Custom Woodwork

Landscaping for Privacy and Better Neighborly Relations

We visited our friends Stephen and Michael at Annefield Vineyards last year and I was a little jealous. Not only is their tasting room/house a beautifully restored mansion (and the wines are ...

by Dave Marciniak • May 18, 2014October 20, 2017

Arbors & Trellises, Custom Woodwork, DC Landscape Design, Design, Hardscaping, Landscape Design, Maryland Landscape Design, Northern Virginia Landscape Design, Outdoor Furnishings, Patio Designs, Pergolas

Pros and Cons of Building a Pergola in Northern Virginia

I get a lot of requests from people interested in adding a pergola to their landscape. They’re cool to begin with and they’ve been made all the more popular by ...

by Dave Marciniak • May 17, 2014June 26, 2014

Arbors & Trellises, Custom Woodwork, DC Landscape Design, Design, Elements of Design, Garden Sculpture, Hardscaping, Horticulture, Landscape Design, Maryland Landscape Design, Northern Virginia Landscape Design, Principles of Design, Virginia Landscape Design

Transparency in the Landscape

As modern humans, we spend our days surrounded by solid, imposing “stuff”. We live in big brick and wood houses, drive two-ton steel vehicles to work on concrete and asphalt ...

by Dave Marciniak • November 7, 2011November 6, 2011

Fredericksburg Pool, Patio & Pergola Design

This week I stopped off to check in with a landscape design client in Fredericksburg, Virginia. This is probably one of my favorite projects of the year. I’ll do a ...

by Dave Marciniak • June 24, 2011June 24, 2011

Custom Woodwork, Decks, Design, Hardscaping, Landscape Design

How to Build a Round Deck

Step 1: Build a square deck. Step 2: Cut off all the corners. In all seriousness, building a round deck isn’t all that different from building a rectangular deck. I’ve ...

by Dave Marciniak • January 27, 2011

Custom Woodwork, Decks, Design, Hardscaping, Landscape Design

Making Multi-Level Decks Work

I’ll be honest, I don’t really care for multi-level decks. They can look stunning, but if they’re not well designed they can be a waste of money. After all, those ...

by Dave Marciniak • January 14, 2011

Arbors & Trellises, Custom Woodwork, Decks, Hardscaping, Landscape Design, Pergolas, Trellises

Pros and Cons of a Fiberglass or Wood Pergola

“I want zero maintenance.” If you wanted to know how many times I’ve heard these words in my career as a designer, I’d say to take the number of presents ...

by Dave Marciniak • January 5, 2011

Arbors & Trellises, Commercial Landscape Design, Custom Woodwork, Landscape Design, Pergolas, Trellises

Commercial Landscape Design Project- Old House Vineyards in Culpeper, Virginia

Yes, I do commercial design work as well. Not bid work- I’m a firm believer that when the only deciding factor is the lowest bid, everyone (including the client) loses- ...

by Dave Marciniak • May 27, 2010

Arbors, Arbors & Trellises, Custom Woodwork, Landscape Design, Products for the garden, Trellises

What to Look for in a Trellis

The #1 most important thing? Scale. I hate to say it, but the majority of off-the-shelf trellises and arbors you can buy are woefully underscaled. Walk into your average big ...

by Dave Marciniak • March 3, 2010

Arbors & Trellises, Custom Woodwork, Decks, Hardscaping, Landscape Design

Designing a Deck

From time to time, I’ll get a request to design a deck for one of my clients. Decks fall under the whole “anything for the outside of a home” category ...

by Dave Marciniak • February 24, 2010