This property is built on a slope beginning in the backyard and becoming more significant as it flows down the front yard to the street. As with any property on a hill, the challenges were halting erosion, directing water flow, and building spaces for the homeowner to sit outside and enjoy their space. This client wanted to be able to spend time in the privacy of the backyard and described the desired style as “responsible, funky, and native.”

We began with the highest part of the backyard by creating a small seating area surrounded by raised garden beds. We then sectioned it off with a limestone chop block wall that stepped down into a grass area for pets. We terraced down another level using stacked flagstone to build a retaining wall for a bed near the back patio around a beautiful heritage oak. Between everything we worked in a dry creek to direct all the water running through the yard to move around the side of his house and let it filter down over boulders and down the hill in the front yard.

In the front yard, we extended the front porch with charcoal brick and surrounded that space with garden beds filled with grasses and flowers. We built a stucco retaining wall around the patio and used steel and the same patio bricks to build steps down another level. The walk was completed by incorporating large boulder steps down to the street. We finished the project by filling the front yard with a mix of shade friendly grass.