband put the original pavers down himself so I'm sure anything he does will be beautiful. Also, if we don't like it we can always retile it.

It would save us many many thousands of dollars to not have pavers put on this walkway. It's long! I'd rather put that money towards our pool if possible. We have 10,000 earmarked on having the pool retiled and resurfaced so not putting in new pavers would be a huge savings. I'll share pictures when he redoes it.

We got lucky and found a beautiful Florida limestone tile today. I haven't snapped a pic yet but it's white and blond mixed and best of all it's in stock! We'll try to match the color on the walkway and if we don't like the look of it we'll use this tile there as well, replacing the tile that's there. I think the coating and painting process may work out well though.

We had to find the tile for the step up and indoor foyer first before we could coat and paint the walkway to match. We got lucky to find a tile we like that's available!

Just want to say... I love your house! Think you're doing a great job, and I look forward to seeing the final pics :)

Beautiful walkway and excellent brick work. I like your idea to update. Here’s my patio with the bluestone. This pic is from early spring well before the plants have filled in.

Krdpm, thank you for your kind comment. I appreciate it and am glad you're reading. If you have any ideas please chime in.

Sarah, Your pavers are lovely. Can you tell me how they've been laid? Were you able to just set them in an area carved out of the grass or are they in cement? I'd love to hear about your process for putting them down. Did you have someone at home able to put them down or did you use a professional?

What a great area to sit outside and enjoy the day, have dinner, read a book...Did you put up an umbrella or do you not need one where you are? It's charming. I'm so glad you shared. Do you move the furniture inside before the rain or how do you manage that?

Looking at your pavers I'll share that my husband and I went back and forth between gray and a more golden tone. He was leaning towards gray and I wanted the white/gold stone. Yours make a good case for gray although I don't know what your house looks like. Our pool deck is grey and it always looks good without a lot of effort so I'm a fan of gray.

I"m a fan Sarah! Thank you for sharing.

I'll post photos of our pavers as soon as the pictures come into my email box. They're slow sometimes.

Our home is a Dutch Colonial, with painted cedar shakes (1930 home). But my husband and I love modern furniture! We had the patio installed for us- living outside of Boston means we have to deal with frozen ground and it required quite a bit of work. Our little yard had a dump truck in it! It was amazing to watch them work to level the yard, add all the required layers below, then properly slope the sanded bed before they lay the stones. Took the team 8 working days for our project. The furniture can stay out year round, just covered with the outdoor covers. I have teak and iron furniture on our deck. Only the iron furniture goes below deck for the winter. The teak stays out uncovered just fine. We brush off the snow if we have more than a foot. We put in the patio so we could have a heater and extend our outdoor time since the cold weather is 6-9 months of the year! No umbrella is needed as our deck is shaded by lunchtime in high summer so we lots of sitting options.

Boston is one of favorite towns anywhere! It makes me smile to imagine being able to leave your furniture out in the snow and to be able to sit outside without an umbrella in the summer. It gets so hot in Florida! I was gardening over the weekend and waited until 5 pm and I almost fainted from the heat. I'm sure it's hot right now in Boston but not sweltering like it is here.

I'm glad you had the foresight to do your pavers 'right'. They'll last forever and you added to the resale value of your home too. They really are lovely. It's like adding to the square footage of your home when you add outdoor space that you really use. Well done.

Here are the Florida limestone pavers we chose for the step up at our front door and for the foyer inside. We'll try coating the existing brick (the herringbone pattern will show) and then painting it to match this tile first. If we don't like it we'll change our plan.. I have a feeling it will work fine.

The tiles aren't laid out straight in the photos but they would be in a herringbone pattern also,

Oh those look beautiful! Can’t wait to see when you are done!

I'm posting this for two reasons...

One is to show the blog post that gave my husband the idea of doing this to our red walkway, although he'll do ours somewhat differently and two, hopefully to help others with a similar dilemma save money by trying something similar on their home.

Her brick had different textures so it didn't take the thin set evenly but I think it worked out well on their house. Our red brick pavers have an even texture so we expect them to take the thin set more evenly.

My husband is going to add a bonding agent to the thin set so it will get into all the porous parts of our brick pavers and basically 'sticks' to the bricks. He'll mist down the bricks beforehand because that will help in the process too. With the heat index it's over 100 degrees in Florida right now so he'll wait until it cools off and do it on a cloudy day.

I thought this was a great 'fix' for their house and it's what gave my husband the idea to try it on our house.

The bid we got just for the work to lay new pavers was 7000.00. That includes removing the entire walkway and pouring a new pad. I mentioned they couldn't just put a thin paver on top of the existing walkway because the code has changed and it would be too high of a step up from the driveway.

Before I paste a link to her blog post I'll share that I'll post pictures of work that's been done by our pool. My husband had tried removing a tremendous amount of bamboo himself and realized it would take a machine to do it. Nobody could get anything bigger than a stump grinder back there without taking down part of the block wall.

We paid someone to use a stump grinder and after he'd taken out the bamboo he said he couldn't go any deeper and the roots of the bamboo were still there. Our intention is to have all new bamboo planted (a different variety) and we could see that he'd only removed roots that were 12 inches deep.

After he'd been paid including for a lot of work he didn't do as the contract said 'removing roots' my husband went out and worked all day with a shovel and got the roots out. He sent an email to the contractor who had a crew with him and told them they'd stopped trying too soon and been paid for work they could have done with more effort.

I'll share before and after photos soon.

Here's the post about a red brick walkway...https://notinggrace.com/how-to-install-and-mortar-wash-a-herringbone-brick-patio/

This is a note to Beth H. if she's still reading. Beth gave me some of the best ideas and in fact I still look at her front door colors while we wait for the door to be delivered. We were talking about what to do with the front walkway about a month ago.

Beth wrote: what do you think about using a masonry paint over them?

Romabio Masonry Flat (you can tint it to any color) may be an option. you have nothing to lose if you plan on removing them for something new.

She's posted her comment about a month ago suggesting that we paint the front walkway saying that we had nothing to loose if we didn't like it. I read her comment aloud to my husband and he said it wouldn't work because the high points would wear differently than the low points and we moved on.

It was after reading the post I shared earlier today that he thought by using a thin-set first he could fill all the cracks first and even it out and then paint.

I'd ordered some smallish rugs from a great company that 'made it' from their shop in our home town and they've become popular on a national level. One of the rugs they sent was wrong and we made three different trips there, all on consequent Saturdays and I went inside while he sat in the car. Each time he stared at their red brick stairs that had been painted white. They were unevenly worn and looked a bit like the photo from the girl's blog post and I think that seeing that and reading about the thin-set made him want to try. Her bricks are very uneven which isn't a look that would work for us but did for them but it made him think. Also, getting a bid of 7000.00 for labor only might have made him start thinking differently but Beth was on the right track long before we were although I read her comment aloud to my husband when she first posted it.

It's not the first time Beth H. was ahead of us. At the beginning of this we were thinking of painting the trim of the house a light gray. She said 'why? Just paint it all white.' or something to that point and it made me realize we were over thinking it. We did paint it all white but I kept everything the same finish which nobody but me seemed to be in favor of but it turned out nicely.

So I want to say that Beth H. had the idea about painting the steps before my husband decided on thin-set. He knew paint alone wouldn't work but she was two steps ahead of us by suggesting we try something ourselves and if we don't like it it wouldn't matter if we're planning on tearing it out anyway. I just showed my husband the post again and her mention of Romabio Masonry Flat and he said he'll get it if it's still in stock. As everyone knows lots of things aren't.

So thank you Beth H!

jackpug....how nice of you to write that! thank you. I can't wait to see how all of this turns out! I saw the other pavers you were looking at (ordered?) and really like them.

Betb, you really did help and I enjoyed talking with you about your koi and all things plant related too! I'm currently trying to learn about bonsai after having owned one for some time and then recently buying another. It's not an easy plant art to learn...at least for me.

We haven't ordered any tiles yet. The tiles are in stock. Our landscape architect friend stopped by yesterday and loved them so my husband will go by and pick them up. (Before somebody else does!) He'll only need enough to do the 'stoop' and the indoor foyer.

We have to wait until it's not so hot before he does the walkway and we're in the process of buying three foxtail palm trees for the side of the house and will have bamboo professionally planted behind our pool soon too. The three foxtail palms have to 'match' so that's been a little more of a challenge to find.

I'll post photos of our pool area where the old bamboo was. The before and now and soon the after. It's kind of grim looking now.

I'll share a photo of a fortail palm too. The foxtails and the bamboo should happen fairly quickly.

Our final landscape project is the biggest and that's to have three bismarck palms planted in the front yard. Landscape architects often plant things using in a checkmark pattern. They use odd numbers usually and if you picture a check mark you'll see a standard pattern they use frequently. It's hard for me to see when things are in the ground but it makes perfect sense.

My degree and background is in Fine Art and artists tend to work with odd numbers rather than even. Meaning a painter doing an extremely simple landscape would not put the horizon line in the center of the page but rather divide the page in thirds...Both on the horizontal and on the verticle. It's more pleasing to the eye as even numbers are 'expected'. My husband and I are both photographers and dividing a picture plane is probably not unlike what landscape architects do when they divide space but for whatever reason I have difficult 'seeing' the way they see. I understand it but I can't conceive it. If I could I wouldn't need a landscape architect.

Anyway, he has us planting three bismarck palms in our front yard in the checkmark pattern and I'm still getting used to the idea. They're also an extremely expensive tree so it's going to take me time to wrap my head around it.

The foxtail is not inexpensive but compared to the bismarck it's not as big of a project as far as the budget goes. We just got the news or idea yesterday about the bismarck palms and my husband and I both think the bismarck is beautiful and our landscape architect said "It screams midcentury'.

The bismarck palm is also called a silver palm for obvious reasons. We don't see them often. I'm sure I'll be learning more about them.

Here's a foxtail palm....The one that we'll get three alike of to plant on the side of our house. I posted a photo above with a hedge in it and they will go in the bed next to the hedge. This photo of the foxtail doesn't show how pretty the fronds are...the trunk too. They're self-cleaning so the fronds fall off on their own and don't have to be trimmed...A big plus. I think they're one of the prettier palms though. We're on the border of the 'freeze' zone for them. We haven't had a hard freeze since 2010 but in 2010 all the foxtails in this part of Florida died.

And here's a bismarck palm below...Kind of a short one but for whatever reason tall ones are hard to find. This one is exceptionally short but it shows how silver the leaves are and how incredibly full they are. Unlike any other palm I've seen. Our landscape architect said to get one with 4 feet of clear trunk, one with 6 feet of clear trunk and one with 8 feet. Clear trunk refers to how many feet of the tree is actually trunk. Sometimes palm tree nurseries will trim the fronds super high to say there's more feet of clear trunk than there really is. I don't know if they could do that with the bismarck but they do with lots of other palms.

wow. those palms are really nice. being in so cal we have tons of palms around here too. I have a super tall one in the back (date palm? queen anne palm? not sure) that grows those orange fruit pods. they drop, make a huge mess and little palms sprout from them. The fronds don't drop so it's a chore to have someone climb and cut down everything. I hate palms!

we rarely freeze. maybe once in a blue moon it will get down to 36 for a day or two in december/jan, but it's very rare. I'm only 30 miles or so from the beach. further inland gets colder. prob the same as where you are.

I totally understand the placement thing. As soon as you talked about3rds, I started to think about photography. (I used to be in to it in my younger days). Thought about how most people always center their subject when offsetting them to 1/3 actually looks better.

Little buggers are hard to photograph! I purposely cropped it so that they weren't centered. (maybe i'm wrong w/these? I have a few that are centered. I guess it just depends on the whole subject matter)

sorry, I always get off subject! lol.

What kind of bamboo are you doing? do they plant that straight into the ground? I know that stuff spreads something fierce and thought it had to be contained. I like the foxtail palm. never knew the name of it. Sagos are popular out here too but they get very wide. I have one in a container that's been there for 20 years. I should really do something w/it besides shoving it in a corner. It's just been so hot the past month. mid -high 90's every. single. day. horrible. You guys have the humidity though. I went to miami in August once. It was hell. literally. I couldn't live there. we had a few days last week where it was 80% humidity (after a short rainstorm) and I didn't even step outside. my plants loved it, my hair, not so much.

Looking forward to seeing this yard when your guy is finished.

HI Beth, photographing birds in your backyard can be a challenge. I think you did a good job. The third image is your best one. Have you read about depth of field at all? It will help you to understand an important concept. It's a topic that's necessary to understand if you decide to take up photography seriously again...Read about that and it will help you understand why it's important and how you can control it with your camera settings.

The bamboo we bought many years ago was not a clumping bamboo and traveled our of control and became invasive. Bamboo species that are available now have changed quite a lot and the one we're putting in next is called 'Graceful bamboo' or Bambusa Textilis Gracilis. It's pretty much the only bamboo people plant people are installing...Not the only bamboo but it's the most popular bamboo for residential purposes. It's a clumping bamboo so it will get very tall but won't 'travel' and won't become invasive.

We left a massive bougainvillea plant/tree because when it grows in between the bamboo and it's beautiful. It's a hot pink flower and I don't remember planting it but we had it in big pots next to the pool and somehow it began growing many, many years ago and I wouldn't be able to wrap my hand around the trunk now...It's huge. So we had them dig around it and I'm glad we did.

There's so much space in one corner we've considered putting a studio space in. One of those buildings that you buy as a kit and put in yourself. I no longer have a studio at home to draw and do mixed media in and my husband knows I'm missing it. Something like this. https://allwoodoutlet.com/allwood-solvalla-172-sqf-kit-cabin-free-shipping

I don't see why we would have a porch space but it just gives an idea of what we're talking about My husband and I need to talk about it more.

It's funny but palm trees in Florida and palm trees in California are often very different. You would be hard pressed tp find a foxtail palm in California because they grow in the kind of heat you experienced in Miami. They grow near Miami and growers here have them brought up to central Florida to sell. They'll grow here after they're well established but they're only grown in two areas in Florida and both are down near Miami.

Miami in August would be hell for me too. The last time I was in the Florida Keys it was January and it was heavenly. I wore sleeveless dresses and sandals and it was beautiful. The temperatures in Florida vary tremendously. I used to love spending time in Miami but it's changed a lot. It has great Cuban food though.

Beth, I've started learning about bonsai and it's so fascinating, I bought a small jade bonsai at a market 10 years ago but ended up treating it like a houseplant. Finally it got so gangly I knew it needed to be repotted and pruned. I watched a lot of youtube videos before I did anything. When I repotted it the roots didn't look like I 'd hope they would so I started to study. The jade is doing fine but at the same time that I repotted the jade we came across another small bonsai called a fukien tea at a nursery and I bought it to grow indoors. My husband decided to set it outdoors in the sun one day and it got scorched. I have no idea why he did that but he didn't take the instruction that I did from the man selling it. We didn't have masks on and even though we were outdoors he was right to stand back. I listened to the seller carefully but stuff happens. I'm hoping it will survive but these two things happening got me started studying this fascinating art form. There are quite a few bonsai nurseries not too far from us but we haven't had a chance to go to one yet.

My husband did pick up the pavers today and they really are pretty. I love the way they feel. As a native of Florida I'm always barefoot and they are so smooth. I like the way they feel when I rub my hand over them.

I'll get pictures posted of the bamboo area by our pool.. Our neighbor have an obnoxious oak tree and its roots are causing problems for us and the leaves get into our pool. It's not a live oak which we treasure in Florida but a laurel oak which are just junk. They do tremendous damage during hurricanes because their roots are not strong like the live oak and they fall down easily. This one is going to end up on their roof but they don't have the sense to figure it out. It takes all kinds I guess.

Keep making photos of your wonderful hummingbirds. I wish we got more of them. We get a few but probably not nearly as many as you do in Ca.

so those pics were taken w/a zoom lens on my nikon D5500. it's just the cheap lens 16-80 and I have a another zoom to 150? I believe. I understand depth and f-stops, but this particular lens needs a lot of light. adjusting the f-stop wasn't really an option. some of those others may have been done w/another lens. Can't remember!

I know you don't want the background (depth) to be in focus so you want to open the f-stop, yes? larger lens opening blurs the background?

This one for instance, I wish the background was blurrier.

It says on the info "16.0-80 mm f/2.8-4.0 (same as the one you like on my previous comment. same readings)

this info says the same, but the background is blurrier (same tree) I may have been farther away?

AGain, same parameters. But they're a little dark. (and ugly background. I tried to move the feeder to diff spots, in order to get better backgrounds)

The bird is super crisp on this one, difficult to get w/these guys. I know this particular lens sucks up the light. I just didn't want to drop thousands for the better one!

this was my Cannon at 75-300mm with f/4.5-6

I have on bonsai my son gave me almost 5 years ago. I have transplanted it, but I do nothing else w/it. water it every 3 days. I know nothing more about them!

Depth of field is controlled by the f stop and the camera lens and a few lesser aspects you won't need to worry about. While it's true that you generally want the background to be out of focus when you're shooting a bird and it's important to understand so you can work quickly between stopping motion via the shutter speed and working in low light. Some lenses are so expensive because they're faster, meaning they open to a wider aperture or f stop and allow the photographer to shoot in lower light without sacrificing their shutter speed. That's really only for pros so don't worry about it. (meaning fast lenses) Understanding depth of field is critical so you can control it and take advantage of working with a fast shutter speed to stop motion. You can't usually have both unless you're in very bright light.

It's important to take a class...Not only to learn tech info but more to see others work and they yours and to get feedback from a teacher and students as well.

The birds could be a bit larger ideally and something that's easier to explain in person with other pictures to show the point but when shooting animals or people you don't want to put someones face pointing too close to the edge of the frame. It creates tension. Sometimes it's done on purpose for that purpose with people but your third hummingbird is an example. In a perfect world I'd turn him around so he were facing the other way. He's so close to the frame but if he were turned it would give him space to fly into so to speak. Does that make sense? The background is lovely and the bird is sharp but I'd just like to see him placed on the other side of the frame.

On the first two images I'd like to see the bird larger and the background much like the background in the third photo.

That is not the critique I'd give a complete beginner. You want to leave someone with the idea that they want to take more pictures...Not that they failed in any way. You most certainly didn't. I know your sense of design is strong so I'm sharing that with you because I know you can take it so to speak. I like that you have an understanding of depth of field but work at either using a longer lens or just getting closer if you can and making the birds a larger part of the composition...Like in the third shot. If you bird were right where he was but turned around it would be a truly great bird shot.

Be aware of the background. It's hard to separate the bird or animal from what's behind it and the animal isn't going to move so it means you need to move next time. You want to make it stand out as much as you can. Sometimes I see people never crouch down and take all their photos while standing. Try changing positions and moving in general to change the background. That's why the depth of field (wide aperture) or a long lens of both was used here...The depth of field is so shallow the bird stands out beautifully.

The most important thing? Keep shooting! You won't get better and better unless you do and you're doing well now so keep it up and please keep sharing. You can even use your phone if it'a all you have with you. I hate to but I do. It makes me feel lazy and there's no substitute for a 'real' camera but we usually have it with us and it's okay to use it. You can learn to take better pictures than the next person with it too.

Thank you for sharing Beth. I'd enjoy seeing more.

well thank you! It;s been a long time since I took a photo class (HS actually) Totally makes sense about what you're saying. I don't have the photoshop expertise to turn things but I know that's done, yes? I think what I did in that one is cropped out the bird feeder. that's why I couldn't get him to face the other direction. in order to take the shots, I had to have the feeder close by, and then cropped it out of the photo.

While I could get pretty close to these guys, the lens I was using was sub-par. Oh to have one of those fancy lenses!

I'm a big Peter Lik and Thomas Mangelsen fan and have a few pieces of their work.

This leopard photo is from the latter. it's my fave piece. I just love this print. photo of it doesn't do it justice. the blue green of the tree is gorgeous. He also shoots w/Kodachrome!

thanks for all of the pointers! I appreciate it. I rarely get outside w/my camera any more. no excuse really. It was my career of choice back in HS. was all set to go off to a commercial photog school, but one slight change happened and it completely altered my career path (happily). I did continue w/my camera, but it was just a hobby.

One more, if you don't mind?

I came across this cool oak tree.

this was mid-day, so not the best lighting.

Played around w/some high contrast black and white

then went back in the later afternoon to try and get diff vantage points.

what would you have tried? I couldn't back up much further because there is a drop off on the road. I tried every angle. close-ups, etc. wondering what you see? thank you so much for giving me pointers! I know this topic has veered, but I am looking forward to seeing your photos when you guys are finished. In the interim...... lol

well thank you! It;s been a long time since I took a photo class (HS actually) Totally makes sense about what you're saying. I don't have the photoshop expertise to turn things but I know that's done, yes? I think what I did in that one is cropped out the bird feeder. that's why I couldn't get him to face the other direction. in order to take the shots, I had to have the feeder close by, and then cropped it out of the photo.

While I could get pretty close to these guys, the lens I was using was sub-par. Oh to have one of those fancy lenses!

I tried enlarging him, since you said he needs to be bigger?

the original and a cropped. yay-nay? would have been nice to freeze those wings, but I was losing light and the cheap lens couldn't do it. Oh to have an 8K zoom lens! I think the picture would have looked better if the wings were crisp like his body. w/the wings blurry like the background, there is no distinct delineation and the subject kind of gets lost? (am I on the right track??)

(This is the male Rufous hummingbird. rather small. vibrant autumn coloring!

I edited the other pic to enlarge him . again, couldn't freeze the wings on this one.

I'm a big Peter Lik and Thomas Mangelsen fan and have a few pieces of their work.

This leopard photo is from the latter.

it's my fave piece. I just love this print. photo of it doesn't do it justice. the blue green of the tree is gorgeous. He also shoots w/Kodachrome!

thanks for all of the pointers! I appreciate it. I rarely get outside w/my camera any more. no excuse really. It was my career of choice back in HS. was all set to go off to a commercial photog school, but one slight event one day happened and it completely altered my career path (happily). I did continue w/my camera, but it was just a hobby.

One more, if you don't mind?

I came across this cool oak tree.

this was mid-day, so not the best lighting. Here's just the overall shot

Played around w/some high contrast black and white

then went back in the later afternoon to try and get diff vantage points.

I think using a wide angle lens might have worked from this spot. Again, I don't have a very good one that won't distort too much

(I prob should try going in the morning to see the diff lighting)

what would you have tried? I couldn't back up much further because there is a drop off on the road. I tried every angle. close-ups, etc. wondering what you see? thank you so much for giving me pointers! I know this topic has veered, but I am looking forward to seeing your photos when you guys are finished. In the interim...... lol

Beth, i see a carving!!??

Beth, I want to strongly suggest you take a class. It will really help you in a profound way to have other people to bounce off of. It's important for growth and also to get your creative juices flowing.

I always took my classes on field trips to shoot and so we could be out of the classroom sometimes. I'd suggest a night class at an art center. Nights because other adults who work during the day tend to get out more at night, and an art center because they attract all kinds of interesting people.

If a local college is closer and easier then that can work too. It's really about who's teaching. If you hear good things about that person then that's a good sign.

Yes, pros use photoshop but the purpose of being a pro is so you don't need to. The idea is to get it right without having to spend more time in photoshop. Edit it right, expose it correctly, frame it...all said nobody wants to spend more time than they need to on a job, so photoshop is more for doing things you can't do when you're shooting. Removing smoke from fireworks for instance. It's not possible to do that in the camera.

I can't say what I would have done because I wasn't there. It's about what you see when you're there. Another person may shoot from the same location but at something in a different direction. It's about expressing who you are, not who somebody else is.

I like the black and white version but I loved working in a darkroom and that works well in B&W.

The next to last picture has nice light streaming through the trees...

Please take a class. I think you have something that wants to express itself via a camera and I encourage you to keep shooting. I taught for many years, both creative photography and technical photography for NASA on the shuttle program. I don't miss teaching but I sincerely do hope you'll pursue photography.

That's funny Alice noticed the carving in the tree. Were you trying to shoot that Beth?

Beth, I forgot to say that yes, it's a good idea to go back and shoot the same subject at different times of day. Photographers call the time when the sun is just rising and also setting 'magic hour' and it's the most desired time of day to shoot.

I used to give assignments to do just that though. To shoot a subject early in the morning, mid-day and late in the day. You'll be surprised how dramatically different the images will look just because of the light. You're shooting the light as much as you're shooting the subject.

There are times when I shoot into the sun though...to get that 'flare'. It's something of an art form to get that burst or star of light in your image but don't be afraid to try things. Learn the rules first and then try breaking a few.

The problem is when people get a stellar result they don't know what they did to get it so sometimes it's a good idea to keep notes when you're experimenting so you can do it again.

I hope you'll keep making photos because I've seen your furniture and other creative efforts and all that crosses over. Keep at it!

jackpug,,yes, I did mention going at two diff times and possibly going back in the morning.

I did try to get light streaming through. a little sun flare!

thank you so much for the kind critique. I will look around for some local classes and see what's offerered.

No, I wasn't trying to shoot the carvings, they are just local lover initials!

I'm sure you're thoroughly tired of looking at this tree, so I'll stop now. lmao

poor tree has taken a beating. it's probably over 100 years old. these calif oaks are all over the place behind my house and are protected by the state. You can't even trim one on your property without getting approval from the city.

I just thought the way the hillside eroding to expose all of the roots was really cool looking. I'm sure at another time of day with diff type of lighting, a better lens, it would make a decent shot.

Again, I appreciate your time and help.

Now, back to your yard!

It's been too long since I posted. We've been working on our pool area...Having old bamboo ripped out and saving an ancient and gigantic bougainvillea and then having new bamboo planted.

We've gotten into bonsai since I last wrote (reminds me of you and your koi Beth) and my husband built shelving for them and installed a watering system...He also built a large pergola or I should say building...It's in process. It's all been a lot and I'll show pictures of that in progress within the next week or few days.

My husband had to wait until the weather cooled to start changing the red front walkway to a slightly off white color and then having our new front door installed. It came in and it's a real beauty! It will be a surprise to anyone who's been following.

Here's a few pics of just white thin set that had to be put down on top of the brick walkway. A lot of the high points had to be ground down and the thin set filled in cracks and smoothed everything out. It needs to cure for a few more days and then we'll more fairly fast on the rest.

The limestone pavers will go on the front stoop and into the house foyer. And then the new front door.

Here's a few pics of the walkway with white thin set. It sure looks better than the red brick and it's saving us a fortune by not having it redone with all new materials! That's putting it mildly.

your pics are small! can barely see anything!

Beth, it's not paint, it's just white thin set. It gives an impression of what the red walkway looks like white but it's just a coat of white thin set. I could shoot something closer up but it would just show the red color coming through the white. I should show the red before and then this and when it's done the final effect.

There's a product out that's called Duraplate and every paint store has it made with their choice of a name but it's all Duraplate. Paint color is added to it and that's what will go on top of this layer. A lot of paint stores are out so it's on my husbands HD list.

I'll see if I can find a before pic with the brick walkway against the house and then show this image.

Here's what it looked like in the summer and here's what it looks like in the process of being painted.

ok,, but your pictures, when clicked on, are literally 2" high. I can't see anything.

Try again Beth

oh much better! yes. I love the change.

(I'd spray your house numbers a diff color. like turquoise or something !)

or, a contrasting color like this

what color is the door going to be?

Wait until you see the front door Beth. I've never seen one like it! Very mid-century and it will be turquoise like we talked about in the beginning. When my husband gets the front entry and walkway done he'll have it hung and is going to be ready to paint it first and I haven't picked a color.

He's spending all day tomorrow putting down limestone pavers on the front stoop and in the foyer. He went to HD tonight and got another saw and a bunch of materials. He works fast and I work slow but when he's ready for that paint color he will not be patient!

I'll show the limestone pavers when they get put down. They only go on the stoop and into the front door and part of the foyer. That will be tomorrow. He'll paint the walkway after he does the pavers.

He's using vacation time from work to do this. He's a man with many talents.

woohoo can't wait to see it all!

If anyone has seen any awesome turquoise paint colors please share! The final doors are two...The new door is a cut out steel door with a baked on finish. It will go in front of a wood door, so the steel door with cut outs will be turquoise and the door behind will be white. So the cut out design is what makes the design so unique.

It was a custom order and we were nervous but when it arrived it fit perfectly! That was a huge relief because it's the 'thing' that will make the house special! So all this work is getting ready for the door. It's a big part of the house but nobody really notices a walkway.

We have not been able to find the three very tall foxtail palm trees that go in on the side of the house. They are grown in south Florida and we're on the tail of where they're put in due to freeze potential in winter here. We haven't had a hard freeze in over a decade but if we do they're at risk. So they're harder to find but we have some protection with a lake across the street...(It keeps the temps a few degrees warmer which can be just enough.)

We may have to wait until spring to source them and may have to go to south Florida to find them tall enough. All the ones we tromped around in palm fields looking at were too short for what I want.

Should have new pictures soon.

Can’t wait to see! My go to teal is probably lighter than you’re looking for: Fresh Mint by Ben Moore. It’s very pale and I’ve loved the color so much I’ve used in every place for over 20 years.

I’m sure others will chime in with brighter teal options for you.

Thanks Sara. I'll pick up a chip when we go to the paint store. I have the paint chips we picked up months ago and we bought a quart of one and it's too light so we'll see.

Here are some photos of the front stoop being done and of the tile coming inside the front door into the lower part of the foyer. I mentioned earlier that the house is a split level and the foyer has a small landing on a lower section of the foyer so it's a perfect transition to stop one material (the tile) without it butting up flush to another material...wood.

We put the wood floors in many, many years ago and will probably redo that with tile. I'm not a fan of tile. I like the way wood feels under my bare feet but It's something we're considering.

Btw, everyone is talking about the supply chain and it's no joke! The tiles we are putting down are from Turkey and are made of limestone. We decided to buy them early last summer when we found them and I'm glad we did. There are none left. My husband did a good job estimating. He's almost finished and there will only be two left. We'll want more when they get them to have in case of a crack etc...

Here are some photos...They ended up backwards when I posted the pictures! The first photo should have been last. You can see him on the brick walkway with thin-set on it. He'll do that next. The corrugated glass panel is original to the house and we debated on keeping it. I'm for it.

Close up of the new tile over the original Mexican tile from the 1950's

He started with the ledge connecting the walkway to the front little porch. We're looking for a cool table to put in the corner there. We've always had a small wrought iron chair there for oversized mail and packages. So a stone table or small mid-century chair...If anyone sees one for sale, I'd love to see. I've not started looking yet but I'm ready to buy one! Putting the black little chair back won't cut it.

One of the pictures didn't make it in there. Here it is.

The front door tile is done! It's raining now but my husband will get started on the walkway tomorrow.

Am needing help! Am having some second thoughts on the front door color. I'm thinking turquoise might be too tropical and maybe I should go more cobalt. My head is swimming.

Any ideas? Please share if you do. Thanks!

love those tiles.

I don't think you can go wrong w/any bold color.

You're in a tropical area, don't be afraid of bold color choices.

grab some samples?? I think any of the blues will look great w/the limestone. or orange. or the Hydrangea flower color.

Did I ever show you my Ultra Marine blue wall? You could do this type of color if you like

Beth, I had a moment when I woke up today...that moment when you're half way between sleep and awake and it lasted a long time and I kept seeing images of the door color almost flashing and when I woke up I realized...

I have to consider not just our house but our neighborhood and our town...I don't want the house to 'scream'. There's an umbrella by our pool that's almost like the blue you showed in your koi pond. I told my husband and he's going to snip a piece from the inside. So great minds think alike.

We were in Sidi Bou Said in Tunesia a few years ago and the entire city is painted white with the same colored doors and window shutters. I got terribly lost and had a horrific experience there but the color of the doors was spectacular! You can Google and see...Really something to see.

So along those lines. I'm not sure if turquoise will carry the house as well as the deep rich blue. It's also the color of the tile we're using in our swimming pool redo coming up. We'll still try the turquoise but this is a very! bold door so I don't want to get crazy with it. It's pretty crazy as it is.

Because it's in a portico the color needs to be brighter because it will look darker installed. My husband still needs to do the front walk way so I have a few days.

Do you remember the color of the blue you used on your koi pond? I'll give it a look.

I custom did the color. I used an Ultra Marine blue. My fave color! (I did my bathroom sliding doors in this same shade in a milk paint)

When I repainted it a few years ago I somehow matched General Finishes Klein Blue. Look at that one and see if they can match it. (or, use that paint! )

or try some of the pantone colors

you want a true blue mixed w/a bit of ultra violet in order to get that shade of ultra-marine

. Saturation is the key w/this color. High saturation.

you may have to custom mix a few colors to get it.

I custom did the color. I used an Ultra Marine blue. When I repainted it a few years ago I somehow matched General Finishes Klein Blue. Look at that one and see if they can match it.

or try some of the pantone colors

you want a true blue mixed w/a bit of ultra violet in order to get that shade. Saturation is the key w/this color. High saturation.

you may have to custom mix a few colors to get it.

A rainy day here but here's a cropped version of the tile finished. The thresh hold isn't actually installed yet and I had to crop out part of the tile because a chair was there. The quarter round still needs to put in along the edges of the baseboards...small details.

have you heard of Fine Paints of Europe? they have a gorgeous paint that's great for exterior. Hollandlac. and the sheen is like nothing else

(and, I think they match any Pantone color!) its' the best paint on the market

they have their own colors, (maybe Delft?) but they will also tint it using BM colors

it's the right shade for a front door!

looks good w/the limestone

I've used the Eco line. it's a beautiful, rich, thick paint that will stand up to your elements

or, you could use this shade of turquoise. not quite so "island-like"

The front walk and new tiles look amazing! Can’t wait to see the new door. Your whole house is really lovely.

Thank you RedRyder. Hope you'll share with your thoughts and ideas.

Beth, those are great blue colors.

The door you photoshopped blue will be white and will show through the cut-outs of the steel door over it. The steel door over has a white screen in it but o it's secure when the door behind it (the door that's red now) is open. So we could have gotten the steel door with glass in it and had it be the front door alone but we chose it as a screen door instead. Hope all that makes sense.

The new door will be blue and the existing door will be white.

Anyway, love the colors and hadn't heard of those colors of Europe before. I'll look into them.

Turns out almost every store is out of this Duraplate 'stuff' that we need to mix a light sand colored paint with for the walkway. I found a store that just got some in yesterday so we'll try and get that today. We need to let it dry for a few days...We had a hard rain yesterday and it looks like we might again today.

I wish we could have gotten our three foxtail palm trees in place before we did this project but everything can't be the way I want it.

The new door is installed and beautiful...Not painted yet but still beautiful in white. The screen is white too so it almost looks like a white door but the neighbors all see it and and know it's going to be painted and some are stopping to come up and get a better look.

We're having second, third, fourth etc...thoughts about the paint color. We're concerned about the contrast with using a dark color on an all white house...Not even color on the roof.

We're thinking of a lighter color and aqua is in the mix as are lighter shades of blue. I have time to think about it because my husband still needs to do the walkway and we need to have our driveway cleaned before he'll do that...Just a few things but enough time.

So Sarah I'll take a look at the Fresh Mint color.

I'm thinking of a cross between pale blue and aqua. Something less intense than I've been thinking. Not as contrasty as a bright jewel tone that I really love but am not sure is right for the door.

So thank you all. I'll try and get a pic up so you can see but bear with me...The next 10 days are busy with non-house things so may get sidelined. ANY suggestions are welcome. I'm very open at this point.

A soft mint green on your white-white house would be lovely. A pale aqua would definitely keep you in the MCM color family. Also a peachy color.

Can’t wait to see the photos of the installed door!

Beth, you're on the right track. My husband drove me by a white house today with an almost baby blue door and I have to admit I liked it. I also like the aqua idea. Aqua is a blend of blue and green which is what turquiose is but turquoise is in much brighter tones.

I think by bringing the contrast down it will have a softer effect that may not be as dramatic but some of my favorite houses have very subtle color combinations. The door is dramatic on its own. It's up and neighbors are probably wondering why we put a white on white combination up but I'm guessing they'll figure out it's going to be painted.

It has white screen in it and you cant see the red door through it because the mesh is dense. So even with a red door behind the screen it looks entirely white. So the white will be very strong against whatever color we pick.