Whether swimming in the pool, grabbing ingredients from the raised beds, enjoying views of the lush plantings, or entertaining family and friends in their outdoor living spaces, this award-winning custom landscape provides a serene and functionally elegant backyard oasis that the homeowners use daily.
Landscape Designer Kenna Hartman worked with his enthusiastic clients to reimagine their backyard as a space that satisfied their many use cases and met all their needs and desires.
The couple saw an opportunity to update their existing landscape by utilizing a large, unused lawn area as a place for their dream swimming pool, where the avid swimmers in the family could use it every month of the year. The pool was designed with a unique shape to combine a lap swimming lane with an adjacent area for children to play in and for the couple to use for relaxation. As a special touch, the homeowner created custom tiles in her pottery practice that were installed in the water feature as an enhancement to the standard commercial tiles.
Given that the landscape was intended for year-round use, privacy was of utmost priority for these clients. The design was thoughtfully laid out to reduce site lines to the pool deck and outdoor shower. Strategies for adding backyard privacy ranged from decorative fencing to the installation of larger, more mature evergreen hedging plants, which help provide screening while also giving the landscape a more established, intentional feel.
Hartman says of his design,
“Creating flow with clear pathways that connected primary areas, including the outdoor shower, pool deck, existing patio, garden sitting area, and outdoor gym, was essential to the success of this project.”
The hardscape includes a creative combination of square pavers, gravel, and paver patios all laid out in straight lines to give the landscape a level of organization while offsetting lush plantings.
Paver patios in the back were installed in a traditional sand set method with polymeric jointing sand to stabilize the joints for years to come. However, when the homeowners decided to update their driveway and front walkways midway through the project, Hartman saw an opportunity to address some stormwater drainage concerns. The house had an addition constructed years ago, but the additional roof lines with gutters and downspouts were not addressed and caused flooding throughout the property. The 7 Dees team addressed the existing stormwater issues by utilizing the driveway, which was prepped and installed as a permeable paver application with open-graded aggregate as the jointing material, as a reservoir for the excess water on site from the house. This solved their drainage issues and it has not been a concern since!
The clean lines of the poured concrete patio and pool surround bring the look into the current century with a modern aesthetic that works hand in hand with the full garden beds and relaxed Pacific Northwest-meets-Mediterranean plantings.
In addition to keeping as many existing mature plants as possible, the homeowners wanted landscape plantings that highlighted their love of flowering plants, including perennials and shrubs. The plant palette includes blooming elements like Echinaceas, Agapanthus, Shrub Roses, and Panicle Hydrangeas set alongside foliage-forward plants like Brunnera and Karl Foerster Grass and evergreen shrubs.
Says Hartman of the plant selection and design,
"One exciting challenge from a design aspect was blending 50% of the existing backyard, which remained, with the new pool and landscape renovation."
As a contrast to the linear walkways and raised beds, curving lines of the lawn edge and landscape beds give the property a relaxed feeling that is firmly rooted in Pacific Northwest design sensibilities and helps unify new and old areas of the landscape.
The dedicated raised vegetable beds were set in a heavily landscaped portion of the garden to make them feel like an essential part of the landscape rather than an afterthought or a separate space. The beds were constructed from Corten steel, which helps reinforce the clean, modern look and feel of the space, especially when filled with abundant vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
In acknowledgement of the high level of design, care, and excellent work of both the 7 Dees installation team and the many subcontractors that were managed by 7 Dees, this project received a National Association of Landscape Professionals GOLD Award of Excellence. This elegant backyard renovation created a private oasis that the clients use all year round, whether for daily swims alone, for gathering fresh ingredients, or for entertaining family and friends.