Kristen Rudger Landscape Design

We recently completed a full backyard redesign with Kristen Rudger Landscape Design after struggling for several years on our own to figure out how best to update the space. We selected Kristen after discussing the project with several different designers and viewing a job that she had recently completed in our neighborhood. Kristen's personalized approach and her in-depth knowledge of Belmont were key factors in our decision. She did not disappoint. We met with Kristen onsite to agree on our goals for the project, view the space and share a mood board so that she could get a sense for our aesthetic. Kristen listened closely, if quietly, and produced two design ideas that hit the nail on the head. Kristen was able to turn our wishlist of ideas into a practical solution that fully realized our goals. With very little modification, we were able to finalize the design and choose materials for the project. Throughout the design phase, she worked diligently to remain within our stated budget and helped us make key tradeoffs to maximize the impact of our spend. At the conclusion of the design phase, we were free to quote the project to any installers we wished. She made herself available to review tradeoffs in the quotes. During the installation phase, Kristen worked seamlessly with the team, providing guidance as needed to correctly implement the design and was helpful with suggestions when changes on the fly were required. We are very pleased with our beautiful new backyard. Kristen has our highest recommendation.

Kristen was a joy to work with and the quality of her work was top notch. She was great at listening to our project goals and then creating a design that far exceeded our expectations. Kristen was extremely helpful in picking out materials, finishes and furniture to truly tie the outdoor spaces together. As a result of Kristen’s expertise, we now have the backyard we’ve always dreamed of.

We worked with Kristen on a big back- and frontyard makeover that included landscape and hardscape (new driveway and new deck). She was great to work with, she listened to our ideas and came back with a lot of good suggestions and ideas for design, keeping our budget in mind. Kristen was always very responsive and available for the many questions that we had. She was flexible and came up with alternative ideas when we wanted to change the original plans. She had really good referrals for companies for installation and also for material and outdoor furniture. We can highly recommend Kristen and would work with her again in the future any time.

We could not be more delighted with Kristen and our project! Kristen did a complete re-design of our front and back yard and delivered a fantastic outcome. She takes the time to really listen to a client's ideas and carefully guide them through the pros and cons of various options. In our case, she was able to synthesize two differing viewpoints into a cohesive and thoughtful design. Along the way, her patience, counsel and proactive recommendations enabled us to try on various ideas while usually choosing her recommendations. Importantly, she quickly got to know us as people and too the time to understand each of our styles. She is a creative problem-solver and works diligently to offer alternatives when needed. Importantly, she introduced us to wonderful contractors and vendors who performed outstanding work, on-time and on-budget. They, too, shared her collaborative style and were able to help us engineer significant savings. Throughout the construction phase, Kristen was on-site making sure everything was just so and, when needed, providing guidance to the contractors. Over the years, we have unfortunately had our share of headaches, problems and never-ending projects with other designers and contractors. Our experience with Kristen and her network were completely the opposite. We wish she did interior architecture and design; we'd hire her for everything. We can't thank you enough!

Kristen is a brilliant landscape designer! Because of her skills and talent, our backyard is a masterpiece. She carefully listened to our concept for our backyard and developed a design that was impressive and exceeded our expectations. She is also wonderful to work with...thoughtful, calm, competent and responsive. We loved working with Kristen and love the dramatic transformation of our backyard.

I truly enjoyed working with Kristen Rudger. She is professional, thoughtful and very responsive. From the beginning of the project to the final planting (and then beyond, to check in), Kristen was easy to work with and demonstrated a wealth of knowledge. She also made sure to involve me in the project to the extent I wanted to remain involved and keep me continually updated. Specifically, Kristen designed our new outdoor pavilion (full dine in with appliances), a new firepit area, and helped refresh the remainder of our large backyard. She also helped facilitate and guide the work with the contractor and landscaper, as well as other vendors involved in the project (including stone, water fountain, engineering, pots, electricians, etc.). Although the execution of the project took much longer than expected (this was not related to her work, but the contractor), she remained persistent and involved the entire time, and very patient. The final result is stunning and everyone loves it - but most importantly, me. I would highly recommend her!

We could not be happier with our yard renovation. Kristen was key to getting us there. She designed the yard and managed to include everything we wanted in her design, which was very thoughtful, especially as the project was quite extensive and included a significant hill in the backyard. The project involved hardscape, landscape, drainage and irrigation. Kristen helped us find our contractor, engineers, and other professionals needed for the job. She visited the site several times during the construction project and was available when changes were necessary which greatly helped lessen the stress of the project. The result is truly fantastic!

Kristen has been fantastic to work with as we designed and then put into place our yard. She is knowledgeable and very responsive throughout. She stayed on our budget. We had our own ideas and also needed her creative energy and experience to get our yard together. Even now when we are largely through the construction process Kristen has remained an active part of our "team." I give Kristen the highest possible recommendation without hesitation. I am happy to answer any questions if you want to reach out.

Kristen is very accessible and very knowledgeable of everything outdoors. She redesigned our super basic backyard into a wonderful space. She was very good at listening to what we wanted and articulating it into a great vision for our backyard. She was very creative with some great ideas for a more modern design. She was also very patient with us as we changed out minds many times during the process. She was very prompt in her replies and updates on the plans. She did the hardscape and the landscaping as well. Lots of great plants and trees. We love our new backyard and are outside enjoying it a lot more now!

Kristen helped us with a large project that involved changing terraces/ elevations in our yard, replanting with drought-resistant plants, and building an outdoor kitchen. She was attentive to our needs and came up with a solution that worked really well for our family and fit into our budget requirements. It was helpful that she is very familiar with our geographic area and local building requirements. Our yard looks great and fits perfectly with our intended use.

Kristen was a fabulous designer with whom we worked over the long process of entirely redoing our yard. She was always communicative, listened to our concerns and ideas, and implemented and managed the actual construction with the GC doing the work. The project started before the pandemic, was put on pause, and then restarted and completed in mid-2021. We love our yard, and how everything is done now. From the thoughtful lighting, to the various patios, and walkways. We have our own little Versailles now, thanks to Kristen. So glad we found her.

We have worked with Kristen over the past few years and couldn’t be more pleased with her work. From the initial phone call to the landscape plan development to the execution of her plan, Kristen has been easy to partner with. In the design phase, every step of the way she listened attentively to develop a fine tuned plan that aligned with our expectations and goals for our outdoor space. Our property is nearly a half acre, on a hillside and, our plan includes constructing an ADU. While our project is certainly not straightforward, Kristen’s expertise in hillside requirements, excavation and grading, permitting, and integrity of structures has proven invaluable to both the design and construction process. In addition to the design work, Kristen has helped us collect and dissect bids and has worked with our landscape contractor to execute her plan. She is always available to answer questions, no matter how trivial. Our project is a multi-phase endeavor due to complexities, cost, as well as our personal bandwidth; no matter how long we’ve taken, throughout each phase Kristen has been helpful and patient with us. It is without hesitation that we would recommend reaching out to Kristen for help with any landscape design needs.

Kristen is truly a delight to work with: she is highly professional, very creative, and always patient. She transformed our front and back yards into a lovely oasis, which included an outdoor kitchen, new driveway, deck and fire pit. She helped solve some difficult drainage and privacy concerns. She was always quick to respond to our questions, and gave us thoughtful practical advice. We are thrilled with the final product, and feel so lucky to have had the chance to work with Kristen.

Kristen designed a beautiful landscape for our front and back yard. She listened carefully to us and also pushed us just the right amount. We are so happy with how everything turned out!

We just completed a full yard renovation with Kristen as our landscape designer. The process and results have exceeded our expectations. Not only does the design fit our vision but it compliments so well our historic home. Kristen provided a fresh perspective, and more importantly improved function of our space. We now have the outdoor living space we were hoping, and could not be happier. Kristen was very professional throughout the process, and had a wealth of experience that saved us both time and money. She was not only easy to work with, I also came to appreciate so much her ideas for the form and function of our space. We had many others involved in our project and her relationship with our contractor and other professionals in the community (e.g. hardscape, planting, furniture, installers, pool guys etc.) made the work less stressful for us/homeowner. Hiring Kristen was hands down the best decision we made in redoing our front and back yard.

It is 5 years later and we still love our landscape design by Kristen. We asked for very low maintenance and a variety of colors throughout the year and she delivered. Just this past week, the first of the fragrant blooms appeared and the lovely scent greets us as we approach the front door. The scent changes as others bloom in succession. Even after some neglect (as I lack a green thumb and haven’t yet hired a professional gardener) the yard to still manages to delight.

We feel so fortunate to have found Kristen! She helped us plan, design, and manage a major landscaping project in the front and backyard, from start to finish. She weighed in on everything from our pool size and design, to furniture and pots, to every individual plant. She understood our vision, and has worked with us over the years to maintain and perfect it. She was open to conversations about drought-tolerance, cost-consciousness, and hiring contractors and gardeners. We have recommended Kristen to friends, and are routinely asked by neighbors who worked on our landscaping. Highly recommend.

We are so glad that we picked Kristen to design our landscape project. Our lot posed a lot of challenges-- a steep, L-shaped hill, a large area that had never been landscaped before, and lots of shade but we were so impressed by the creative solutions that Kristen came up with to completely transform our outdoor space. Her design reflected our style preferences and fully took into account how we planned to use our space. When the project estimate from our landscaping contractor came in over budget, Kristen worked closely with him to find the best cost-saving modifications. We enjoy our new outdoor space each and every day.

Kristen did a complete redesign of our front and back yard. She’s patient, helpful and committed to quality. She helped us navigate various options during the design process and was responsive to our tastes and opinions. During construction she remained involved and went above and beyond to ensure the plans were implemented correctly. Highly recommended!

Kristen is such a pleasure to work with!! She paid careful attention to all the items on our wish list (even the smallest things) and came back with a garden design that was better than anything we imagined. Her design for our wooded lot was beautiful and creative! She was very helpful and proactive in making sure the details of the design were implemented, while ensuring that costs were kept in check. Her fees were reasonable, and she was always available to answer questions and to incorporate new requests. She was deeply invested in creating an outdoor space that is not only beautiful and relaxing, but also practical and low-maintenance. Thank you Kristen for designing a garden retreat that we love!

Kristen is very professional, easy to work with, and proactive in offering solutions. We came to her with some vague ideas of what we wanted, with the main goals of (1) optimizing the outdoor living space, (2) maintaining the green-ness and outdoorsy feeling (i.e., nothing overly-manicured), and (3) creating something kid-friendly but also long-term. She not only delivered on the proposal but also went above and beyond to ensure the contractors were implementing everything to her (and our) high standards. We are so happy with our yard! P.S. Project Cost reflects total, not just Kristen's fees. Her fees are quite reasonable.

Kristen recently designed the landscaping for our newly renovated Mountain View home, and she gave me the dream gardens I have always wanted. Kristen did an amazing job of creatively using every area of our property and of incorporating the color, diversity, and uniqueness of plants we wanted. In addition, Kristen is so easy to work with. She quickly responded to every phone call and request for updated drawings; she stuck with our requested budget; and she is just basically a wonderful person to work with. I highly recommend Kristen for any size project. My husband and I could not be more pleased with Kristen and our final project.

Kristen designed the landscape for redesign of my front yard. It was a significant redesign requiring coordination / collaboration with me, hardscape designer, contractor and my gardner.

It was a pleasure to work with Kristen on our backyard entertaining area. She had fabulous ideas and resources for us and guided us through options. The project turned out GREAT and we are enjoying our new backyard living space. We highly recommend Kristen for your landscape design needs.

I do not regret our decision to go with Kristen. My husband and I had different ideas for the front yard and we are both challenged when it comes to visualizing the finished yard. Kristen blended our needs nicely and gave great descriptions and drawings (from alternate perspective) to help us better understand the design. The drawings made it so easy to make sure we could easily compare bids from contractors. She really went above and beyond with the support and advice during construction (even though over a year passed between when she completed her design and we finally got around to hiring a contractor). This included calming me down and helping with urgent decisions on short notice. We are very happy with the way the front yard came out and are using it in all the ways we imagined. She remains calm, has a great eye, listens, and is so open to making it all work for her customer. I definitely recommend her highly.

As you can tell from her photo gallery, Kristen Rudger is a very talented landscape designer. I worked with Kristen over the course of nearly a year to transform our backyard into our dream space. She had a beautiful vision for our .25 acre downward sloping, un-usable backyard. She turned it into four terraced levels and we now enjoy daily our fabulous sport court, fire pit area, playground, climbing wall and chalkboard area, grass field and our patio. She was able to give us everything we wanted and then some. She really listened to our dreams for the space and came up with designs that really worked. She also helped us figure out our budget and made sure we could actually execute on the designs she gave us. I loved working with Kristen - so much so that she also has helped us with our planters, our front yard and even our balcony garden! I highly recommend her for any of your landscaping projects.

We hired Kristen Rudger Landscape for both our front and back yard designs. She was thoughtful and creative about our re-design requests with an open eye to our budget parameters. She managed to beautifully reconfigure our existing space, giving it a new look and feel while incorporating our requests to retain practical use of it for entertaining and relaxing. While we love grass (having both grown up on the East Coast), Kristen wisely and kindly advised us to think more hardscape and drought-tolerant plantings. Her plant selection allowed for ever-changing colors and constant privacy from close neighboring yards. From drawing the design, throughout construction, and right until the final walk through, Kristen was available for problem-solving and for consultation of unanticipated issues. Reliable, professional, and always pleasant to work with, Kristen Rudger Landscape Design would be our go-to business for any further landscape projects that we would desire.

Kirsten was a pleasure to work with to create our vision. She was highly recommended by 2 other friends and we were glad we took their advice. Our yard looks beautiful and her plant knowledge and general aesthetic are terrific. She was patient and worked hand in hand with our contractor when we ran into some hiccups. She is very hands on and clearly loves what she does, would not hesitate to recommend her!

Kristen designed a plant refresh and I love it! She is very knowledgeable, has great taste and is so wonderful to work with. She got this done for us so much quicker than expected too. Would highly recommend her to anyone with gardening needs

Kristen Rudger designed a complete reworking of our front and back landscaping for our home in Burlingame, California several years ago. This was, for us, a very extensive job. With Kristen's help we completely reworked our front yard with native plants and low-wattage lighting, replaced all tiling in the front of the house, created new walkways, and fixed longstanding drainage issues. In the back we addressed drainage and took a small grassy lawn that never grew and turned it into a highly-used outdoor entertaining space and garden. Working with Kristen was a collaborative pleasure. She was knowledgeable in hardscape design and materials, in plant layout design and in planting choices that met our budget and our desires. We were pleased with the contractors she identified, and though the job was a stretch for us financially, it ultimately came in within budget. We love the results, and believe that the work has really added to the look, maintainability and eventual resale value of our home. Her work got us featured in a home and garden tour several months after the job was complete, and that was both terrific fun for us, and an excellent third-party acknowledgement of her skill. Since finishing the job, Kristen has been available to consult with us on maintenance (I note that our goal was low-maintenance. We don't have a yard crew!) and other questions. We would definitely use her services again, and have already recommended her highly to friends as well as to the passersby that ask us about our beautiful landscaping!

I really enjoyed working with Kristen as she is very passionate about landscape design and is also very knowledgeable and hands on. She took the time to really understand what we the homeowners were looking for and then presented creative ideas that helped us realize the backyard we dreamed of. We uncovered several challenges along the way and Kris worked hard to help us come up with the right solutions for our needs, our budget and that were environmentally friendly. Thank you Kristen!

We hired Kristen to redesign our entire yard/outdoor living area following a house remodel. She worked with us to understand our tastes and needs, and provided several design concepts which we then modified to reach our final plan. Kristen also recommended several landscaping construction companies to implement the design, and she oversaw the installation process. We are extremely happy with the final product!

Kristen designed a beautiful makeover for our yard - front, back and sides. She asked lots of questions before designing anything - what we wanted (pavers, pretty flowers), what we didn't want (water feature, yellow flowers) and in general, how we wanted to use our yard. She came up with lovely, detailed plans for a traditional looking garden (with our traditional looking house) - that were revised slightly with discussion, then found a couple of contractors to bid on the work. She supervised the work of the one we chose, making sure they followed the plans. She recommended a new gardner - good choice. About a year later she replaced the few plants that hadn't made it (for no charge), and now almost two years later the place is absolutely beautiful! I can't tell you how many complements we have received ever since the job was originally completed - and they continue to this day!