NORTHLAKE

The homeowners came to us with a sketch for the backyard. I put it into SketchUp and started working through how their idea could actually fit the existing topography. What looked fairly simple on paper became a much more complicated series of walls, steps and level changes once we worked it into the slope.

This was a difficult one to build. Access was tight, there was a tremendous amount of concrete, and nearly everything had to be constructed into the hillside. We formed and poured the concrete ourselves, fabricated and welded the steel walls on site, brought in and repositioned large boulders, and built the stair system through the garden.

On the other side of the yard were some older exposed-aggregate steps. Rather than introduce another concrete finish, we worked out our own aggregate mix to match them and carried it into the new steps.

The homeowners had drawn a patterned flagstone area for the fire pit. I wasn’t completely convinced by it at first, but we kept the idea and worked it into the garden. I think it belongs there.

The planting is pretty simple. With everything else happening in the slope, it didn’t need much more.

This one still amazes me a little. It was extremely difficult to build, and I love how it turned out. Really nice people live here, too.