Our design process results in a paver patio surrounded by plantings in Grant Park neighborhood tiny side yard. Changing the angle of the porch steps allowed the creation of this charming sitting area.
A Landscape Designer’s Perspective on Transforming Tricky City Properties in NE Portland
I knew from the first phone call that transforming this tricky city property was going to be challenging. The client told me she wasn’t sure any designer could carve out what she wanted from her small city yard. She wanted an elegant and lush garden patio for dining. As I looked at photos with this prospective client, I asked a crucial question. Is the driveway expendable? Happily the answer was yes.
Expendable Driveway
Portlanders in the NE Portland Grant Park neighborhood walk to stores, use public transit and often only have 1 car. This side yard was all about a garage they didn’t use for anything but bikes and storage. They wanted a fantastic private dining area and flower garden surrounding it so they could be outside in it spring summer and fall. And duh, no lawn. Our collaborative and creative design process was just right for our new clients.
Before landscape design process grass and weeds hide the old driveway.
Discover the Right Design
Final Design Drawing Illustrates Angled Patio and Porch Steps that make this Grant Park Neighborhood Landscape Design sing.
So…I’m thinking this tricky city property is not going to be an easy task, and I so love the tricky ones. But I often have design apprentices and I knew Alana would discover a great fit design. I set up my client with Alana as her designer. At first glance there were very few options that came to mind. However, the way we create designs is to get to know our client, do our research and we know the best design will rise up and reveal itself. l love that moment.
Where Do We Start? The Three Doors.
As landscape designers, we always consider how people move around and use their home and yard. This understanding is crucial in creating a professional design that truly functions and fits our clients. We need to get a good feel for the floor plan of the house, how our clients move about and in the case of this tricky city property, let’s start with the doors.
The back yard was not going to work for an elegant and lush garden patio. The trampoline is still beloved and used by the kids so the back door and back yard were a no go.
Which Exterior Door will Lead to the New Elegant and Lush Garden Patio?
The back door of the house opens onto a small deck, which steps down to small sparsely grassy area. Since it’s the kids space for their trampoline, it’s not going to be restful place, and we are not messing with the back deck because it works well for casual kid entertaining. Our next choice, the front door, is way too far from the side yard area that has the potential for the most privacy. Often front door access to a dining patio is common in small tricky city properties but not this one.
The Porch and Steps Led to the Garage
So yes, the side door to the porch was the obvious solution, it was even close to the kitchen but the exit steps cut straight across to the garage. This choice made sense once upon a time when the garage and the entire side yard was all about the car.
Solution – Change the Steps
Alana, having done her research and multiple sketches realized the best solution, in some ways the only solution was to re-move the garage-oriented steps completely off the porch. We set the new steps at an angle leading directly to the new sitting area. This change created a possible new useable space. Because we needed space to create plantings along the fence and around the seating area and space for bikes to pass between the plantings and the table she set the patio in the center of the space. The last twist was to set the patio at an angle to the house.
Contact Us
Let’s transform your tricky city property to make the best use of limited space and craft a custom landscape design for your desires. Contact us.
Part 2 will discuss more design details for this tricky Grant Park property. So look for our upcoming blog about this landscape that will include information about the selected plants and the installation process. We referred installer Donna Burdick D and J Landscape Contractors to our Grant Park clients.
