View looking onto the newly designed and installed front lead walkway & mailbox again showing the massive canopy from the existing Live Oak trees, the public HOA parking spaces next to the residence and the bed of groundcover & Zoysia lawn where disease ridden and failing St. Augustine grass was prior.

View as you walk up the front lead walkway, designed out of Chocolate Leuders Limestone pads, specifically sized and precisely cut on-site to fit the space. The homeowner wanted a more angular and contemporary design and feel as you entered into the residence so this stone was chosen with Tejas Black Gravel set in-between each 3' x 5' step pad.

Before photo showing the view outside the front study windows, with the previous brick columns and 80's style fence with brick base which was falling apart. Old dilapidated cast stone was existing prior, along with aged landscaping and disease ridden St. Augustine turf below the front Live Oak trees.

After photo showing the crisp edge lines from the new walkway meeting the Asian Jasmine groundcover chosen for it's ability to grow under the Live Oak canopies, with pockets of Autumn & Holly emerging from atop of the Asian Jasmine so as to add texture and color. The newly designed and installed wrought iron fence had to be softened with a solid "green" screen so as to fit within the HOA guidelines, but also providing privacy for the new portion of lawn & patio the homeowner desired.

Before photo looking down from the second story onto the front door courtyard and entry walkway which was previously a dark grey pattern concrete leading all the way to the street. The existing plant material was mostly aged and tired from years of neglect and poor maintenance practices. A few ornamental trees like the Weeping Atlas Cedar and Japanese Maple seen here were asked to be saved & incorporated into the new design by the homeowner.

After photo of the front door courtyard and lead walkway with Oakleaf Hydrangea, Mondo Grass & Holly Fern in the foreground. G. G. Gerbing Azaleas and a specimen Coral Bark Japanese Maple in the background near the new front yard patio space. A band of Tejas Black Gravel was used for drainage purposes against the foundation while tying into the gravel spaces between each large step pad in the walkway.

View as you enter in through the front entry gate and look to your right seeing the new front yard sitting area and turf area for the homeowners dog to have a space to use and play within while they sit and enjoy a morning cup of coffee or evening glass of wine.

View looking back across the new enclosed front yard with the homeowners Weeping Atlas Cedar transplanted into the foreground and sitting area in the background. This again shows the difficult light conditions of this space created from such large Live Oak canopies. Plant material selections were key so as to know what would give them their desired contemporary design with long-term viability below such large trees.

View looking upon the front wall providing the large floor to ceiling Living Room windows privacy from the HOA parking spaces directly in front. The homeowner wanted to soften the existing brick wall with an ornate trellis and ivy, along with evergreen shrubs. We designed a thick gauge diamond pattern wire trellis with Star Jasmine along the wall, Variegated Pittosporum in front so as to add a lighter evergreen color & texture with a large specimen River Birch anchoring the corner to eventually give a larger "arid" canopy over the parking spaces without blocking too much sunlight from entering into the Living Room of the home.

A closer view nearer to the lead walkway with Nellie R. Stevens Holly screening the wrought iron fence and Living Room windows from street view, along with two large planters set on the walkway. The Wok Bowl Planter behind the fence has Moneywort mixed with Mexican Beach Pebbles with an Agave in the center, while the large planter outside the fence has Moneywort water falling over the edges with a special Japanese Maple as the focal feature. This Japanese Maple was really special to the client as they had brought it to this home through two cross country moves, going with them from home to home. They planted it in their first home years ago as a seedling.

View looking back across the front lawn along the side of the house towards the driveway. The Nellie R. Stevens hedge shown here shows the solid nature of it's design so as not to allowing people driving or walking by to look into the guest bedroom windows or the new space created for the clients dog. Also shown here is another existing brick wall creating one of four courtyards on this garden home, where the brick & masonry work was beginning to show it's age along with the monotony of show much brick with this home. The client asked to break these walls up with more greenery so we designed & installed large Fig Ivy along the wall so as to give it another dimension, texture & color. The new Zoysia lawn graded and prepared so as to give the look of a golf course fairway in the foreground.

Before photo of the main interior courtyard where the client spends much of their time. It consisted of a dark, drab grey pattern concrete, surrounded by old & diseased plant material consisting of Oleander (poisonous for their dog), Crape Myrtle, Cherry Laurel and miscellaneous shrubs. This courtyard gets FULL sun exposure making this space very unusable during many Texas Spring & Summer months because of this dark concrete.

After photo showing the new Chocolate Leuders Limestone chosen to give a more "natural" feel with a "clean & crisp" modern look. It's surrounded by newly installed landscaping with Eleaganus Espalier along the far Garage wall, Fig Ivy along the Back Exterior Wall, Moneywort & other miscellaneous Succulents planted along the foundation of the home and near the main water feature installed. All this material was brought in through that standard Garage entry door and cut inside the courtyard. These large Leuder stones took 4 - 5 guys working in cohesiveness to get them into the courtyard without dropping or cracking each individual stone.

Close up view of the Fig Ivy installed along the Back Exterior Wall so as to "soften" the heavy amounts of brick everywhere on the home and provide a solid wall of greenery long-term. The Tejas Black Gravel is also shown here used in this courtyard as the mulch so as to tie into the same gravel separating each large stone pad.

Close up view of the newly created Moneywort & Succulent beds, with the very simple & modern designed water feature. This water feature is the main focus to this courtyard and was something where the homeowner desired a simple & "soft" sound where they could come sit to enjoy a meal with friends or glass of wine while unwinding from a long day of work. What's unique about this water feature is that it's a converted concrete Cattle Trough that the homeowner found on craigslist. They had purchased it and wanted it converted into a modern, sleek water feature. We cut the concrete legs off, buried it down, plumbed it with water and for drainage & cleaning, and installed the pump small enough to be hidden by Mexican Beach Pebble along the bottom, but with enough power to give this nice bubbling feature.