Arizona

In all seriousness though, having a general contractor on hand to handle any obstacle I threw his way was great. I wanted bougainvillea vines neatly climbing the wall, so he made custom trellises. I wanted little stone retaining walls, and he made sure they were structurally sound. We wanted a unique walkway, so we removed the concrete walk he had originally poured and replaced it with pavers.

The attention to detail was paramount, and it made all the difference in the world. We developed a beautiful foundation for all of the natural stone work, and vegetation. The gorgeous cactus, stunning flowering plants, and green Bermuda grass against the white mission stucco were all real show stoppers at the entry of this beautiful gated community.

This home had great bones to start with, so I can’t take credit for all of the infrastructure, but the landscape needed some work. We thinned out overgrown plant material, designed a new privacy wall, laid out new moss rock pathways, and came in with a bounty of Ocotillos, yuccas, and perennials.

Lastly we added all new rock, and a brand new state of the art landscape lighting system. Now it is the perfect place to enjoy an evening cocktail, whether you are in the back with the golf course view, or in the beautiful private courtyard.

We began with the patio and pool design. There was a significant slope in the back yard that we had to contend with, but one little retaining wall, some gentle contouring of the grass areas, a patio extension, and we were set! We had our foundation ready, and it was time to start building the outdoor kitchen and pergolas, and plant the vegetation.

We knew we would need space for an outdoor kitchen, plenty of room for family and friends, and some shade from the intense western sun. The grill space was our moment to really personalize their yard. The homeowners hand selected the tiles, the sink, and added a very special touch with the family brand pressed into the concrete counter tops. The addition of sod, vegetation, and beautiful stone work, and these property hunters had officially created a home.

Sometimes the most fun properties are the ones that make you really think. The structural walls were already existing when the homeowners purchased this house. When I arrived on the scene the pool had just been finished by a friend of mine’s pool company. The pool was stunning, but the landscaping was in dire need of ‘reconstructive surgery’.

So we worked with the pool company to source the same stone they had used on the pool to use on the walls of the first tier. That really helped tie them together. Then we opened up one of the walls to create a staircase for the future firepit area. We added on to the main patio extending the amount of living space, and then gave the entire yard a gorgeous, updated desert landscape.