Architecture outdoors
Spruce up your backyard with high-tech fabrics, well-planned landscaping and even faux grass
Memorial Day is coming right up, and kids will soon be getting out of school for the summer. All of that, of course, signals the return to the backyard — provided you’re not already out there.
If it’s time to spruce things up, for family gatherings or more adult parties, don’t just buy a couple of lawn chairs, an umbrella and a potted plant.
Instead, create an outdoor space that you love by taking cues from the things you love indoors, say Houston’s experts.
Landscape architect Lanson B. Jones begins his projects by evaluating many things: a home’s roof line, entry, staircase and windows. He measures rooms indoors and notes geomet- ric shapes.
Similarly, Tami Owen of the Owen Group design firm, says she wants to create outdoor areas as comfortable as your living room and as sleek and as practical as your kitchen.
Curved stair rails, elliptical staircases and opera windows prompt Jones — whose geometric shapes take cues from landscapes of the Renaissance era — to create circular lawn patterns anchored by a fireplace or other focal point. A rectangular dining room will lead to an identi-
cal pavilion or pool.
His approach is heavily influenced by time spent studying gardens and architecture in Europe in 1978. If you ask him what’s trending, he’ll take you back to 1600 and talk about modern designs drawn from Italian, French, English masters. As fussy as that might sound, they have a place at fine River Oaks estates or rustic country farmhouses alike.
“People know we’re obsessed with architecture,” Jones says of his firm, Lanson B. Jones & Co. “The idea of patterning and mirroring the architecture is at the heart of what we design. As a result, what we incorporate is very architectural in its essence.”
On the decorating side, Owen recommends furniture in neutral colors for a bright, fresh feel. Pops of color come in pillows, rugs and other accessories.
And technology has improved everything, Owen says, giving us TVs and kitchen appliances that won’t get ruined by rain and fabrics that resist fading and mildew.
“First, we figure out what (the client’s) needs are and how they’re going to live in the space,” Owen says. “Comfort is our main goal. We spatially plan the areas so we don’t sell them anything over- or under-scaled.”
Like Jones, Owen wants outdoor areas to have a focal point — pools, fountains and fireplaces are popular.
Owen just finished a project at a Lake Austin home and put four comfortable chairs that rock and swivel around a fire pit, enabling people to turn to see the lake view.
A TV area gets a sofa and chairs with ottomans for comfort; a dining area might need outdoor drapes or motorized, retractable shades to cut back on sun, she says. Even outdoor ceiling fans and misters can help Texans stay cool.
Owen says she’s putting artwork above fireplaces; Jones wants you to consider taking mirrors outside.
To really open things up, instead of building in French doors, more people are opting for huge sliding or movable walls like you see in modern office buildings that can open up to the outdoors and give the appearance of having no wall at all.
Then there’s the lawn itself. People spend plenty of time and money grooming the perfect Bermuda, St. Augustine or zoysia grasses.
The hottest trend right now is to fake it: artificial turf. Jones says kids can play without tracking in dirt or mud, and as for pets, it’s a poop-scoop-rinse scenario. And, if there’s a pool nearby, artificial grass won’t be damaged by pool chemicals.
Perhaps the most important thing Jones wants homeowners to remember is to be thoughtful and plan their space. If you’ve ever worked on your patio or landscaping and kept moving things around, adding and subtracting, but never feeling as if you really liked it, you know what he’s talking about.
If you’re planning around the personality of the site, architecture and yourself, you’re off to a good start, he says.