I spent much of this week at Arrington Woods. Our beautiful stone and wood siding, both of which we agonized over, are finally going on, and it's starting to look incredible, or at least I think so.

Instagram has rendered me totally incapable of taking horizontal pictures.

Tuesday, we did a thorough walkthrough with the landscaping team. We're tackling a pretty large area—the courtyard is massive, there are arguably two backyards as well, plus landscaping along the front and side of the house, and a retaining wall along the back of the property that will require a little landscape work.

So much of what we're doing with landscaping just comes down to material consistency.

We're talking about plantings, pavers, gravel, patios—what's actually going to make it look good. My thesis is simple: Use the same thing everywhere. Same gravel and pavers. Same types of plants. If we are trying to create a memorable aesthetic, it's actually a major exercise in restraint.

This is the vibe - a landscape bed at Neuhoff. Lush, natural, consistent.

This is not what most folks do. If you look at the front of many newly landscaped homes, there is a lot going on, maybe 10 different plants in a front yard. I don't think we'll have more than 4 or 5.

My theory is that by maintaining that extreme consistency throughout and massing planting for a lush look, we'll create a very strong sense of place throughout and allow our feature moments to pop even harder—the pool, the kitchen island, a wallpapered bedroom, and the textured charcoal-brown stone foyer tile.

Foyer tile - so gorgeous in person.

This is something hospitality does really well. When I first fell in love with construction, it was because of guys who knew how to execute this look (and do it on the cheap!).

We're not the ones planting the garden. We're creating a very cohesive look inside and out. The future owner is the one who will layer in more variety and personality through their own plantings, furniture, art, pets, people and quirks.

On our trim walk Thursday, we ran into a little hiccup.

We had originally envisioned this double fireplace as tile wrapped all the way around on both sides. But we also wanted to add wood casing on either side, as that is part of the house's signature look and helps create contrast.

But if we did both, part of the fireplace would interrupt the casing. We realized after it was drywalled that we had to choose one or the other.

I knew the wood casing would be pretty striking and beautiful. So we decided that was our moment, and we'll create a bumped-out, fully floor-to-ceiling stone fireplace inset a foot from the edge of the casing begins.

I love contrast wood-cased openings like this one from Prakruthi. Via their IG

The openings will remain uninterrupted, and the fireplace will be a perfect echo of the beautiful stone and chimneys all along the exterior of the house.

Gotta keep things consistent.

clocks that rock

We put this orange wall clock in our workout/toy room, and I've been thinking about wall clocks ever since.

Vintage clocks, in general, are incredible. They are somehow both cheerful and serious; I can't explain it.

While many would say they have been rendered obsolete by phones, I still love them and think they are tremendously underutilized in design.

Let's be honest, it "feels" much better to check the time via a clock than your phone.

A few I like:

1940 by Gio Ponti for Enrico Bosselli. I love pretty much everything Ponti did. So simple yet striking, someone should riff on this design and reproduce it today - I'd buy.