Victorian Charm
This garden was commissioned for an elderly mother by her daughter. The goal: give the mother a magical place to hang out in for her last years of good health. The daughter’s primary value was to do things right the first time and never have to replace or repair things.
The pictures shown to me by the client in the design stage were in a style that I call Victorian Cottage Charm: white picket fences, beautiful flowers, and a little whimsical. I was initially asked what I thought about the idea of transposing something perfectly symmetrical into the space. However, the space was irregular and to maximize it meant creating an asymmetrical path layout. I suggested that what would look best were winding paths and curves that were functional, with an organic shape.
We visited local material suppliers and settled on bluestone as the daughters favourite material. Initially, we thought to do the pathway in bluestone tumbled pavers. However, since the goal was to use a $30k budget, I suggested DG as a firm and much less expensive alternative. Although initially rejected, when the bid came in at $19k for the tumbled bluestone on all paths and resurfacing a concrete patio, the bluestone became a stage two option. Since DG is a great base for pavers, the bluestone can always be added later on top of the DG.
The focus on never replacing or repairing things led to Vinyl for the fence and Gazebo, both with a lifetime warranty. This was a learning curve for me as it always is when dealing with a new material and supplier. In this case, I would be dealing with one supplier for the vinyl fence and another for the vinyl gazebo.
I had initially thought to build a spacious and fairly simple custom wood arbor over a sitting area for around $4k. But when I found a vinyl kit for the gazebo you see in this garden, I suggested it as being better value at $6k because of how it fit the theme and because it could provide covered seating for dinners in the garden.
We decided to make it into a lit outdoor eating area with a hanging light fixture that matched fixtures in the main house that we retrofitted to operate on the low-voltage light circuit.
We used a lot of light fixtures for such a small garden – around 36 in total. The daughter designs kitchens and brought that attention to detail to the idea of having lots of fixtures and creating small pockets of light.
The project came in at $45k. It’s quite magical. The only drawback that I see is that the mother we created the garden for seems to be afraid of messing up the design when the point of the garden was to give her a nice space in which to fiddle. This as a danger whenever we make things too perfect: it can stop feeling comfortable to live in and the emphasis can shift to the object rather than to enjoying ourselves and our lives in our home. When I built a community dog-oasis for neighbors, I used all recycled materials and down played the workmanship so that everyone on the street would feel comfortable helping me build it and using it.
http://www.mysticallandscapes.com/
The pictures shown to me by the client in the design stage were in a style that I call Victorian Cottage Charm: white picket fences, beautiful flowers, and a little whimsical. I was initially asked what I thought about the idea of transposing something perfectly symmetrical into the space. However, the space was irregular and to maximize it meant creating an asymmetrical path layout. I suggested that what would look best were winding paths and curves that were functional, with an organic shape.
We visited local material suppliers and settled on bluestone as the daughters favourite material. Initially, we thought to do the pathway in bluestone tumbled pavers. However, since the goal was to use a $30k budget, I suggested DG as a firm and much less expensive alternative. Although initially rejected, when the bid came in at $19k for the tumbled bluestone on all paths and resurfacing a concrete patio, the bluestone became a stage two option. Since DG is a great base for pavers, the bluestone can always be added later on top of the DG.
The focus on never replacing or repairing things led to Vinyl for the fence and Gazebo, both with a lifetime warranty. This was a learning curve for me as it always is when dealing with a new material and supplier. In this case, I would be dealing with one supplier for the vinyl fence and another for the vinyl gazebo.
I had initially thought to build a spacious and fairly simple custom wood arbor over a sitting area for around $4k. But when I found a vinyl kit for the gazebo you see in this garden, I suggested it as being better value at $6k because of how it fit the theme and because it could provide covered seating for dinners in the garden.
We decided to make it into a lit outdoor eating area with a hanging light fixture that matched fixtures in the main house that we retrofitted to operate on the low-voltage light circuit.
We used a lot of light fixtures for such a small garden – around 36 in total. The daughter designs kitchens and brought that attention to detail to the idea of having lots of fixtures and creating small pockets of light.
The project came in at $45k. It’s quite magical. The only drawback that I see is that the mother we created the garden for seems to be afraid of messing up the design when the point of the garden was to give her a nice space in which to fiddle. This as a danger whenever we make things too perfect: it can stop feeling comfortable to live in and the emphasis can shift to the object rather than to enjoying ourselves and our lives in our home. When I built a community dog-oasis for neighbors, I used all recycled materials and down played the workmanship so that everyone on the street would feel comfortable helping me build it and using it.
http://www.mysticallandscapes.com/
