. String of Pearls With its long tendrils of trailing foliage covered in pea-like beads, the unique String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus), is an ideal creeping succulent to add to a quirky room. Pot it in well-draining, sandy soil and place it in a spot where its trailing foliage can hang down and cascade freely. Contemporary Kitchen by Linda Fritschy Interior Design Linda Fritschy Interior Design SaveEmail Great for: This odd-looking plant is a great conversation starter and can be easily shared with friends. Place a cutting or two of String of Pearls in a spare pot of soil, and it will easily take root. Light requirement: This plant likes bright light, including direct sunlight. Water requirement: Give it a drink every two weeks in summer and once a month in winter.
Many planting systems require studs for support. Consider having a professional hang the system to accurately take into account its weight and size and to make sure your wall can accommodate the hanging. Also, choose a space that is easy to access (not too close to furniture or material) for watering and cleaning up any soil or fallen leaves.
Tillandsia. Tillandsias, better known as air plants, require no soil to grow — just bright, indirect light and air. These petite plants have sculptural forms that make them a natural choice for modern spaces. To care for your tillandsia, either use a spray bottle to mist it twice a week or submerge it in water once every two weeks for an hour or so.
Labyrinths have been around since ancient times, but the fast pace of modern-day life makes them just as valid today — walking a labyrinth is known to reduce stress. Unlike a maze, a labyrinth has only one way in and out, so you don’t have to think about where you’re walking. Research shows that walking a labyrinth slows your breathing and heart rate, and lowers your blood pressure — even doing it just once. With health benefits like these, a labyrinth is a valuable backyard addition!
Let there be light. Did you know that improper lighting accounts for 52 tons of burned meat every year? OK, I made that up, but proper lighting is key for any grilling station, and not just so you can see what you’re cooking. I love how the string bulbs make the grill shown here feel like part of the party.
Create a focal point. As with adding character, a focal point takes attention off the size of the space. Arthur likes to use water features. He’s even added a single large planter right in the center of a small backyard to draw the eye into the center and push the walls away. “It’s a trick of the eye,” he says. Art and sculpture are good candidates, too. “A single sculpture with uplighting can be phenomenal,” Angus says.
8. Avoid clutter. The more elements your yard has, the tighter it will feel. Instead, try to use built-in seating, incorporate clean lines, avoid bulky furniture and keep plantings under control. “If there’s one thing that will get out of control and take over a small space, it’s a plant that’s too happy,” Arthur says. Freda agrees: “Avoid the hodgepodge effect,” she says. “Instead of doing 20 little pots, do five big pots for a more clean look with bigger impact. Pick only two or three styles of planters, two or three colors — it makes it feel less accidental, chaotic and overwhelming.”
Complement your interiors. Use the same colors and style that you’ve already established inside your home for your backyard to make it feel more like its own living room. “Stylistically, you want to pick up on colors and textures that tie the two spaces together,” says Amber Freda, a landscape architect in New York. “Make it more than just a couple of chairs and a dining table. A plain dining table with wooden chairs won’t entice you to use it very much, but really comfortable lounge seating will.”
1. Break it into multiple rooms or zones. Create multiple functions by strategically using built-ins and arranging furniture to establish different “rooms” for lounging, dining, mingling and cooking. This backyard space in Brooklyn, New York, has all four zones. 2. Implement a smart lighting design. This space also has a multifaceted lighting scheme. Sconces serve multiple purposes of task lighting by the grill, landscaping lighting by the plantings and overall ambient lighting. Meanwhile, an arm pendant hangs over the dining area.
A living wall. Succulents hang in patterns on this Beverly Hills, California, wall. The plants were grown offsite, then installed into a panel system with an integrated irrigation system. Scott Hutcheon of Seasons Landscaping says his team designed the wall to “soften up the look and feel of an auto courtyard”; it gives what would otherwise be solid concrete a natural touch.
A fence and a hedge. For this back wall, English laurel hedges extend beyond a thin cedar wall. Since fencing ordinances typically prevent a fence higher than 6 feet, a large hedge can be a great way to add privacy to a yard. Chauncey Freeman of Fifth Season Landscape Design also notes that the dark color of the cedar along with the hedge’s green creates a calming effect.
Poured concrete walls. For these retaining (and climbing) walls, rough-cut 2-by-4s used to form the poured concrete have left their imprints on the surface. For walls like this, the concrete adopts the grain of the wood, so after it dries and the boards come down, there is an intermingling of elements — a natural wood grain set in solid concrete.
Another design for the Chelsea show, this “Italian garden for the modern era,” as the designers call it, has many design components that we can incorporate to bring a touch of the Mediterranean into our more modest gardens. These include a strong axis line, controlled shapes, a modern grotto or water feature, roof-trained trees and plants that are both appropriate and suitable for the conditions typically found in the north of Italy and similar temperate climates.
Rills and spouts, other common features of Italianate gardens, suit our contemporary gardens. This steel and pebble water feature might not be quite as classic as or on the scale of the Hundred Fountains at the gardens of the Villa d’Este at Tivoli, where water jets spout and trickle down a wall face along the side of a 180-yard terrace into a narrow basin, but it does provide the same qualities the Renaissance gardeners were looking for: sound and movement.
Perhaps this type of traditional grotto is not so suited to our smaller contemporary gardens. In a garden for the Chelsea Flower Show, landscape designers Tommaso del Buono and Paul Gazerwitz opted for what they called “a modern version of a grotto,” which involved water running down an 8½-foot-tall by 16-foot-wide block of gray-green, white-veined Verde Issorie marble from the Italian Alps.
Installation tip: "If using rope to suspend, leave plenty of spare at the bottom, as the weight of the swing will pull down and sink, bit by bit. We needed to adjust the knots a couple of times over the next few weeks as the swing settled," Zaeske says.
Zaeske scored the outdoor fabric for the slipcover on eBay for $42, then paid a seamstress $125 to make it. She then got to work on another project after the daybed was done: Scrabble pillows. She used stencils and fabric paint on some microsuede pillows.
She bought 50 feet of 1 1/2-inch Unmanila rope, a synthetic rope that doesn't shrink and resists rot and mildew. The ceiling joists were built to support the bed in the original porch plans. The rope was $116, and the joists were $160.
Not pleased with inflatable mattress options, Zaeske protected a regular twin mattress with a waterproof mattress pad and had a custom slipcover made of outdoor fabric. She estimates the cost of the mattress and protective cover at about $200.
After the carpenter finished building the bed, Zaeske painted it creamy white, first with primer and then with Rust-Oleum's Painter's Touch 2X Satin Heirloom White General Purpose Spray Paint. She left the scrollwork black for contrast.
They used leftover 2-by-2s and 4-by-4s from the porch construction to construct the base. "The open slats were important to allow proper air circulation," Zaeske notes.
With all of these pieces in hand, my carpenter and I cleared out a bay in the garage, and we got to work laying out the options. It's very similar to a jigsaw puzzle, without the box to guide you," she says. A few pieces, like the wooden panels in the front, did not make the final cut.
Zaeske found the scrolls for $25 at a resale shop in an upscale neighborhood, where she says she gets some of her best finds. "They were originally bonded together at an angle; I had my carpenter gently saw it in half," she says.
The back of the swing was a $5 score at a Habitat for Humanity ReStore. If you look closely you can see where antique iron hinges used to be.
Your Favorite Room By Cathy Zaeske SaveEmail She spied this room divider screen at an estate sale for $8 and envisioned the swing's sides. "I was taken with the idea of being able to open and close them depending how much breeze you wanted to let in," she says.
Zaeske wanted the swing to envelop nappers, so she planned for a high back and sides to burrow into. She found an image online of a swing that had a repurposed door as its back, and the idea for her swing was born.
"The porch has many salvaged and repurposed items mixed with newer elements to help give it that eclectic cottage-y lived-in vibe," Zaeske says. A swing assembled from repurposed parts fits the bill. Other salvaged pieces included a dresser with its fourth coat of paint, director's chairs from a family cabin, a Thai root ball she repurposed into a light fixture and a 100-year-old ceiling beam from a barn. "I used Houzz to look at black French doors, open ceilings, ceiling beams and screened-in porches in general. It is a major tool of mine," she says. This porch with a swing on Houzz was a major inspiration.
What makes this porch rise above the ordinary? Curtains made from Perennials fabric help domesticate the space, as does the carpet from Ballard Designs. The daybed is suspended from the ceiling, like a swing, adding an irresistibly playful touch.
Rustic wood tables add a sense of age and texture to this porch that wouldn’t be there if the tables looked like the chairs. The blanket is another nice touch.
Who says patio furniture has to match? For a more residential feeling, don’t be afraid to mix things up and introduce an antique or two for added visual interest. Here a large space is broken up into two seating areas, offering greater intimacy in each (and an escape for those who don’t want to watch TV).
A built-in bench hugs the inside of a wall, conserving space on this terrace and maximizing seating when there’s a crowd. Notice how the houndstooth on the pad is echoed in the throw pillows, and how the simple presence of an oval table (how often do you see those on a patio?) makes the space feel distinctive.
Outdoor living rooms need not be opulent. Sturdy upholstered seating, an ottoman that doubles as a coffee table, side tables and a rug might be all you need to create a cozy, cohesive space.
With today’s all-weather upholstery, there’s no limit to how comfortable your outdoor furnishings can be. This grouping of four chairs inspires intimacy, while a timeworn table and vintage-style clock really add to the character. (Just as with interiors, it’s always more interesting when you throw something old — or old-looking — into the mix.)
Walls — even if they’re made of canvas — can help frame views and shelter you from breezes. Plus, they give you a cozy and protected feeling when you’re out in nature. Lanterns, potted plants and antiques (such as the enamel stove in the corner) add to the cozy quotient here.
Even a strand or two of string lights attached to the railing or snaking up a tree can create a magical mood. And you don’t need to wait until nightfall to turn them on — softly glowing patio lights are lovely on overcast days, too.
Grow a windbreak. While this isn’t something that can be accomplished in a single season, if you are willing to wait, growing a living wind barrier is both effective and ecofriendly. Speak with someone at a local nursery to find out which vines or shrubs will work well in your area and stay green throughout the winter.
I like the swing couch
he nice thing about building a shed is that you can start entirely from scratch — but you don’t have to. Creative director and motion designer Philippe Vendrolini purchased a kit greenhouse from Sturdi-built as a starting point for his backyard office. Adding all-weather siding, Ikea wall shelves, engineered wood floors and some comfy furniture, he transformed an off-the-shelf greenhouse into a custom backyard workspace.
Wall garden. Save floor space in a compact city patio and get your greens too, by installing a wall of planters. Choose succulents for low-maintenance beauty or fill pots with tender lettuces and herbs for an edible urban feast. Tend the plants with a hose extension and keep a ladder handy for when you need to get a closer look at the plants.
Mini Zen garden. Simple wood-plank decking is bisected by a “river” of stones and boulders on this courtyard patio. More wood planks mounted on the wall provide organic warmth as well as a place to hang potted plants.
You have the option to pay the landscape architect who designed your property to do construction administration. That’s a technical term in the landscape industry for managing the administrative tasks of getting the installation under way. The landscape architect is then responsible for getting estimates or bids for the work and recommending the best company to you. The architect does not have to send the project out for pricing to several companies. Instead, the landscape architect will probably have a working relationship with a local contractor and will recommend that company to you. Once you sign an agreement with the contractor, the landscape architect and builder will work together to ensure that the work will be built according to how it was designed. This method sets up a relationship like a triangle, in which you, as the client, have a contract agreement with the landscape architect for design and construction administration and a separate agreement with the contractor for installation. The tricky part is that there is no contract directly between the architect and the contractor, and the architect does not act as the contractor’s supervisor or boss. However, it is in t...
Scheer & Co. SaveEmail 4. Pothos Many of those who bemoan their black thumbs are delighted to find they have success with pothos, also known as Devil’s Ivy. This trailing lush, leafy vine will put up with infrequent watering and neglect. In its native tropical jungle habitat, pothos can grow to about 39 feet in length, but in the home about 6 feet is common. It is one of the best plants for purifying indoor air.
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