What Concrete Paver Goes with My Brick House?
I get asked that question a lot, as you can imagine. After all, Virginians love their brick homes, so I design a lot of patios for brick homes. I always look at two things: color and size Color Color is…
Category Virginia Landscape Design
Landscape Design for Small Yards Case Study: Townhouse Front Yard
Townhouse landscape design is tough, because you generally don’t have a lot of space to work with. This is especially true in a townhouse front yard, which is why you see the same thing at every townhouse: 3-5 evergreens against…
Five Landscape Trends for 2013
I’ve always wanted to be a successful prognosticator. It’s much easier to be a procrastinator, though. That notwithstanding, I’ve gazed into my crystal ball and come up with what I think we’ll see more of in 2013. Ok, I’m actually…
Space Planning to Make a Beautiful Vienna Virginia Backyard Better
I’m often called in to make an existing landscape function better. The client doesn’t to rip it all out and start from scratch, but they need to fix… something. Usually it’s my job to figure out what that something is.…
5 First Steps Towards Fixing Your Homebuilder Landscape Package
If you bought your home from one of those big corporate homebuilders, you probably had some cool options available to you on the inside. On the outside, you likely got the basic landscape package everyone else did. The good news…
Should I Build a Fire Pit or a Fireplace?
I meet with a fair number of homeowners who say “I either want a firepit or a fireplace.” This uncertainty is actually a great place to start discussing how they’re going to use the space and how much they’d like…
Travertine Paver Patio Installers in Virginia – What to Know
When I was designing landscapes in Arizona, one option we had available to us was travertine marble tile. These were actual tiles – typically 12″x12″ and less than a half inch think – so they had to be laid in…
Accessibility and Universal Design in the Landscape
When I was studying interior design I was fascinated by universal design. While I don’t trust Wikipedia for everything, their definition nails it: Universal design refers to broad-spectrum ideas meant to produce buildings, products, and environments that are inherently accessible…
The Importance of Compaction for Installing a Paver Driveway
On behalf of a contractor client I’m working with a great couple who are building a new custom home in northern Virginia. As part of the landscape design, they wanted to incorporate a paver front walk and a paver driveway.…