Your home can grow a gorgeous garden in sunny So-Cal if you choose the right plants. If you’re landscaping your home, selecting easy to care for, drought-tolerant plants will keep your lawn and flower beds looking great. Perennial plants are those that live for more than two years, giving your landscaping more longevity. Here are 5 perennials to get started with:

California Fuchsia
This plant blooms brightly with orange-red tubular flowers. Dependent on hummingbirds for pollination, expect it to attract friendly winged visitors to your garden as well!

Sage
Sage comes in many sizes and forms and are good additions to well drained garden areas. You can choose culinary or ornamental varieties. Sages will flower with aromatic foliage and prefer full sun areas of your yard.

Mexican tulip poppy (Hunnemannia)
Similar to the California Poppy, this bushy plant can grow to 2 feet tall. The leaves are blue-green and it blooms with bright yellow flowers.

Red-hot poker (Kniphofia)
Also known as a torch lily, these flowering plants produce spikes of upright, brightly colored flowers that hover well above the foliage. Exotic looking, they will add pops of red, orange and yellow to your landscaping. The flowers are high producers of nectar, attractive to bees and hummingbirds.

Verbena bonariensis
Also known as a “purpletop”, this is a tall and slender flowering plant with fragrant lavender flowers in tight clusters. It can grow to 6 feet tall and can spread to 3 feet wide, preferring full sun.

Surprise your houseguests with a local treat in your bathroom soap dish: Lemongrass Essential Oil Salty Manhattan Beach Soap. Local Manhattan Beach resident Sandy Lynn gathers the salty ocean water herself from the south side of the Manhattan Beach Pier and sells the handmade soaps in her Soap Exchange shop on Etsy.

Salt is known to have many health benefits including fighting skin infection, drawing toxins out of the body, reducing skin irritation and helping the skin to maintain proper moisture.

Sandy’s Manhattan Beach soap contains saponified olive oil, palm kernel oil, ocean water from Manhattan Beach, and is lightly scented with lemongrass essential oil. Each bar is approximately 4.5oz and comes wrapped in natural jute or cotton packaging.

Cape Cod style homes are popular in the coastal communities of Southern California, and it’s a style that appeals to arguably the largest segment of single family home buyers in the nation. Cape Cod home architecture is one of the earliest style of homes built the in United States, dating back to the 1600s when English settlers drew their wisdom from the simple cottages in England. They adapted this original British design to deal with the harsh winters of the Northeast by having the chimney the focal point of the interior, providing heat to rooms clustered around it. The exterior utilizes cedar shingles on the fascia and roof to keep the cold out and a steep roof helps to discard rain and snow quickly. Cape Cod style architecture was created mainly for function, but offers a classic and oft sought after appearance.

How do you identify a Cape Cod style home? There are some key features to look for including a large, central chimney, steep roof, windows on each side of the door and dormers on each side of the chimney, a narrow captain’s stairway, and shingle siding—weathered gray shingles are one of the most recognizable elements of a Cape Cod style home.

Due to their age, this style of home may be due for a major remodel. Luckily, Cape Cod style homes in Southern California are often in better shape than East Coast versions, which can date back to the 17th and 18th centuries. On the bright side, the simple construction of this architecture style can make is easy to adapt these homes to your modern needs.

Cape cod style homes are usually cozy may boast a less expensive asking price since many were built during the 1950s. A cape cod style home can be a terrific starter homes or a way for retired couples to live out their days in the community of their choice without the costs associated with larger, modern homes.

When it comes to purchasing a home the architectural style may be overlooked in favor of focusing on location, school districts, available homes and other pressing constraints.
But for some buyers looking for their Southern California dream home, architecture styles may be a hugely important aspects to choosing their new home.

Looking out over the Pacific Ocean, amid a lush garden and surrounded by trees, Wayfarers Chapel resides on the bluffs of Rancho Palos Verdes. Made almost entirely of glass, the chapel invites visitors to look through its walls and take in the nature surrounding it, including the ocean view. The beauty of Wayfarers Chapel is for everyone to experience.

Completed in 1951, Wayfarers Chapel is the work of Lloyd Wright, son of pioneering architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright saw the trees of the redwood forest and wanted to create a “tree chapel.” While it is known as the “glass church,” the trees surrounding the chapel are a very prominent feature and are seen through the glass, forming living walls and a roof. Its attributes were inspired by the theology of the Swedenborgian Church that focuses on connecting God’s natural world and the inner world of mind and spirit.

It is called “wayfarers” as a tribute to the travelers who would come and rest here. Originally, when there weren’t freeways and easy road access, travel to this church could take an entire day. It is still applicable today even though it is more easily accessed, since we are all travelers to get to the church. As Reverend Harvey Tafel says, we are also all travelers on the journey of life.

Agarden and visitors’ center greets anyone who would like to visit and enjoy the architectural space, taking in all the beauty that resides in and around it.

Kitchen remodel is a big financial commitment so spending time researching and incorporating all the features you want and need into your new space is essential. A kitchen remodel can be a good way to build your home’s value, so you may want to take into consideration how the decisions you make will appeal to future home buyers. If you’re ready to remodel your kitchen, big or small, you’ll want to pay attention to the big three design concerns: arranging the appliances and sink for a good work flow, making quality decisions when it comes to your cabinetry, and selecting counter tops.

Key to contemporary kitchen design is arranging the appliances and sink for the best working flow. This can be daunting at first but is simpler than one might think to implement. Experts agree that creating a triangle flow from the sink, stove and refrigerator is best. If you do decide to incorporate an island in your kitchen be sure not to obstruct this flow and consider adding a prep sink, seating area, wine cooler or even a cooking top to the island for dramatic value and function.

Cabinets are one of the most important aspects of your kitchen remodel. Current cabinet trends can be good for your wallet: a simpler, shaker style is popular now, which is quite cost effective and works with nearly any design. Since cabinet doors will often be a large percentage of your total cost, spending less on the shaker style may allow you to spend more money on the areas of the kitchen that will stand out like the counter tops and back splash.

Regardless of the cabinet door style you select, when designing your cabinets be sure to really think about storage and utilizing all the space possible. A deep cabinet above your refrigerator and a large pots drawer in the lower cabinet will pay dividends later. Depending on your space, having your cabinets custom made can actually cost less than buying the pre-fabricated ones from the home improvement giants and are typically higher quality while allowing you to create your own design. Custom made cabinets can take a little longer so may not be the best option if you’re limited on time, but the look, feel and quality will usually outweigh any headaches if you’re working with a reputable cabinet builder or carpenter.

The third big feature that impacts the look and feel of your kitchen remodel are your countertops. Once you have your kitchen nearly complete, the countertops are typically the last thing to be installed. This is usually the most expensive part of the remodel next to the cabinetry so going with a safe, long lasting option is best. Granite counters are hugely popular. The cost of the counter tops varies widely and depends on where/who you get them from but if you can afford it, there is no better way to add value to your home than with beautiful stone or granite counters.

Taking your wish list and turning it into a useable kitchen can be a monumental undertaking, however, with just a little planning and creativity it can be done. Aside from these three big design concerns, incorporating a few little creative features into your kitchen can help make your remodeled kitchen truly spectacular. Some of the most popular trends are glass countertops, soft-close drawers, pull-outs and even touch-to-activate sink faucets. By considering the current trends you can help keep your new kitchen looking clean and modern all while adding real value to your home.