Our designers teamed up to create an outdoor living space for the annual Pasadena Showcase House of Design home. Our focus was to create an outdoor living space that best utilized the area transitioning to the pool, while maintaining a water-wise/drought tolerant landscape. We incorporated our hand cast succulent water table, a pondless stream, synthetic turf, a fully paved patio with our famous Belgard paving stones, high-end outdoor furniture, a custom pergola and even a dry creek bed to tie everything together.

The main goals of this project was to make it more usable and enjoyable for the owner, to reduce maintenance and to created a covered area for enjoyment year-round. This design also kept the family's new puppy in mind - fencing it in for safety and planting with careful consideration of plants that are safe for dogs. The winding pathway for humans is reminiscent of a stream bed and there is also a narrow perimeter fence specifically for the pup! Ben Park

Joe Fletcher Atop a ridge in the Santa Lucia mountains of Carmel, California, an oak tree stands elevated above the fog and wrapped at its base in this ranch retreat. The weekend home’s design grew around the 100-year-old Valley Oak to form a horseshoe-shaped house that gathers ridgeline views of Oak, Madrone, and Redwood groves at its exterior and nestles around the tree at its center. The home’s orientation offers both the shade of the oak canopy in the courtyard and the sun flowing into the great room at the house’s rear façades. This modern take on a traditional ranch home offers contemporary materials and landscaping to a classic typology. From the main entry in the courtyard, one enters the home’s great room and immediately experiences the dramatic westward views across the 70 foot pool at the house’s rear. In this expansive public area, programmatic needs flow and connect - from the kitchen, whose windows face the courtyard, to the dining room, whose doors slide seamlessly into walls to create an outdoor dining pavilion. The primary circulation axes flank the internal courtyard, anchoring the house to its site and heightening the sense of scale by extending views outward at each of the corridor’s ends. Guest suites, complete with private kitchen and living room, and the garage are housed in auxiliary wings connected to the main house by covered walkways. Building materials including pre-weathered corrugated steel cladding, buff limestone walls, and large aluminum apertures, and the interior palette of cedar-clad ceilings, oil-rubbed steel, and exposed concrete floors soften the modern aesthetics into a refined but rugged ranch home.

Dry river bed terminating in a seating boulder at edge of patio with fire pit.
Inspiration for a large rustic drought-tolerant and partial sun side yard stone garden path in New York for summer.

HORLINGS RESIDENCE Location: Ada, MI Scope: Design & Installation Features: Cantilevered deck, flagstone patios, natural water feature with stream, stream crossing, pools and koi pond, specimen plant material, natural steps and retaining.

When owners contacted us they were looking for a new look for their kitchen: definitely white, beautiful and functional at the same time, with granite countertops, window bench and dining space. Working together we created the new space they will enjoy for many years to come. Custom-made kitchen cabinets from Crystal Cabinets Work, high quality, durable windows from Marvin Windows and Doors, Caesarstone granite countertops and other high end products accumulated all in one kitchen for functionality, for pleasure and excitements.

Christopher Lee
Example of a 1960s bedroom design in Los Angeles

Who wouldn’t feel at home in this beautiful eat-in kitchen? The open layout, classy white cabinets, and the sunshine streaming through the window combine to form a kitchen that’s functional and welcoming—the kind where you can easily imagine the delightful odors of fresh herbs and fragrant spices mingling with the laughter and chatter of friends and family. A closer look reveals a number of design ideas that might be useful if you’re looking to create a similar ambiance in your own home. This design takes advantage of natural sunlight by pairing a large window with a light color scheme that makes the space bright and airy. No detail has been overlooked, as evidenced by the glass hexagon backsplash that serves as an accent. The interlocking glass tiles create a lovely pattern of varying neutral tones that gives just the right amount of energy to the space. The cabinets are equally as tasteful, finished with an elegant crown molding. The gray cabinet island with white cabinets creates a stylish two-tone look and adds a splash of contrast, and the spacious island includes both an impressive cooktop and a bar—adding more seating and extra workspace. Of course, the countertop is an essential part of any kitchen, but it’s especially important to choose the right one in a design that includes such a large work surface. The kitchen countertop has to look good—after all, it’s the element that ties the rest of the design together—but it also needs to be a functional surface that can handle the tomato sauce or red wine spill, whatever might be on the kids’ sticky fingers, and the wear and tear of everyday use. A quartz kitchen, like this one, doesn’t have to sacrifice its looks to be practical. This luxurious white quartz countertop with delicate, swirling gray veins ties the color palette together and glitters in the sun—but it’s also a durable work space. The engineered stone used here is a Calacatta Verona Quartz, one of many choices that Sky Marble offers as part of our extensive quartz selection. Calacatta Verona Quartz has all the classic beauty of marble, doesn’t require ongoing maintenance, and can stand up to many, many years of family dinners or cocktail parties. And it’s an excellent choice for this kitchen’s color scheme, maximizing the natural lighting and seamlessly uniting the gray of the island and the white of the other cabinets. Altogether, this contemporary kitchen style strikes the perfect balance between elegance and warmth. At Sky Marble in Sterling, VA, we can help you find just the right look to make your kitchen ideas for make your new build or renovation project a similar success.

While working within the existing kitchen footprint, the flow as studied carefully for both form and function to provide the homeowners the type of storage they need with the look they want. Slab doors and drawers in cherry adds interest and warmth while the waterfall countertop on the angled island provides the perfect mid-century feel. Andrea Rugg Photography

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Inspiration for a contemporary living room remodel in Miami

This custom waterfeature was built for this outdoor living space. A stone wall holds the patio level above the stream. The waterfall cascades out of the wall and the stream created from granite and outcropping stone moves along the wall. The soothing sounds of bubbling and flowing water are the perfect way to unwind after a busy day. This stream is low maintenance and is pondless, so the water cycles back through without a big pond at the end. A great fit in a small space or without the worry of having a pond.

With this client who has been passionate about plants all his life, there was naturally a close collaboration and a lot of input from him. Upon closer inspection you'd find some very exceptional plants that are sort of experimental but "all worth the try" in Gordon's eyes. And he is right! I relished the opportunity to use Star Magnolia stellata, Redbud Cercis 'Avondale' and 'Silver Cloud', Arabian Lilac 'Grand Duke of Tuscany', Royal Bromeliad Vriesea imperialis, also many unusual bulbs such as Scilla. Besides structure providing shrubs and trees (Tecoma, existing Indian Hawthorne with beautiful structures, Sweet Pea Bush, Golden Breath of Heaven, Ilex, Ginkgo, Bronze Loquat etc.) you'll see here also my favorite perennials, succulents and grasses, all as low care and undemanding as well as low-water as possible, to keep the landscape colorful and interesting year round. One of the highlights of this garden are the dry stream beds, bird bath and garden bench that we added. Built originally by himself and his wife, the dry stream beds were overgrown, mostly hidden by plant debris, or half rolling down hill. We had fun selecting a mixed collection of colorful and richly textured boulders of various sizes over, and with the input from 7 team members: Gordon, me, the contractor, the supervisor and three workers, we re-created the stream beds, making sure that anchor stones on the sides were well embedded in the slope, and that stone shelves and “top dressing” with smaller pebbles would add to the visual interest. Now these beds form very pleasing architectural features that look like they have always been there. We were all surprised how quickly all plants adapted to the site and started growing and putting out bloom. Now the old birdbath, a traditional white thing with dove figurines resting on the scalloped bowl, looked out of place, and I suggested to replace it with a stone bowl. And that part of the garden just called for a bench under the Macademia nut tree, to observe the birds and contemplate the whole creation. Only stone would do, but not any stone! Gordon picked a Basalt boulder that was naturally bowl shaped. It’s so heavy that it took 8 men to heave it into place! The Basalt bench was not much lighter, and together they make a very inviting scene. This job should last for a while. Photographed by Emma Almendarez at http://www.emmatheodoraphotography.com/

5 Star Outdoor Design is the area leader in pool & spa design, landscape design,outdoor kitchens, entertainment areas and much more. Let 5 Star be your one stop shop for creating the perfect outdoor space you'll love for years.

This custom waterfeature was built for this outdoor living space. A stone wall holds the patio level above the stream. The waterfall cascades out of the wall and the stream created from granite and outcropping stone moves along the wall. The soothing sounds of bubbling and flowing water are the perfect way to unwind after a busy day. This stream is low maintenance and is pondless, so the water cycles back through without a big pond at the end. A great fit in a small space or without the worry of having a pond.

Photo: Danielle Sykes © 2016 Houzz
Mid-sized farmhouse light wood floor kitchen/dining room combo photo in Boston with beige walls

This custom waterfeature was built for this outdoor living space. A stone wall holds the patio level above the stream. The waterfall cascades out of the wall and the stream created from granite and outcropping stone moves along the wall. The soothing sounds of bubbling and flowing water are the perfect way to unwind after a busy day. This stream is low maintenance and is pondless, so the water cycles back through without a big pond at the end. A great fit in a small space or without the worry of having a pond.

The house is full of light and open views to the hill and stream. The interior spaces were designed to complement the modern architecture of the exterior and bring the inside “in”. The materials and finishes used in the home were carefully chosen to match the aesthetic of the inside/outside nature of the home. The end result is a beautiful and cohesive design that is both modern and comfortable.

Galvanized water troughs used as planters. Bamboo was chosen for its tall, upright growth and evergreen screen to block apartment building. Photo credit: Michael Lockman