Architect Visit: Barbara Chambers at Home in Mill Valley - Gardenista
You know that house with the beautiful garden you always walk past and admire or in my case covet In my neighborhood it belongs to architect... Photographs by Liesa Johannssen for Gardenista. ...Barbara Chambers who had the future garden in mind before she ever started drawing plans for her newly built house in San Francisco s North Bay Behind the front gate, the bluestone path leads to a patio and the front door, which is technically a side door. “All houses should be oriented this way if possible because it gives you the best light,” says Chambers. A patio built for two sits at the edge of the entryway. The palette of the garden is mostly green, relying on the shape, texture, and height of plants to create structure and interest. The front door is a dutch door; at dinner time Chambers and husband Guy, an architect who is the other half of Chambers and Chambers, can close the bottom half to frame a view of the garden. Coco the poodle guards the door, commanding a doormat made from a square of artificial grass. The view of the front garden, from Chambers’ kitchen. Chambers’ outdoor space is designed as “gardens within gardens,” she says, so that each window in the house has a view of “its own special garden.” Chambers says the gardens she designs for clients (as well as for herself) are inspired by the “very structured” landscapes of classic English gardens. The living room windows overlook a “lawn” of artificial grass that looks remarkably real (even when you’re standing on it). The view from the second floor: the artificial grass is DuPont Forever Lawn. A clematis vine is being trained on twine to frame the front door. A simple but elegant decorative element: Chambers capped fence posts in copper. Rosemary trained as a hedge grows under Chambers’ office window. Chambers’ garden plan includes a backyard patio–currently under construction–and a planted backyard slope. To see another of my favorite neighborhood gardens, see Roof Garden: Cottages in the Mill Valley Woods.