If you’ve ever found yourself the owner of an old property that’s beautiful but in sore need of attention, you already know: Remodeling the kitchen and bathrooms, painting all the walls, redoing the floors, etc.
Photography by Amy Ilias.
The journey to the outdoor space of your dreams is long (think years, as the garden fills in) and most likely riddled with little failures.
In the second phase, Jim installed a 16-foot dry well as a solution to the yard’s drainage issues (“when it rained, the entire backyard puddled up,” she says), and the couple designed the bluestone patio and paths.
“It is so satisfying to see things happy and return each year—like seeing old friends. Every morning this spring, we walked the garden to see what popped up overnight. The garden is becoming more established and beginning to feel like it has always been here.”
The new floating steps, designed by Jim and executed by concrete contractor Ben Keyser, that lead from the dining room to the patio.
Renowned painter Brice Marden (who recently passed away) and his wife, Helen, were the previous owners, responsible for the home’s unique purple palette.
Amy and Jim designed the shape of the bluestone patio and paths with stakes and tape, then hired Ryan Niver of Clove Hollow Landscape Co. to install them.
A riot of peonies, with a climbing hydrangea in the background. The windbell is from Cosanti in Arizona (see Object of Desire: Architect-Designed Bronze Wind Bells from Cosanti.)
Ryan added the steel curve to edge the plantings along the path.
Amy and Jim do all the gardening themselves—including the watering, using “an old-fashioned hose,” she says. Here, dogwood, scabiosa, sweet alyssum, and grasses are content neighbors in the garden.
Black-eyed Susans mingling with feather reed grass, Japanese maple, and creeping juniper.
The beginning of sunset.
Peak sunset gives the house an otherworldy glow.
A vintage birdbath reflecting the sunset and surrounded by purple asters that have not yet bloomed.
Before
When the couple bought the home, rotting wood steps off the dining room led to an old brick-pavered patio.
The yard was overgrown and would often flood, leading to a muddy mess.