Muros verdes en Lagunitas, CA

“Following the recommendation of a friend, I hired Stephanie Wondolleck and her design firm, SW Design, for a much-needed and long-delayed landscaping project for the front of our home in Marin County, California. Stephanie was very good at figuring out what we would like (given our tastes and cost constraints), even though we were not very sure what we wanted. She did everything she said she would do, including using only deer-resistant plants and bringing the project in on budget and on-time. Meeting the deadlines required careful coordination of various contractors, at which she was very adept. Stephanie is professional, creative, thoughtful--and a pleasure to work with. We would (will) happily and confidently hire her and SW Design again.”

“Rafat was a pleasure to work with and is not only very knowledgeable but has wonderful taste in design. We are delighted with our garden.”

“I just completed a remodel of my pool and landscaping with the Alder Group, and simply stated I could not be happier. From the first meeting until the project was completed, Don always looked for ways to improve the project and at the same time ways to minimize the cost of the project. His keen eye for design saw needed simple improvements that were relatively inexpensive but had a massive effect on the overall beauty of the project. Perhaps most importantly when the manufacturer delivered the wrong custom coping, and I worried that we would not be able to meet the deadline of a large party that was planned for my backyard; Don found a way to resolve the issue and keep the job on schedule. Don is truly one of the good guys.”

“After moving into a new (for us) house, we hired Darren to come up with a Master Plan for our landscaping which would be compatible with our house renovation plans. He was precise and methodical in his approach and after several discussions and plan iterations we had a Master Plan we will be able to use going forward. We knew we couldn't do everything at once, so it's nice to have guidelines for what we can do now and know they will fit in as projects are completed.”

“Neli, Stan, Todd, and others at Interactive Landscapes are fantastic. Interactive completely remodeled our front and back yards, installed a large Batu (wood) deck, a hot tub, a BBQ island with built-in plumbing and gas, artificial grass field, concrete and tiles, and beautiful landscaping/plants, automated drip and spray irrigation, and automated and manual LED lighting. They had great and tasteful ideas provided 3D, color/textured computer drawings to help us visualize the design. They suggested strategies to save money on the design. They led and personally worked on every detail. They instantly respond to questions verbally, in text, or email. We have put a lot of work on our house and hired more than 15 contractors for a large amount of work inside and outside. Interactive Landscapes is by far the best contractor with which i have ever worked. Their prices are highly competitive and their quality is just top notch.--the best i have seen. I cannot say enough. They can do it all.”

“As many of you know Northern California is having its worst drought in pretty much ever. So in helping to conserve water, my hubby and I decided to remove our lawn while using the city of Napa's cash for grass incentive. The incentive pays you back $1 for each square foot of lawn you remove. I'd recommend looking into this in your own city to see whats available. With the lawn coming out we decided to take the opportunity to make some drastic changes to the exterior of our home including painting, lighting, new front door and of course landscaping. While choosing paint colors and fixtures is easy for me, designing a landscape is not. So I reached out to my FB friends and received a recommendation for Patrick Lannan Designs. After seeing his portfolio we were thrilled at the chance to work with someone so talented. Let me just say, from design to installation Patrick was a dream to work with. Not only is he a professional but he's also an excellent communicator and project coordinator. He and his team got the plantings in but also irrigation and lighting systems installed in the course of a weekend (take a look at the night time photos). One of the fun things of the process was walking through Flora Grubb with Patrick as our guide. This place is super cool! He showed us amazing plants and succulents that would work great in Napa. It's a lot warmer in Napa so it was important that the selections matched our climate. As you can see from the photos our project turned out to be pretty amazing. Patricks keen eye for color, shape and detail helped to take our boring beige house and turn into the jewel of the neighborhood. If you're not sure what to do with your landscaping I'd highly recommend reaching out to Patrick.”

“Ferdi Castillo is an amazing talent with landscape design, who also happens to be kind, warm and funny too. A delight to work with and I couldn't be happier with the finished product. Our home has a very difficult site, a huge elevation gain/drop, limited space, just a weird, bizarre site. What he created surpassed anything I could ever come up with and he was very flexible with our limited budget. We now are using our space so much more efficiently than ever before. He is so easy to talk to and work with, we were sad when our project ended with him. I would absolutely recommend him. Friends of ours, neighbors, etc. come over and notice our big changes and ask who the genius is behind it: Ferdi Castillo. Hire him, your yard (and family) will thank you!”

“I selected to work with Sarah Herman because of her very, very highly rated reviews. She has exceed not only my expectations but my dreams. I have a very small craftsman house, with a very small front yard. Even knowing that most of her clients have spaces several times larger than mine, I asked her to come to look at the job anyway. I have never worked with anyone whom I would rate higher than Sarah Herman. Of course, she is very talented and most knowledgeable. But most importantly, she is an astoundingly good listener, always asking for clarification when needed. She keeps her word right down to the last iota, she is prompt, and she is also very accommodating--bending over backwards to meet the client's needs and even the client's dreams . The consequence of all of this is that I have a front yard beyond my dreams, my home looks beautiful AND everything installed is very easy to care for. Some of the plants, since they have a drip irrigation system, require no more of me than a kind word , now and then ;).”

“The design/build team at Garden Route are impressive. Rich and Sandy's designs are contemporary and liveable, and always striking and interesting. The designs are enhanced by an environmental consciousness regarding the use of water and the use of plants such as native plants and grasses that do not require regular maintenance and a chemical regime to sustain. They have an outstanding knowledge of useful and innovative materials for their designs. They create conceptually interesting gardens where the complexity and thought that goes into the design and construction supports eminently liveable spaces.”

“Sarah Ray and her design build firm are nothing short of exceptional. Sarah and her crew restored our trust in the home service industry after experiencing a botched home interior addition & remodel seven years ago. Our experience with Sarah now sets the gold standard for any home service provider we hire in the future. We spent a month carefully interviewing 6 landscape designers, architects, and design-build firms. Sarah was always the front runner and knew the second we hired her that we initiated a great partnership and were embarking on an awesome ride! And it was, on every front. Sarah is not only a talented visionary, designer and expert in her field, but a great listener, collaborator and partner. We have a large flat backyard (about 5000 sq. ft.) that was overgrown and neglected. We had ideas of the style and design elements that we liked, but it was overwhelming to think of how to get there! Having Sarah shepherd us through the design to build process was a privilege and an experience I will always treasure. She is extremely approachable, upbeat, patient, and easy to work with. She was very open to listening to our ideas and iterating on design options together. We also hired Sarah to build/implement our master design plan. A full design-build firm appealed to us because of the seamless and efficient implementation of the design. Sarah is also very available throughout the build process and was onsite nearly every day, as was her foreman. Sarah also met us countless times at various suppliers so that we could carefully select our materials. Her build crew is talented and very hard working. They started at 7:30am and worked for 7-8 hours/day, sweltering hot conditions or not. We really appreciated the undivided attention and the integrity and all-around work ethic displayed by Sarah and her crew. You will also find Sarah to be very transparent. Her billing system is the most logical and straight forward approach I have experienced in the home service industry. The invoice is directly tied to our contracted line items whereby charges reflect only percentages completed on a weekly basis. All change orders were at my request, and were only represented in the invoice if we agreed to it prior. There were no hidden costs or surprises. So, aside from my change orders, the project cost aligned with the signed contracted budget. Sarah created a gorgeous garden space that is everything we ever dreamed of and much more. Our family is looking forward to enjoying this beautiful extension of our home, our new found sanctuary, for years to come. Sarah Ray Design comes highly recommended for any size project. Thanks a million, Sarah!”