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It’s lurking in the dark corners of your local department stores. It’s hiding in your recipe box. It looms on the pages of your calendar. It’s probably even worked its way into your children’s heads. You can run, but you can’t hide.
That’s right. The holiday season — and the equal parts stress and merriment that come with it — will be here before we know it.
And while it may seem crazy to be thinking about it before the frost is even on the pumpkin, it’s time to face the jingle bells! If you want to be ready for holiday entertaining season, impress your neighbors and visiting family, and still have the energy to trim the tree before Santa arrives, some advance planning is necessary where decking your halls is concerned. (Not to mention, if you wait too long, you’ll freeze your mistletoe off!)
Enough of the Christmas puns, though. Here’s the bottom line: Decorating the exterior of a house for the holidays can be daunting for even the handiest of homeowners, from the ladders and wiring to the sheer time commitment! You’re here for advice, and we’re here to give it to you. [click to continue…]
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This post was written by Mark Ciccarelli, Vice President of Operations for Neave Group Outdoor Solutions
Mark Ciccarelli in action...kind of
Now that our greatly anticipated 2011-2012 winter snow and ice season is rapidly approaching, as director of Neave Group’s Snow and Ice Management division, I can’t help but be completely emerged in the seven day, 24 hour thought process that goes into preparing for such a season.
My wife loves to wake me up at 4:00 A.M. to let me know how much she appreciates me communicating with her all my issues and thoughts. I guess I have a tendency to talk in my sleep—every night!
So, here we are, approximately T – minus 11 weeks and counting. Can you believe summer is over already? What the hell just happened? At least the kids are back in school…
There are so many different aspects of the snow and ice management business. Which is most interesting? Which is most important? To be completely honest, in this type of industry, they are all equally important! [click to continue…]
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We’re big fans of word-of-mouth marketing. Our social media efforts these days are a higher-tech attempt at the good, old-fashioned neighbor-to-neighbor approach. Nothing beats one satisfied customer leading to another!
The Slakas-Hart job was one of those fortunate word-of-mouth situations where the owners of another project didn’t even have to open their mouths: A couple saw our finished work at the Munoz home — which we wrote about last month — and loved it so much that they knew they wanted to work with us.
So we started talking with them and after a few months of winter planning, we were ready to get started on this fantastically unique project once spring 2011 began.
I know, I know. We say every project is “fantastically unique.” But check out this house. It really is something special, a wooded retreat in the middle of the Hudson River Valley. Frank Lloyd Wright meets the Seven Dwarves’ cottage. [click to continue…]
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Places and experiences inspire our design work like nothing else.
Where better to search for inspiration than Central Park?
The Big Picture
Romance
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You might remember that in our last featured project, the landscape design was anchored by a large swimming pool. Well, this landscape project in Garrison, New York is similar: Our client wanted a relaxing backyard centered on the swimming pool. Their newly constructed home was built on a hill — as so many homes in our area are — so the land drops off in the back, leaving room for a raised deck and a patio underneath for a great view of the pool.
Those were our initial marching orders, and we took things from there.
Of course, the finished product looks deceptively simple. (It’s hard work making this look so easy!) If you’ve ever had a landscaping project done, you know how much “behind-the-scenes” work goes on before the real cosmetic work can begin.
In this case, because it was a new construction, we had to “build” the whole backyard. We re-leveled the land, laid the sod, cleaned out the woodsy area nearby and made way for a groundcover planting there. Around front, we did everything from basic plantings to constructing a stone wall along the driveway.
The initial work on this project took only a few months, with a few contracts to follow for some additional work that tied everything together, from the backyard all the way around to a gorgeous front gate that linked a full ring of deer fencing. [click to continue…]
