Sam Bella Design

We met with Sam to discuss our front and backyard makeover project at our home last winter. We were interested in a kid-friendly, usable backyard with drought-tolerant landscaping as our premise. Sam listened to all our needs, took careful notes and measurements and worked with us patiently on a few iterations of our final design. She understood the look and feel we are hoping to achieve and delivered a most beautiful landscape design; not just focused on aesthetics, like one sees on a magazine cover, but so wonderfully functional for a real family. We have had several of our neighbors and friends remark on how elegant the space looks and asking to be connected with Sam. We appreciated Sam's easy manner of working, camaraderie, and patience with some of our delayed responses while we juggled work and home. Sam, we walk by our kitchen looking out at our backyard every single day with nothing short of admiration for your work. We await Spring now to see all the beautiful color it will be bringing on. A thing of beauty is a joy forever, as Keats once wrote and you have brought that beauty and joy into our home.

We've worked with Sam three times now and we have never been so happy with our yard. We live on a corner lot, so she helped us with our front yard first. She really listened to what we wanted to achieve and iterated on the design until we were all happy. It turned out so great, we asked her for help with our side and backyard. It's hard to have a favorite but I will say we've never spent so much time in our backyard before. It looks like an established yard after only one year. We used our regular gardener for installation and the instructions were super clear and they had no problem finding plants in stock (Sam actually checked to ensure they were in stock first). I'd highly recommend Sam Bella Design.

We had the amazing opportunity to work with Sam in 2021 and we are so happy we decided to move forward with her. We could not have made a better decision for our project, which involved every bit of land surrounding the house (front, back and the side yards). We had tried to get in touch with various landscape designers and somehow were unable to finalize - either due to lack of response or cost of work and just lack of comfort after the initial call. However, with Sam - all these were met. We were impressed with her right from the start - from her prompt response to a query on Houzz, her frankness about her availability, and actually being open to the fact that we may want to go with someone else in case we were unable to wait for a few weeks - we knew that Sam would be the right choice. She came over for the initial site visit and this was not some 30-minute visit but a detailed one in which she spent the time to understand what we wanted, liked, not liked versus pushing her ideas. She was more interested in listening to us and made absolutely no attempt to sell her services. When we met her in person, we really appreciated her down to earth attitude and practicality, and this was important for us - working with someone with whom we could discuss our thoughts frankly. After finalizing the scope of work - she came for a second site visit where she personally did all the measurements versus having us do it (some designers asked us to do it or shell out extra $s for someone to come in) and once again spent the time to go over our requirements/preferences. Once again, her frankness and forthcoming nature stood out when she informed us of a situation which could potentially delay the deliverables and gave us the option to withdraw if we so desired. Right from her first rough design draft - she was able to capture all our requirements and also add her own touch to it and we needed very minor hardscape changes after that. She completely reworked the planting plan when we wanted to go with a completely different style after her initial planting plan. Making sure that every question and need of ours was met was evident by the numerous Zoom calls she held with us to go over each and every aspect and points we had raised, and the results were absolutely what we had wished for. She somehow managed to incorporate every plant/tree we asked for while making sure that she made some unique suggestions versus general plants available everywhere. Our construction job was delayed due to contractor availability, and we were not 100% sure how the paper design would translate into reality. Now that our project has completed, we can attest with certainty that this is the case – Sam’s paper design translates really well into reality! During construction we deviated slightly from the design and were pleasantly surprised how flexible the design was and how it continued to hold despite these changes - this was definitely a sign of a great design! Thank you Sam!

"We Needed a Yard" We started by finding an exceptional Landscape Architect. Her name is Sam Bella. She came to our home and discussed our goals, needs and dreams. She looked at our empty yard, nothing but dirt and weeds. She measured and went home. Soon she had a Layout Plan to show us. We all sat down and made a few minor adjustments and with that she soon had the Planting Plan and Lighting Plan to go with the Layout Plan. We were very impressed with her vision! She is Quick, Professional and Friendly.

We absolutely loved working with Sam Bella Design and would highly recommend her services. She provided us a front yard landscaping design totally in line with what we were looking for in a prompt and professional manner on point with our desired budget. She was very communicative and always available to answer questions. Thank you Sam!

This was our first time hiring a landscape designer and we could not have been more pleased with the outcome, Sam was a pleasure to work with! We met in November, finalized the plans in January and started the work in the beginning of March 2020. Some of the plants were not available yet in the season and we decided against the lavender choice, Sam was great to give us other options for our contractor to plant in the middle of the project. We completed on the day of SIP - we love our new front yard.

Sam was a gem to work with. She was able to take all of my ideas and visions and work them into a single design. Sam was always quick to respond and thoughtful in her recommendations and detailed notes, including options for sliding up or down in budget. She has s great eye and naturally got the aesthetic I was going for. Highly recommend Sam!

I love it when a professional can translate my ideas into real-life while adding in some creative spice of their own to really enhance the final product. This is exactly what Sam did. She was super-responsive. She generated clear designs for my contractors to follow. She offered cost-saving tips. In the end, Sam helped me create a 3-level outdoor living space that now contains an organic garden bed, stunning firepit, awesome path/up-lighting, and California-friendly flora. My backyard has been restyled into a safe and private retreat for family and friends where we can enjoy Bay Views and stunning sunsets nestled in a paradisiac setting. I can't thank her enough. Sam, you rock! (and plants too) :-)

Sam is terrific to work with. I have collaborated with her on multiple design projects. Her knowledge of hardscape designs and plants is second to none. She is very friendly and patient, and takes the time to learn about your requirements to come up with a creative designs you will be very happy with. I would love to work with her again and can absolutely see why she has 5 stars!

We hired Sam Bella Design with our front and back exterior landscaping. In our first meeting we knew immediately that Samantha was the one. She asked the right questions, provided room for recommendations and listened carefully to our likes/dis-likes before curating a beautiful design for us. Her style is very broad and she focused in on providing a very nice modern/contemporary style, which included the front exterior (plus hardscape) and back exterior, (plants, paver selection, concrete selection, accents, etc.). She also helped us visualize this through a 2D and 3D designs. In addition to the designs, she provided a very nice project plan, along with scope and materials. Everything was measured and laid out nicely, which allowed our contractors to easily follow and implement. Overall, we are very happy to have worked with Sam Bella Design and would love to refer her to our friend and will look to hire her again for any future projects!!!

We contacted Sam Bella Design for a complete re-do of a small, very odd-shaped back yard with aging plants and deck. We were picky about the deck, lighting and kind of plants. Samantha listened carefully and took copious notes, and came back with a design that hit everything. We only asked for a couple of minor layout changes. At our request, she also provided 3D renderings to help us visualize the final look. They were very helpful. She has been very easy to work with, very responsive to our concerns, and has produced a lovely design. We're starting the project any day now and can't wait to see the finished back yard. We would highly recommend Samantha.

Sam Bella is a very talented designer. She listens well. I really enjoyed working with her on our backyard renovation. I look forward to seeing it come to life.