This year is already flying by and it’s so easy for me to forget to document the important things with everything we have going on right now but I have to stop and remind myself to enjoy these milestones! In case you missed it, #ScatterShine is my way of paying it forward/giving back to the community. I have always wanted to do work for people that deserve it…think Extreme Home Makeover, but outside…who doesn’t love a good transformation?! This was my first foray into uncharted waters and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE. It didn’t get the attention it deserved, because, hi…it’s just me and Katrina over here right now and things are CRAY at the moment….BUT…I wanted to go more in depth on what we did, who Gera is, and how much the overall budget breakdown was for future reference.

Gera’s my sister in law. She works here in Fresno, teaching at a local middle school. She’s a single mom of two and anyone who knows her knows she has a huge heart and is always willing to give to others and help in any way she can. She’ll drop everything to be of service. That’s just who she is. She bought a house three years ago for this job, and since then has renovated the inside, but the yard was mostly untouched. We removed trees, focused on weed abatement, but overall it’s been a big empty dirt space for years now and it was time to change that.

The color palette was mostly green and white with pops of purple. Plants included:

Lavender, Platinum Beauty Lomandra, White Yarrow, Salvia Amistad, Little Ollies, Creeping Fig along the block wall, Giga Blue Scabiosa, Lamb’s Ear, White Roses, and a pop of Pink Camellias at the back end of the fence to create a mini hedge and some yummy smells in the winter/early spring. We created a fire pit area with DG and a path from the fence to the street to allow space for trash cans to be taken to the curb and add some interest and functionality. Two Chinese Pistache trees anchor the front to the back and will mature to shade the front left corner of the house and the fire pit area. A long swath of grass in the backyard and just enough in the front keep things lush and lower maintenance, since my nephew will be the one mowing and they have a very busy schedule.

Cost wise, we went over budget, which almost always happens so I don’t know why we even attempt to expect anything else. The cost of materials is up, but we also added some convenience things that weren’t in the initial plan. If you’re doing a yard renovation, always, always, add in a little extra on the top for the unexpected. It’s just the nature of the business. Same as interiors!

Design: Donated, would’ve been around $2,000

Concrete: $5,000

DG: $2,000

Plants: $3,000

Labor & Materials: $5,000

Total: $15,000

Talking about money is uncomfortable for most people, me included, but it’s so important for the health of the project. If I don’t have realistic budget numbers from you, I can’t do my job as well. I understand people wanting to protect some of that because they’ve been burned by contractors or others in the past and don’t want to get priced gouged, but I have to know what I’m designing for. If you tell me you have $50,000 to spend, but it’s actually $25,000, it’s just as bad as if you tell me you have $50,000 but it’s actually $100,000. I need to know what I’m working with. The hardest thing for me to say right now, but I’m going to say it anyway, is that if you’re in the $10,000 and under category, you’re a DIY project. You shouldn’t be paying me for design when your numbers are that tight. It sounds harsh, but the longer I’m doing this, the more I want to share with you! The cost of everything right now is eating up budgets faster than normal, and us as contractors, designers, service providers, are just trying to survive in this market.