CLAIREMONT

Clairemont is where I met my good friend Ric Rodriguez of Portico South. We worked on this one together.

The backyard was mostly two large wooden decks and overgrown nandina. It’s in the Clairemont Historic District in Decatur, where lot coverage, property-use rules and a small lot gave us a pretty tight space to work with. We removed the decks and made a very simple linear garden. The paving, planting and the view all run straight through it.

We used brick, steel and wood, and added an outdoor kitchen and retractable pergola. About halfway through the project, the homeowners bought a giant rock in New Mexico and had it shipped home. It was going to be a fountain, so we built a simple pool for it with block and brick we had left over from the job.

Ric did the ipe decking and steel handrail, and the tile work in the adjoining sunroom. I think it’s magnificent.