As part of a large renovation of a Colonial Santa Rosa home, this project covers several areas of the expansive property. The backyard combines traditional materials with contemporary features. Centered around a natural, chemical free swimming pool, anchors design, while across the pool lies a spacious, Wisteria-covered pergola, completing the courtyard. In spring, fragrant white blooms hang down, contrasting with the dark-stained cedar, their perfume lingering in the air beneath. The pool deck, constructed out of brick and ashlar pattern bluestone, forms the floor of the pergola.
The backyard is designed around axes and sightlines, with the center of the pergola marking the origin. The shapes of the pergola, planters and brick detail is mimicked in the adjacent vegetable garden, where sturdy redwood boxes surround a tiered fountain. A cedar picket fence surrounds the vegetable garden, keeping the dogs out and providing a sense of entry in and out of this outdoor room. Below, crushed gravel pathways allow for access around the garden.
A large, artificial turf putting green allows for recreation just outside the front door. Meanwhile, the sand-finish concrete patio outside the newly constructed barn combines both the contemporary style of the structure with the natural setting right outside. Boulders from on-site were used to retain slope behind the patio while a large, specimen boulder was selected and drilled to make a pondless water feature.
As many of the boulders had already been above ground, after wet weather they spring to life, naturally harboring green mosses and Polypody ferns. Flowering perennials, shrubs and trees, along with the three water features attract birds, butterflies, dragonflies and other wildlife to the property’s gardens throughout the year.
