Twilight Tour with wine and cheese on Friday 9/7!

With the kids back in school and the last wisps of summer fading away, you might be busier than ever. You might just need your own little Open House night to wind down and get away from it all for a few hours! If that’s the case, stop by 1947 Eagle Peak Ave. in Clayton for a wine and cheese Open House event!

This condo is so beautiful, it could star in the next Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. It’s a quiet respite with breathtaking views, top-of-the-line finishes and a serene appeal. It boasts 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a deck overlooking the cozy backyard, and modern updates.

As usual, we will have our normal Open Houses this Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. each day, but you don’t want to miss the chance to see the house on Friday night from 5:30-7 with wine in hand. Join the neighbors for this exclusive event and take a look at this stunning space! I would love to see you! If you like what you see, contact me at www.kristinlanham.com , 925.899.7123 or kristin@lanham.com. I’m happy to help with sell or buy the perfect home for you!

Open House at 407 Midway Pl. (Martinez) this weekend!

Come check out 407 Midway Place in Martinez this weekend for a home with great curb appeal! It’s situated on a cozy court and has a large, flat backyard with redwoods scattered throughout with enough space for a pool if so desired! An entertainer’s delight with plenty of privacy, good shade and stone retaining walls with landscaping, and a basement area with water that can be built for an outdoor bathroom.

In total, it is a 4-bed, 2.5-bath with vaulted ceilings, multiple decks, a formal dining room and a kitchen-family room open-concept combination. The master bathroom is delightfully decadent, and the half-bath upstairs also draws high praise.

The home contains triple-pane windows, and welcomes in lots of light. An Owens Corning roof, new rain gutters, a high-efficiency water heater, and exterior paint creates the charming curb appeal. The landscaping in the front and side yards were re-done in 2014, and solar panels with a 20-year lease were added that year, too.

The aforementioned master bathroom was remodeled as recently as 2015, and an entertainment system with surround sound was added to the family room in 2016. The pictures, beautiful as they are, do not do this place justice. You have to swing by and check it out for yourself. You will be amazed!

The Open House will be held from 1-4 p.m. this weekend, on both Saturday, Mar. 10th and Sunday, Mar. 11th.

Open House this weekend: This home is a hole in one!

Get your swimsuit, invite your friends and enjoy your new home. But first, you must swing by our Open House this weekend at 1915 Blackstone Dr. in Walnut Creek. You’ll see an absolutely gorgeous home with more than $100,000 put into customizing and updating everything that has to do with the backyard and the view you have from the house.

Included in those updates are a custom home office, larger double-paned windows, a brand gas pool heater, plantation shutters and french doors. But perhaps the most exciting updates came by the way of the backyard, a major selling point:

Custom island kitchen for BBQ’s
Putting green
Full landscape remodel
Well pump for no-cost irrigation
Custom-built day bed for relaxing

More than $75,000 later, the seller has built a backyard one could only dream of. You can grill or host a party under the cabana while the kids swim in the pool and any avid golfer’s in the group hit the putting green. Plus, you get to enjoy a partial view of Mt. Diablo.

This single story Northgate rancher is an entertainer’s delight, with a great floor plan made for luxurious living, right in the heart of Walnut Creek.

Built in 1961, move in ready, yet some buyers may want to update the kitchens and baths, a slight remodel would put those pieces on par with the rest of this remarkable home. There are also plans for a deck off the master bedroom with a fire pit.

The 4-bed, 2-bath, 2,062-square foot property is on a 15,225-square foot lot and right near Berean Christian High School, Northgate High School, Foothill Middle School and Walnut Avenue Preschool.

You can’t beat this location, just down the road from John Muir, and five minutes from BART, the new shopping area with Whole Foods, Heather Farms and Arbolado Park. And you definitely can’t beat the comfort of living in such a perfect home.

Come check it out from 1-4 p.m. on both Saturday 9/30 and Sunday 10/1!

Open House: 4391 Pembroke Dr. (Concord)

The Kristin Lanham Team has another beautiful home going on the market – this one is in Concord, on Pembroke Dr. Take a look at some of the pictures below, and swing by for a peek at our Open House this weekend!

The home is a cozy, mid-century charmer with a serene, quiet backyard. There is room for an RV or a boat, which includes a spa and storage shed, all surrounded by professional landscaping and lots of plants and flowers.

An open concept makes it warm and welcoming. The updated kitchen with its expansive island is the centerpiece for family gatherings and additional storage. The open-beamed ceilings add to the interior charm. There are stylish updated bathrooms, dual-pane windows, lots of natural light and great flow from outdoor to indoor for entertaining.

This house has been meticulously loved – an updated, warm interior and a vibrant backyard planted specifically to attract hummingbirds, butterfiles, and bees. A perfect place to call home!

Come take a look at the Open House this weekend from 1-4 p.m. on both Saturday (9/9) and Sunday (9/10)!

3 bedrooms | 2 baths | 1250 sq. ft. |.17 acre lot

Offered at $580,000

To take a virtual tour of 4391 Pembroke Dr., click HERE!

Following Up: Honeybees!

A few weeks back, we did the Parkmead Garden Tour. I spoke to one resident who is a honeybee keeper. In addition to the Beekeeper who was there to speak, I learned a lot about honeybees.

For example, did you know that a honeybee has to travel more than 55,000 miles and has to visit about 2 million flowers just to produce one pound of honey? Or that they can fly 15 miles per hour?

Beekeeping is a hobby that seems to be picking up popularity, especially around the Bay Area. Much like composting, its attraction is that it’s a sustainable, healthy way to provide for oneself and the community around us. It’s been common knowledge for years that the bee population is quickly dying off, and their extinction would have a horrific effect on the planet’s ecosystem.

So, I also snagged some basic information on beekeeping resources around the Bay Area! If you want to learn more about the Mt. Diablo Beekeepers Association (MDBA), visit this link! If you’re interested in starting beekeeping, you can find supplies at MarElla Honey B’s in Concord, Biofuel Oasis/Urban Farm Store in Berkeley, and many others around the Bay Area.

If you’d simply like to attract more bees to your garden to help increase the population and improve your pollination, plant flowers that they like! For example, blackberries and raspberries, fireweed, lavender, oregano, rosemary and sunflower are a few that really attract heavy pollination.

Here are a few more fun facts for you to finish out our blog on honeybees:

A typical beehive makes more than 400 lbs of honey per year
A honeybee will flap its wings about 11,400 times per minute, creating the familiar “buzz” sound
Honeybees are responsible for approximately 80 percent of all fruit, vegetable and seed crops in the U.S.

So when you see a bee nearby, don’t run or swat at it, but think of the good they do and then briskly walk away!

Open House this weekend: 131 Appalachian Dr. in Martinez

You can’t beat the beauty of this home! Come check out this 4-bedroom, 2-bath, single-story home nestled in the Martinez hills.

The backyard has a deck with a hot tub, a fire pit, and an awesome fort for backyard adventures. Not to mention that breathtaking view of the surrounding countryside!

The home is 1,609 square feet of pure comfort. The kitchen has all updated, stainless-steel appliances and flows nicely into the living room, complete with a cozy fireplace.

A spacious master bedroom with plantation shutters and hardwood floors

put the finishing touch on this gorgeous house. We’ll be holding two Open Houses this weekend for your viewing pleasure.

Come by, say hi and check it out this weekend. I’ll be there and am happy to talk about the market and what it takes to get a home sold for top dollar in this market.

Visit our Open House this weekend from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday (8/20) and 1-4 p.m. on Sunday (8/21)!

You can see the virtual tour of 131 Appalachian Dr. here.

Open House this weekend: 1326 San Carlos Ave. in Concord

Don’t miss this cozy, updated gem! Just a couple blocks from the Concord BART station and close to Todos Santos Plaza, you’ll feel right at home in this 2-bedroom, 1-bath (with an extra bedroom and bathroom in the converted garage) property.

Fresh paint, new bamboo floors, skylights, granite countertops and a big backyard with a spacious shed top the list of eye-catching features this property has to offer.

You can use that converted space as an AirBNB income-generating room that can be locked off from the rest of the house, and it even has its own little private side yard!

The open kitchen/dining room concept, complete with skylight and dark, beautiful cabinetry, flows into a separate living room with a fireplace and recessed lighting. Both main bedrooms open to the deck and backyard.

Speaking of, both main bedrooms open to the massive deck and backyard. You’ll have plenty of space to entertain friends and family. And you’ll love the huge tree in the front yard casting much-needed shade over the house in the summer.

Come see for yourself how so much can fit into such a beautiful space!

Visit our Open House this weekend from 1-4 p.m. both Saturday (7/30) and Sunday (7/31)!

You can see a virtual tour of 1326 San Carlos Avenue here.

Broker Tour Today! Open House This Weekend!

Join us for a broker tour today from 10:30 a.m .to 1:00 p.m. at both 2899 Madeira Way in Pleasant Hill and 1655 Endriss Dr. in Martinez. We’ll have some goodies to share at these beautiful properties!

Also, at the home on Madeira Way, we’ll have an Open House both Saturday and Sunday (June 25th and 26th) from 1:00-4:00 p.m. The updated 4-bedroom home has new hardwood floors, plantation shutters in every bedroom and a large backyard with a patio perfect for entertaining.

The master bedroom is downstairs, just off the living room and dining room, which buttresses a nice kitchen with granite countertops. Upstairs, there are three bedrooms with one currently being utilized as a spacious personal office.

Come wander through this lovely home in a great neighborhood with us this weekend. Hope to see you there!

You can see a virtual tour of 2899 Madeira Way right here.

Why It’s Important to Hire a Landscape Architect

Last year, my sewer kept backing up and I found that I needed a new sewer lateral. My front lawn had a bunch of crabgrass, and the lawn never seemed to get green enough. Then, with the drought, I just let it go.

My whole front yard was torn up, so I decided to do some landscaping – new grass, plants and an automatic sprinkler and drip system.

The project turned out to cost much more than I expected. The sewer lateral was $6,000, and then I ended up paying an additional $8,000 for the landscaping and sprinklers.

I thought I was getting a deal, as the person I hired was a personal friend – though he admittedly knew nothing about plants – who could plant the yard and put the new system in.

Turns out, it was much more difficult than either of us expected. This is on me for thinking it would be an acceptable, cheap way to get the yard done. I still wonder if I hired a landscape architect, would I have saved money and would I be happier with the end result?

Of course, no home improvement project is as simple as it seems. My sprinkler heads had faulty gaskets and some of the plants were not getting water and I lost plants. Luckily, Admirals Choice, who installed the sprinklers, is replacing them at no cost to me.

A year and a half later, we are still working on the grass, there’s still a line in the grass where the sewer lateral was dug out, and I need to get rid of the weeds.

We put weed killer on it, but I had to wait until the weather cooled, then it didn’t kill my stubborn crabgrass, and the rain began. So…I waited some more.

The gaskets should be replaced next week, then hopefully it will be time to seed before it gets too hot, and then I can fill in the plants that died.

So, with the hope that you don’t end up like me, with a two-year-old front yard project that cost me a fortune, I am sharing a great Houzz article on Landscaping Trends:

[houzz=http://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/64002187/list/inside-houzz-new-data-offer-insights-on-landscaping-trends w=300]

1777 Park Place Rd. Open House

The perks to this beautiful home are endless! Located in the Summer Lake neighborhood of Oakley, this new property (built in 2012) is close to hiking and jogging trails, and just one mile from the Delta. The neighborhood boasts the lake, a pool, tennis courts and playgrounds.

It gets even better when you go inside – enjoy a home office, open-floor plan between the eat-in kitchen and living room, and an upstairs den that is perfect for the kids! One of the master suites is on the first level, and the other is upstairs for total privacy. That was not a typo; there are two master suites in this home! And still, there’s more – in the backyard, you can relax near the pond or have a drink around the outdoor gas fireplace.

Don’t let this one pass you by. Stop in and see the Open House this weekend! We’ll be open from 1-4 p.m both Saturday (3/12) and Sunday (3/13).

You can see a virtual tour of 1777 Park Place Rd. right here.