Photography by Peter Reader
Photo of a contemporary partial sun garden in London with a water feature and natural stone pavers.

Design ideas for a large country courtyard full sun formal garden in New York with a water feature and brick pavers.

Photo by George Dzahristos
Photo of a traditional full sun garden in Detroit with natural stone pavers and a garden path.

This concealed library garden courtyard offers total privacy after the installation a 5-foot corbelled brick garden wall and 2 ¼-inch bluestone coping. The patio features geometric bluestone and is planted with scented fragrant shrubs and collections of containers and flowers. The brick-walled fountain provides the calming sound of gently splashing water.

Antique teak gazebo nestled into the trees at the rear of the garden through an opening in the low, perimeter brick garden wall.
Mid-sized traditional backyard partial sun formal garden in Houston with natural stone pavers.

An English style Georgian home with walled courtyard garden. Photographer: John Howard.
Photo of a traditional backyard formal garden in Atlanta with natural stone pavers.

This side entrance is full of special character and elements with Old Chicago Brick floors and arch which also leads to the garage and back brick patio! This is the perfect setting for the beach to endure the sand coming in on those bare feet! Fletcher Isaacs Photographer

The rear wall openings were enlarged, bricks were patched in and repaired at chimney. Photography by Marco Valencia.
This is an example of a traditional kitchen/dining combo in New York with brown floor.

Seasons Living Wall succulents
Design ideas for a contemporary garden in Orange County with a vertical garden.

Overview Simple extension in Twickenham. The Brief The primary aim of this project was to create a space to cook and eat in while repositioning the ground floor bathroom. Our Solution The clients blend of vintage and crisp modern architecture meant the scheme could be a little industrial in its aesthetic. We have combined several key features – An oversized rooflight to flood the kitchen with sun; a feature pivot door to the garden and a simple wrapped zinc roof. With the clients fantastic garden to look onto and a reclaimed gym floor to add a bit of reclaimed chic, this has created some striking, crisp architecture. Category

It started with vision. Then arrived fresh sight, seeing what was absent, seeing what was possible. Followed quickly by desire and creativity and know-how and communication and collaboration. When the Ramsowers first called Exterior Worlds, all they had in mind was an outdoor fountain. About working with the Ramsowers, Jeff Halper, owner of Exterior Worlds says, “The Ramsowers had great vision. While they didn’t know exactly what they wanted, they did push us to create something special for them. I get inspired by my clients who are engaged and focused on design like they were. When you get that kind of inspiration and dialogue, you end up with a project like this one.” For Exterior Worlds, our design process addressed two main features of the original space—the blank surface of the yard surrounded by looming architecture and plain fencing. With the yard, we dug out the center of it to create a one-foot drop in elevation in which to build a sunken pool. At one end, we installed a spa, lining it with a contrasting darker blue glass tile. Pedestals topped with urns anchor the pool and provide a place for spot color. Jets of water emerge from these pedestals. This moving water becomes a shield to block out urban noises and makes the scene lively. (And the children think it’s great fun to play in them.) On the side of the pool, another fountain, an illuminated basin built of limestone, brick and stainless steel, feeds the pool through three slots. The pool is counterbalanced by a large plot of grass. What is inventive about this grassy area is its sub-structure. Before putting down the grass, we installed a French drain using grid pavers that pulls water away, an action that keeps the soil from compacting and the grass from suffocating. The entire sunken area is finished off with a border of ground cover that transitions the eye to the limestone walkway and the retaining wall, where we used the same reclaimed bricks found in architectural features of the house. In the outer border along the fence line, we planted small trees that give the space scale and also hide some unsightly utility infrastructure. Boxwood and limestone gravel were embroidered into a parterre design to underscore the formal shape of the pool. Additionally, we planted a rose garden around the illuminated basin and a color garden for seasonal color at the far end of the yard across from the covered terrace. To address the issue of the house’s prominence, we added a pergola to the main wing of the house. The pergola is made of solid aluminum, chosen for its durability, and painted black. The Ramsowers had used reclaimed ornamental iron around their front yard and so we replicated its pattern in the pergola’s design. “In making this design choice and also by using the reclaimed brick in the pool area, we wanted to honor the architecture of the house,” says Halper. We continued the ornamental pattern by building an aluminum arbor and pool security fence along the covered terrace. The arbor’s supports gently curve out and away from the house. It, plus the pergola, extends the structural aspect of the house into the landscape. At the same time, it softens the hard edges of the house and unifies it with the yard. The softening effect is further enhanced by the wisteria vine that will eventually cover both the arbor and the pergola. From a practical standpoint, the pergola and arbor provide shade, especially when the vine becomes mature, a definite plus for the west-facing main house. This newly-created space is an updated vision for a traditional garden that combines classic lines with the modern sensibility of innovative materials. The family is able to sit in the house or on the covered terrace and look out over the landscaping. To enjoy its pleasing form and practical function. To appreciate its cool, soothing palette, the blues of the water flowing into the greens of the garden with a judicious use of color. And accept its invitation to step out, step down, jump in, enjoy.

The owners of this 1890’s timber cottage –an architect and an interior designer – created a dramatic extension that weaves from the remodelled existing house, through a new pavilion accommodating a hall, bathroom, bedrooms, dining area and kitchen, and into the back garden. An original quarter-bond brick fireplace “anchored” the old building and became the extension’s starting point. The new work artfully uses brick to respond to light while defining boundaries and social spaces, creating edges to perch, responding to privacy, and addressing the garden. The brick walls and floors are patterned with quarter-bond variations along with hit-and-miss (perforated) walling and open perpends (the vertical gaps between bricks), blurring the distinction between internal and external space. The brickwork, predominately in Simmental Silver along with reclaimed bricks, captures an architecture that is responsive, connecting to its place and environment. The handcrafted brickwork creates geometries and forms, contrasting mass with void to create a sense of lightness and connection to site. Photographer: Christopher Frederick Jones (Elvis & Rose photo by Alex Chomicz)

A tapestry of weaving stems, together with voluptuous, fragrant and multi-petalled flowers add to the romanticism of this garden. Blowsy peonies and "old fashioned" rambling roses grow into billowy shapes against walls, above doors, and trailing from the garden walls and trellis on top of the Summerhouse. Free-flowering and self seeding plant choices help to continue naturalising the garden for the future ...defining the naturalistic approach of this city garden. Photography : Steven Wooster

A unique walled garden in Vermont, designed and built by local craftsmen (and women), with a combination of stone, brick, mahogany, iron, stained glass and more! Landscaping by Seaside Landscaping out of Down East Maine.

Marcel Page marcelpagephotography.com
This is an example of a transitional single-wall wet bar in Chicago with shaker cabinets, blue cabinets, an undermount sink, red splashback and light hardwood floors.

Exposed brick and timber set the tone for this San Francisco SOMA loft bedroom. Photo Credit: David Duncan Livingston
This is an example of a mid-sized contemporary master bedroom in San Francisco with grey walls, carpet and grey floor.

Photo by Linda Oyama-Bryan
Design ideas for a mid-sized traditional u-shaped eat-in kitchen in Chicago with stainless steel appliances, subway tile splashback, a farmhouse sink, soapstone benchtops, shaker cabinets, white cabinets, white splashback, medium hardwood floors, brown floor and black benchtop.

A perspective inside the garden (50' x 75'), with newly planted planter boxes and a greenhouse shipped all the way from bonny England!
Design ideas for a country garden in Burlington with a vegetable garden.

Eric Taylor
Design ideas for a country patio in DC Metro with a fire feature, natural stone pavers and a pergola.