Rules of Renovation

Use Your Outdoors

3. Maximize outdoor living space.

"Given the modest size of our house, we wanted a gardenscape that flowed in and around the property," Joe says. He created drainage on an almost flat lot by digging gravel-filled trenches.

He also built raised planters to organize succulents and tropicals into zones with distinct watering systems. "We picked one or two expensive plants, like our Japanese maple, and found cheaper young plants in place of mature expensive ones."