After removing 2 sickly King Palm Trees, we needed to redesign an oddly shaped garden area to the left of our front doors. I began interviewing local landscapers, but the ideas they presented were limited. I was looking for a designer who would use the garden’s odd shape as a feature. Instead, the landscapers wanted to go with something easy; rocks and drought tolerant plants. Definitely a good plan for some people, but not what I was looking for. I wanted imagination.
So, I turned to Houzz. I knew that somewhere there would be a Houzz designer who had been faced with a similar design dilemma. I began searching for ‘small space’ patios. I was fortunate to find inspiration in a design from a project by Peggy Poulos Designs in Portland, Oregon. Her small side ‘Old World Charm’ garden patio was the catalyst I had been looking for. I immediately knew I could pull some of her design choices and apply them to our front garden. I ended up creating my own hardscape design and then researched plants appropriate for Zone 10 and then found a landscaper who could pull it all together.
I am very pleased with how it came together. I want to share our gastly Before photos, Peggy‘s inspirational photos, and After photos of our beautiful completed patio. We are very pleased with how an oddly shaped area could become so pleasing to the eye.

We reached out to Peggy Poulos to share our joy but have not made contact, so I am posting here in the hopes she may see this. I wanted to share how her inventive use of design in an awkward space resulted a pleasing area of ’Old World Charm’ Southern California style.
I think my experience is the perfect example on how Houzz photos can be used to solve design delimmas. Enjoy our transformation.