Distinction Awards

The client wanted his summer home on the Chesapeake Bay to have a South Florida vibe. A sleek entry court with crisp lines was key. As a performance car enthusiast, our client wanted his guests to arrive and park their imported classics in a space that fit with the high-end vehicles in which they arrived. A wow factor utilizing titanium white concrete and highend synthetic turf provided the perfect look. To tie the arrival court in with the garden, low stone walls repeated the look of the home’s foundation and allowed the expanse of parking to be screened upon arrival. Plantings were incorporated to add needed privacy, architectural interest, and platforms for an impressive night lighting effect.

We were contacted by this homeowner after an existing client recommended us for boxwood care and total property maintenance. The property had boxwood blight that decimated their formal garden and surrounding plantings. They needed a redesign and a plan to keep the remaining boxwood healthy going forward. We visit the property weekly to mow and tend to the landscape, with large scale monthly visits to inspect and maintain the plantings with detailed care. We redesigned the formal garden using alternatives for boxwood and kept the formal colonial style. We have added and switched out plantings around the entire property.

The new homeowners of this property inherited dated, nonfunctional outdoor living spaces. Our work included installing new pool coping and repairing the automatic cover, now with a stone cover box. Interior renovations included gutting the basement to make an entertaining haven for “College Football Saturdays,” which the clients host regularly. Because the impervious surface allowance was maxed out before we arrived on the project, our carpenters built a ground-level Ipe deck to create an allowable surface for an entrance and a seating area for the new basement. The plantings are deer resistant and focused on blooming in the summer months.

The client wanted a covered outdoor space for multi-season use. The backyard they inherited had nice features, but they were fragmented, with multiple styles—from farmhouse to neoclassical to contemporary to rustic—and disjointed. A multi-level pool deck and pool were in place, but they disliked the sunken classical garden and Victorian pergola. Our scope of work included removing the ornate pergola and building an outdoor living area that included the potential for three or four season use, a large screen TV for viewing sports and Friday night movies, counterspace for serving food and drinks, storage, overhead heaters, a maintenancefree fireplace, and room for comfortable furniture.

Our company installed the front entranceway project more than 10 years ago. Correcting drainage issues, creating an inviting entrance, and finding a way to reduce the impervious surface so that a future swimming pool and backyard improvements will be feasible when desired were the client’s main focus. Our crews replaced the asphalt circular driveway with a gravel driveway and car court. The sub-base consists of a geo grid and aggregate, allowing for a turf-covered driveway, which reduces impervious materials and simplifies the design. The Ipe boardwalk to the front door leads to the vase fountain aligned on the axis of the walk, which extends to a landing leading to the front door.