Oh! They look just like the giant round yews I used to have on the corners of my house. One yew in the yard was removed after we moved in by my very useful DH and I hemmed and hawed and thought about what to do with the others since I didn't want to see DH destroy his back. Well, I finally decided that I didn't want huge bare spots next to the house and have to put something else there anyway. So I went with the major trimming and I really like the result. HERE'S WHAT I DID: I would NOT recommend cutting them back to 2 feet even though eventually they will grow back. The trimming can be done in stages so you are not left with a bare stump. 1) You can cut back the bush hard all over as far as the green goes to leave some green showing. I did this first. Yours look much too tall like mine were. 2) Then, if you look inside the yews, you can see that there is basically a trunk with radiating branches and the green is mostly on the ends of the branches. What I did was to trim off all the lower radiating branches and leave the top of the bush green. The result will be a vase shaped bush. I wanted to make mine narrower to keep off the house siding and because they were blocking the path. The trunk and branches are actually quite attractive and the top can be rounded or shaped naturally or done like topiary if you want. This left a lot of room underneath the bush where I can plant bulbs or anything else. The yew roots don't seem like they are too thick or shallow for other plants. This will let you keep the shrubs, make them smaller, trim them away from the house, and plant more plants in front of them. If you would like a photo, email me and I'll see if I can figure it out. I just dropped in on this forum for a minute, but had to respond. Susan

Begin by mapping on paper the usage of the back yard, including any natural pathways. Think carefully about sun exposure and how you can use it to your best advantage, and the areas where you need to control the exposure. Hardscape should come first, with materials that mix well with your house materials, style, and colors. Budget and practicality are important. Your two year old twins will go through many childhood phases rather quickly, and your garden is small, so it makes sense to use an adaptable scheme and limit the number of segregated areas. My own kids had a paved area, a grass area, a dirt area, and a non-traditional "playhouse/fort" area built under an existing patio cover. This allowed for a multitude of play activities only limited by their imaginations. We had a planting area in the sunniest spot where I grew giant sunflowers and tomatoes, nothing fancy. When they were little we were on the go all the time, and actual gardening was a fairly low priority. To summarize: children are easy to please.

My Dreamhome... Thanks for the recommendation. I am flattered you liked and remembered the plan I did. Great recall as well. My memory is great..its just damn short. Laurensmom.. I am not a fan of this plan either. The screen porch is forced and squeezed between the bedroom and family room and it blocks views from the way to prominent Dining room. The master bedroom or bath /closet should stre\ch out to the left so the house lengthens and doesnt get so confined and views blocked by the other rooms/massing. Do you really want a front loaded garage on a large lot such as yours ? Doors always open ? Not saying this will work but the pantry and espace should flip with kitchen or have them next to hall. The family room will most likely need to shift over and try to overlap the dining area to open the spaces. Right now its way to tight at the Dining and its not a large space so its even worse. Be careful of too much wrap around porch that costs money for very little benfit of actual living. I wouyld rather have a larger living area than porch that rarely gets used. I would also want access to bonus room over the garage from the house second floor. Unless that stairs from garage is needed it could be eliminated and save a nice chunk of change. The family room sticks out as you say you want but a rear wall fireplace takes up what is often times the best view. Not knowing your site and its best features and views I have no idea if this plan takes adavantage of these but somehow I am not thinking so. This plan excites me less than it does you. The master closet should be a minimum 7 ft wide as well for comfortable double loaded rods/shelves. Sorry to be such a pessimist on this plan but I would challenge your designer to do better or cut your losses now. I hope you can make it work and hope this helps a bit. The master shower is too small and their is no linen cabinet/ closet and it feels tight in there. The master bedroom wing appears to be 15' wide on the outside. You buy lumber ( usually in 2 ft lengths and you will cut it off and theow it away. plywood is 4x8 sheets. Carpets usually come in 12' and 15' widths. If walls are 2x6 you dont need seems if 16" out to out and can still be stretched in most cases even if using 2x4 walls. You have a basem]board tha takes up an inch or so as well. The second floor is ok but back wall windows are not a good fit with those roofs below on first floor. These would change as the first floor does as well.

I still don't see how water on the inside sill could be caused by the stucco installation if flexible self-adhering flashing was properly installed over the nailing fins. Has that been eliminated as a cause yet? I am suspicious that self-adhering flashing might not be used in this location. IMO exposed sealant is little more than a gap filler in the long run since the sealant will eventually need to be removed and replaced. Such details are inappropriate for buildings that will not have on-going maintenance programs, budgets and building managers. There is a price to be paid for clean modern minimalist facades and the systems are changing so fast its difficult to understand how to install them. It wasn't so long ago when window manufacturers refused to provide installation advice but then they discovered they could use it to void warranties. I think they are by far the poorest source for that kind of information. If they knew how to build buildings they would design better windows.