Sage Outdoor Designs » landscape design

I did my Masters degree in Landscape Architecture at Cal Poly Pomona, and they had a saying there, “Embrace Ambiguity!” I’ll admit that after three and a half years there, it was something I never learned to do; in fact, I still don’t know exactly what my professors meant by it.  I think they were trying to say something about how the design process doesn’t always start out with clear goals. Sometimes you have no idea where are going, what the client wants, or how to get there. But it is my firm belief that my job as a designer is to do away with ambiguity, to read my clients my clients minds and quickly set the design process going in a direction that makes sense.

I saw this little meme on Buzzfeed, and I thought it was just perfect. Embrace ambiguity? No way, because what happens in vagueness stays in vagueness.

1. This is a photo from the EcoSmart Fire website, and if you haven’t been to their site, go there now. They are one of the things I love.

2. Gabions! A gabion is a metal or wire cage, filled with rocks. They are not at all a new idea, but they are gaining popularity as people look for ways to make modern designs more natural and more connected to their landscape.

3. A perimeter overflow pool with floating stepstones: I adore the mirage effect this creates. By making the pool interior an inky black (probably with black granite), and the stones a light cream, the stones look like they are floating on water. I think the cream stones look like limestone, but hopefully they are aren’t real. Real limestone would slowly be eaten away by the water.

4. The blend of cacti: the mixture of columnar cacti with the golden barrel cactus and agave is spot on for this house. It is interesting but understated. Nice.

5. Vein cut stone: the floating stepstones have lovely striations because the stone was cut in a way to show of the veins. Its called vein cut, and it’s oh so a la mode.

The website doesn’t credit the architect or pool designer, only that the house is in Las Vegas. If anyone knows who to give credit to, please let me know!

We talk a lot about connecting the inside spaces with the outdoor living spaces, but rarely do you see it done so seamlessly. I guess we should expect great things to happen when an industrial designer (Peter Russell-Clarke) hires a top notch architect (Craig Steely, San Francisco). Check out the full article here, and make sure not to miss the slideshow. The garage door is genius!

If I owned a hotel in Palm Springs, this is what I’d put around the pool. This style of daybed is usually ridiculously you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me-you-crazy-nutball expensive. This one, by Babmar is priced so that it is only a little bit off its rocker.

I’m newly obsessed with outdoor poufs. They are so multi-purposse: ottomans, side tables, casual seating, or a poolside perch, all rolled into one. And they are a wonderfully fun way to add color and pattern to your outdoor space. They come in a lot of very trendy patterns, including some fun geometric ones like lattices, stripes, and chevrons. They usually go for between $100 and $300 a piece, and here is a few places to track down one for your very own: Dash and Albert (who also make fabulous outdoor rugs), Vielle and Frances, and Hayneedle (where the round ones in the first photo are only $89 each!).

They are so much easier to store than chairs, so they’d be a great solution when you were planning on a backyard party and needed some extra seating in a hurry.

Full disclosure: while I love the poufs in the upper right photo, and I love the combo of grey and yellow, Sage Outdoor Designs does not approve of ugly vinyl liner swimming pools like the one shown. I’m sorry, but I just can’t. If you absolutely have to have a vinyl liner pool, there are better looking options out there.