Sage Outdoor Designs » landscape design

 It has been hot in San Diego this week, and it has me thinking about good shade options for summer. One of my favorite ways to add shade while still keeping a project feeling light and breezy, is to use canvas. These are called horizontal roman shades, and I like them best in light colors (just like with cars, light colors like cream and white really do look cleaner outdoors, despite what most people assume). Some of them are done on cables so that you can pull them back like curtains if you want sun instead of shade.

The ones here are from:

1) Home Infatuation: their Sombrero Canopy is freestanding and gorgeous. The price tag is around $10K.

2) This local family-owned company, Moran Canvas, is my favorite for custom shades. Their customer service is incredibly good. You have your contractor build you the “frame” (in this case wood beams and stucco columns) and they do the canvas and cables. Their part usually is in the $5K range.

3) This one is the best deal in town. It is from a Flag wholesaler, flagemporium.com! They are less than $1K and are made from super light-weight parachute material, so you don’t need much structure to hold them up.  The one in the photo shown here only has four posts and two beams, nothing else! The cables and the canvas do the rest.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

Not enough space, isn’t that always the issue? 

I started to fall for these vertical trough fountains for practical reasons, because they are such a great way to have an impressive fountain without needing a lot of space on the ground plane. Because the material used for the background is smooth, the water sticks to it and gently gurgles down, without splashing (No splashing means the basin at the bottom can be quite small). In all three of these gardens, the designers chose steel for the background material (two are Cor-Ten, the other is a steel I-beam). But now, my interest has now gone past the practical. I love how this design juxtaposes two planes and forces you to think in three dimensions. I love how calm it is. I love the sense of place it creates. And, that it works for very modern designs or for more classic ones.

I think I need a client who needs one of these… Any volunteers?

To give credit where credit is due:

1) The first and last images are by Thuilot Associates, whose work is just gorgeous in this organic modern style, very soft and approachable
2) The second garden is by Blasen Landscape Architecture. Their website is not very user-friendly, but have patience with it. The chance to see their work is worth the effort.
3) The last image is from the Sunset Idea House in San Francisco, and they have a lot more images of the garden, and other great eco-inspired design tips in this article. And a video tour, here.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

I love this garden.

Really, love it.

I almost don’t want to say any more about it, because I don’t want to spoil how wonderful it is. (But that wouldn’t really be like me, would it?) Simple, approachable, clean. I love the small scaled pool with its single scupper fountain. I love the fire pit. I love the floating bench, and the wide stair, and the repeating rectangular stepstones. And is that a live oak in the left side of the photo? I hope so, because that would be just right.

Unlike some modern designs, I could actually imagine living in this space without worrying about leaving smudges of imperfection in my wake. It is by Huettl  Landscape Architecture of Walnut Creek, California and please make sure to spend a whole lot of time on their website browsing through their sigh-worthy, lovely gardens. Modern landscape design, but for real people. What a concept! I love it.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

This is one of my favorite styles for a garden fountain: a seat height basin with a gorgeous centerpiece to catch your eye and create some lively sound. In this case, the centerpiece is a glazed Oil Jar by Bauer Pottery (image from Sunset magazine’s website). If you are at all into Mid-Century Modern design, you’ll love Bauer. The original Bauer Pottery hit its stride in Los Angeles in the 1930’s and this new line, reintroduced under the Home by Sunset label, is a chance for those of us who can’t afford a vintage Bauer Oil Jar to get some of that incredible style for our own gardens. The colors are incredible: some are exceptionally bold like their classic Bauer Orange, and others are wonderfully subtle. I, of course, love the aqua. No big surprise there.

© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.

 I get obsessed from time to time with a color. I had a pretty long obsession with red. I’ve flirted with dark chocolate, sage green, french blue. My latest has been a surprisingly long lasting love for anything teal (or turquoise, or seafoam, or anything else that is a bit blue and a bit green). Especially paired with neutrals like tan, cream, or white, teal makes any space a whole lot more restful. I think it evokes cool water, beach glass, sunny skies: all things that make us feel more relaxed, less stressed, just a bit calmer. Funny thing is, I think the lasting appeal of this color right now has a lot to do with the recession. Really, who couldn’t use a little more calm right now??

It is such a gentle color that I encourage my clients who are worried about straying away from neutrals at all to use it. It will never overwhelm a space or jump out at you alarmingly (as my old friend red sometimes can). I know that you are worried about the resale value of your house and beige seems like your safest bet, but please, don’t let your whole world be beige. Try a little teal. You’ll like it, I promise.

This photo is from Sunbrella’s advertising, so I can’t give the designer of this space credit. I’d love to, though, because it is gorgeous (and the way they blurred the boundary between indoor and outdoor is admirable), so if anyone knows who did this, please let me know in the comments!

© Kate Wiseman 2010. In San Diego? Want your own waterwise landscape design? I’d love to help! Please visit www.sageoutdoordesigns.com for more info.