Northouse Landscape: Elm Grove Case Study

Elm Grove Case Study

Elm Grove resident's new addition spurs new landscape.

After having an addition built onto their home, this Elm Grove Client chose Northouse Landscape company to discover the hidden potential in their landscape.

You can see this great change in elevation and opportunity by looking at how low the garage doors on the left are, as compared to the family room windows on the right. We saw this big change in elevation as a beautiful opportunity to create a variety of different spaces defined by beautiful walls, sunken patios and staircases. Simply put, we chose to work with the grade to define spaces and better relate the home to the landscape.
Final product, we have a backyard we can use.

In this photo alone, one can see no less than four different levels of landscape, all of which help to create the various spaces we have designed for this landscape. Functional stoops, a convenient grilling area, an inviting lower dining patio, intimate upper patio with hot tub, along with tons of impromptu seating in the form of seat walls and strong concentric stairs, all contribute to this inviting landscape.
Different Materials, A Closer Look

We have found that the Unilock brand of retaining wall blocks and pavers porvide the best variety of modular concrete material, with looks that can be applied to most any type of home. In this case we chose the Unilock Brussels Dimensional block in the Prairie and Limestone colors to create the walls, stairs and columns, along with Unilock Stonehenge pavers in the Prairie and Muskoka Granite colors for the paved areas.

We then flanked the entirety of the Unilock hardscsape with Lannon Stone walls (see the upper retaining wall in Photo 2 and lower retaining wall in Photo 7). These stone walls provide a wonderful change in materials and welcome transitional components between the Unilock materials and adjacent spaces.
Tiering Detail Before

The existing site provided the site user with less than a smooth slope to negotiate.
Tiering Detail After

Note how gently our design eases into and relates to the existing landscape.
The Grade Before

Wow, that's steep!
The Grade After

Not anymore. By re-working the grades, the backyard became functional and not just wasted space. Note the change in material with the flanking lower Lannon Stone Wall.
Down The Hill Before

A rather closed, unusable space.
Down The Hill After

Turns into a very open and wlcoming series of spaces. Another material change was introduced with a wooden arbor, which provides help to break up the space and provide a sense of enclosure for the hot tub user in the form of an implied wall and ceiling, while at the same time it frames the views from within the hot tub.