Patio of the Week: Family Yard for Relaxing and Entertaining

Photos by Jenna Muirhead

Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: Lou Biasin, a physiotherapist; Louise Smith, chief operating officer for a charity serving homeless youth; and their two teenage sons
Location: Toronto
Landscape designer and builder: Shelby Hallman Mailloux and Adrian Mailloux of Earth and Sole

The homeowners wanted their front yard to be a welcoming space that fostered a sense of community. “We have always loved the street, neighborhood and our home,” Smith says. “It was important that the porch was a place we could sit in the morning sun, read the paper and have a coffee.”

They relied on Earth and Sole to achieve the feeling they wanted with the landscaping. “We had no ideas about how to manage the front yard — just that we wanted a welcoming curb appeal,” Smith says. Opting for low-maintenance plants that would provide an inviting vibe, designer Shelby Hallman Mailloux planted a new front lawn as well as a silver maple (Acer saccharinum), a fast-growing native tree that will ultimately grow to shade the front yard and sidewalk.

For now, the homeowners are spending time at home with a more intimate group. “We are very, very fortunate to be able to enjoy our beautiful yard during the pandemic,” Smith says. “We use it as an outdoor office, we project movies on the fence for outdoor movie nights, we clear the furniture off the deck … and play hockey, soccer and basketball. We also just sit, read and relax. The space has become so important to our ability to enjoy the outdoors in a safe, socially distanced way. The front porch is a lovely space for us to sit and chat with our neighbors.”

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The backyard, seen here from the house, is a long, narrow rectangle with neighbors on both sides. The homeowners wanted a space that felt contemporary, needed minimal maintenance and would allow them to host and gather with friends and family. (Though the family is currently socially distancing, 70 wedding guests filled the backyard before the quarantine.)

A large L-shaped deck takes up a good portion of the yard and provides the homeowners with an outdoor dining area and a shaded lounge. “We used brown pressure-treated wood, [which is] cost-effective and low maintenance,” Hallman Mailloux says. Over time the wood will age to a grayish color. Inset lighting in the deck provides nighttime ambiance.

Pavers salvaged from the original yard lead to a new shed installed by Three Tree Renovations that’s used for garden tools and bike storage. The lawn surrounding the path provides the family dog with a soft surface to play on.

One corner of the deck features an outdoor lounge area. A shade sail strung from pressure-treated wood posts provides shade to the outdoor sectional below. The homeowners say this inviting spot has doubled as a home office during the pandemic. They take the shade sail down in winter.

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A built-in raised bed installed to the side of the deck grows edible plants for the family. “It was really important for my husband to have a space to grow veggies,” Smith says. Hallman Mailloux lined the bed with plastic to create a barrier from the pressure-treated wood and insulated it with foam in order to regulate the soil against temperature swings.

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Plants frame the yard’s perimeter and will grow in to soften the fence and provide privacy from neighboring yards.

Plants used in the backyard include: tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), ‘Northwind’ switchgrass (Panicum virgatum ‘Northwind’), coral bells (Heuchera sp.), ‘Silver Mist’ lavender (Lavandula angustifolia ‘Silver Mist’), blue oat grass (Helictotrichon sempervirens), variegated Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum odoratum ‘Variegatum’), inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium), ‘Lemonjade’ stonecrop (Sedum ‘Lemonjade’), hakone grass (Hakonechloa sp.), ‘Blue Zinger’ sedge (Carex flacca ‘Blue Zinger’) and ‘Ice Dance’ Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’).

The homeowners couldn’t be happier with their new outdoor space. “They helped us turn a very upsetting and traumatic experience into a beautiful, welcoming, unique home,” Smith says of Earth and Sole.