Palo Alto Weekly 06.24.2011 - section 2

Page 1

Home&Real Estate Home Front

FILOLI CLASSES ... fill up fast. The next ones are “The Joys of Summerâ€? on Saturday, July 16, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (covering planning summer annual displays, pruning, fruit thinning and preparing the garden for fall) and “Pest Management,â€? from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. (dealing with identifying and controlling pests and diseases). Each class costs $40 for nonmembers or $35 for members. Filoli is located at 86 CaĂąada Road, Woodside. Information: 650-3648300 or www.filoli.org.

Send notices of news and events related to real estate, interior design, home improvement and gardening to Home Front, Palo Alto Weekly, P.O. Box 1610, Palo Alto, CA 94302, or e-mail cblitzer@paweekly.com. Deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m.

photographs by Veronica Weber story by Aaron Guggenheim

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MORE SUCCULENTS ... UC Master Gardener Laura Balaoro will give a free talk on “Success with Succulents� on Tuesday, June 28, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Los Altos Library, 13 S. San Antonio Road, Los Altos. Information: Master Gardeners at 408-282-3105, between 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., Monday through Friday or http:// mastergardeners.org

SILVAR SCHOLARSHIPS ... Scholarships for $1,000 were awarded by the Silicon Valley REALTORSÂŽ Charitable Foundation to graduating seniors from public high schools in Silicon Valley including Julia Howard, Palo Alto High School; Madelaine Bustos, Gunn High School; Ian Gregory Glasner, Los Altos High School; Gillie Agmon, Mountain View High School; and Emily Johnson, Menlo-Atherton High School. N

Also online at PaloAltoOnline.com

hen it comes to choosing backyard storage, there are a multitude of options. And the decision always comes down to finding the right material and size shed that fits both your storage needs and aesthetic desires. After finding the material and size, other considerations need to be made about the actual look and color of the shed. Do you want a simplistic, open-and-closed storage shed that keeps things dry and safe? Or do you prefer a more elaborate shed that makes allowances for windows that open and a sliding-glass door? Should the color blend with backyard landscape or clash artistically, mixing a striking fire-engine red shed with a stained wooden deck? Most of the basic backyard-storage options can be found at Home Depot, which carries a wide variety of sheds that are fabricated in many different materials and sizes. And, as true with anything, the price varies with size and material. A small plastic 10’ x 10’ shed (Suncast) can run $1,500 while a wooden shed (Handy Home Products Princeton) of the same size is significantly cheaper at $650. The middle range of these two options is opting for a slightly bigger metal shed (Arrow) — 10’ x 12’ — which costs $930. Each one of these sheds requires assembly and the structures resemble barns with slightly sloping roofs and a familiar rectangular shape. Shannon Maher, a resident of Palo Alto, decided to forgo the common route of buying a shed at Home Depot and sought out the Colorado-based company Studio Shed (studio-shed.com) to build her shed. “We needed storage because we wanted to use our garage for other stuff,� she said.

ALL ABOUT SUCCULENTS ... Robin Stockwell of Castroville will talk about “Succulent Gardens� at the next meeting of the Garden Club of Los Altos on Tuesday, June 28, at 1:30 p.m. Stockwell’s vertical walls earned awards in 2010 and 2011 at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show. The group meets at Christ Episcopal Church, 1040 Border Road, Los Altos. Information: www.gardencluboflosaltos.org

WHILE YOU’RE AWAY ... The City of Palo Alto is offering some tips on saving energy while you’re on vacation. Handy hints include: Turn water heater to lowest setting; set air-conditioning thermostat to 85 degrees or higher; put lights on a timer; unplug all electronic devices. Information: www.cityofpaloalto. org

OPEN HOME GUIDE 54

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SoMANY

CHOICES, soLITTLE ROOM

Backyard sheds offer places to store extra stuff Shannon Maher chose a prefabricated Studio Shed, which took about three weeks from ordering to installation in her Palo Alto back yard. Her 6-year-old son likes to use it as a playhouse. *>Â?ÂœĂŠ Â?ĂŒÂœĂŠ7iiÂŽÂ?ÞÊUĂŠ Ă•Â˜iĂŠĂ“{]ĂŠĂ“䣣ĂŠU Page 41


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