Kelli came to me with a bunch of awesome ideas and needs for her backyard. She wanted help making them all work together in a cohesive way that didn't feel crowded. She wanted a beautiful social space that her grandchildren would want to come visit, her dogs could play and she could relax in different ways depending on the weather and her mood. Her style is modern but cozy with a little bit of whimsy.

 

Before any of the fun ideas could happen, there was a pressing issue that we needed solving. Kelli has two lovely dogs and the neighbors on two sides of her backyard also have dogs, which creates constant fence aggression from all sides - not very relaxing. The first step to solving this was to create a shorter double fence along a meandering path to give the dogs maximum play area. The second step was to ensure that the outer fence was lined with drought tolerant evergreen privacy trees and shrubs. I chose Texas Sage and Fruitless Olives. A few functional items were needed in the backyard without obstructing the social areas. So in the side yard we added a dog grooming station and a vegetable garden bed which will be covered in an impenetrable cabinet shaped hardware cloth barriers with openings the perfect size to keep the critters out and still invite the bees in. A laundry line will be hung above the vegetable bed so that any water dipping off the clean clothes will feed the garden.

 

Next we got to the fun stuff! Kelli is passionate about DIY and wants to build a pool deck by herself! So I designed a multi-level pool deck with a hot tub and a stock tank pool, some seating and a gate to keep the dogs out when they're not wanted. I expanded her back porch to be a more elegant cohesive area, added a fire pit that faces the pool so that people could be social while doing different things. On the left side of the property is a brick wall. I recommended that she paint it white and plant a variety of tall thin cacti for contrast. I lined the meandering path with native shrubs to attract pollinators. Under one of the existing huge pine trees I added a contemplative prayer garden with Kelli's beautiful statue of Mother Mary and a matching bench. Kelli was super excited about the design. Here's what she had to say:

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“Nisha assisted me with a complete design for our backyard and did a wonderful job.  It was a pleasure working with her end-to-end.  I had many ideas but did not know how to incorporate them where they made sense.  Nisha listened carefully to my ideas and developed a beautiful design that I’m very excited to execute.  Nisha was very professional, personable and I will definitely use her for future projects.”