Think of your house as a jewel. If the setting in which it stands isn’t right, it spoils the effect of the house itself. The setting, in this case, is your front and back yards. Most people, of course, will only see your front yard – casual passers-by or the casual visitor. Your backyard, however, can be your own inner sanctum, the place where you go to retreat and reflect on life, the universe, and everything. So your landscaping can consist of an integrated design for both front and back yards, or two distinctively different designs, depending on what you want to accomplish.

It’s important to remember that your yards – the trees, the grass, the plants and flowers – are living things – and that you can bend them to your will in many ways, but if they do not have the right kind of soil and are not properly cared for, they will die.

So before you actually dig your hands into the rich earth and start planting anything, make sure that you have a detailed plan of what you want to do – and that you follow that plan.

Before you decide which flowers, grasses and plants your going to use in your landscaping, you must pay attention to the ground in which you’re going to put them. Spend a week or so tracking the sunlight and shade and how it plays across every square inch of your yard. The amount of sunlight an area receives will determine what types of flowers or plants you want to place there.

But don’t forget to track the ground’s reaction to rain, either. Are there any areas that remain soft for a long time after a rain? Are there any areas where the water has pooled? Again this will effect what you do with those areas of ground.

What about trees? Are there currently any trees in your yard and if so, do you plan to keep them all? After a couple of years spent raking leaves during the fall you might consider getting rid of those trees and replacing them with evergreens. Evergreens present their own challenges, of course, as its sometimes difficult for grass to grow right up amongst the roots of the tree.

Do some soil tests, as well. These are done easily with a kit you can buy from any local garden store, or even the bigger supermarkets. You need to check for the pH balance of your soil. If it is too alkaline or too acidic, plants won’t grow properly, and you’ll have to add fertilizer to help put the pH balance back to even.

Make a physical plan

Get yourself some graph paper, and some tracing paper to put over it. Draw a scale-model drawing of each yard on a piece of graph paper, blocking out all important areas such trees and other features that are to remain, and features that will be removed. Then use the tracing paper to sketch in various ideas for flower beds and ornamental design. If you want to get fancy, you can also buy software which will enable you to make these plans in three dimensions.

Where to get ideas

While you’re tracking the private life of the ground, you can also be on the lookout for ideas you’d like to implement. There are dozens of magazines on landscaping and gardening, and innumerable books available from your local library or bookstore. The Home and Gardening Channel will be a fount of ideas as well.

The right equipment

Depending on the size of your yards, you might not want to buy all the equipment you’ll need to do your landscaping, as you’ll probably only need garden rollers and aerators once a year. This equipment can usually be rented from your local garden store.

The right crew

Depending on what you’re going to be putting into your landscape – fountains, ponds, heavy statuary, make sure you have the right crew for the job. Don’t try to move a heavy statue yourself, for example, and if you have absolutely no technical experience, it’s always best to hire a professional to install a pond or fountain.

With all the right stuff, your home will shine like a jewel in its proper setting.

Andrew Caxton is a journalist who has written more articles and newsletters on this subject for http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com . A website with tips on landscaping.

Landscape rock or a waterfall are probably the last things you want to consider when creating that special backyard landscaping project. This is entirely due to cost and the lifting or moving of large stones, right?

Landscape rock doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult to maneuver with any backyard project ever again. Now there is a great new method of creating the size, the shape, and the color of your landscape rocks and stones to fit perfectly into your landscaping design. Everyone loves the peaceful serenity of a waterfall, now you can create your own quiet and tranquil setting at home.

CaveRock Design has copyrighted the first residential backyard do-it-yourself artificial rocks, boulders, and waterfall formula that literally anyone can afford and apply. The method is simple, yet very versatile and durable. They have already established customers around the globe using this ideal process of making the landscape rocks and boulders for many personal projects.

Artificial rock is now curbing the rock and stone business to accommodate the weekend warriors, who just want to spice up their landscape and not spend a fortune on the materials.

Landscape rock has always involved heavy lifting and difficult placement. Most of the time a landscaper has to work around the rock work that’s in place or settle for what they can manage to do with large landscape rock. This is remarkably easy to do and the build time is virtually a couple of days for a large project. The time savings alone is priceless.

A new application has been made to create a cave-like project for the kids or grandkids and show off your new found skills. This will surely impress the family, once you tell them you are a cave builder.

Doubling as a kid’s cave, CaveRock Design’s process also allows the victory gardener to create a place to store the daily gardening tools or a place to put your tools away from the elements and keep them handy as well.

Prior to CaveRock Design’s formula, the only place you would find this type of artificial rock formations would be at miniature golf course or a theme-park. Now when you see those picture perfect artificial rocks, and waterfalls, you can say, I can create my own artificial rocks, boulders, or stones, to make the perfect landscape design and create my very own backyard waterfall.

To see what all the fuss is about, you need only to visit CaveRock Design on the web; www.wealthsmith.com/CAVEROCK.htm

Jim is an online writer and entrepreneur that enjoys sharing his discoveries on and off the web with his faithful readers. Today it’s all about landscaping with artificial rocks, boulders, and making a backyard waterfall: http://wealthsmith.com/CAVEROCK.htm or Backyard Waterfalls

When you are searching for prints or posters to add to your walls, you will very often find several paintings that are completed by a landscape artist. Originals from the master painters are probably not in your price range, but a print or reproduction is probably more in your budget. This makes the landscapes by such artists as Monet, Constable, and Pissarro very accessible to all kinds of people.

Amateur artists most often choose landscapes for their first works. This may be due to the lack of studio space and the ease in which it is possible to find a subject out in the natural world. Most landscape artists before the time of Impressionism, painted inside their home or studio, working by memory or from drawings. Monet and Renoir took their work outside and were considered weird because they did so.

Landscape painting is done in many countries. Landscapes are particular predominant in Japan, Holland, the United States, France, and Britain. European landscape artists were influenced by two Japanese artists during the 19th century. Hokusai and Hiroshige painted images of mountain ranges, forests, and the ocean using bright colors. From the twentieth century forward, other forms of art began to occupy the time and effort of artists and critics. Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism, and Cubism became much more popular. This has made landscape painting somewhat unfashionable.

Most of the general public still loves purchasing and looking at landscapes. They feel very connected to the subject and this is even more evident when it reminds them of an area in their past. A portrait or still life will not evoke the same kind of response in most cases. You will find in looking at landscape paintings that some painters paint the same area. Paul Cezanne was a big example of this, due to the fact that he painted the same mountain range around eight times. The Montagne Sainte Victoire, near his home in France, became one of his favorite subjects. He enjoyed painting it in different seasons and different weather conditions.

Two of the first European landscape artists to paint the ocean were Rembrandt and Vermeer, both Dutch painters. Some artists enjoy painting sky and water as their recurring themes. JMW Turner, and English artists, enjoyed painting seas and stormy skies, but his paintings later turned to a more abstract painting of blurring the sea and the skies together. Monet perfected his water technique by sitting in a rowboat on the water. This helped him to get as close as possible to his subject. Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth are well-known American landscape artists who are well known for their ability to capture light on the water.

Andrew Caxton is the editor and journalist of many information websites like http://www.lawn-mowers-and-garden-tractors.com, who has written more articles and newsletters on lawn care. Find more publications about landscape at his website.

Is your luxury home plan luxurious enough? Or are you falling behind in the race to keep pace? So what if you have an elegant swimming pool; countertops of mottled granite; and your master bathroom features a steam shower. Nowadays these features are old-hat and pedestrian. Today’s truly luxurious homes must have whirlpool baths, double height living rooms with atriums, and of course all stainless-steel appliances in the kitchen. Here are some more ideas for designing the luxury home par excellence.

Radiant flooring is sine qua non in cold areas of the country. Who can be bothered to put on slippers – besides it’s more fun to walk barefoot in frigid weather. You can keep your feet toasty by installing an in-floor heating mat under your tile flooring in the bathroom; or anywhere in the house where there are ceramic floors. The $500 / sq. foot cost is a pittance compared to how great it feels on the tootsies! The luxurious bathroom of today also features towel warmers: for a mere $800 you can have a stainless steel warming drawer with an electric chassis at the bottom which lets heat rise to warm your towels, with a timer which starts the warming while you are still soaking in the tub, to bring the feel of the spa into your own home. Also a joy in cold weather is the sauna room, which bears as much resemblance to the sweat box of the 1970’s as Republican politics bears to the New Deal. The contemporary sauna room is spacious, is constructed of exotic wood lumber, has cushioned seats, and features one-way glass walls which give a scenic vista of the great out-of-doors.

In luxurious prairie plans house and other homes designed to blend in to the outdoor environment, an outdoor kitchen is becoming a standard feature in the pool / entertainment / recreation area. In fact, outdoor entertainment areas consisting of a cabana with a kitchen including granite countertops, wine cooler, ice maker, stainless steel grill, and warming drawer costing from $50- to $250,000 are becoming standard in areas with mild year-round climates; and even for summer use in the northern states. Even swimming pools are becoming more luxurious, with cheapo kidney-shape designs going out of fashion as $500,000 tiled models come in.

Luxurious homes today, even traditional country French house plans and colonial revival house plans, incorporate “smart-home” features based on computers which can cost $50,000 and up. The computer system controls electrical components linked to sensors throughout the house which enable the homeowner to control the pool lighting from the living room; or to draw a warm bath from the kitchen. These systems also have the capability of sending text messages to a cell phone whenever the sensors pick up movement around the house outside, which enables the homeowner to log in to the surveillance cameras which monitor the back and front yards, garage, and pool area. The computer system also permits the homeowner to make sure that doors are locked and adjust temperature in the house, even from afar.

The contemporary luxury home plan gives new meaning to the word extravagance. Today’s computer technology can be applied to traditional country French house plans as easily as to modernistic prairie plans house to produce a luxurious lifestyle worthy even of you!

Ranch Style Home Plans have many advantages for suburban family living; and are also popular with oldsters who can’t climb stairways as easily as they used to. Ranch style architecture originated in the United States in the 1920’s, and it became very popular after World War II as cities expanded into suburbs and inexpensive tract homes were needed by a growing populace. Ranch style houses are most popular where land is inexpensive and the weather is mild, since these homes particularly lend themselves to outdoor living. The low, earth hugging look with clean, modern lines of the ranch style is derived from Frank Lloyd Wright’s prairie style architecture.

Ranch style homes are usually long and low with a bare minimum of interior and exterior decoration. The idea is to create a casual and informal lifestyle, usually with access to the outdoors via large plate glass windows, sliding glass doors, and patios or decks. Ranch style home plans normally imply a single story construction with a low and long roof line, with a cross- or side- gabled or hip roof. Eaves are usually large and overhanging. Small ranch house plans tend to be simple rectangles; but there are larger designs which can be have L or U shapes surrounding a courtyard in the center visible from the living areas. Frequently there are sliding glass doors which open onto patios, or large picture windows in the living and dining areas. The design often includes an attached garage as well as patio area. Also, the exteriors are usually of brick, wood, or stucco with simple or rustic interior décor and exterior trim.

The basic idea behind the ranch style is that the major room areas in the house flow one into the other, rather than being small divided-up spaces as in other architectural styles. The access from the attached garage flows into the kitchen, to the dining area, to the living area, and to the bedrooms. The feeling of a ranch style house is one of openness and sweeping – sweeping vistas of the out-of-doors through picture windows and sliding glass panels, which open onto patios or porches where much summer living takes place. Also characteristic of the ranch style are open floor plans which permit rooms to serve multiple purposes. Ranch style houses frequently include separate family, living, and dining areas which can be converted as needed into entertaining or hobby areas, or into extra bedrooms when required. Although a single level ranch house plan with front porch or patio is the norm, there are also split level ranch houses and raised ranch houses which have more than one level of space. Also, the traditional simple and utilitarian interior décor is often embellished with accents typical of Colonial or Mediterranean architectural styles. The simplicity of the basic ranch style design and trim provides a good base for many different aesthetics in interior decoration.

Ranch style home plans are not just an architectural style, but indeed a lifestyle. A single level ranch house plan with front porch is ideal for casual, laid-back family living in close relationship with the out-of-doors. And there are small ranch house plans to fit all budgets and individual needs.

A little over a century ago – largely as a result of the American Centennial Exhibition in 1876 which reawakened the American people to its colonial past – there began a popular Colonial Revival craze in design and architecture. Colonial home plans follow the style of the Revolutionary War period, which in turn were imitative of the medieval English architectural style. This style is referred to as Georgian after the English King Georges who reigned from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, at the time when this building style emerged in both England and America. This style is formal, rigid, and symmetrical, but often with a façade above the door and overhead supported by columns or pillars. These structures are typically two-storied, rectangular or square in design, with the length of the building parallel to the street. Steep roofs with gables crown a symmetrical façade which has a large central doorway and evenly-spaced windows on either side. The central fireplace and chimney were necessary to provide heating and cooking facilities in the original colonial design. Usually the entranceway opens into a hall which leads from the front of the house to the back, and gives access to the downstairs rooms on either side. This basic plan can be and has been modified to incorporate decorative features such as elaborate front doors with crown pediment decoration, sidelights and overhead fanlights; side porches and sunrooms; and porches with multiple columns. Interior decoration ideally consists of actual colonial antiques and handiwork, or reproductions of same; and modern fixtures are designed to blend in with the eighteenth century style.

Since the nineteenth century craze there have been several waves of revival of English colonial architecture in the U.S. The original revival after 1876 favored the eclectic style with embellishments such as columns. However the modern colonial style relies more heavily on authenticity, in the mode of such research based historical attractions as Colonial Williamsburg. In the twentieth century colonial architecture has taken on an increasingly scholarly and less embellished turn, such as the elimination of columns. Today’s 4 bedroom space saving colonial house plans not only incorporate modern conveniences, but do so in a style more congruent with true colonial architectural style than the nineteenth century version. On the other hand, the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial celebration added another element to the craze, combining the basic colonial plan with the ranch style home design popular at the time. The result was typically a single-story white frame structure with wood shake roof and motifs such as drums, cannons, or eagles affixed to the façade. The past few years has seen another colonial revival in the U.S., this time with more of a British empire or Anglo-Caribbean feel to it. Note that colonial revival architecture has always been more popular in the eastern and Midwestern U.S. rather than California or the Southwest, where Spanish house plans are more congruent with local history and tastes than the Georgian prototype.

Nowadays colonial home plans come in two styles: the revival style typified by 4 bedroom space saving colonial house plans; and also the contemporary style which incorporates traditional English and Spanish house plans with modern additions and decorative features.

If you are in the market for a new home that you want to design yourself, but want a smaller more affordable home, then a bungalow home is the perfect choice for you. The style of most bungalows is of a smaller stature with less square footage than the average home. A bungalow is the perfect solution for those who live alone or who simply want less area to take care of.

When it comes to designing your bungalow craftsman house plans, keep in mind that most bungalows are one and a half stories. You might consider placing the master bedroom in the downstairs. The second story would hold simply two bedrooms and a bathroom. The second floor could even look down on the first floor if you wish for a more open feel to the smaller area. The downstairs would then house the kitchen, a great room, the laundry room and a powder bath.

Another option that you could consider would be to up the square footage just a little bit. You could put the master bedroom and two more bedrooms on the lower floor. You could then have the kitchen, great room, dining room, laundry room and a main bath on the first floor as well. The second story would be more traditional. The second story would only contain a bonus room of sorts. If you wanted you could even turn this bonus room into a media room. If these floor plans don’t sound appealing, you could always choose to design a coastal cottage house plan instead.

To make your diminutive bungalow appear larger and more inviting you should also considering having a sunroom or large front porch designed into your plans. Either of these options will create an illusion that your home is actually larger than it is, while also adding a touch of relaxation to it as well. A large front porch or sunroom is just what a bungalow style home needs to draw a person’s eye to the dwelling. These features also tend to invite your guests to sit and relax for a spell or two.

If these features aren’t what you are looking for in your new home, then perhaps you should check out some luxury home plan styles. But if a smaller home is exactly what you are looking for, then a bungalow would be a wise choice. A bungalow is small yet elegant and artistic in its’ own unique way. When you are at home in your bungalow you will feel as though it is in fact a home. A bungalow has a way of making the most ordinary of homes feel extraordinary. Sitting down to read the morning’s paper with a cup of coffee will never be the same!

If you are looking for information on bungalow craftsman house plans or coastal cottage house plan, be sure to visit House Plans And More today. House Plans And More also has information on luxury home plan styles as well.

Building solar panels is a relatively simple matter because solar cells are modular. They are also quite small. Solar cells that are used in residential solar panels is about twice the size of a bar coaster or about four times the size of a playing card. You can fit your hands around one quite easily.

You begin building solar panels by connecting these cells in series and then connecting panels to one another. Then all that is left is to connect the solar panel array to batteries and an inverter to power your house.

Solar cells or photovoltaic cells, as we’ll call them here, convert solar energy into electric energy. Now, you knew that but in order to understand the way building solar panels works, you need to know how the electricity is made.

Photons of light strike the semiconductor material on the cell’s surface, usually silicon, and in so doing knock an electron loose. There are two types of silicon used to make a cell. They are both mixed with other elements which change their polarity. One type is negatively charged because it is mixed with phosphorous and the other is positively charged because it is mixed with boron. By putting together layers of silicon with different electrical charges, the incoming photons have an easier time of loosening up an electron and sending it looking for place to go.

The cells are engineered so that the electrons can only go in one direction and that direction is ‘out.’ So, each cell is designed to add their exiting electrons to the flow of electrons and with enough cells and enough solar energy, you have an electrical current you can work with.

See, building solar panels is not difficult but it is precise. The channels that absorb the electrons in each cell are lined up with every other channel in their particular group by means of a connecting tab, solder and flux. Once the cells are connected, a surface layer of glass, plastic or laminate (or a some combination) is layed over the top to protect them, all the moisture is removed (to avoid condensation which would interfere with the panel’s efficiency) and the panels are placed into position and connected.

From there, it is a simple matter of hooking up the solar array to your house’s electrical condition. In my mind, it goes without saying that you should hire a professional to do this. If you insist on doing it yourself, I believe you still need a certified electrician to examine it to insure your work is up to code. In the event of an adverse electrical event (fire), you would want your house to be up to code and in keeping with the provisions of your home owner’s insurance policy. will answer an questions you might have on how to put together your own solar panels for home use.

Do Solar right. Get the information you need first before you make a costly mistake. Visit SolarPanelsForHomeUse.com to get the information you need.