When Remodelista founder Julie Carlson attended a benefit dinner at Wave Hill, a public garden and under-the-radar treasure in the Bronx, she enjoyed the beautiful plantings and the breathtaking views of the Hudson River, but it was the garden chairs she saw on the property that bowled her over. (She is a design geek, after all.)
Turns out, the Wave Hill chairs have been bewitching visitors for decades. They were designed in the 1960s by landscape designer Lester Collins, who based the chair on a 1918 design by architect Gerrit Rietveld; Collins later allowed Wave Hill to make his version of the chair for use in their public garden.
Good news for Julie and others who can’t stop thinking about them: Wave Hill sells DIY plans for the chair.
Above: The beauty of these chairs is that you can use cheap store-bought planks to build them and paint them in the color of your choosing. To purchase the plans, contact The Shop at Wave Hill at 718.549.3200 x249, or email [email protected]. Above: Horticulturalist Dan Benarcik designed his own version after becoming obsessed with the chairs at Wave Hill. On his site, he sells the plans for his chair for $35; a DIY kit with all the materials you need for $325; a workshop to make a chair for $350; and a fully assembled chair, in western red cedar, for $425. Find details here. Above: You can also purchase pre-made Wave Hill chairs in your choice of wood—white ash, white oak, walnut, cherry, red oak, reclaimed oak, reclaimed pine, maple, or cedar (pictured) from Hugo and Hoby. Above: While we like the look of the untreated wood chairs that age with time, we also quite enjoy them painted or stained (Margaret Roach writes about her painted versions here). Photograph via Dan Benarcik.
For more on garden chairs, see:
N.B.: This post was first published July 2019; it has been updated with new links and photos.
When a family came to Dirt Queen NYC seeking a backyard makeover, they really just wanted one thing: to be able to use their yard. The existing “garden” was a patchy stretch of grass with garages on three sides. Now that their kids were older, the family no longer felt they needed a lawn for playtime. Instead they craved an adult space for hosting dinner parties and a dedicated firepit area, which might even entice their teens to hang out at home.
Jarema Osofsky and Adam Bertulli, co-founders of Dirt Queen NYC, took stock of the existing conditions. The family wanted to keep the existing trees, including some arborvitae that were nicely screening the neighbor’s garage and some Norway maples that were creating dense shade on one half of the garden. Bertulli and Osofsky saw an opportunity to give their clients the function they craved, carving out two distinct garden rooms in the small space, while also creating a dynamic pollinator garden.
Here’s how they did it.
Photography by Brett Wood, courtesy of Dirt Queen NYC.
Before
Above: The yard was nothing but balding grass, arborvitae, and a stand of Norway maples. One impactful move Bertulli and Osofsky made was asking the neighbors if they could paint the back walls of their garages the same color. Luckily, they agreed.
After
Above: From uninspired and useless to inviting and functional. Above: Native flowering shrubs are the backbone of the new garden. For the garden’s midlayer, Osofsky used Clethra summersweet, oak leaf hydrangeas, and Viburnum dentatum, which she notes provides really beautiful berries for birds.
This trash-to-lushness story begins in the small town of Kyritz, Germany, when two creatives, Laura Muthesius and Nora Eisermann, decide to turn a historic apartment building into holiday rental units. The two performed their magic on the interiors (see their artful transformation of one of the flats over on Remodelista), but what to do with the backyard, which was unloved and unused, other than as a place to store trash bins?
The simple answer: add more plants and, in particular, more flowers. Aside from a hydrangea, the courtyard was devoid of color. After moving the garbage cans indoors to their own storage area and covering the hardscaping—uneven bricks and cobblestones laid out in a somewhat garish pattern—with a layer of gravel, Laura and Nora turned their attention to planting. More hydrangeas. A quince tree. Lots of oregano. American mint, anise hyssop, an aronia tree, climbing roses, lavender, sage, and potted olive trees.
“We wanted a wild-looking garden that has a Mediterranean feeling. We were a bit scared not to have enough light for the herbs like oregano and lavender, as it is not sunny all day in the backyard but it seems to be just enough as they are all growing so well,” they share. The plants were the costliest part of the landscape design but also “the best investment, as they just grow more and more beautiful each year.”
After moving in furniture to create outdoor living and dining spaces, and adding an outdoor kitchen (the chicest we’ve seen!), the once neglected courtyard is now their “secret little garden.” Let’s take a tour, and be sure to scroll to the end to see the space in its original state, complete with trash bins.
Above: Laura and Nora furnished the outdoor living area with pieces from Tine K Home’s bamboo collection. Above: “The ivy and wild vine that climb up the backside of the building is just so so charming and makes you feel like you are in a secret little garden.”
Oftentimes landscape designers are called in to execute a one-time overhaul or to create an instant landscape for a site that’s been ravaged by construction. Every once in a while, though, they’re enlisted for more nuanced work, such as when a mature garden needs a new steward and editor. The “before and after” results may not be as dramatic, but the process of refinement can take a garden from good to great. Such was the case when landscape designer and ISA-certified arborist Ashley Lloyd, of Lloyd Landwright, was brought in to usher a garden in lower Westchester into its next chapter.
The garden had been lovingly designed and tended by a fine gardener for many years, but after his departure, weeds had overtaken the property and much of the perennial layer had been lost during construction projects, including a new retaining wall. “The goal was to create layered texture, seasonal contrast, and movement—and to design with the garden’s future evolution in mind,” Lloyd says.
Arriving as the homeowners were in the midst of rethinking the garden, ended up being a gift. “I had time to observe the land—its microclimates, light shifts, drainage patterns—and respond accordingly,” Lloyd says. Building on the existing palette of shrubs and evergreens, she brought in more native and pollinator plants and created moments that would consistently surprise and delight the clients. She also designed dozens of seasonal planters and new outdoor lighting.
Through her years of working on this garden, Lloyd learned that “the best design happens in relationship and collaboration with the land and not from a fixed plan,” she says. Lloyd recently relocated to the West Coast, handing this garden off to its next steward in much better shape than she found it.
Take a tour of the resulting garden, a layered landscape that evolves through the seasons.
Above: “This wasn’t a ‘look but don’t touch’ garden,” says Lloyd. Rather, it was designed to invite interaction, with the client choosing to leave the front garden unfenced, so neighbors could enjoy it too. However, no fencing meant intense deer pressure, so Lloyd focussed her plant palette on those that were unpalatable to deer, including floss flower and allium. “Grasses, including sesleria, really knit everything together there,” she says. Above: Lloyd says she tries to place plants that deer don’t like around plants they prefer; for example, lamb’s ear and allium are positioned to protect asters. As part of a local Pollinator Pathway, the garden is pesticide-free and designed to support bees, birds, and butterflies.
Entering autumnal phase but not yet willing to phase out your outdoor space? One option is heated outdoor lounge chairs and sofas, as an alternative to overhead heaters. For colder months, cold mornings, or transient weather, add a wool blanket or fire pit and the concentrated heat doubles. Here are our 5 finds. For more […]
If you’re looking to upgrade your outdoor furniture, and are a fan of Scandinavian design but live in the US, we have some exciting news for you: Iconic Danish furniture brand Carl Hansen & Søn‘s outdoor teak collection by architect Alfred Homann is now available stateside at Room & Board. There are two Carl Hansen & Søn outposts in the US (one on each coast—San Francisco and New York City); Room & Board, meanwhile, has more than 20 locations scattered across 12 states, so you’ll have plenty more options to test out the pieces.
We like that the collection uses untreated teak wood, which gradually morphs into a silvery gray shade as it ages. And we love that the teak is Forest Stewardship Council-certified.
Above: The Carl Hansen & Søn AH Collection features 10 pieces, including a deck chair, lounge chair, sofa, and side tables, all pictured here. Above: Cushions are available for each seating option. Pictured are the chaise and ottoman (with and without the cushion). Cushions are made from CertiPUR-US-certified foam and outdoor fabric that partially includes recycled acrylic.
Above: The deck chair—with and without cushions ($935 and $7o5, respectively). Pieces in the collection range from $395 to $3,335. Above: The dining table is also available in a larger, rectangular size.
Design classics aren’t just for interiors. In fact, a crop of notable 20th-century designers made dining and lounge chairs for the outdoors (and/or their designs were later reworked for outdoor use). From the Eameses to Jens Risom to brands including Tolix and Fermob, here are our 12 favorite classic outdoor chair designs. Looking for more […]
