Landscape Design
Patio of the Week
Yard of the Week: Elegant New Backyard Maximizes Outdoor Living
A landscape designer adds a pool, spa, cabana, kitchen and dining terrace, along with gardens, for a Boston-area family
For this Boston-area family, having a swimming pool was so important that they called landscape designer Jim Stucchi to make sure the new house they were considering had room for one before buying it. Once the homeowners purchased the property, Stucchi designed the entire backyard — including adding a pool — with a cabana, spa, dining terrace and kitchen. Clever site planning, smart grading and a beautiful plant palette make the outdoor space, which mixes traditional and clean-lined contemporary styles, sing.
Before Photo
After: Stucchi and the homeowners didn’t want the pool and its surround to take up the entire backyard. Accordingly, he placed it near the back edge of the property. An in-ground spa (seen in the foreground) has a spillover water feature, and the water splashes into the pool for a relaxing sound.
Stucchi sited an outdoor kitchen directly off the main kitchen, to the right of the house, with a dining terrace in front of it. He repeated paving materials, colors and plants throughout the project to make the spaces feel cohesive. Pathways, plantings and sightlines create connections throughout the yard.
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Stucchi sited an outdoor kitchen directly off the main kitchen, to the right of the house, with a dining terrace in front of it. He repeated paving materials, colors and plants throughout the project to make the spaces feel cohesive. Pathways, plantings and sightlines create connections throughout the yard.
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Stucchi collaborated with architect Karen Howard on the new pool cabana, which measures 14 by 18 feet. It contains a TV and lounge seating, as well as cabinetry and counters that match the outdoor kitchen (just out of view to the left). It also has two refrigerated beverage drawers. Stucchi placed the steel-framed structure where it would create privacy from the neighbor’s yard.
The landscape design includes smart features. “We used a Sonance sound system with two subwoofers and six speakers within the garden spaces, as well as speakers in the cabana that are controlled by a home automation system,” Stucchi says. “The landscape lights, the bistro lights and the lights in the cabana are all controlled by a Lutron system app on the homeowners’ phones.”
Paperbark maples (Acer griseum, USDA zones 4 to 8; find your zone), which are multistemmed trees with beautiful bark, frame the cabana. “About a million resident wild bunnies severely limited our plant palette with their insatiable appetites for herbaceous perennials. No amount of rabbit deterrent would help us there. We tried everything,” Stucchi says.
He used trees, flowering shrubs, evergreens and grasses for structure, color and texture. These include a mix of hydrangeas, ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, zones 4 to 9) and both Blushing Knock Out roses (Rosa ‘Radyod’, zones 5 to 11) and Knock Out roses (Rosa ‘Radrazz’, zones 5 to 11).
The landscape design includes smart features. “We used a Sonance sound system with two subwoofers and six speakers within the garden spaces, as well as speakers in the cabana that are controlled by a home automation system,” Stucchi says. “The landscape lights, the bistro lights and the lights in the cabana are all controlled by a Lutron system app on the homeowners’ phones.”
Paperbark maples (Acer griseum, USDA zones 4 to 8; find your zone), which are multistemmed trees with beautiful bark, frame the cabana. “About a million resident wild bunnies severely limited our plant palette with their insatiable appetites for herbaceous perennials. No amount of rabbit deterrent would help us there. We tried everything,” Stucchi says.
He used trees, flowering shrubs, evergreens and grasses for structure, color and texture. These include a mix of hydrangeas, ‘Karl Foerster’ feather reed grass (Calamagrostis x acutiflora ‘Karl Foerster’, zones 4 to 9) and both Blushing Knock Out roses (Rosa ‘Radyod’, zones 5 to 11) and Knock Out roses (Rosa ‘Radrazz’, zones 5 to 11).
The pool measures 20 by 40 feet and is 7 feet deep. The spa is 9 by 9 feet. Stucchi planned the pool deck around the homeowners’ desire to have four lounge chairs that would receive full sun, and a few other seating options around the pool.
This photo provides a good look at the pool surround’s materials. The larger paving area is stamped concrete that has a natural cleft texture. The coping is granite, with a smooth texture around the pool and a rougher texture around the spa. The spa facing is a custom blend of ledgestone and ashlar thin stone veneer.
Stucchi added a gravel bed with steel edging around the entire area to help capture water runoff. The gravel is a Hudson Valley blend.
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This photo provides a good look at the pool surround’s materials. The larger paving area is stamped concrete that has a natural cleft texture. The coping is granite, with a smooth texture around the pool and a rougher texture around the spa. The spa facing is a custom blend of ledgestone and ashlar thin stone veneer.
Stucchi added a gravel bed with steel edging around the entire area to help capture water runoff. The gravel is a Hudson Valley blend.
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An extensive granite ledge in the yard made adding a pool challenging. To minimize the jackhammering required for excavation, Stucchi raised the ground to build the 7-foot-deep pool.
He terraced the back of the yard, adding a long retaining wall and two sets of steps made from reclaimed granite curbing. A row of ‘Green Velvet’ boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Velvet’, zones 5 to 8) shrubs adds a traditional and crisp formal look above the wall. “This design also creates a sense of depth in the yard when looking at it from the house,” Stucchi says.
The path seen here on the right has a more naturalistic look. It is composed of reclaimed granite pavers placed within gravel beds edged with steel. “The steppingstone pathway doubles as a dry well to help handle the stormwater runoff,” the designer says.
The path to the far left matches the patios and paths that are located close to the house. All are composed of Beacon Hill flagstone in a color called Steel Mountain. Stucchi edged this flagstone in Copthorne pavers in the color Basalt. Both of these permeable products, chosen to mitigate stormwater runoff, are from Unilock.
Before and After: 3 Creative Solutions to a Sloped Yard
He terraced the back of the yard, adding a long retaining wall and two sets of steps made from reclaimed granite curbing. A row of ‘Green Velvet’ boxwood (Buxus ‘Green Velvet’, zones 5 to 8) shrubs adds a traditional and crisp formal look above the wall. “This design also creates a sense of depth in the yard when looking at it from the house,” Stucchi says.
The path seen here on the right has a more naturalistic look. It is composed of reclaimed granite pavers placed within gravel beds edged with steel. “The steppingstone pathway doubles as a dry well to help handle the stormwater runoff,” the designer says.
The path to the far left matches the patios and paths that are located close to the house. All are composed of Beacon Hill flagstone in a color called Steel Mountain. Stucchi edged this flagstone in Copthorne pavers in the color Basalt. Both of these permeable products, chosen to mitigate stormwater runoff, are from Unilock.
Before and After: 3 Creative Solutions to a Sloped Yard
A pair of single-stem river birches (Betula nigra, zones 4 to 9) draws the eye to the lawn between the house and pool terrace. These native trees have beautiful peeling bark that provides year-round interest.
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
New to home remodeling? Learn the basics
A kitchen enhances the homeowners’ outdoor entertaining experience. “They decided during the design process that they would use this mostly for grilling, so we scaled back on the more extensive outdoor kitchen,” Stucchi says. “Locating it directly off the kitchen worked out really well.”
Aluminum cabinetry provides ample storage and accommodates a trash-and-recycling pullout. The countertop is Steel Gray granite — the same material used in the pool cabana — with a brushed finish. The base includes two reclaimed-granite pillars and the same stone veneer used on the spa surround. This patio measures 14 by 14 feet and creates a connection between the backyard and side yard.
There’s a step up to the dining terrace. “I changed the grade here to help create a sense of separate outdoor rooms that mimicked their interior rooms,” Stucchi says. The step and the planting bed edging seen here are reclaimed granite. Repeating this material throughout the yard helped tie everything together.
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Aluminum cabinetry provides ample storage and accommodates a trash-and-recycling pullout. The countertop is Steel Gray granite — the same material used in the pool cabana — with a brushed finish. The base includes two reclaimed-granite pillars and the same stone veneer used on the spa surround. This patio measures 14 by 14 feet and creates a connection between the backyard and side yard.
There’s a step up to the dining terrace. “I changed the grade here to help create a sense of separate outdoor rooms that mimicked their interior rooms,” Stucchi says. The step and the planting bed edging seen here are reclaimed granite. Repeating this material throughout the yard helped tie everything together.
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The dining terrace is 13 by 13 feet. Mounded garden beds around it help establish the feeling of an outdoor room.
The lighting throughout the yard is mostly bronze low-voltage landscape lighting by Cast. For the dining terrace and outdoor kitchen, Stucchi wanted to use an alternative to floodlights. “The string lights worked out really nicely for these areas,” he says.
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The lighting throughout the yard is mostly bronze low-voltage landscape lighting by Cast. For the dining terrace and outdoor kitchen, Stucchi wanted to use an alternative to floodlights. “The string lights worked out really nicely for these areas,” he says.
More on Houzz
Read more stories about pools
Browse thousands of pool photos
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Shop for your outdoor spaces
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Yard at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple with two teenagers and two dogs
Location: Needham, Massachusetts
Size: About one-quarter acre
Landscape designer and builder: Stucchi Landscape & Design
Before: It doesn’t get much more “blank slate” than a landscape covered in snow. This photo was taken when Stucchi and his clients visited the home while it was still on the market. When the clients were trying to figure out if they could install a pool, it was the dead of winter. The only major existing outdoor-living feature was a large deck (which they kept) directly off the back of the house.