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"While visiting a friend in northern California four years ago, Glen Lajeski spied a newspaper ad listing acreage for sale. Intrigued, the Disney executive asked his host if they could look at the land on their way to the airport. Lajeski&amp;#039;s friend hesitated. &amp;quot;I know when you see this property,&amp;quot; he cautioned, &amp;quot;it&amp;#039;s going to change your life.&amp;quot;  Strolling the 160-acre parcel the following day, Lajeski found babbling brooks and Technicolor hillsides flush with wildflowers. Gauzy strands of moss hung from the oak trees overhead, while verdant vineyards sprawled across the valley below. Wasting no time, Lajeski phoned his partner, Gerry Etcheverry, back in Los Angeles and announced that he had found their new home. Accustomed to such proclamations, Etcheverry didn&amp;#039;t give this one much credence until he ventured up to Sonoma County and saw the property for himself. He was instantly smitten. &amp;quot;There&amp;#039;s just something about it that&amp;#039;s special,&amp;quot; says the former cosmetics executive.    To tide them over until a vacation home could be built, the pair decided to erect a trio of tent cabins\u2014semipermanent structures with fabric walls stretched across wooden frames. It took the better part of a year to prepare the site, as the men cleared away poison oak and fallen trees and lined the creek beds with rocks collected around the property. Once the foundations were complete, it took another couple of months to assemble the tents, which the couple purchased from Sweetwater Bungalows (SweetwaterBungalows.com).   A meandering driveway deposits visitors at the top of a hillside, where rustic steps descend past a 12-by-14-foot guest tent complete with deck and outdoor shower. A hog-wire screen knitted with honeysuckle conceals the bathroom, a vintage garden shed outfitted with a composting toilet.   Continuing down the hillside, redwood stairs span a lazy stream that leads to the 14-by-20-foot living/dining tent. The stream reemerges on the other side of the tent and tumbles into a small pond that was carved from the forest floor by wild hogs wallowing in the mud. A third tent, which contains the master bedroom, straddles the shoreline nearby.   The men modified the stock tents with extra French doors and fitted the main structure with a pair of arched windows purchased at the Rose Bowl flea market. Lajeski painted the plywood floor in a geometric pattern and furnished the interior with attic castoffs reupholstered in durable outdoor fabrics. A tubby, tangerine woodstove from the 1970s was set in front of a tempered-glass window, allowing Lajeski and Etcheverry to warm their toes while watching fog drift across the valley below. The kitchen set from Lajeski&amp;#039;s childhood home serves as a dining table and is lit by an Ikea chandelier spray-painted tan to match the floor.   What started as a temporary living space soon became an obsession. &amp;quot;Glen tends to get carried away,&amp;quot; Etcheverry sighs. The men stocked the pond with nearly two dozen koi and hauled truckloads of plants down the hillside, creating a succession of thematic gardens.  Click here to see the gallery for &amp;quot;Renovation Getaway&amp;quot;.   With so much land at his disposal, Lajeski couldn&amp;#039;t just kick back, so he went out and bought 1,200 olive trees. &amp;quot;Most people would experiment with maybe 50 trees first,&amp;quot; observes Etcheverry. The pair ended up having to clear, irrigate and fence eight acres of land before the trees could be planted, then found their orchard under attack from field mice and ground squirrels. The vermin vanquished, Lajeski hopes to produce his first batch of olive oil next year, which he&amp;#039;ll market under the property&amp;#039;s name, Split Rock Springs Ranch.   The men make the journey from Los Angeles nearly every weekend, vying with their guests for control of the master bedroom&amp;#039;s outdoor shower, which overlooks the pond and waterfall. While Lajeski gardens, Etcheverry commandeers the kitchen, which is located under a corrugated-metal lean-to outside the main tent. The oven, grill and refrigerator run on propane; electrical items are powered by a pair of photovoltaic panels. To clean the kitchen, they simply haul out a leaf blower.   Meals are shared around an outdoor dining table fashioned from a vintage zinc tabletop propped on a pair of metal sawhorses. Morning coffee is savored on the bedroom deck, where Lajeski and Etcheverry lounge under a canopy of &amp;#039;Black Dragon&amp;#039; wisteria.   The tents have proven so popular that the owners plan to keep them as guest quarters even after the main house is completed. &amp;quot;You&amp;#039;re living with nature much more closely than if you were living in a house,&amp;quot; observes Lajeski, who enjoys snuggling under his Frette sheets while acorns assault the roof and frogs serenade him to sleep.   The men hope to experience the same connection with nature once their house is completed, in 2011. Designed by noted San Francisco architect Stanley Saitowitz, the residence will consist of three glass-walled pavilions oriented around a pool. &amp;quot;I wanted him to translate the experience of living in the tents into a house,&amp;quot; Lajeski says. Even if Saitowitz succeeds, Lajeski says he&amp;#039;ll still sneak down to the tents on occasion\u2014if only to use the shower. That is, if he can wrest it away from his guests.  Click here to see the photo gallery for &amp;quot;Renovation Getaway&amp;quot;. 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