Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

(MENAFN Press)

Planet Maids Cleaning Service

New Yorkers can strike "home cleaning" off of their to-do lists announces Planet Maids

Planet Maids based in the Astoria neighborhood of Queens launched its hassle-free secure and affordable on-demand cleaning service earlier this month. Queens Brooklyn Bronx Manhattan and Staten Island residents can log onto PlanetMaids.com and book a professional cleaning for any-size living space. Scheduling is flexible and booking is easy Planet Maid's online platform allows anyone to arrange a cleaning in seconds. The company has already gained many satisfied clients a sample of positive reviews can be found on their homepage.

Planet Maids Does It All: A Comprehensive All-Inclusive Service.

Founded by technology entrepreneurs experienced in the on-demand services market Planet Maids saves New Yorkers time money and frustration. The company's basic cleaning package covers a bathroom bedroom and common room. Cleaners arrive fully equipped to address every detail of clients' homes. Standard services include:

Bedrooms & living rooms: Dusting emptying trash cleaning table-tops vacuuming and mopping floors Kitchens: Scrubbing sinks cleaning appliances (e.g. microwaves) and stove tops Bathrooms: Scrubbing toilets tubs and showers shining mirrors and wiping countertops

For homeowners looking to accomplish heavier tasks Planet Maids offers a basket of additional services on its website.

Professional Cleaning for All New Yorkers: A Secure Affordable Solution.

Plant Maids Cleaning Service wants to develop long-term relationships with its clients to prove that professional home-cleaning can be as commonplace as electricity. Clients can book recurring cleanings to get up to 15% off each individual cleaning . Additionally the service is secure. All professional cleaners are background checked interviewed and training-certified. Further all cleanings are insured and bonded. Planet Maids is in partnership with Cleaning Exec Cleaning Services

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Planet Maids Launches Affordable On-Demand Cleaning Service for NYC Residents and Offers $20 Discount to First-Timers

PLEASANTON, Calif. -- In Los Angeles a company called Turf Terminators is busy tearing out lawns and replacing them with gravel and drought resistant plants. It's paid for by a local government program that rebates $3 for every square foot of grass that's gone.

On Thursday Marise Freitas said goodbye to her thirsty lawn.

"We're essentially in a desert and people are maintaining yards like we live in the tropics and it's a silly waste of water," said Freitas.

Crews work to remove grass and install gravel to help with California's water restriction

CBS News

29 Photos

Startling pictures of the worst drought the region has seen in centuries

"We are on a wave of a new era of landscaping in Southern California, and hopefully in California in general," said Turf Terminators CEO Ryan Nivakoff.

On average 60 percent of domestic water use goes to outdoor irrigation, so that's the obvious place to make the 25 percent reduction.

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California prepares for new life, new look under water restrictions

Welcome to Preservative Services Landscaping, Lawn Care and Excavation Services! We are based in Bellingham, WA and provide landscaping, lawn care, and lawn mowing services throughout Bellingham and Whatcom County. We have kept residential and commercial lawns in Bellingham and Whatcom County, WA manicured since 2002.

Preservative Services offers a wide variety of residential lawn care, commercial lawn care and landscaping services to ensure that your property, large or small, will look its best, beautifully maintained all year long!

Our scope of services ranges from lawn care, lawn mowing, landscaping and landscape design, to retaining wall construction, excavating, site prep, grading, Storm water and retention pond maintenance, drainage installation, andlandscape maintenance. We can do it all!

Residential Landscaping Services Commercial Landscaping Maintenance Packages Lawn Mowing and Lawn Care Flower Bed Maintenance Tree and Shrubbery Care Pruning Services Irrigation Systems (Start Up & Winterization) Lawn Conditioning Fertilizing Moss Control

Flagstone Patios & Walkways Outdoor Fire Pits Retention Pond Maintenance Low Voltage Outdoor Lighting Railroad Tie Construction Pressure Washing Snow Removal Gravel Driveway Repair and Installation Gravel, Bark Mulch, and Compost Delivery Hardscapes, Rock Work

Whatever needs or projects that you have in mind please dont hesitate to contact us! We are happy to provide quick, courteous, onsite lawn care estimates throughout Bellingham and Whatcom County, WA.

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Landscaping Services - Bellingham | Bellingham WA Lawn ...

Nondual Perception - Testimonial for Roma Hammel Meditation Teacher

By: Roma Hammel

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Nondual Perception - Testimonial for Roma Hammel Meditation Teacher - Video

Our landscape designers have over 25 years of experience in the industry, providing eco-friendly and aesthetically valuable landscapes and hardscapes to residents all over the county. As a San Diego landscaping company, we strive to add value to your home, while helping you save time and money each month on watering and maintenance costs.

California Smartscape specializes in low maintenance landscaping, patios and hardscapes, BBQs and outdoor kitchens, fire features, synthetic turf putting greens, entryways and driveways, and walls. Any of these services can be combined to create a comprehensive San Diego landscape design.

If youre looking for landscape design in San Diego, our expert designers and installers can help you create an outdoor getaway while staying in budget and suiting your familys needs. Whether you want a lush, private escape, or a full outdoor kitchen with a fire pit for entertaining, California Smartscape will turn your dream into reality.

California Smartscape designs and installs low maintenance and drought-tolerant planting plans all over San Diego. Whether youre looking for a tropical oasis, Asian-influenced Zen garden or Mediterranean-influenced sanctuary, youre dealing with the right company.

Were committed to providing you with superior design and installation services. We specialize in all forms of hardscapes, including paving stone, natural stone (flagstone), decorative concrete, paver patios, entryways, and driveways.

With 25 years of masonry experience, California Smartscape continues to create amazing outdoor living spaces for people in San Diego, CA.Living here, we have the benefit of amazing weather all year long, and this makes outdoor kitchens, custom BBQs, and fire features a must-have in Southern California.

Our landscape designers will create unique designs and provide top-of-the-line products such as decorative tile, stone veneer, pavers, and flagstone to transform your backyard into an unbelievable summer destination. We build and design gas, wood burning, and dual-purpose outdoor fire features.

California Smartscape has a combined 12 years of experience in installing synthetic turf and has efficiently installed synthetic turf for hundreds of happy San Diego homeowners. Artificial turf, otherwise known as a synthetic grass, is a smart, low maintenance, and cost effective alternative to a traditional live sod lawn.

Entryways are as much fun to design as they are important to your homes value. When your home is appraised, one key element that drives up the values is curb appeal. So deciding on the correct design and materials can make or break your investment.

Walls are important to preserve your property and retain hillsides here in Americas Finest City. Our masons are true professionals with over 25 years of experience. We ensure that the proper drainage is installed behind your retaining walls, and every wall we build is sealed professionally.

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San Diego Landscape Design Company, California Smartscape ...

Judy and Byron Lewis home landscape at 3435 Tree Lane in Bear Branch received Kingwood Garden Clubs April Yard of the Month award.

Byron said Judy does 95 percent of the work herself. He does help with fertilizing and provides moral support. He mostly enjoys the beautiful results.

Judy comes from a family of farmers. Its in her genes to work the soil. She believes in preparing the soil to achieve good results using organic matter such as compost, straw, fine wood bark and peat moss.

When they first moved in their home in 1997, Judy spent a great deal of time digging up trees and plants that didnt work and replacing them with trees, shrubs and flowers that she loves.

Some favorites are the Queen Palm, Sago Palm, Mexican Fan Palm, ferns, Chinese Fringe, roses, azaleas, begonias and agapanthus. Her goal is to continue to plant mostly perennials and reserve special areas in her yard for annuals. She strives to plant for four season interest.

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Kingwood Garden Clubs April Yard of the Month announced

Kate Gubelmann wasnt happy with the long, narrow section of her back yard that ran from the pool deck to the bocce court she installed 10 years ago in the upper portion of her property.

We play bocce on Sundays afternoons after lunch, Gubelmann told me. So we use it frequently.

She hired landscaping wiz Mario Nievera of Nievera Williams Design to liven up the backyard space, which at the time consisted of a straight walkway bordered by turf grass and a few trees. First, he replaced the linear path with a curved one, made from black river rock set in concrete.

Its like a river runs through there, Gubelmann said. He made it look like a much bigger space.

Then Nievera fashioned undulating beds on either side of the path, both of which are heavily layered with a wide variety of plant material.

I like green gardens with just touches of white, she instructed Nievera.

Accordingly, he layered mostly green-foliage plant material underneath the existing carrotwood, ficus and banana trees. But to break up the monochrome palate, he installed swaths of white ground orchids, white hibiscus and Hawaiian ti plants (Cordylinefruticosa tricolor). White orchids also are attached to tree trunks.

In another section, he contrasted burgundy crinum lilies with chartreuse aroids. To create further focal points, he created small niche spaces for Gubelmanns marble Buddha and a tall bronze sculpture she bought at a Taos, N.M., foundry.

Today, Gubelmann has a much more interesting yard to enjoy.

I just look out my window and smile, she said.

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Inventive solutions enliven narrow back yard

FAIRMOUNT TWP. It sits in Mike Giambers yard on Goss Road, just off Route 118.

It is an egg-shaped fieldstone sculpture that took Giamber most of a year to build. It cant be seen from the highway you have to drive up Goss Road and get to Giambers house to view the 7-1/2-foot, 4-ton beauty.

I can see it, Giamber said when asked why he built it. Its pleasant to look at.

And when asked what, exactly it is, Giambers answer was: What do you see?

Giamber said some see a cairn which Merriam-Webster defines as a heap of stones piled up as a memorial or as a landmark. Its origin is Scottish.

Others, Giamber said, see an egg-shaped pile of rocks, others a giant Easter egg. An artist may see an ephemeral rock sculpture.

For me, the egg shape represents birth, the beginning of the Appalachian Mountains that acts as our protector, Giamber said. The indigenous fieldstone I used, dating back to the beginning a half billion years ago, represents the passage of time. I call this piece, The Genesis Stone.

Giambers Genesis Stone is located on his remote property of 74 acres near Ricketts Glen State Park, where post-retirement Giamber has re-invented himself.

The location is uninterrupted, where nature and art can co-exist undisturbed, he said. Each day I look out my window where the light and the elements spontaneously change the stones visual properties color, texture and dimension.

Giamber, 61, retired at age 53 after working in Washington, D.C. for 30 years. His last job was as head of facilities and operations at the National Gallery of Art, home to many masterpieces.

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In Focus: Retirees egg-shaped stone sculpture graces landscape near Ricketts Glen

Greyson Cheney, 5, of Rancho Santa Margarita gets encased in a giant soap bubble by Sarah Paul. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Miranda Sintora, 8, of Rancho Santa Margarita screams next to her brother Lionel, 10, as they help hold a giant boa at the Critter Expo Adventure. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Ella Steinhardt, 4, of Rancho Santa Margarita is a little uncertain of exotic birds Phoenix and Casper and holds tight to her dad, Alex, during the Critter Expo Adventure. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jack Jensen, 8-months, of Rancho Santa Margarita, says hello to the Easter Bunny during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Sophia Gallegos, 5, of Rancho Santa Margarita visits the farm animals in the Critter Expo Adventure petting zoo at Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Lily Murnieks, 6, of Rancho Santa Margarita, says hello to her horse during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Gianna Jaime , 9, of Rancho Santa Margarita, pets Nell the Turtle during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Luca Caponera, 11-months, and his dad Frank, both of Rancho Santa Margarita, say hello to Casper and Phoenix during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Emma Reiley, 6, of Mission Viejo makes some furry friends while enjoying the puppy pen during the Critter Expo Adventure. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER kids play on a bouncer during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Allie Cohen, 3, of Rancho Santa Margarita tries to pet a dachshund in the puppy pen Saturday during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corp. in Central Park. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Noah Park, 4, of Aliso Viejo, holds two snakes as other children wait their turn during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Glenn Gordon, 6, of Rancho Santa Margarita, checks out the hissing cockroaches during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Noah Park, 4, of Aliso Viejo, remains calm as a tarantula climbs across his head during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Himari Anzai, 6, of Rancho Santa Margarita, smiles as her mom Akiko does her hair before checking out the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Noah Park, 4, of Aliso Viejo, remains calm as a tarantula climbs across his head during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Greyson Cheney, 5, of Rancho Santa Margarita, has a giant bubble blown around him by Sarah Paul, 29, of Temecula, during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Miranda Sintora, 8, of Rancho Santa Margarita, left, screams next to her brother Lionel, 10, and as they help hold a giant boa during the Critter Expo Adventure hosted by the Rancho Santa Margarita Landscape and Recreation Corporation in Central Park on Saturday. , KEVIN SULLIVAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Central Park hosts convention of critters

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and GILLIAN FLACCUS Associated Press

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - What's it going to take to get people to use a lot less water in drought-stricken California, the Technicolor landscape of lush yards, emerald golf courses and aquamarine swimming pools?

Residents may be about to find out as California imposes the first mandatory statewide water-use restrictions later this year.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday ordered a 25 percent overall cutback in water use by cities and towns, but not farms, in the most sweeping drought measures ever undertaken by the nation's most populous state.

The crackdown comes as California and its nearly 40 million residents move toward a fourth summer of drought with no relief in sight. State reservoirs have a year's worth of water, and with record low snowfall over the winter there won't be much to replenish them. Wells in some parts of the state are going dry as groundwater levels fall.

On Thursday, retired secretary Brenda Johnson stood in the doorway of her Sacramento home contemplating her lovingly tended lawn and azalea bushes. Johnson did not love the idea of brown as the new green.

"With the money I put into it, I don't want it to go dry," said Johnson, who got a warning letter from the city last year for watering her front yard on the wrong day.

"I don't want a dead lawn," she said. "But change is hard, and you do adjust."

In Southern California's sunbathed city of Long Beach, homeowner Katherine Rusconi stood among the bright red, pink and yellow succulents and desert plants that make up her front yard, basking in the knowledge of being ahead of the game.

The city of Long Beach gave her $3,000 in rebates for ripping out her own lawn less than two years ago. Some of her neighbors have since followed her lead, making the block a showpiece of water-saving, wildlife-friendly yards.

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California moves to kill the lawn, save the water