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Don’t Just Dream

Starting new projects for the home are often exciting but can quickly become overwhelming, especially when it comes to your outdoor living space. The outdoor space surrounding your home isn’t just spare space where you store your outdoor gear and plant flowers.  With the right design, it can be but an extension of your home. Unlocking your creative juices may be difficult especially if you don’t know where to begin.  A good place to start is to research the web for some inspiration. Gather images and ideas of yards you admire and design elements that fit into your lifestyle.

Making your dreams a reality can be simple and exciting if you have the right tools and helping hands.

Once you have ideas or design elements in mind, you may feel overwhelmed with how to put them together.  This can lead to uncertainty and cause your project to be put on hold.

Have no fear; Genesis Stoneworks and the Belgard Project Visualizer tool are here. Built with you in mind, this exceptional tool helps you virtually visualize your outdoor living dream. Then, Southern California’s premiere outdoor craftsmen from Genesis Stoneworks take care of the rest.

This amazing visualizer allows your creativity to flow and begin your personalized outdoor living space. Filled with multiple designs, shapes, size, and colors, this tool helps you get started and feel confident about your new outdoor design. Once you have a design selected, you can easily share it with others for feedback and valuable input. When you’re happy and ready with your design, it’s time for us to roll up our sleeves. Simply send your design to Genesis Stoneworks, a Belgard Authorized Contractor. Genesis is Southern California’s Premium Outdoor Remodeling Specialist with highly experienced craftsmen that make your outdoor dream space become a wonderful reality.

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Winter Tips for Any Outdoor Holiday Gathering!

California gatherings are often celebrated outdoors. For those of us that enjoy outdoor gatherings, especially during the holiday seasons. Follow these 5 simple tips to make sure you’re the ultimate host.

Call Your Outdoor Makeover Specialist 

Most importantly get a hold of a fully qualified outdoor makeover specialist. Genesis Stoneworks has been Southern California’s Premiere Outdoor Makeover Specialist for 24 years and counting. Qualified with more licenses than anyone else. Along with over 13,000 delighted clients, Genesis brings your outdoor dreams of a perfect paradise to life.

Shelter 

Bring the festivities outside by creating a protected outdoor living space for your family and friends with our patio covers. Whether an attached extension to your home or a free-standing structure, these patio covers provide a safe and inviting environment. An elegant pergola or patio cover can extend the use of your pool or outdoor living space during those warm California days. They provide loungers and swimmers with a relaxing and shaded area from the hot afternoon sun. As the season changes into cooler weather, the combination of a covered patio and fireplace will keep your guests comfortable while they enjoy your spectacular ambiance and festivities.

Create Entertaining Attraction 

Attractions such as pools or putting greens can take any outdoor gathering to the next level. Putting greens, while blending stylishly into your surrounding landscape, provide instant allure. Another appealing feature may include a center island for your pool. Giving not only a unique quality that sets your outdoor space apart from the rest, but can assist as a platform for tropical plants, rocks and outdoor decor. Alternatively, it may also be used for sunbathing and childish adventures. Never the less outdoor attractions make it easy to keep your guest entertained for hours.

Light It Up

Outdoor lighting will not only bring curb appeal to your home, it provides added safety and security. Pathways, steps and all pedestrian traffic areas throughout your property should always be correctly lit. Proper lighting also projects a beautiful aesthetic quality and adds warmth to your home. Pools and or spa lighting can add glamorous highlight to any outdoor decor, water feature or plant life. Most importantly, outdoor lighting prevents the setting daylight from stopping your celebrations.

Keep Warm 

As cooler evenings approach, welcome your guests with a warm and bright fire. Fireplaces and fire pits can be a focal point for your outdoor gatherings, drawing people together with inviting warmth. They add radiance while contributing a cozy atmosphere making it possible to bring your holiday festivities outdoors.

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Holiday Escapes: Beautiful Driveway and Backyard Designs

Estate style driveway with matching pilasters by Genesis Stoneworks.

Long weekends like the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday take people outside. I like to think of them as an exodus from office chairs and television screens, to sunshine and BBQ chicken with friends.

However, the view may be startling for some.  Un-kept lawns, cracking driveways, and cluttered patios can easily put a damper on high spirits.  Rather than spend yet another long weekend watching home remodeling shows, why not take action!?

Consider a change.  Winter is an excellent time for remodeling.  Social events gravitate towards warmer months of the year, and Southern California winters are dry.  These factors make for great opportunities to make big changes during these “slow” months.

With start to finish times as fast as two days, Genesis could transform your home into an enviable paradise faster than your Amazon book arrives.  Let Genesis turn a cluttered patio into a resort style escape! How about transforming that embarrassing driveway into an elegant approach!?

New research in permeable paving stones and heat island effects show that interlocking paving can even benefit Mother Earth.  Excess run-off from landscape irrigation or seasonal rain storms can cause erosion and water contamination. Permeable paving counteracts this by filtering excess water through sand and gravel sub-grade, which removes contaminants and limits run-off volume.  Choosing light colored stone helps to battle the heat island effect on a micro scale.  By choosing interlocking paving over asphalt, the property stays cooler.  This is because dark-colored materials absorb more solar energy, getting hot, and stay hot long into the evening.  Light colored interlocking paving reflects that solar energy and keeps the property cooler.

Genesis Stoneworks specializes in outdoor remodels for driveways, patios, and even landscaping.  With 10,000 satisfied clients and counting, you’ll be working with someone who knows how to create the most beautiful version of your home.

To schedule a free estimate, call Genesis toll free at 888.389.5533, or visit our free estimate page.  Don’t settle for another weekend inside, make the exodus into a more beautiful life today.

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Water-less Gardening: Saving Money with Xeriscape

Landscaping requires lots of irrigation, which hurts wallets and the environment. Grass lawns require as much as 10 gallons per square foot per year!  A small lawn at 30 feet by ten feet, 300 square feet, would consume 3,000 gallons of water a year. That’s a lot of water!

Xeriscape flowers. Image via Quadell on Wikimedia Commons

Fortunately there’s a way to show good taste in plant selection and landscape design, while still saving money on monthly water bills. Xeriscape landscape designs reduce water consumption by utilizing low water use plants. These low-water plants look beautiful and resist drought, so the landscaping looks great year round, even in the summer. Continue reading “Water-less Gardening: Saving Money with Xeriscape”

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Grand Theft Paver: Deputies Arrest Alleged Hardscape Theif

On Tuesday December 11 2012, Rachel L. McCarty of Reddick, FL arrived home from work and hit a big bump in her driveway. She got out of her car and discovered approximately 300 square feet of her driveway gone. She had not authorized anyone to remove the driveway, and didn’t know who would have targeted her for such a crime. She called the police and reported the crime immediately, but the ordeal didn’t stop there. Continue reading “Grand Theft Paver: Deputies Arrest Alleged Hardscape Theif”

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Rainwater Collection Systems for Driveways

Image via Juni, from Kyoto Japan on Wikimedia Commons.

Rain purifies the air, and cleanses the ground. It can be polite, or a terrible force of nature to be feared. New hardscape designs always include a drainage plan, and installers meticulously carry out those plans.

On a driveway, rain combined with improper drainage leads to erosion and possibly even wash outs. These unacceptable safety hazards drive the meticulous nature of designers and installers when it comes to drainage plans. I consider this to be a reactive behavior in construction. Continue reading “Rainwater Collection Systems for Driveways”

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Xeriscape: Water-Defying Landscaping

On a recent trip to Ojai, CA with family I noted something beautiful: desert landscaping in a raised planter bed lined with local boulders. The shopping center on West Ojai Ave., Hwy 150, incorporated the local horticulture as a design theme throughout the shopping center. It really worked for me.

Agave Attenuatta
Agave Attenuatta flowers. Also known as “Foxtail Agave”. Photo via Xemenendura on commons.wikimedia.org.

The crisp green Agave plants arranged in a harmony outside the store, and a subtle winter rain brought out the scent of maple from the deciduous trees overhead. The sharp yellow leaves speckled the ground and I noticed inlaid cast-metal leaves in the pavers, to remind guests and residents of this most regal autumn season’s dressings. The drizzle of rain didn’t detract from the dessert plants as one might expect, as the darkened soil enhanced the Agave’s color. Continue reading “Xeriscape: Water-Defying Landscaping”

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Natural Stone Patios and Driveways: Thoughts on Design and Installation for Homeowners

As a design and installation company, Genesis sees a lot of driveways. We recently just hit our 10,000th job! Most of those hardscape projects incorporate manufactured concrete pavers, but every once in a while we meet a customer who wants something different, natural stone paving.

Man-made concrete paving stones offer thousands of color combinations, 8000 psi pressure ratings, and nearly a dozen local manufacturers. However, natural stone can offer a different aesthetic than man-made stone, to dramatically change the feel of a property.

Here are several factors to consider when choosing natural stone for outdoor use:

Load Strength

Depending on the type of traffic in the paved area, different kinds of base must be used to protect the stone from cracking in the future. High load areas, such as a front driveway where cars are frequently parked, should be installed with a concrete slab under the natural stone. This slab protects the brittle natural stone from pressure by vehicle tires. Light load areas like a back walkway can be sand-set. The time saved in sand-setting shows up in the final cost of the project. Continue reading “Natural Stone Patios and Driveways: Thoughts on Design and Installation for Homeowners”

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Outdoor Patio Designs: The Devil is in the Details

Looking to create a beautiful outdoor space for your home and family? Don’t want to settle for a simple potted plant? Great! Genesis is here to help. We’ve been designing outdoor spaces since 1993, and we love creating outdoor patios.

Patio Design by Genesis Ref# PT0020

A back patio carries a huge amount of potential for a home. This space can be accessorized to become an extension of the home as an “outdoor room”, or a stand-alone space with specific uses. To achieve the “outdoor room” consider a design which links the visual style and space with the adjoining rooms inside the house. A simple solution is a ‘glass wall’ without curtains or blinds and a large sliding glass door. A pergola can be constructed around the patio to guard against sun in the Summer and rain in the Winter season. It’s also important to match color, texture, and architecture style; varnished wood to varnished wood, blue accents, and even furniture styles can connect two spaces. Continue reading “Outdoor Patio Designs: The Devil is in the Details”

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San Diego Outdoor BBQ & Backyard Remodel

The image featured in the previous post, Outdoor BBQ: Living Out of Doors, was taken at a San Diego project Genesis recently completed. Pleased with project, we decided to make a video showcasing the project. I hope this is the first of many “Design Portfolio” slideshows which we feature in our online media.

Enjoy the video below and feel free to check out the project page on houzz.com.

http://www.houzz.com/projects/123688/San-Diego-Backyard-Pool-Remodel

Request a free estimate on your outdoor remodeling and design project by calling us toll free at 888.389.5533, or visiting our free estimate page.