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Tag: Decomposed Granite

  • Before & After: A 1940s-Suburban House Grows Up Gracefully in Mill Valley, CA – Gardenista

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    In the first decade of America’s post-war boom, a million and a half new houses were built, creating vast tracts of suburbia and giving young families their first opportunity to own a home. Nowadays, however, homebuyers who stumble on a 1940s relic in vintage condition often wonder if it’s worth it to buy a house that needs a major remodel?

    For Raleigh and Michael Zwerin, the answer was yes. In 2004 they bought a circa-1944 cottage in Mill Valley, California. From the moment they moved in, baby in tow, they started thinking about the house they wished they had. Nearly a decade later, after having a second baby (and learning firsthand that the charming creeks that crisscrossed the neighborhood were prone to flood in winter), they asked architect Kelly Haegglund for help.

    For Haegglund, who lives just a few blocks from the Zwerins, the challenge was to design a modern-family-sized house that didn’t loom like the Hulk over the rest of the neighborhood, where one-story bungalows and cottages were built on narrow lots. The result? A modern three-bedroom bungalow with pleasing architectural details borrowed from the Arts and Crafts era. A low-water landscape, designed by Mill Valley-based Bradanini & Associates, surrounds the house in year-round greenery.

    Photography by Mimi Giboin.

    After searching for months for just the right dark stain color, Raleigh Zwerin suddenly saw it by accident when she drove by a house under construction in nearby San Francisco.
    Above: After searching for months for just the right dark stain color, Raleigh Zwerin suddenly saw it by accident when she drove by a house under construction in nearby San Francisco.

    “I went back to that house in the city several times until I met the lead contractor and asked him for the color, but he said the owner of the house said it was proprietary information and he didn’t want to give it out,” says Raleigh. Luckily, though, the contractor took pity on her plight. “He said, ‘I’ll meet you somewhere and give you a shingle so you can match the color.’ We ended up in a rendezvous by the side of the road. He brought two shingles in his truck, I brought a box of cookies, and it was great.”

    The custom trim color? The Zwerins also gleaned it from the same side-of-the-road exchange.

    A curtain of cape rush (Chrondopetalum elephantinum) will reach heights of from 4 to 6 feet, creating an airy screening layer behind the picket fece.
    Above: A curtain of cape rush (Chrondopetalum elephantinum) will reach heights of from 4 to 6 feet, creating an airy screening layer behind the picket fece.

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  • Patrick Bernatz Ward: An Interview With the Los Angeles Architect About Landscape Design and His Garden

    Patrick Bernatz Ward: An Interview With the Los Angeles Architect About Landscape Design and His Garden

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    Beth Chatto’s “right plant, right place” motto? Turns out it can be applied to home design, too.

    Los Angeles architect Patrick Bernatz Ward is guided by the same location-first ethos, taking pains to create homes that feel of a piece with their environments. In fact, he is so conscious of a project’s surroundings, that he often adds landscape design to his offerings (which also include interior and  furniture design). And a visit to his website reveals nearly as many images of natural landscapes as images of interiors.

    His interest in both the outside and inside is unusual for an architect, he concedes: “In California you really can’t separate the two fields, though, given the climate. Both should feel interwoven together.” Below, he shares the out-of-print landscape design book he calls “almost revolutionary,” the must-visit children’s garden in Southern California, and photos of his own garden and patio, which he overhauled himself.

    Above: Patrick in his recently renovated home in East L.A. He’s seated in a chair of his own design. Be sure to check out the house tour on Remodelista. Photograph by Justin Chung.

    Your first garden memory:

    My grandfather’s house was a Cliff May-designed ranch house in Orange County. The yard was filled with olive, pepper, and euclayptus trees. Behind the garden were the remnants of an old orange grove. There was a nice mixture of formal gardens (low hedges, patio/courtyard walls) and wilder landscaping. We spent many long days and afternoons barefoot running through the back acre and yard. It was a magical place!

    Garden-related book you return to time and again:

    Above: A used copy of Process is $116 on Amazon.

    Lawrence Halprin’s Process from 1981 is a wonderful book that explains Halprin’s intimate and almost revolutionary approach to landscaping. The Bold Dry Garden featuring Ruth Bancroft’s garden is also always influential.

    Instagram account that inspires you:

    @ruthbancroftgarden + @lotusland_gannawalska.

    Describe in three words your garden aesthetic.

    Patrick terraced his garden into smaller patios, with walls lined with sandstone from the property and steps fabricated from handmade Mexican bricks.
    Above: Patrick terraced his garden into smaller patios, with walls lined with sandstone from the property and steps fabricated from handmade Mexican bricks. “My main objective was to create a drought-tolerant environment that was friendly for children, while also providing color throughout the year,” he told Remodelista. Photograph by Yoshihiro Makino.

    Tranquil. Thematic. Framed.

    Plant that makes you swoon:

    Any of the native salvias from California and the Southwest mixed in with a native cactus.

    Plant that makes you want to run the other way:

    Canary pines! They were planted all over Southern California in the 1960s-1980s. I’d rather them be replaced with oaks or sycamores that would be more beneficial to the environment.

    Favorite go-to plant:

    Aloe arborescens in his garden. Photograph by Patrick Bernatz Ward.
    Above: Aloe arborescens in his garden. Photograph by Patrick Bernatz Ward.

    Aloe arborescens is one of my favorite plants. It’s drought-tolerant, easy to grow, and produces a beautiful red floral resceme in the fall in the northern hemisphere. Autumn light with the tinges of red is a really special time.

    Hardest gardening lesson you’ve learned:

    You can’t force your preconceived ideas on the plant and how it’s meant to look in the landscape. They will always do what they are meant to adapt to.

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  • Landscape Architecture Design for a Desert Climate: A Zen Garden in Santa Monica

    Landscape Architecture Design for a Desert Climate: A Zen Garden in Santa Monica

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    What happens when a Japanese-style garden meets the southern California desert? For the very Zen results, let’s visit a serene gravel courtyard that landscape architecture firm Terremoto designed for Mohawk General Store in Santa Monica.

    Photography by Caitlin Atkinson, courtesy of Terremoto.

    Passionflower vines soften the redbrick facade of Mohawk General Store. “The vines were existing when we started the project and we decided to keep them because they were happy there,” says landscape architect David Godshall.
    Above: Passionflower vines soften the redbrick facade of Mohawk General Store. “The vines were existing when we started the project and we decided to keep them because they were happy there,” says landscape architect David Godshall.

    “This was an attempt to create a garden that was both Japanese and desert simultaneously,” landscape architect David Godshall says, adding that client Kevin Carney wanted a space to have movie screenings and to create a backdrop for fashion shoots.

    The garden, formerly occupied by gardening shop Potted, had existing hardscape (some concrete slabs) and a few specimen plants—including two large palms—that the team salvaged from the previous design. “For the rest of it, we started from scratch.”

    During the remodel, Terremoto removed “chunky, two-inch gravel and a fair amount of existing concrete” and replaced the surface with decomposed concrete with “a heavy dusting” of gravel on top to stabilize the DG, Godshall says: “With this approach you lose the negative aspects of getting DG on the bottom of your shoes and also the feeling that gravel is a trudge to walk through.”
    Above: During the remodel, Terremoto removed “chunky, two-inch gravel and a fair amount of existing concrete” and replaced the surface with decomposed concrete with “a heavy dusting” of gravel on top to stabilize the DG, Godshall says: “With this approach you lose the negative aspects of getting DG on the bottom of your shoes and also the feeling that gravel is a trudge to walk through.”

    “We made the design process conversational,” Godshall says. “We went cactus shopping with the clients. Then we went boulder shopping. After we got all the elements on site, an incredibly hardworking crew shadow boxed them into place. Then there was a lot of looking at how things looked, walking around, and shifting it around.”

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