Outdoor room you say? What about an outdoor house! This project has it all. The wonderful wooded lot was very spacious and backed onto a forest but useable space was lacking. An overgrown slope divided the property in two and there was no easy way up or down. At the outer edge of the yard was a heartbreaking pile of branches and lawn clippings generations deep.
Alice from Urban Nature Design had a lot of great ideas and a plan was soon in place. The old concrete patio was broken up and hauled away, replaced with a spacious limestone patio. Two large pergolas were erected creating a dry place to BBQ, have dinner and for the kids to hang out and do homework.
The upper level of the yard now has a large playground and basalt stone water feature that can be enjoyed from the patio and from inside the house.
Down below where the debris was piled is now a playhouse for the kids perched atop a retaining wall planted with Licorice fern that seems to fade into the forest. A pathway of log rounds leads to the lower flagstone patio where the adults can entertain around the fire bowl. And of course, now we have the beautiful staircase of black basalt stair treads and basalt boulders winding its way back to the house and upper patio. All of this especially dramatic at night with the fire bowl lit and landscape lights casting shadows across the garden. Magnolia, Maple, Birch and fir trees glowing against the dark forest.
And did I mention the trampoline? Well don't get me started on the trampoline.