Standing in the main courtyard of their Laurelwood Drive home, Bob admires the stone fountain he brought back from Tlaquepaque, Mexico. The fountain is surrounded by decorative pavers in a courtyard enclosed by adobe walls. In the courtyard, under the San Jose sun, the Sanchezes have enjoyed a wedding, costume parties and the simple pleasure of an after-work cocktail.

"This," Bob says, "is the reason we bought the house."

When they purchased the home 26 years ago the couple--Bob, who is Spanish, and Judy, who is Italian--envisioned redesigning their backyard into a Mediterranean courtyard. Five years ago, the pair turned the grass and cement in the backyard into their dream courtyard. Now the home is part of this year's Willow Glen Lifestyles Tour, scheduled from April 30 through May 1.

The tour is a fundraiser for the San Jose Day Nursery. The event helps supplement the price of daycare for low-income parents.

Like the Sanchezes' home, many of this year's houses were built in the 1940s and 1950s.The tour will highlight a Cardinal Lane home built in 1952. The residents have expanded the traditionally small Eichler style-home from 1,500 to 3,400 square feet. The remodel includes a second story with a master bedroom.

Eichler homes emphasize the flow of indoor and outdoor space, which is also apparent in a home on Ridley Way. Residents worked with an architect to modify the 1953 home to maximize natural light and retain its open feeling using skylights, doorways and windows.

The highlight of this year's tour is a preview of an earth home being built on Hicks Avenue. The home is the first rammed-earth home to be built in the city, a method that saves trees and energy costs. The home was designed and built by architect Noel Cross and will be environmentally low-impact and sustainable.

The last two homes on the tour will show eager do-it-yourself residents how details can transform a home. An Ellen Avenue resident used 14 different shades of paint to recreate her 1940s home. On Cherry Avenue, Karin Butters-Mulcahy has made her new home a unique living space.

Butters-Mulcahy, who runs Ingela's Interiors at 999 Lincoln Ave. with her mother, Ingela, emphasizes the use of color and texture. "Newer homes don't have a lot of personality," Butters-Mulcahy says. "There's a lot of ways to make your home cute without spending a lot of money."

Many newer homes are painted beige, Butters-Mulcahy says, because it's a neutral color. She recommends using sage green, gray and mustard-yellow paint to add color to a new home. The colors will match a variety of styles and furniture.

The Cherry Avenue home also has new crown molding to add depth and a number of consignment pieces she's purchased for added flair. Butters-Mulcahy bought many of the pieces at estate sales for one-third to half the price they would cost in an antique store.

Home tour committee member Yvonne Head says the diversity of styles and ages of the homes from Laurelwood Drive to Cherry Avenue makes this year's home tour special. The homes are also more realistic than ones displayed in decorating magazines. "We really try to pick homes that are beautiful but lived in," Head says.

The tour runs from April 30 through May 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets before the event are $25 and available at Lincoln Avenue businesses Casa Casa, Eclectic Touch, Fleurish and Be Civilized, as well as Terra Nova in the Pruneyard Shopping Center. Tickets the day of the event are $30 and are available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Willow Glen Elementary School parking lot, on the corner of Minnesota and Lincoln avenues. For more information, call the nursery at 408.288.9667.