Hi.
I'm Bob Vila, welcome home again.
It's a rainy day in Cambridge, but we're going to be talking landscape architecture today with Rick and Nancy Lamb, our architects, who are here to present their ideas for creating real urban spaces.
I said I didn't want to mow a lawn in Cambridge.
Also, we're taking you on a real urban expedition to the heart of New York city, where we'll be talking ceramic tile at Country Floors, selecting some beautiful tiles from all over the world that will go in this house.
Also a look at how some of them will be installed.
Stick around, it's good to have you home again.
Bob Vila's Home Again.
Well, let's get started with Rick and Nancy Lamb, our landscape architects.
Hi, Bob.
Hi Rick, Nancy, good to see you.
Hi, Bob.
And i guess we're gonna look at the proposed conversion of the whole landscape, right?
We are.
We are standing right here on the front porch ; it's your house.
Right.
And out here is the street.
Yes.
And What we're proposing is that we draw from the neighborhood, create a hedge enclosed area.
Creating a parking place here, moving it from where it was along here because the new parking will then relate to the activity of getting in the kitchen and the whole family space.
Which makes a lot of sense.
Then we're going to sort of, bracket this by drawing again from the neighborhood with birch trees on both sides.
So by drawing from the neighborhood you mean using the same types of plant material that you find up and down the street.
Exactly.
And we do have beautiful birches around here?
We do.
What are these two here, Nancy?
Well those are two crab apple trees, and always a plan is moving and changing around.
And we feel that we should move them away from the house, and put them out by this tree, which will capture this part of the garden for the house.
Give you a lovely view from the dining room of the changing leaf color, the flowers, and then the apples in the Fall, so.
I like that idea.
I also like keeping larger material away from the siding of the house, and so forth.
To keep the moisture away.
It's a good idea.
It is a good idea.
Speaking of moisture, we have a mud puddle behind, I mean, we've already.
It's called progress.
It's progress.
That's right.
We've removed all the concrete, the broken-up driveway that was here, and this will eventually become my service yard, dog run, or whatever.
That's right.
And the great thing about the rain today is that we're putting down the base for this future terrace in the back, and this rain will just help to give it a really solid feeling.
Yeah.
That you'll be talking about later on, so.
Yeah.
My big request was to be able to have a backyard that I didn't have to mow.
That's right.
Just sweep.
Yeah.
Let's take a look out here, though, in the mud.
Bob, we're going down here to the front yard, where we're using this as the whole staging Area for all the construction materials?
Yeah.
And so everything is being delivered here, dumped here.
Crushed stone, stone dust, and I see that most of the blue stone for the backyard terrace is here, right Nancy?
We're really thrilled with it.
It's a lilac color, has nice texture and we have all of this staging area for the stone to go underneath the blue stone so it won't move.
It really is a lilac colored stone, it plays well against the color of the house.
Well, it does that but that may change in time, but it's very nice with your foundation as well.
Indeed.
So it's a great color.
Good choice, that's what you hire a landscape architect for.
What have you done with all the landscape that was here, Rick?
The material that you and your family decide to keep, we've all balled, we've removed, we've put in the back and protected it.
I see, OK.
This tree, this birch tree that was here is a little small for one that's been here a long time.
We found that, we've put it in its permanent place It was right in the middle of where they proposed the parking tree.
Exactly, which is in this area.
But it's healthy, right?
It is healthy, we have, because we we found some clay we've put it on we've dug extra deep put a gravel base so it drains well.
And then have put it in place the burlap is wrapped when it was moved.
Yeah.
And that will then be removed, and, and cut back.
Exactly cause otherwise it can wake up and really damage the bottom of the tree.
And create a damaging area right around the trunk base.
Good.
Well, I hope it stops raining cause we've got to do a lot of work here.
It's good for this.
Thanks, Chris.
Thanks, Dan.
So we've got to break messages.
When we come back we'll be shopping for tiles in New York city stick around.
