Hi D1, I think you photo shopped your lawn to make it look that green. That's what I'm thinkin'. Your lawn looks great! I am posting an image showing the dimensions I need. Unfortunately the images get washed out during the upload. Looking at the back of your house starting from the right side these are the dimensions I need. A. From the right side of the house/foundation to the right edge of the slab. B. The width of the slab. C. The dimension from the left edge of the slab to the left side of the house/foundation D. From the right edge of the slab to the right edge of the door. E. The width of the door measured from the edge where "D" ends and "F" begins. F. From the left edge of the door to the left edge of the slab. G. From the house to the edge of the slab near the pines. H. From the house to the property line. A, C, and H. can be close (within and inch or two, "H" can be a foot or two) but the others should be exact or at least within 1/4". The photos show there is daylight available at the sides of the property and some locations to put a rain garden. If you can get me those dimensions I can draw the structure. The little red "dots" in the image below are camera locations. The ones on the corners of the slab should be taken with the camera sitting on the slab looking towards the the lawn just catching the corner of the house so I can use the siding to measure . I was showing 3 others on the left side from about 50'± away. Hopefully your neighbor wouldn't mind if you took a few shots from their yard. Do not use any tele or wide angle setting when taking the pictures as they distort the edges too much. Keep the camera as low and level as possible or a slight tilt up if any. Distance is key. The more area you can fit into a single shot without a wide-angle setting the better. I think the least expensive solution is going to be flashing the entire wall although you may be able to find someone who will come in and cut the sod and remove some top soil for free. So glad you posted some close-ups of the stair as in the other photos it appeared to be on the ground, which it is not, and the sheathing is exposed to the elements with only a thin coat of paint protecting it. Did you like the stair idea I posted above? I am going to specify cedar and Philippine "mahogany" so that it is easier to paint if you choose (just the cedar). Pressure treated lumber will warp split and check like crazy in that location. Guessing from the dual leaders on the corners of the house I am assuming you have a hip roof and not gable ends so I am going to call out gutter drains in those corners sending them to daylight behind the pines. Because lawn drainage is not a major concern in those locations you can use the corrugated pipe already going across the lawn and the same or a rigid pipe on the other side. I will be in and out all day today and tomorrow but will have time to get this done on Tuesday if you can get me the dimensions I need. The photos would be nice but are less important although a good shot showing both sides of the pines (in the same picture, distant) and where your property line ends back there would be a great help. Thanks, Jey

I've seen some really cool great looking sheet glass backsplashes on this forum. You could think about that instead of tile, since you are going contemporary/modern, hate seams and will have lots of brick mortar lines competing with tile grout lines... the clean unbroken look of sheet glass might be nice. Can't comment on Corian in a kitchen, but we've had it on our main bath vanity counter for about 12 years. It is a light color and we've had no problems with it in the bath. I know someone will comment here who does have it in the kitchen. Your kitchen plans sound very interesting with the brick wall and the shelf just above countertop height. Good luck with your planning!

wow, cute baby! We just remodeled our smaller pool (12x24) with traditional white plaster. I had planned on going with a colored plaster or 3m until I discovered the price difference. I replastered the pool, had all new coping and tile installed, and he also jack hammered out part of a return line that had a slight leak, all for under $6500. The companys that delt in agragate plasters like pebble wouldn't touch it for less than $11-15000.00, and said the drain work would be extra. I went to an old plaster man who has a regular day job and takes a couple side jobs every season as his own business. Plaster was all he knew and he did it well. One thing he told me that really stood out was that pure white plaster was the classic style way back in the day, and although there are currently a whole lot of fads and color schemes out there now, history dictates that white plaster will still be the classic style in the future when all the other fads have come and gone. I was very wary at first. I second guessed and thought it would look too plain. But now that it's done and the pool is full, I love it. At night, I turn on the light and the white fully illuminates, showing every detail in the plaster. I must say he did a fine job, considering he hand trowed it all. I can only find one small mark, about the size of a fingernail, that's probably a trowl mark. Every spec of dirt and leaves can be seen, so when the pool is chrystal clean, you can tell. Often, with a darker colored pool, it's masking dirt and leaves. Who wants to swim in a dirty pool? And the nice thing is that the $5000+ I saved will pay a year or two of college for one of my kids. --J

As a pet sitter/house sitter I see & work in many kitchens. I often find granite walls/backsplashes too heavy looking especially if dark or heavy patterned. Looks impressive but find I tire of it after just a few days. I will be having a mountain shape backsplash done next year...(no time to get it done this week & next 2 weeks am too busy to go over design plans-tis a busy time of year for me work wise.) Since I have an unobstructed view of Mt. Diablo it will be a similar shape & not just one hump- wave looking. Probably will have natural edges since I like the rustic look. Did not want tile on other walls, want to be able to change color scheme. Just hoping the kitchen will be functional this weekend. Electrical still needs final inspection. I am in a gated community so no work allowed on weekends or holidays as well as no work beyond 4:30 PM. Range has not been delivered, was supposed to come in yesterday. Link to snapshots of small kitchen in process, & there is another gallery (sunroom office - link in purple above thumbnails) with the awesome views of Mt. Diablo. Also links to the awesome tile jobs in the 2 bathrooms. Jeff will be the one to do the backsplash...he has awesome design ideas. Here is a link that might be useful: Rossmoor Kitchen Remodel