“It has been a great experience working with this company – highly recommend their services. Special thanks to Rebecca and Anthony, true professionals!”
– Customer
Ordinary Needham Backyard Turned Summer Oasis
This young family of 5 were looking for creative ideas to turn their ordinary Needham backyard into a contemporary oasis where they could make memories with their family and friends for many years to come. The vision for their dream project included a small pool and spa to cool off in in the heat of Summer and warm up in in the chill of Fall, a modern style gas fire pit, and a place to lounge and entertain while still preserving enough lawn space in the backyard for the kids to run around and play sports. Some other items on the wish list were a permanent structure for shade, outdoor lighting, and simplistic, clean plantings. The backyard already had an outdoor kitchen grill island that the homeowners wanted to integrate with the new hardscape as well.
Services We Provided
Design | Patio | Pool Coping | Grill Island | Outdoor Kitchen | Lighting |
Firepit | Irrigation | Tree, shrub and perennial planting
In order to preserve as much lawn space in the backyard as possible I suggested incorporating a plunge pool with a built-in spa for the main pool feature. The 9’ by 21’ inground plunge pool fit all the requirements this family had. Its rectangular shape lent itself perfectly to their contemporary style while the smaller size allowed us to fit the pool off to one side of the backyard to maintain the lawn area and still meet town zoning setback requirements. This size plunge pool also came with the option for a built-in spa so they got the best of both worlds! I came up with a few ideas for the pool orientation and location in the initial concept designs along with different style fire pit options and 2 different ideas for shade structures.
For the final design the homeowners decided that retaining more lawn space was a bigger priority than having a permanent structure for shade. So they chose to reconsider their ideas for shade and in the end put up large umbrellas to provide shade until their kids are older and don’t have as much use for the open lawn space. They can always add a permanent shade structure in the future. The customer loved the rectilinear fire pit design the best and thought the location and style fire pit fit their needs and taste the most. Material selection was a huge part of making this space into the contemporary retreat the customer was looking for. I helped these homeowners select just the right style paver and color along with a unique block for the fire pit to create the space they envisioned. Some added design flairs that really made this outdoor hangout into a modern escape were twin freestanding modernist single spout water fountains installed at the head of the pool just off the patio space, a simplistic plant layout including Boxwoods, Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass and Deep Pink Peonies. Bistro string lighting strung in a zigzag pattern over the fire pit area and even a small stand-up outdoor shower tucked in along the side of the house.
