A couple of projects I was working on this week got me thinking about old houses, drainage, and spending money wisely when making home improvements. One project involves putting in a retaining wall and doing a fair amout of regrading to turn a client's long, sloping back yard into a two-tiered, relatively flat back yard. While the project involves a fair amount of work, it's pretty straightforward, but if I screw up ...

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Before moving to Charlotte, I spent four very long years living in a much maligned and ridiculed city that I won't name (hint: it sits on Lake Erie). I don't feel any particular need to repeat any of the numerous jokes and stereotypes often associated with this particular city (although you shouldn't take that to mean I'm refuting any of them): I'll leave that to everyone else who's been there. And I can't ...

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I spent the day yesterday re-setting a flagstone path through a client's vegetable garden. My assistant, Mallory, initially wondered why we were bothering, as the existing path seemed fine to her. (In Mal's defense, she was only a few sips into her hyper-caffeinated energy drink.) The old path had been competently laid--the stones had been set in sand, they didn't wobble, the area between the stones was filled in with ...

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