Inspired by a visit to Italy and a passion for food and entertaining, this outdoor kitchen is designed for big family gatherings and taking in views of Maine’s mountains. Covered by a cedar loggia, the locally-quarried granite that makes up the floor, the pizza oven surround, the countertops and the hand-carved sink evoke the rustic ruggedness of a Tuscan countryside lodge. Cedar also was chosen for the cabinetry and the structure hiding the grill’s vent hood. A wood-burning pizza oven, Hybrid Fire Grill and cook top provide plenty of fire to cook for large parties. The outdoor space’s centerpiece is a custom-made cherrywood picnic table that is large enough to seat 20 people. The space is wired with speakers for music or the big game, and infrared heaters provide warmth for chilly summer evenings, or cool spring and fall days. Holly Hunt-designed lights over the table brighten the space. Designed by Deborah Chatfield of Rockport, ME. Photo Credit: Tim Street-Porter

Evo Circular Cooktop

Shane Leblanc

Stone fireplace with outdoor covered structure, slate patio

This lake house porch uses a palette of neutrals, blues and greens to incorporate the client’s favorite color: turquoise. A bead board ceiling, woven wood blinds, wicker ceiling fan and outdoor grass rug set the stage for Indonesian rain drum tables and a vintage turquoise planter.

This shade arbor, located in The Woodlands, TX north of Houston, spans the entire length of the back yard. It combines a number of elements with custom structures that were constructed to emulate specific aspects of a Zen garden. The homeowner wanted a low-maintenance garden whose beauty could withstand the tough seasonal weather that strikes the area at various times of the year. He also desired a mood-altering aesthetic that would relax the senses and calm the mind. Most importantly, he wanted this meditative environment completely shielded from the outside world so he could find serenity in total privacy. The most unique design element in this entire project is the roof of the shade arbor itself. It features a “negative space” leaf pattern that was designed in a software suite and cut out of the metal with a water jet cutter. Each form in the pattern is loosely suggestive of either a leaf, or a cluster of leaves. These small, negative spaces cut from the metal are the source of the structure’ powerful visual and emotional impact. During the day, sunlight shines down and highlights columns, furniture, plantings, and gravel with a blend of dappling and shade that make you feel like you are sitting under the branches of a tree. At night, the effects are even more brilliant. Skillfully concealed lights mounted on the trusses reflect off the steel in places, while in other places they penetrate the negative spaces, cascading brilliant patterns of ambient light down on vegetation, hardscape, and water alike. The shade arbor shelters two gravel patios that are almost identical in space. The patio closest to the living room features a mini outdoor dining room, replete with tables and chairs. The patio is ornamented with a blend of ornamental grass, a small human figurine sculpture, and mid-level impact ground cover. Gravel was chosen as the preferred hardscape material because of its Zen-like connotations. It is also remarkably soft to walk on, helping to set the mood for a relaxed afternoon in the dappled shade of gently filtered sunlight. The second patio, spaced 15 feet away from the first, resides adjacent to the home at the opposite end of the shade arbor. Like its twin, it is also ornamented with ground cover borders, ornamental grasses, and a large urn identical to the first. Seating here is even more private and contemplative. Instead of a table and chairs, there is a large decorative concrete bench cut in the shape of a giant four-leaf clover. Spanning the distance between these two patios, a bluestone walkway connects the two spaces. Along the way, its borders are punctuated in places by low-level ornamental grasses, a large flowering bush, another sculpture in the form of human faces, and foxtail ferns that spring up from a spread of river rock that punctuates the ends of the walkway. The meditative quality of the shade arbor is reinforced by two special features. The first of these is a disappearing fountain that flows from the top of a large vertical stone embedded like a monolith in the other edges of the river rock. The drains and pumps to this fountain are carefully concealed underneath the covering of smooth stones, and the sound of the water is only barely perceptible, as if it is trying to force you to let go of your thoughts to hear it. A large piece of core-10 steel, which is deliberately intended to rust quickly, rises up like an arced wall from behind the fountain stone. The dark color of the metal helps the casual viewer catch just a glimpse of light reflecting off the slow trickle of water that runs down the side of the stone into the river rock bed. To complete the quiet moment that the shade arbor is intended to invoke, a thick wall of cypress trees rises up on all sides of the yard, completely shutting out the disturbances of the world with a comforting wall of living greenery that comforts the thoughts and emotions.

This back porch is the perfect place to beat the heat and yet keep an eye on the pool activities.

Bamboo water feature, brick patio, fire pit, Japanese garden, Japanese Tea Hut, Japanese water feature, lattice, metal roof, outdoor bench, outdoor dining, fire pit, tree grows up through deck, firepit stools, paver patio, privacy screens, trellis, hardscape patio, Tigerwood Deck, wood beam, wood deck, privacy screens, bubbler water feature, paver walkway

As the landscape matures, plants need to be relocated and replaced in order to keep the original vision in mind and accommodate the always evolving space. As a full service company we are happy to add plants and help to redesign areas. Photo by Linda Oyama Bryan

Interiors by SFA Design Photography by Meghan Beierle-O'Brien

Interiors by SFA Design Photography by Meghan Beierle-O'Brien

Photo by: Randy Ashley

Porch off the Main Living Area. You can see in this view the excellent craftsmanship of the scalloped end to the Porch Shed Roof.