| | | | | | | | |
2007 LCA Award-Winner

Project Description

Initially, the owners’ focus was creating a functional and private landscape setting. They had the normal list of items to be included. An entertaining deck, patios, a water feature viewable from the home office, fire pit, usable lawn panel, fencing, seasonal color and landscape lighting were necessities. The clients also stressed that they would like to entertain both on the main level and basement levels of the home. Our primary goal was to create an established feel to the home’s desolate setting along with bringing this enormous house into scale with the property. After gathering the clients’ needs and desires, along with developing a detailed site analysis, it quickly became evident that the lower level was going to be the perfect escape from the full southern exposure. The next most important design factor was the picturesque view into the wooded valley in the southwest corner of the property. With this as our starting point, it was amazing how the rest of the design fell into place.

With our general spaces defined, we set out to create functional and effortless flow throughout the property. A large entertaining deck and lower level lanai were developed as the hub of the design. The 45° orientation of the deck captured the long views the site had to offer and made the property setting appear larger. All patios, walkways, lawn panel and amenities were developed around this feature.  The patios were also nestled into the secluded side of the yard adjacent to the neighborhood’s forest conservation area.

The 6’ high heavy grade ornamental aluminum fencing makes a perfect backdrop to the planting plan that encompasses the entire property which included over 40 different varieties of plants; abundance of color and texture prevail in the space that was once so desolate. The landscape lighting is the finishing touch to this private and comfortable sanctuary. Our clients couldn’t be happier.

Project Challenges

For such a large scale house that was so perfectly detailed on the inside, it was disturbing to look out and see the back of three houses that look just like it and four more that were very similar; it needed its own personality. The topography magnified the elevation of the house that felt more like a high-rise building. How could we ever make someone feel comfortable back here? The builder left a grade off the driveway that had an 8’ fall over an 18’distance; this slope was not traversable. The drainage swale of four of the properties mentioned above came right through the yard and needed to be redirected to the rear property line without encroaching on the neighbor. This meant that the planting and fencing had to be moved in 6’, making our small yard even smaller. As in so many cases today, a large dear population needed to be deterred from eating the new landscape, precipitating the need for a six foot high fence. 

In what seemed to be a yard too small for the house, we were challenged to create space were none existed. The use of the very strong angle with long directing lines made this happen in a very successful way. These challenges are what made for such an impressive landscape.

© Botanical Decorators. All rights reserved. | 5011 Olney-Laytonsville Rd., Suite B • Olney, MD 20832 • Tel: 301-948-6625

Web Design