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WEEK 1, WEEK 2, WEEK 3,Week 4, Completed
Joann Fowler purchased a beautiful home about a year ago, but unfortunately, the landscaping quality didn’t match the house, one many would describe as Frank Lloyd Wright meets Colorado mountain lodge. Clicking from the beginning, the homeowner and our Rosehill Gardens designer worked together to develop a design that enhances the character of the house and creates an outdoor living space.
Undercover Beauty
Encouraged by the “good bones” of the site, designer Amanda White recognized the landscaping potential of a blank slate and was excited about the unlimited design potential of the Fowler residence.
“Before”: The front of the Fowler’s residence.
The Fowler residence in Cedar Creek Estates is one of intrigue for everyone. With the assistance of subcontractors Artistic Concrete Surfaces and Designer Pools by Gary Bair, Rosehill Gardens seeks to bring to life a design that will enhance the character of the house while providing an outdoor retreat for the Fowlers.
Creating Solutions through Design
The Fowler residence put forth many design challenges for both the homeowner and designer. The issues addressed include weeds overtaking beds, overcrowded beds, trees planted too close to the house, and major water erosion occurring along the foundation.
Another major problem the site presents is the lack of privacy in the backyard, as it is an uninterrupted view of the neighbor’s front yard, with a relatively busy street in between. Although the deck above offers great views of the lake in early spring and winter, the summer leaves those in the backyard feeling exposed and on display for several neighbors and all passing traffic.
“Before”: Trees and shrubs are overgrown and planted too close to the house.
The softscape of this Colorado-inspired design utilizes the use of berms, boulders and dry creek beds, variation in plants, and large sweeps of native perennial color. The berms and planting create an inward focus while providing layers of screening.
Envisioning a Backyard Mountain Oasis
The initial design focused on enhancing the home’s foundational landscape with a few outlying berms to create privacy, but the design took a strong turn when Joann and Amanda determined all that would be lacking was an entertainment/patio space that could rival the grandeur of the home and planned landscape. With Joann’s knack for concise decision making, they were able to quickly narrow eight conceptual design ideas down to one.
The layout for the Fowler Residence Landscape Makeover.
The design couples the existing outdoor kitchen with a new decorative concrete patio, a fire trough and seat walls (which reflect the character of the existing stone columns) and a “spool” (a small pool with spa functions) with a small flagstone patio surrounding to complete the vision of an outdoor living space. The flagstone calls upon the aesthetic of the beautiful flagstone entrance, the seat walls will carry the same flagstone for the cap and the walls will match the existing columns they tie into.
A heavy layer of evergreen trees and perennials surround the spool and fire trough to make one feel as though they are in a mountain landscape, far away from any potential neighbors. The outdoor living space will be the Fowler’s local mountain getaway.
“Before”: The current concrete patio with exposed aggregate.
A night rendering of the “spool.”
Amanda selected Artistic Concrete Surfaces to implement the decorative concrete and flagstone patios, fire pit and masonry walls due to the company’s history of remarkable patios with a seamless, fast-paced process. Although there are many pool contractors to choose from in the area, the decision was made easy after a pool tour of exceptional projects by Designer Pools by Gary Bair. Gary quickly understood Amanda and Joann’s vision for a spool. We look forward to working with them in the weeks ahead in the implementation of the backyard mountain oasis.
A Race Against Time
As we dived into installation mode on June 6, 2013, we have already faced several challenges with weather, permits and last-minute design tweaking. The Cedar Creek Homeowner’s Association has been very helpful and responsive in resolving the permit issues in an exceptionally timely manner, but the Fowlers have already begun planning a great Fourth of July celebration, putting everyone under the gun to complete a project that typically takes about six to 12 weeks in under five.
As we continue, scheduling and communication are critical elements, as four different crews will need to work in one area. Because of the rapid pace and the variety and scale of crews to complete the job in time, we’ve had to pull all of the contractors recently to schedule and determine communication methods that would expedite the project. With up to six crews on the site at one time, there’s extensive planning for where one’s work begins and another ends, or when their access will be available, certainly a game of moving chess pieces all with a fast-approaching deadline.
Stay tuned for updates on the Fowler Residence Landscape Makeover!
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