Design and install an outdoor entertainment area with a water feature and fire pit. Include mature trees and existing heirloom plants within the new landscape design.
Outdoor Entertainment Area Challenge
- Incorporate wooded and shaded setting with mature oak and hickory trees within the area of desired development.
- Consider sloped topography, at 4-5’ of grade.
- Connect new construction with an existing wood deck, basements steps, and driveway.
- Provide outdoor LED lighting for evening entertaining.
- Find a way to reuse heirloom hosta plants.
Outdoor Entertainment Area Solution
- Design a Bristol Valley brick paved patio that would incorporate mature trees to maintain the valued oak and hickory tree specimens.
- Construct stairs out of landscape stone that adapt to site grade changes.
- Construct a water feature with planters as the focal point of the patio setting. Incorporate color-changing lights to the water feature spillway for added evening ambiance.
- Utilize bluestone to form beautiful garden pathways connecting all of the yard destinations.
- Terrace the sloped grade with mossy outcroppings.
- Construct a seat wall with pillars to frame the fire pit space. This provides secondary seating while assisting with grade retention.
- Install a fire pit to complement the fountain planters, seat wall, and pillars. Upgrade the fire pit with a natural gas burner that is easy to use. The natural gas burner will provide warmth without smoke and the hassle of a wood-burning fire pit.
- Arrange shade plantings such as a redbud tree (located in a more open space with some sunlight), several types of hydrangeas, summersweet, fragrant viburnum, astilbe, brunnera, coralbells, geraniums, bleeding hearts, anemone, and reinstall all of the beautiful heirloom hosta.
- Install a low voltage LED light system, which included ‘toadstool’ path lights, hardscape lights built into the fountain and seat wall, accent/flood and spotlights to up-light the mature oak and hickory trees.
Landscaping Materials Used
- Unilock Products: Bristol Valley and Copthorne pavers, Brussels Dimensional Retaining Walls, Ledgestone and Brussels Fullnose Coping
- Waterfall products by Atlantic Water Gardens
- Natural Landscape Stone: Pennsylvania Bluestone (full color), Bluestone steps and landings, Mossy Fieldstone outcroppings
- Locally grown trees, shrubs, and perennials
- Kichler and Escort lighting products
To see other examples of recent projects, visit our “before and after” section or contact us at (630) 932-8966 for a free, no-obligation consultation.
