Patio of the Week: Peaceful and Surprisingly Kid-Friendly
A landscape architect works playground-like fun into a sophisticated Seattle garden
During the construction phase of their new home, a Seattle family hired landscape architect Kim Rooney to create a beautiful and thoughtful design that would fit their needs and their personalities. Rooney had done a beautiful job transforming their previous property and understood their preferences. For the adults, it was all about clean lines and contemplative spaces. For their young children, it meant things that would engage them. So she created a sophisticated space that serves as a stealth playground, thoughtfully incorporating steppingstones to hop across, fruit to pick, flowers to sniff, boulders to climb and a shallow wading pool for play.
The terraced retaining walls, back fence, 2-by-2-foot concrete patio pavers and row of Leyland cypresses that screen the back edge of the property had been installed before Rooney was hired. She worked with those elements to keep the family on budget while working within their style.
She had the freedom to do what she wanted with the fences that ran down either side of the property, and found a photo of a fence on Houzz that inspired this design. “I often make Houzz ideabooks and scroll through them with clients,” she says.
Rooney worked out the exact fence design with the contractors during its construction on-site. “I didn’t want the fence to disappear. There is so much gray and black around this house. The fence adds nice blond and caramel colors,” she says. She used tight-knot cedar and stained it to match the wood seen beneath the roof’s overhangs. “The knottiness makes it more interesting than clear cedar would have,” she says. She installed wash lights in the planting beds to highlight the fences at night.
Browse fence photos on Houzz
She had the freedom to do what she wanted with the fences that ran down either side of the property, and found a photo of a fence on Houzz that inspired this design. “I often make Houzz ideabooks and scroll through them with clients,” she says.
Rooney worked out the exact fence design with the contractors during its construction on-site. “I didn’t want the fence to disappear. There is so much gray and black around this house. The fence adds nice blond and caramel colors,” she says. She used tight-knot cedar and stained it to match the wood seen beneath the roof’s overhangs. “The knottiness makes it more interesting than clear cedar would have,” she says. She installed wash lights in the planting beds to highlight the fences at night.
Browse fence photos on Houzz
One of the family’s must-haves was a low-maintenance water feature that their kids would want to interact with. The original plans had water coming down the hill toward the house. “According to feng shui principles, you don’t want water coming toward your house,” Rooney says. “I knew if I kept my eyes open it would come to me.” One day while choosing boulders for the front yard, she came across the teardrop-shape boulder seen here, and that’s exactly what happened. She turned it into a fountain and set it into a polished-basalt pool.
There is striking contrast between the light colors of the boulder and the black pool. The water comes out of the top of the boulder, and the pool water flows over a disappearing polished-basalt edge into a border of dark Mexican pebbles.
Photo from the homeowners
“The kids love to walk barefoot along the basalt rim, and they love to play with the water where it comes out of the top,” Rooney says. They also like to wade in the 6-inch-deep pool.
“The kids love to walk barefoot along the basalt rim, and they love to play with the water where it comes out of the top,” Rooney says. They also like to wade in the 6-inch-deep pool.
Photo from the homeowners
A steel edge holds the border of Mexican pebbles in place.
A steel edge holds the border of Mexican pebbles in place.
Rooney chose the boulder seen here because it could serve as a chair for the kids to sit and climb on. Its location in this corner allows them to climb from the boulder onto the walls. The ‘Autumn Brilliance’ apple serviceberry tree (Amelanchier x grandiflora ‘Autumn Brilliance’) offers year-round interest with its smooth bark, berries, flowers and fall color.
Rooney directed the meticulous placement of the boulders. For the fountain, she made sure the angle worked well with different viewpoints around the yard and from inside the house. The windows over the kitchen sink provide a direct view. “It is not centered, to create perspective,” she says.
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She also carefully considered the colors and textures of the plantings. A row of deer ferns (Blechnum spicant) creates a soft green edge along the retaining wall.
The area near the house features a conversation area around a fire pit. The ready-made fire pit has a smooth, blocky look that suits the minimalist garden. The fire can be turned on and off with a remote.
“On a recent trip to Copenhagen, my clients had admired the way ornamental grasses were used there and were excited to use them here,” Rooney says. Many appear in the front yard, and the light green grass on the left here is gold Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’).
She brought fragrance into the garden through plants like Itoh peonies, jasmine shrubs, ‘Sundance’ Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’) and ‘Little Titch’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Little Titch’). And she knew the kids liked to pick berries, so she mixed in strawberry plants (Fragaria ‘Lipstick’) and blueberry shrubs.
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“On a recent trip to Copenhagen, my clients had admired the way ornamental grasses were used there and were excited to use them here,” Rooney says. Many appear in the front yard, and the light green grass on the left here is gold Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’).
She brought fragrance into the garden through plants like Itoh peonies, jasmine shrubs, ‘Sundance’ Mexican orange blossom (Choisya ternata ‘Sundance’) and ‘Little Titch’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Little Titch’). And she knew the kids liked to pick berries, so she mixed in strawberry plants (Fragaria ‘Lipstick’) and blueberry shrubs.
Shop for a fire pit
Accordion doors create an easy transition from indoors to out. Rooney reworked the existing plans to create a patio that was flush with the house. It slopes down imperceptibly toward a channel drain along the back wall.
The accordion doors open to the fire pit area. Rooney inherited the stone-like concrete retaining walls from the original plans. She elevated the look by capping them in bluestone. The homeowners chose the furnishings, which include a streamlined bench and playful ombre Acapulco chairs.
The kids and music inspired the staggered bluestone steppingstone path that leads from the patio to the other side of the yard. “The kids like to jump from stone to stone like it’s a hopscotch board,” Rooney says.
Here’s a closer look at the cedar fence. The staggered depth of the boards creates interesting shadows.
Three ‘Little Gem’ southern magnolia trees (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’) run along the fence. To the left of the path, Bountiful Blue blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum ‘FLX-2’) and ‘Sunshine Blue’ blueberry (Vaccinium x ‘Sunshine Blue’) shrubs provide the kids with more berries to pick.
Three ‘Little Gem’ southern magnolia trees (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Little Gem’) run along the fence. To the left of the path, Bountiful Blue blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum ‘FLX-2’) and ‘Sunshine Blue’ blueberry (Vaccinium x ‘Sunshine Blue’) shrubs provide the kids with more berries to pick.
Photo from the homeowners
The kids enjoy walking along the retaining walls.
The kids enjoy walking along the retaining walls.
The whole family enjoys watching the birds that are attracted to the yard by the berries on the plants Rooney chose.
From the fragrance of the flowers to the calming sound of the fountain, the garden engages all five senses. The kids love to play in the yard, whether wading in the pool or foraging for berries.
The spare design and clean lines make the narrow yard feel more spacious. “This project shows you don’t have to do something enormous to have a big impact,” Rooney says.
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The spare design and clean lines make the narrow yard feel more spacious. “This project shows you don’t have to do something enormous to have a big impact,” Rooney says.
More on Houzz
Read more landscape design stories
Browse thousands of landscape photos
Find a landscape architect or designer
Shop for your outdoor space
Patio at a Glance
Who uses it: A family that includes two young children
Location: Bellevue, Washington
Size: 2,100 square feet (195 square meters)
Landscape architect: Kim Rooney Landscape Architecture
Three primary factors inform Rooney’s designs — her clients, the architecture and the context of the site. Here she was working with clients who wanted contemplative spaces that would engage their children, a modern house with lots of gray and black, and a long, narrow space that would form the main part of the garden.
Rooney describes her clients as people who like clean lines and who aren’t gardeners and don’t want to be. The house, located on a hill, had a backyard with a narrow, flat area next to the house and terraced retaining walls beyond.
“We wanted the garden to be playful but not feel like a playground,” she says. She repeated the colors of the house in the landscape and provided contrast with the plants and the fencing. “The key to success with the narrow yard was making it feel larger by keeping it very simple,” she says. That suited her clients, who like calm Zen gardens.
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