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Community Corner

VIDEO: Every Day is Earth Day at the Schneider Home

Jerry and Gloria Schneider designed their Southwest home with the environment in mind but offer tips that anyone can utilize.

“Every day should be Earth Day,” says Jerry Schneider.  And in Jerry and Gloria Schneider’s Southwest style home on Sea View Avenue, it is.

Environmental Design for All

A little over ten years ago, Gloria and Jerry had the luxury of designing a house that combined beauty and comfort with their passion for living in harmony with nature.  Jerry, a civil engineer with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, was able to bring all of his experience to bear on the beautiful project of their home.

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One would think that Jerry and Gloria more than “walked the talk” via their home’s conscious design. But when approached about the house being featured on Patch and The View from Jack Smith’s Street, it was Jerry who suggested that we discuss features of the house that anyone could utilize no matter what style of home they lived in.

Home and Garden

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Given Jerry’s recent graduate degree in landscape architecture from Cal Poly Pomona, it’s not surprising that the Schneiders also take an environmentally conscious approach to the outside of their home with everything designed for maximum water conservation.  Water thirsty plants such as roses and fruit trees are grouped together.  The flat roof over their garage not only hosts ballroom dance parties but a container garden.

Yarrow, a mowable lawn substitute, fills in the gravel and broken concrete paving of the pathway that leads from the gate to the front door and is bordered by golden California poppies.  Pots of succulents add color without requiring much water.  And the driveway is made from a permeable concrete that allows water to filter into the earth instead of running off to the sea.

Walking down the gold and green-edged path to the Schneiders' front door, it is clear that they "walk the talk" indeed.

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