Yard of the Week: Craftsman-Style Home Gains a Lovely Landscape
Pros add a pool, sunroom, patio and other features that enhance and respect the architecture of a Virginia property
Nearing retirement, this Vienna, Virginia, couple decided their Craftsman-style home was ready for a glow-up. The largest part of the project was adding a pool and an addition with a sunroom and a bathroom. The architect who had designed their house back in the 1990s, Dwight McNeill, recommended Winn Design + Build for the job. “Along with the pool and additions, they also gave us a list of ‘Well, while you’re here … ’ things to do,” firm owner Michael Winn says.
That list included adding a single-car garage, a breezeway to connect the house to their existing two-car garage, and new landscaping, fencing, gates and arbors; sprucing up their front porch; replacing all the trim and some of the siding and roofing on the house; and painting the home’s exterior. The result is a home that’s a little larger, has a better backyard to enjoy and feels all freshened up.
That list included adding a single-car garage, a breezeway to connect the house to their existing two-car garage, and new landscaping, fencing, gates and arbors; sprucing up their front porch; replacing all the trim and some of the siding and roofing on the house; and painting the home’s exterior. The result is a home that’s a little larger, has a better backyard to enjoy and feels all freshened up.
This is the front entrance. (This side and the side to the left that we just saw face the street.) Winn did extensive work on the front porch, including installing all-new decking, railings and newel posts.
The team used decking from TimberTech’s Legacy collection in the color Pecan on the porch, the stairs, the new breezeway and a new dining patio. This is a long-lasting composite product that looks like wood.
Horticulturalist Mark Finlayson designed the landscape plan, and Wheat’s Landscape installed it. The front kitchen garden, seen here, is full of herbs, with pea gravel pathways adding organization and charm. The garden provides a welcoming approach to the house.
Browse planters in the Houzz Shop
The team used decking from TimberTech’s Legacy collection in the color Pecan on the porch, the stairs, the new breezeway and a new dining patio. This is a long-lasting composite product that looks like wood.
Horticulturalist Mark Finlayson designed the landscape plan, and Wheat’s Landscape installed it. The front kitchen garden, seen here, is full of herbs, with pea gravel pathways adding organization and charm. The garden provides a welcoming approach to the house.
Browse planters in the Houzz Shop
Around the corner is the backyard. Flagstone paths lead from the garages to this area. The window-filled portion of the house on the left is the new sunroom, which overlooks the new pool. Small copper landscape lights illuminate the pathways.
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The yard slopes up slightly, so this edge of the pool surround is stepped, and the opposite side is flush with the lawn. The pavers are bluestone.
Winn matched the stone veneer seen on the risers and the back of the grilling station to existing stone around the home’s foundation. This product is called Dove Gray natural stone veneer.
Winn matched the stone veneer seen on the risers and the back of the grilling station to existing stone around the home’s foundation. This product is called Dove Gray natural stone veneer.
“The existing house didn’t engage the backyard very well,” Winn says. “My clients wanted a transitional space between the house and the pool where they could enjoy the view.”
They also wanted a bathroom close to the pool where people could change and shower. The entry seen here on the right leads directly to the new bathroom. “The railings are similar to the railings on the front porch,” Winn says.
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They also wanted a bathroom close to the pool where people could change and shower. The entry seen here on the right leads directly to the new bathroom. “The railings are similar to the railings on the front porch,” Winn says.
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The addition features a light-filled sunroom with expansive views out to the backyard. Bluestone steps lead from the sunroom directly to a grilling station with a Dekton countertop and the rest of the pool area. The bluestone used here is flamed, “which means it has a nice, even texture,” Winn says.
The breezeway to the garage can be seen on the left side of this photo. The bell is from the husband’s childhood home. “It was used to call him and his siblings in for dinner,” Winn says.
The new sunroom measures 20 by 14 feet. Winn took his architectural cues from the Craftsman style of the house. Windows with mullions on the top sashes match the existing windows on the house. “We even were able to find the same window company [Lincoln Windows] that originally made the windows for the house,” Winn says.
The porcelain tile flooring (Daltile Tuscan Blue with a matte finish) will stand up to wet feet.
The porcelain tile flooring (Daltile Tuscan Blue with a matte finish) will stand up to wet feet.
High flat-panel wainscoting leaves just the right amount of wallpapered space above it. The wallpaper’s botanical pattern harks back to the Arts and Crafts movement in England, which inspired American Craftsman style.
The sunroom overlooks a stone wall, trees and fountains along the pool’s edge. The fountains provide a relaxing splashing sound that muffles traffic noise.
Winn also stuck with Arts and Crafts style in the bath for the pool. Cool blues are fitting for a bathroom that serves a pool. Beadboard details on the wainscoting and cabinets fit the look, as do the lighting fixtures. The wallpaper features William Morris’ Strawberry Thief, an iconic Arts and Crafts design that includes birds and flora.
The new bathroom is 8 by 14 feet. You can see the shower stall in the mirror’s reflection.
The new bathroom is 8 by 14 feet. You can see the shower stall in the mirror’s reflection.
The deck located directly off the sunroom is composed of TimberTech. It is flush with the pavers, and gravel separates the two materials.
“My clients didn’t want to have too much stone out here,” Winn says. “We excavated a pit beneath the decking to allow for drainage.”
“My clients didn’t want to have too much stone out here,” Winn says. “We excavated a pit beneath the decking to allow for drainage.”
Winn struck a nice balance of stone, decking, lawn and planting beds in the backyard. He minimized the pool surround, leaving just enough room to comfortably walk around the pool. This put the focus on the pool and the plantings.
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Check out our beginner’s guide to get started on your home project
Another example of minimizing the hardscaping can be seen here. Rather than extending the patio or deck in this direction, Winn used rugged flagstones with grass between them to form a path to the pool bathroom’s stairs.
“We spent a lot of time with our clients looking at color combinations for the house,” Winn says. “It was kind of funny, when the Hardie board siding went up, they really liked the prime color of those boards. So we found a paint color that was very close to it for the siding.” That color is Hancock Green by Benjamin Moore. The other paint colors are Tuscany Green (frieze, band board and darker green trim) and Abington Putty (lighter trim), also by Benjamin Moore. The dark color on the window trim is an existing bronze paint.
“We spent a lot of time with our clients looking at color combinations for the house,” Winn says. “It was kind of funny, when the Hardie board siding went up, they really liked the prime color of those boards. So we found a paint color that was very close to it for the siding.” That color is Hancock Green by Benjamin Moore. The other paint colors are Tuscany Green (frieze, band board and darker green trim) and Abington Putty (lighter trim), also by Benjamin Moore. The dark color on the window trim is an existing bronze paint.
The breezeway has round columns that add a few curves to all of its straight lines. The Tuscany Green paint color on the breezeway matches the trim color on the house.
The building on the left here is the new single-car garage. It helps give the backyard privacy from the street. The brick wall on the left was existing, but the fencing and gate along this side are new.
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Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple
Location: Vienna, Virginia
Size: Approximately one-half-acre property
Design-build firm: Winn Design + Build
Horticulturalist: Mark Finlayson
Landscape installer: Wheat’s Landscape
To get started, Winn asked his clients to share inspiration photos. “We always begin our design process by asking our clients to create an Ideabook on Houzz,” he says.
The building to the right here is the existing two-car garage. Winn designed and built the stepped breezeway that provides cover between it and the house during inclement weather. The arbors along the fence line and some of the gates are new too.
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