When you envision your dream outdoor living space, there’s a good chance you’re not just picturing the elements that make it up, but also how you’ll be spending time there. You imagine watching your kids swim or cooking in your outdoor kitchen so that your family can enjoy a meal outside.
With a corner lot and a narrow backyard, this Leesburg, VA family felt like their property wasn’t usable. It felt tight and awkward—and in all honesty, the family had a lot of reservations about what could be achieved, even with a landscape design.
But when the project was complete, the homeowners told us the space felt bigger than ever before. In fact, they said they could hardly believe how much room it felt like they had.
For some homeowners, a “blank slate” backyard can feel entirely overwhelming. Where do you even begin? You might have some ideas of what you want, but it’s hard to see a complete vision of how it will all come together when your yard is totally bare.
But that’s exactly what a pool designer and builder loves!
Although it had a large and impressive yard, this Loudoun County, VA property in Willowsford, lacked functionality. Besides a few steps leading to the backyard, there was nothing there but lawn.
Starting from a blank slate always allows for the possibility of going in many different directions but the starting point is always the homeowners’ wants and needs.
There’s nothing quite like spending time outside—assuming you have the right space for it. After all, homeowners don’t just want a yard, they want a yard they can actually use. Adding hardscaped areas is one of the best ways to get more usable space out of a backyard.
On any project, the main objective is to encourage people to spend more time outside with highly functional spaces that meet all of their needs. It’s not uncommon for homeowners to wonder how they can incorporate a backyard that fulfills everyone’s interests.
Oftentimes when a yard is sloped or oddly shaped, it can be difficult to utilize. That was the case with this Loudon County backyard, which was sloped sharply in two different directions with more than six-feet in elevation changes.
Though the homeowners felt they’d found their forever home when moving here, they knew that they would need a creative and effective solution to make their yard functional.
When it comes to entertaining and hosting others, even the front yard requires some thought. Considering the fact that this Great Falls, VA family enjoys entertaining and often has multiple cars parked in their driveway, they needed a bigger hardscaped space.
The decision to redesign (and ultimately widen) their driveway, also lead them to consider some unique options for hardscaping at their Great Falls, VA home. The result was an impressive aesthetic upgrade.
Good design is not just about beauty and aesthetics but also about functionality. In fact, when it comes to an extensive outdoor living design, functionality should always come first. After all, if the space doesn’t meet the your needs, you aren’t going to use it.
In this particular landscape design in Warrenton, VA, there were some very specific needs that would have to be met in order to make the space usable. Because there were family members with ability challenges who visited the home often, it was essential that the entire space was built on one single level. This would make the space usable by everyone.
Spending time as a family outdoors can be made all that much more enjoyable with an outdoor living area offering a variety of amenities. But backyard that is outdated and starting to deteriorate can detract from not only the aesthetics but the overall functionality of the space.
When you’ve invested in a landscape project, you want to see the final result come together the way you envisioned. The last thing that you want is to be left with an outdoor living space that’s not only not what you wanted, but one that has a lot of mistakes.
Unfortunately, that was the case for this landscape design in Ashburn, VA. When we were brought in, the Czajkowski family expressed to us that they were incredibly unhappy with the screened-in porch and deck they had gotten built by another contractor. There were quite a few problems with its design and construction.
