Posts Tagged ‘patio’

granite it is!

Friday, November 19th, 2010

One huge step for mankind: we’ve chosen our patio material. WOO HOO! I know, I know — honestly, who cares? We deliberated over which kind of stone would work best for our ongoing patio drama. Bluestone, eliminated. Three granite samples, under review…

granite samples

CALEDONIA GRANITE

Browns and greys, flecks of black. Appearance overall is a warm grey. Probably from Canadia. That’s right, I said Canadia. Humor me. The darkest of the options. Large flecks of … mica? You know, the shiny bits. The roughest, crunchiest grooviest of textures among the options. I like it. David’s least fave.

caledonia granite closeup

caledonia, straight on

GREY GRANITE

Very light grey with flecks of black. Looks like the stuff every curb in New England is made of — may be called Chelmsford? From the U.S., probably quarried not too far from here. The lightest, most uniform and smoothest finish of the bunch. Classic. David’s favorite. Not as expected as bluestone but of the granites, it’s pretty familiar.

grey granite closeup

grey, straight on

SANDY POINT GRANITE

Beige to tan with gold and grey flecks. Very warm, almost Mediterranean. Couldn’t find out where it’s from. Fairly porous. Not as smooth as grey granite, not as rough as Caledonia. We think it’s pretty but too yellowy for what will eventually be our grey house exterior and grey concrete retaining wall.

gold granite closeup

gold, straight on

THE DECISION

In any other case, I’d likely say Caledonia. But in the interest of keeping things minimal and modern, I’m going to agree with David on this one and say basic grey granite will work fine for this project. Pairs well with the light concrete we already have in the backyard. And after all, the patio material shouldn’t be the star in this case, just a supporting character. Make that affordable supporting character.

Would just like to add that I never would have considered granite as a contender  — am completely anti-granite when it comes to the inside of the house. Granite countertops? Blech. Oh the irony.

Next step: firming up the layout and pool details. And to play us out, Louis Jordan and his swingin’ band!

neverending patio story

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Talk about dragging things out. November and we’re still talking patios! Here’s where we left off: on the fence about poured concrete, our ideal scenario, so we’ve been considering other options.

Our poured concrete layout looked like this (click to biggify)…

our last patio plan

Finished, those concrete sections would have looked kinda like this (but running parallel to the house)…

by shades of green landscape architecture | houzz.com

by shades of green landscape architecture | houzz.com

Too bad that’s not gonna work out moneywise. Waah.

Option 1 : concrete pavers

So if poured concrete is out, what’s the next best thing? Concrete pavers? We looked into a few sources after eliminating Lowe’s and Home Depot.  Stepstone, Inc. makes what I think are the best-looking concrete pavers by far…

narrow modular pavers | stepstoneinc.com

narrow modular pavers | stepstoneinc.com

The October Dwell features an article on the remod of the mag founder’s first home.  Lots of great images of Stepstone pavers on their back patio. Beautiful. They’re made in Cali. On the phone, their people were very helpful. Drawbacks: Several week lead-time. Shipping. Not cheap. And honestly, I’m still hooked on having pavers set into gravel or grass, in which case these wouldn’t work — they’re designed with a mortarless spacer system that requires them to be butted up against each other.

Looking for a concrete paver alternative closer to home, David came across Bolduc in Canada. We liked the look of Avenue

avenue in a commercial application | bolduc.ca

avenue in a commercial application | bolduc.ca

Commercial rather than residential, which didn’t deter us. Cheaper than Stepstone. Comes in several shades of grey. The folks at Southridge Farm and Nursery in Walpole ordered some samples for us. They look like this…

bolduc samples

They come in larger sizes. Good. Beveled edges. Icky. Overall, too, um, municipal looking? The top side of the dark option looks like poured asphalt. Not a look we’re going for. Shazam.

Option 2: stone

Okay, so if those pavers are out, what next? Stone? We automatically ruled out stone because it has to cost more. Doesn’t it? Turns out that bluestone or granite run about the same cost or even cheaper than the Bolduc pavers. Wow. Okay, so that sounds encouraging.

New layout options: squares

So what about layout now that the trapezoid look is a no-go? The square grid layout looks great but it’s a no for us, whether they’re set in pea gravel…

by daniel nolan design | houzz.com

by daniel nolan design | houzz.com

or set in grass…

by huettil landscape archictecture | houzz.com

by huettil landscape archictecture | houzz.com

Squares are perfect when the architecture is boxy like that. Not so much for our situation. David and I don’t always agree about everything but we do agree that a long, linear layout goes better with our long, linear house. Strips set parallel to the house would lead the eye out toward the low pool at the end.

New layout options: rectangular strips

Imagine strips of stone set in pea gravel. Either uniform strips…

maisonry winery, yountville | remodelista.com

maisonry winery, yountville | remodelista.com

Or staggered strips…

by environmental concepts | houzz.com

by environmental concepts | houzz.com

I can also picture strips of stone set in grass…

by feldman architecture | houzz.com

by feldman architecture | houzz.com

from seattle dream gardens | sunset.com

from seattle dream gardens | sunset.com

Decisions, decisions. We’ll be working out patio configurations this week so that we can get this party started.

Pool options

Then there’s also the matter of the pool. David was set on an above-ground water feature so that people could sit on the edge. Something akin to this…

by carolyn chadwick | houzz.com

by carolyn chadwick | houzz.com

Not impossible to create such a thing but it’s a little more expensive. I’m not budging on my desire for steps across the pool to the patio, either way. Luckily, David is now open to an in-ground pond…

desert botanic garden pool by ten eyck landscape architects | teneyeckla.com

desert botanic garden pool by ten eyck landscape architects | teneyeckla.com

montcalm street by rossington architecture | houzz.com

montcalm street by rossington architecture | houzz.com

The stones in the pond are kind of nice. Of course, both of those examples are concrete edge and not stone, so the look would probably be more like this…

blue mountain by phillips farveaag smallenberg | pfs.ca

blue mountain by phillips farveaag smallenberg | pfs.ca

Sounds like poured concrete may not be in the pond picture now. Pool liner? Oy. Our neverending story… everybody sing!

Want even more?

Reference previous patio and pool obsessiveness at total yard-on for hardscape.

pati o’leery

Friday, October 8th, 2010

Now that the cable railing is finito, we can move on to our next project: upper and lower patios. It does sound extravagant to have two, doesn’t it? But with a two-level house built into a hillside, we have two separate entries that need to step out onto something better than what we have now. Take a look…

UPPER PATIO Crushed stone in place since the Savages set it down in April awaits the concrete pads we have in mind. Once pads are poured, the patio will be level with the top of the retaining wall and we’ll have plenty of room for entertaining…

current upper patio

Wondering what the heck I mean by concrete pads? Remember this image that I showed you a few months back?

Waterfall House, Andrew Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

Waterfall House, Andrew Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

See how the concrete is cut into angles with grass in between? Yeah. Like that. Our first choice for patios is something akin to that only set into pea gravel. It would tie in nicely with the architecture of the house, which is very angular on the front face…

angle on house

LOWER PATIO This shot is from April before landscaping improvements began, but it still basically consists of completely inhospitable sharp-edged gravel. Yucky…

view of lower patio from side

We’re envisioning the patio coming out from beneath the deck and into the pathway. As you can see, privacy is an issue…

view out to lower patio

Thankfully, landscaping will continue to change that — more on that later. Suffice it to say that we come out this door a lot, as will our guests (assuming we ever have a house fit for guests), and we’re eager for it to change.

Months ago we created a patio plan so we could work the landscaping around it. Our buddy Shiva helped turn from scribble to jpg (click to biggify)…

original upper patio plan

You can see in the original plan that the lower patio extended the length of the deck. We decided to cut that to half, hoping it would save a little money. The long rectangle at the top of the upper patio is a very low, shallow reflecting pool with an 8″ concrete foundation. Minimal. Kind of like this…

contemporist.com

contemporist.com

I’ve shared this and other examples previously. Really, really want that to happen.

Our last meeting with Tom Zilian of MadStone Concrete sounded promising. We met again with him and it still sounded promising, so David whipped up exact measurements…

upper patio detail

Then we got the quote. And now we’re on the fence. Am sure the final product, after a laborious process of prepping the site, framing and pouring the pads, 10-day curing, sanding and sealing, would be exactly as we envisioned. Heck, probably better. The question is can we suck it up and just sink the money into patios when we have a whole house remod kicking off in the next few weeks? Argh.

total yard-on for hardscape

Friday, February 19th, 2010

Name a category for our remodel, inside or out, and I’ll show you a stash of dreamy ideas dug up online or shot in my daily travels. Trying to show you all my inspiration for outside is ha! fuhgeddaboudit. Let’s just talk hardscape. I’ve culled some of the bazillion images I have so you can see how a few themes for the look of our future yard rise to the top. Ready to take a dive?

DRIVEWAY

Major theme here: Strips of concrete set into gravel or grass. These could be squares, rectangles, angles — all shapes Irving Haynes, the architect of our house, used again and again in his work and his art. Linear strips would complement the modern architecture of the house (more so than the stupid blacktop there now) and  reduce runoff into the street (and that slippery sheet of ice across our sloped driveway in winter).

The Black House, Andres Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

The Black House, Andres Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

Waterfall House, Andres Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

Waterfall House, Andres Remy Arquitectos | archdaily.com

Maas Architects | contemporist.com

Maas Architects | contemporist.com

Maas Architects | contemporist.com

Maas Architects | contemporist.com

Frick Residence, KRBD | contemporist.com

Frick Residence, KRBD | contemporist.com

Below, not exactly a driveway but definitely a style we could duplicate for a driveway…

Canyonhouse, X Ten Architecture | xtenarchitecture.com

Canyonhouse, X Ten Architecture | xtenarchitecture.com

PATIO

The look we settle on for the driveway we definitely want to carry into our two patio areas — to simplify, surfaces will be done at the same time. That likely means repeating strips or squares of concrete. Additional themes I see in the images I’m most drawn to: irregularity as a part of the pattern, grids and intersecting planes, plantings set into the patio surface, strong delineation of grass or moss/gravel/river rock areas, the interplay of different kinds of surface materials, softening of hard edges by plantings.

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

shot at The Farmer's Daughter, S.Kingstown, RI

shot at The Farmer's Daughter, S.Kingstown, RI

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

Marin Residence, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

Marin Residence, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

John Maniscalo Cole Street Residence | remodelista.com

John Maniscalo Cole Street Residence | remodelista.com

Summer House Vestfold 2, JVA | archdaily.com

Summer House Vestfold 2, JVA | archdaily.com

Bellevue City Hall, Phillips Farveaag Smallenberg | pfs.bc.ca

Bellevue City Hall, Phillips Farveaag Smallenberg | pfs.bc.ca

searching for attribution — will add asap! :(

searching for attribution — will add asap! :(

Rosen House | eichlernetwork.com

Rosen House | eichlernetwork.com

From the Ground Up | blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/newhouse

From the Ground Up | blogs2.startribune.com/blogs/newhouse

livingetc.com

livingetc.com

San Damian House, Daw | archdaily.com

San Damian House, Daw | archdaily.com

Seattle Dream Gardens | sunset.com

Seattle Dream Gardens | sunset.com

Brookvale Residence, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architects | acochran.com

Brookvale Residence, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architects | acochran.com

Adams Fleming House, Levitt Goodman Architects | levittgoodmanarchitects.com

Adams Fleming House, Levitt Goodman Architects | levittgoodmanarchitects.com

Johnson House, Pierre Koenig | eichlernetwork.com

Johnson House, Pierre Koenig | eichlernetwork.com

shot at Denver Botanic Gardens

shot at Denver Botanic Gardens

Tepper Residence, Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture | houzz.com

Tepper Residence, Jeffrey Gordon Smith Landscape Architecture | houzz.com

Adding the image below because we might consider a more textured surface…

latimes.com home tours

latimes.com home tours

PATIO COVER

We’re being very conscious about not adding structures that will detract from the original architecture of the house. The patio cover should be functional, not a focal point. Minimal but large enough to keep driving rain and snow from the north off the windows (plus we like to leave the windows open to let the air circulate in season). Preferably not light blocking as it’s on the shady side of the house. The overriding theme: simplicity.

Ridgeview (after) | designspongeonline.com

Ridgeview (after) | designspongeonline.com

Kidosaki Achitects | contemporist.com

Kidosaki Achitects | contemporist.com

POOL

Still debating whether we have fish or not, but we absolutely must have water — no room for a swimming pool, unfortunately. Major theme in these images: a long, rectangular water feature either raised or set into the ground, frequently set off by rectangles or squares of concrete, sometimes grass or gravel. Especially loving floating steps across a pool.

archdaily.com

archdaily.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

shot at Denver Botanic Gardens

shot at Denver Botanic Gardens

stylehive.com

stylehive.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

Fox Residence, Lutsko Associates | lutskoassociates.com

Fox Residence, Lutsko Associates | lutskoassociates.com

Alexander's Crown, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

Alexander's Crown, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

Blue Mountain, Phillips Farveaag Smallenberg | pfs.bc.ca

Blue Mountain, Phillips Farveaag Smallenberg | pfs.bc.ca

Singleton Residence, Richard Neutra | lacurbed.com

Singleton Residence, Richard Neutra | lacurbed.com

Ohara Residence, Richard Neutra | mcarch.wordpress.com

Ohara Residence, Richard Neutra | mcarch.wordpress.com

Stone Edge Farm, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

Stone Edge Farm, Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture | acochran.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

contemporist.com

contemporist.com

GARDEN

I’m talking hardscape, not plants… Repetitive themes: corten steel steps backfilled with gravel, concrete (or granite) block steps, rogue plants interrupting the steps — there to make you linger, raised beds of corten, variety in the levels of plantings, plants no longer banished to a border but set apart in the landscape for drama, zones of grass amidst the plantings, the satisfying crunch of pea gravel.

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

Cow Hollow Garden, Veverka Architects | houzz.com

Cow Hollow Garden, Veverka Architects | houzz.com

Lake House, Hutchison & Maul Architecture | archdaily.com

Lake House, Hutchison & Maul Architecture | archdaily.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

I’ll get to lighting someday, but isn’t this shot of light canisters hanging from the oaks absolutely dreamy?

D-Crain | d-crain.com

D-Crain | d-crain.com

I want to go to there.

That brings an end to How Green Is My Brain Week. Except that I’m currently in the garden planning stage so my brain will likely be green for months to come. You’ve been warned.

*    *    *    *    *

Bookmarks for this post:

acochran.com The land and sustainability are key to her incredible modern gardens. Genius landscapes. Also worth noting that Andrea Cochran published an amazing book last October.

archdaily.com So many projects from around the world. Great, great stuff here.

contemporist.com I’m absolutely in awe of the architecture this site covers.

d-crain.com Austin, you’re so lucky to have such a progressive landscaping firm. *sigh*

designspongeonline.com My daily virtual commute must. Great inspiration for everything.

eichlernetwork.com A constant source of inspiration for an MCM remodel, even if you don’t live in an Eichler.

houzz.com Home design images from architects, designers and landscapers searchable by style and keyword. Consider it a gateway drug.

levittgoodmanarchitects.com Just really beautiful work, inside and out.

la.curbed.com For the inside scoop on LA’s drooliest real estate.

latimes.com Luuuuuurve their Homes of the Times section. Great style, lots of innovative use of materials and sustainability in action in L.A.

livingetc.com A modern mag with great ideas in their photo gallery.

lutskoassociates.com Landscapes that combine ecology and modernism. Gorgeous.

mcarch.wordpress.com An enviable collection of midcentury architecture photos.

pfs.bc.ca So happy to have stumbled across Vancouver’s Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg landscape architecture. Modern, thoughtful landscapes.

remodelista.com Who doesn’t use this as a style resource? Big fan from the beginning.

sunset.com I don’t live out West but I get the magazine like I do. Love all the home and garden ideas with a green focus.

xtenarchitecture.com Rad L.A. architecture firm. They know modern and sustainable.