Creating a Home
When I began the design process for this client the wife wanted to either have more than a hillside of weeds or move. The husband, whose focus was on investing, was more interested in increasing rent on a vacation rental that was part of the property and improving resale value. Since the poor quality of the landscape was the biggest depressing factor in both rental income and resale value I was able to help both of them get what they wanted.
We spent three months and $150k transforming the property with several objectives:
-Create a level lawn.
-Create pathways and steps that made the steep slopes accessible.
-Stay within $150k.
-Create a garden shed for tool.
-Create a dog run with dogs that liked to sit on and destroy plants.
-Increase real estate value.
-Create an attractive private garden for the rental unit that would allow them to charge an extra $300. per month in rent. This in turn would pay the 2nd mortgage payment and generate positive cash flow for the whole project.
There was an old orchard on the site that we all liked. The problem was that it had been planted on a steep slope and as we created a level area for the lawn, it would mean that some trees were too high and others were too low. So I came up with the idea of raised beds around some trees and sunken beds around others. The sunken beds required drainage at the bottom so that the fruit tree roots would not rot or hold water. While I’ve never seen this done before, it’s worked out great over the past 10 years and the trees have thrived.
There was some talk about fencing the property in for deer, but I suggested sticking to deer resistant plants for the front garden to save $2040k in fencing and automatic gate costs. I also wanted to avoid the hassle and eyesore of a gate to let cars in and out.
It’s always a bit tricky learning what the deer will eat in a given neighborhood, but we did all right. In the back, we raised the existing fence in one section and put in a gate so that it is deerproof. We created the dog area by partitioning an area. This gave the dog free rain from the back door through about 1/3rd of the garden and the fence was not ugly to look at.
We did a lot of grading on the property to make it functional to use. This is where my experience with heavy equipment came in handy. I would grade a given area for steps, walkways, walls, and a patio and then get out of the machine and walk about in the space to see how it would feel as a user in the garden. How would it feel to sit in this patio? Would the walls feel comfortable to look at and sit beside?
This is my favorite way to design. This particular client left me largely to my own devices, providing I stayed on budget. A lot of design refinements don’t affect cost but do affect the way an area feels. I like being both a designer and installer because it is my weeks on the job installing that help me understand all the different aspects of a site and allow me to refine my ideas as I execute them.
This house had a shallow, low-producing well so we connected it to the irrigation system in twenty minute cycles to save a considerable amount on the water bill. More of my clients are weighing the costs of drilling a well as water-shortages increase.
http://www.mysticallandscapes.com/portfolio/#/creating-a-home/
We spent three months and $150k transforming the property with several objectives:
-Create a level lawn.
-Create pathways and steps that made the steep slopes accessible.
-Stay within $150k.
-Create a garden shed for tool.
-Create a dog run with dogs that liked to sit on and destroy plants.
-Increase real estate value.
-Create an attractive private garden for the rental unit that would allow them to charge an extra $300. per month in rent. This in turn would pay the 2nd mortgage payment and generate positive cash flow for the whole project.
There was an old orchard on the site that we all liked. The problem was that it had been planted on a steep slope and as we created a level area for the lawn, it would mean that some trees were too high and others were too low. So I came up with the idea of raised beds around some trees and sunken beds around others. The sunken beds required drainage at the bottom so that the fruit tree roots would not rot or hold water. While I’ve never seen this done before, it’s worked out great over the past 10 years and the trees have thrived.
There was some talk about fencing the property in for deer, but I suggested sticking to deer resistant plants for the front garden to save $2040k in fencing and automatic gate costs. I also wanted to avoid the hassle and eyesore of a gate to let cars in and out.
It’s always a bit tricky learning what the deer will eat in a given neighborhood, but we did all right. In the back, we raised the existing fence in one section and put in a gate so that it is deerproof. We created the dog area by partitioning an area. This gave the dog free rain from the back door through about 1/3rd of the garden and the fence was not ugly to look at.
We did a lot of grading on the property to make it functional to use. This is where my experience with heavy equipment came in handy. I would grade a given area for steps, walkways, walls, and a patio and then get out of the machine and walk about in the space to see how it would feel as a user in the garden. How would it feel to sit in this patio? Would the walls feel comfortable to look at and sit beside?
This is my favorite way to design. This particular client left me largely to my own devices, providing I stayed on budget. A lot of design refinements don’t affect cost but do affect the way an area feels. I like being both a designer and installer because it is my weeks on the job installing that help me understand all the different aspects of a site and allow me to refine my ideas as I execute them.
This house had a shallow, low-producing well so we connected it to the irrigation system in twenty minute cycles to save a considerable amount on the water bill. More of my clients are weighing the costs of drilling a well as water-shortages increase.
http://www.mysticallandscapes.com/portfolio/#/creating-a-home/
