It will be interesting to see if you get many responses. I have found that large scale and fully flushed out plans are the posts that are the hardest to comment on.

Do you entertain much now? If so, where do the people congregate? The reason that I ask, is that it seems like this entertainment space is a bit separated from the house. I could see hanging out by the pool, or maybe the kitchen while watching the kids play on the play set. The outdoor kitchen, fireplace and dining area seem nice, but are they enough to make people want to be out there...battling the heat, humidity and mosquitoes?

- Brent (who almost never entertains more than a couple people)

I also get the impression that you plan on entertaining on a large scale? Is parking going to be a problem? I'm also wondering if the various areas are too separate, making guests split up into groups?

Don't plant anything between the road and the cement gutter that you won't mind being eaten by the plows. They don't come out that often, so when they do they often run amok. I'd give them at least 5 ft of groundcover next to the road, and fairly resilient shrubs for the next 5 ft.

Although the plan and description seems attractive I think I might find it odd to see so many structures in someone's front yard. Sort of like a compound and less like a home. I know you are somewhat hidden though.

I have three separate areas for entertaining on my property none of which are near each other and it is a bit of a pain. If you are planning on making one terrace a kitchen, make sure it really is a full kitchen, with a refrigerator, sink, etc. Of course that would require some kind of enclosure (the only places I've seen with refrigerators openly on their front lawns also usually feature cars jacked up on cement blocks and unmown lawns, definitely not the aesthetic you are going for) which would mean still another building type structure in the front yard.

I will say, you must like guests a lot more than I do!

>Do you entertain much now? If so, where do the people congregate?

We haven't moved into the house yet, but we REALLY like entertaining!

>I also get the impression that you plan on entertaining on a large scale?

Yep.

>The outdoor kitchen, fireplace and dining area seem nice, but are they enough to make people want to be out there...battling the heat, humidity and mosquitoes?

The outdoor parties will truly be outdoors--think big barbeque. The entire yard is lightly shaded, too, so the heat is softened by the trees. (And during brutally hot weeks, just like when it's really cold, we either won't entertain or will entertain elsewhere!)

>Is parking going to be a problem?

No. There are large amounts of street parking available. It's a cul-de-sac with a very broad residential-only street leading up to it. Putting a parking space on the lot isn't feasible, anyhow--it would kill trees. I would like to widen the driveway, at least, but can't for that reason! Not worth it.

>I'm also wondering if the various areas are too separate, making guests split up into groups?

I want an area with separate rooms the way a house has separate rooms (but bigger) to allow me to entertain various sizes of groups easily while maintaining a comfortable feel and to allow different conversations to dominate different areas. *g* There are groups of people who like to hang out in the kitchen...and others who hang out in the living room...and otohers who hang out in the family room. I want to recreate that same sort of atmosphere.

Of course, the spaces have to be near one another and logically related for that to work, just like house rooms do! That's one reason there are open doorways and the "walls" are lowered between the upper rooms. The one area that truly is separate is the pool. Most of the people we entertain won't be interested in it--just the kids. So most likely, most adults will want to be away from the rowdy, noisy kid zone (other than those supervising) and in the adult-oriented areas.

>Don't plant anything between the road and the cement gutter that you won't mind being eaten by the plows. They don't come out that often, so when they do they often run amok.

Ack! Oh, no! Our snowplow locally never does more than bump a rock at the corner of my driveway. I'll definitely have to find out how wild the local drivers tend to be! If they don't hit the mailboxes (that are right next to the street) and other neighbor's bushes that are right on the edge, I think I'll be safe if I make it into a *raised* bed. IF they hit them, though, though....

>Although the plan and description seems attractive I think I might find it odd to see so many structures in someone's front yard.

That's why only the bright green part will be "front yard". The rest will be 95% hidden. I put the path roughly where people have to cross the lawn, anyway--it would just visually narrow the lawn, so instead of looking right and seeing tons of grass, you see a shrub border. Now, one water feature and the tea house will be visible from the lawn, so those would definitely be "out there," but I don't *think* it'd be too much. The tea house is the last thing on the agenda, so it may get dropped.

Currently, we're mostly hidden. Soon, we'll be completely hidden. *g* To give you some perspective about neighbors and lot size, one neighbor has "just" one acre and is set so far back you really can't see the house, either, and the other has three and is equally screened. Some screening is the norm on our end of the street, and complete screening isn't unusual. So it won't be like you're going down a regular street with regular fron lawns and you suddenly hit a wall of greenery!

>If you are planning on making one terrace a kitchen, make sure it really is a full kitchen, with a refrigerator, sink, etc. Of course that would require some kind of enclosure (the only places I've seen with refrigerators openly on their front lawns also usually feature cars jacked up on cement blocks and unmown lawns, definitely not the aesthetic you are going for) which would mean still another building type structure in the front yard.

I plan on making it a full kitchen, but there won't be an enclosure. I looked at a lot of outdoor kitchens and have discovered that they look good as long as the back up to something or are otherwise rooted, whether or not there is a structure. (It will be ENTIRELY invisible from everywhere except inside the entertainment area--screening would be complete.) Here are some designs that have no cover but that work (though many need surrounding landscaping!):

http://www.sunscapestx.com/images/Kitchen108.jpg
http://www.poolspaliving.com/shop/Issues/00/April/outdoorkitchen.asp
http://www.greenmountainsoapstone.com/images/gallery/barbecue.jpg

You have to think of the shrub borders around the perimeter of the entertainment area as serving as a wall. Also, I'd have a refrigerator of the kind shown in the last picture, which is the closest to what I'm wanting. Several companies make under-counter outdoor fridges, which is what I'd get, not a great hulking thing.

--Rey

Sorry, what is the question? and what does *g* mean. Tired.

*g* is a grin. Question is, pretty much: How does it look in your mind? Have I overlooked something critical? Is there something that's going to bite me that I don't know about? Something that I "can't" do that I'm trying to?

--

BTW, in the pictures, the house the left is four houses down--the nearer ones too screened to see. And on the right, they are 2 and 3. #3 looks like one of the brand new tract-house colonials set on a scraped-bare lot just a few yards from the street--BLECH--but all the houses in the neighborhood are actually custom. The oldest were built around 1950, and they continue up, with every style of the time, until today. Which I think is pretty cool for a neighboorhood since it gives you a lot more design freedom! I've got a traditional ranch on one side (red brick) of us, a 1950s formal colonial on the other (orangey brick), and down the street are a 1970s cedar-sided geometric house, the ugly brand new one with vinyl siding or something like that, a pseudo-Spanish villa (in brick), a wannabe farm house... Landscaping ranges from pure forest to terraced gardens to conifer-only plantings to formal gardens to tutus of evergreen shurbs, perfectly pruned. It's a neat neighborhood. *g* I love the variety!

It has 3200 sqft currently, soon to have 4250. So it won't be out of proportion with the house.

You should check with the local zoning laws to find out if you can plant the area in the road layout (lawn not on your property between the pavement and property line) in the manner that you want to. You should also check to see if the tea house meets that zoning law. Many communities do not allow accessory buildings in the front yard and most have pretty clear definitions of what those are.

Other than that, the style is unique, the use is somewhat unique, and you seem to know what you want to do with it. Other than interjecting opinions on those, there really is nothing to critique.

How big is this property anyway? It seems from description and photos to be about 3-4 acres. On the entire property you want to fit (in addition to the house):

big dog run
lawn
deck
swimming pool
guest house
huge playset
paths
existing driveway
teahouse
shrub screeens
various asian modern borders and geometric beds
walled courtyard
heated tropical garden
2 water features
bog containers
stream
bridge
3 large entertainment areas in the front yard, one with full kitchen

You don't have Versaille here. Neither the style of the house nor the scale of the property seems well suited for everything you want, IMO. And execution is going to be key. Are there contractors in your area that have the capacity to do this work well? People who can maintain it well? Maybe so. It seems like a well manicured (and moneyed) neighborhood. Do you think your neighbors will enjoy the cul-de-sac full of cars and kitchen in the front yard? (if I can see their homes from the photos you've submitted, they can see you, even with added screening shrubs.)

Something about the design seems off to me, and I think it's the symmetry of the layout with a house that, to me, says "informal". It's an attractive house, and I think the Japanese inspired theme is a good one, but I'd like to see a more natural look with this house and setting.

But then, what do I know?
Jo

Well, I'm still waiting for an answer to Brent's mosquito question.

This is an awfully big investment in outdoor living in an area that was generally considered uninhabitable in the summer before the invention of air conditioning. People who thought this type of entertaining was important, had separate houses, in different states, to do it in. My recollections of staying through several 24-hour relays at Camp Meade is one of those stories that goes on, and on, and on because it's the only way to even try to express the true hideousness of spending a night in a sauna you can't turn off. The year it drizzled was a definite improvement. Everything that was under a canopy stayed reasonably dry, like the pillows and sleeping bags, and books, and sandwiches. Most years it was a relief when the sun came up, and the steam started rising.

The tea house I rather like since it has a roof and potential screens. The outdoor kitchen could also be enclosed. The floating decks just aren't going to work. There is going to be all this tree debris falling on them, which will get between the cracks and make a decent growing environment for new, baby trees. Given the number of trees growing in people's gutters down there, it will take herbicide to keep them out from under an inaccessible deck.

Rational people spend their summers going from air conditioned houses, to air conditioned cars, to air conditioned stores, back to air conditioned cars. Pool parties are acceptable, because that includes a way of keeping cool. There are two short barbeque seasons, a spring and a fall one, where it cools off enough at night where you need a jacket which helps with the mosquitoes.

The good part is that they seem to have the malaria and yellow fever under control.

My untrained .02 is that the trapezoidal deck out near the street is extraneous to the rest of the plan and looks like it is crowding the property lines. Also, the water feature might be a nice linear focal point if visible from the cul de sac end of the property.

Are you familiar with the work of Mia Lehrer? I've only seen magazine articles featuring her work, but I seem to gravitate to it every time and my scrap book is filled with clippings from these articles. If you are still undecided about the overall layout of the project or some project details, you might find inspiration in her work--I think many of her projects are similar in feel and scope to what you are planning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mia Lehrer portfolio pix

>big dog run

No. The dogs will have free run of the existing backyard--except pool area. I don't do dog runs.

>lawn

Yep. There's already a front and back lawn--I'll just be making it smaller.

>deck

It's already in place. It's reasonably sized--maybe, oh, 15' deep and 28' long. I might change the railings, but I won't make it bigger.

>swimming pool, guest house

The guesthouse will serve the poolhouse, too, and will be right next to the pool. I currently have a 1000 sqft guesthouse on .5 acres and love it--and it doesn't look odd. This one will have a much smaller footprint, though, so it will be in scale with the pool.

>huge playset

Yep.

>paths

Have to get to the front door somehow, and I don't much care for stomping across the lawn, like you have to now! (Clearly, they never had visitors...)

>existing driveway

Yep

>teahouse

Maybe...

>shrub screeens
>various asian modern borders and geometric beds
>3 large entertainment areas in the front yard, one with full kitchen

All of thses are one single entitiy. This is like saying "a roof, a front door, hallways, bedrooms...."

>walled courtyard, heated tropical garden

Oh, no, NOT heated! It's just an open courtyard where I can place marginally hardy plants for a tropical FEEL.

>2 water features
>bog containers
>stream
>bridge

The stream will be 2' across and will run across pebbles, and the bridge is just a slab of rock lying across it. We're not talking about a river here! It's about twice as large as it would be if the drawing were perfectly to scale.

>And execution is going to be key. Are there contractors in your area that have the capacity to do this work well? People who can maintain it well?

Yes. It's in a bedroom community, and there are more and more $1-million-plus properties of rich commuters who don't mind the drive into DC in exchange for a ginormous house. (Though now the houses are getting smaller and smaller for $1 mil...)

>It seems like a well manicured (and moneyed) neighborhood. Do you think your neighbors will enjoy the cul-de-sac full of cars and kitchen in the front yard?

It's a...variously moneyed neighborhood, actually. And a variously manicured one--there are half a dozen that are simply houses in the forest, no lawn at all. One neighbor's house is a scant 1200 sqft! Others are many times that size. So there's a pretty big range. Some neighbors arleady entertain every weekend, that's where all the visitors park already, and I haven't seen them get the hairy-eyed looks from anyone. Except the current owners of our house, that is, who think that anyone who fails to mow twice a week to 1.5" and religiously mulch all trees is demon spawn, so they hate pretty much everyone.

The fact that they won't see is the entire point--in fact, I won't be putting anything like that in until I'm certain they can't see from anywhere but inside the entertainment area. Even if I put it in now, they probably couldn't see because it'd be only 3' tall, which is the height of the existing bushes by the driveway. For the picture, I'm standing nearly a hundred feet back from the bush-line and am holding the camera 2' taller than the countertop would be. Even then, all I can see it the side two houses, with the doors turned away from me. If I put a kitchen there, well sure, they could see it. And that would be bad! But I'd make sure I had 100% screening to 3' and 50% to 6' before I put anything like that in.

>You should check with the local zoning laws to find out if you can plant the area in the road layout (lawn not on your property between the pavement and property line) in the manner that you want to.

I don't know for sure, but I'd rather not ask because some neighbors have already and seem to have gotten away with it for 10 years or more. If I ask, they could say no! Then I'd be stuck.

> You should also check to see if the tea house meets that zoning law.

Oh, you're right. It might not! And that, I wouldn't want to push. *g* I'm not wedded to the tea house idea, though.

>Something about the design seems off to me, and I think it's the symmetry of the layout with a house that, to me, says "informal".

Hmmm. It looks formal to me--the symmetry of the house design itself, not just the interior layout, which is certainly quite formal. It looks a bit off because they just painted the siding bright red, which throws off the balance, but it looks like a lot of houses I've seen with formal modernist landscaping. *shrugs*

But I'm planning on having the bed shapes carry the formality alone and have naturalistic plantings inside. So while the structure is symmetrical, the plantings won't be.

>This is an awfully big investment in outdoor living in an area that was generally considered uninhabitable in the summer before the invention of air conditioning.

I don't see what the big deal is. I'm from Texas near Houston, which is far, far, FAR worse than that area of Maryland has ever been, and people entertain outdoors thre all the time. I spent last summer in MD and we dined outdoors pretty frequently and were bitten maybe twice. Mosquitos aren't bad except from dusk to 9 or 10 PM even in mosquito-y places, unless you're talking the Minnesota Boundry Waters area...and we aren't. I just didn't find that many mosquitos in that area of MD even at dusk in July. Mosquitos never stopped us from entertaining outside evem in Central Texas, and there were mosquitos there that could carry away small children. If it starts to get dark and the mosquitos come out and aren't detered by the OFF! lanterns (and if you decide not to set up screen tents), then you move inside--there are three living areas now, plus the walk-out basement, soon to be four, so there's plenty of room inside. It isn't the end of the world! (Oh, yeah, and it's hotter and at least as humid in Houston, too. And yes, I camped there, evern at the height of summer. Fly nets work well.) I also won't be entertaining outside during the hottest part of the year, when the mosquitos are the worst, anyhow, but springs and autumns are downright balmy there. I'm not sure why you link Maryland was "uninhabitable" before AC. It was settled in the 1600s, for goodness sake! Historic Annapolis is still TEEMING with people even during the hottest parts of the summer until 8 pm or later, and they don't seem horrified by the heat and humidity (besides which, it cools off pretty fast until you get really close to DC.) The locals don't seem phased by it and eat outdoors at their restaurants all the time, though I do happen to think that the ones who go jogging in the heat of the day are a bit cracked. I ignored the question because honestly I couldn't imagine that it was that serious. Brent's from VA, but if he's 7/8, those parts of VA are APPRECIABLY hotter (and just as humid) than this part of MD. Maybe part of the lack of mosquitos here is because they spray for them pretty heavily...

I am, however, resigned to the fact that I can't simply leave the doors and windows completely open and ignore any need for screens as I can where I am in NM and that I won't be able to forgo heat and ait 6 months of the year. Which is a shame, but oh, well.

I was thinking about it, and I realized that when I saw the realtors' pic, I thought it was going to be informal, too, despite the symmetry. I think two factors contributed to me changing my mind even before I saw inside:

1) The scale. It looks like a little, modest ranch in the picture because there isn't much of a frame of reference, small enough that formal just wouldn't work, but it's really about 90' long.

2) The architectural details are subtle enough that the completely disappear in the pic but are obvious in person.

You mentioned in another post that you have 2 acres. I am not criticizing each particular element and asking you to defend each one point by point. (You want what you want and there's nothing wrong with that.) I am just mentioning the possibility that maybe there is too much stuff going onto a property that is quite small for such an elaborate scheme.

You asked for a critique but you don't seem to want it.

So it sounds like you will wait a little bit before starting this project. Darn! I was hoping for an invite over this summer. ;-) BTW, I live near Sterling in Loudoun County.

- Brent

Actually, the house is asymmetrical, not symmetrical. It's the landscape plan that is symmetrical, at least the front 2/3 of it. But then, what do I know?

Sounds like you have your mind quite made up. Do you have any background in landscape design, or gardening experience? You seem so sure of your choices. Is a critique what you were really looking for?

P.S. your page states that you live in NM.

Actually, I do want a critique, since I have most of these things "going on" on my current lot, most of which were put in by the previous owners, I don't see a problem on one four times the size. (Yes, including the front-of-house entertainment space. Which a lot of my neighbors here have, too. I gravitate toward atypical neighborhoods.) People are delighted rather than overwhemed becase (as much as I hate many of their choices) the P.O.s put in great screening between the different areas and made them flow logically. People are astonished when I tell them it's only a half-acre, too--they usually keep asking me several times if I'm really, really sure that it isn't an acre or an acre and a half, or maybe two acres... You're also making assumptions that just aren't true about how things are going to be put together. So no, I'm not terribly receptive when you say "this can't fail to be too much!" because I've already lives somewhere where it works just fine. I'm not going to argee with everyone just because I ask for a critique. Besides, I couldn't even if I wanted to, as different people seem to have very different ideas of what ought to be happening and like and dislike different things.

Sammie, I tried to post this earlier but don't know why it didn't show. :-P The Mia Leher work is VERY close to what I want, just replacing the minimalist California-Medditeranean elements with lusher Asian-inspired ones. (And, darnit, I found a designer that would be PERFECT for the space. Not even horrifically overpriced due to snootiness factor. Only problem? He's in Australia... Doubt he'd have a great understanding of local conditions. :-/)

I am a bit of a privacy freak, but I think you're right about the water feature and the trapezoidal deck. It solves another problem I had--getting a walk up from the street without looking absolutely ridiculous.

The scale is a bit off still--the water features are still too big and look kind of funny with the house size--but I think that will work better. It gives an obvious pedestrian entrance, and I can put a bluestone/river rock courtyard-like area in the 10' section in front of the little concrete gutter that would provide a sense of entry and make it clearer that there is a house back there. (Which is the alternative to hiding it away completely--right now, it's hoveing between the two and can go either way.) It would still provide a small amount of screening and preserve privacy, though. And the mini-stream going up might look something like this:

{{gwi:28359}}

The floating decks would then be restricted to an area that would be half-hidden from the walk, and a 4' wall would completely conceal that outdoor kitchen--which will only be 12' long, anyhow--from anywhere but in it, since the walk would be a main thoroughfare now. That would mean that the lawn below them would serve as a major gathering place for any larger-than-midsized gatherings, but the chairs could easily be stacked back up on the deck the rest of the time, so there would be a smaller area where herbicides might be necessary and a larger overall entertaining area. The circulation pattern would also be more circular, which would be a plus. There are a number of front stitting areas (courtyards, decks, etc.) in the neighborhood, so it wouldn't be at all unusual unless you peeked behind the wall hiding the kitchen area.

I've decided that I wouldn't do a formal bed back behind where I'm still showing the tea house. I'm not planning on putting anything smaller than a 3' shrub there, anyway, and that would also let me put an enormous camellia in the corner. It would also allow me to keep canabalizing more and more of the yard as I felt like it!

Sounds just about right to me for you *gfi* or you could *r*. Or to put it another way, as a mood "anxiety gardens" rarely work to anyone's satisfaction because there is never a a place to perch or settle. If you want to include gardens, gardening or the designing if them into the same hustle and bustle most of us create a garden to avoid, don't be surprised if you meet some resistance here. There is only one way you are going to do this and there is only one way some people learn, so do it your way. You will own the success and the failure.

>Actually, the house is asymmetrical, not symmetrical. It's the landscape plan that is symmetrical, at least the front 2/3 of it. But then, what do I know?

It's much more symmetrical than you think. The two bays are the same size, though one is 2' lower than the other. The color and angle make the one of the right look bigger, but it's an illusion. Of course, when we add on, the heights will be exactly the same but it will be L-shaped, so thenit really won't be symmetrical...

>Sounds like you have your mind quite made up.

In the general, yes. Not in the particulars.

>Do you have any background in landscape design, or gardening experience? You seem so sure of your choices.

I have mostly mucked around, but I did a substantial plan for a 1.5-acre community open space, taking everything everyone said they wanted and balancing the different aesthetics to make everyone content, if not thrilled, and yet still form a cohesive whole. (It was quite a diplomatic feat, too, as one group wanted to keep the space like a field and another wanted a FLOWER GARDEN--as if someone would take care of it!--of all things, and half were militantly natives-only while the othe half wanted flowers, flowers, flowers, and maybe some roses and how about a fruit tree or two...) I also had to work with existing berms and picnic tables in the most idiotic places imaginable. But I shaded the picnic areas (with a combo of fast- and slow-growing trees) and put native--but flowering!--bushes on the berms, created an exercise path (and had a place for an adult exercise-circuit, if they decided to add it in the future), laid out a great space for a large playground with perimeter benches for parents (this will take a few ears to save the money for), opened a neglected "garden" to the rest of the space and made it more pleasant with shade and better border plantings, preserved a large field area for the must-have-a-field militants but made it more friendly to kids by putting in a backstop and soccer goals (AYSO-sized field--no room for a fullsized one) and even left a place so that if they ever get the money, they can put in the pavilion they've been clamoring after. And when I finished the design, it looked like everything was meant to be where it was and made sense. Of course, when I leave, they'll just stick the shrubs wherever and wonder why it doesn't work... But what followed my plan looked great.

This area is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to garden, and when I arrived, I was just a few months from having a kid, so that killed my experimenting for a year. I'd just started to really landscape the place--after determining what fries here and what doesn't--when DH decided that we should move to MD! So now I'm honestly just throwing plants in the ground for resale--stuff I think will do well and look pretty good, but I'm not agonizing. And I did things like install a "runway" of driveway lights and stuff like that that I'd never do normally!

>Is a critique what you were really looking for?

Critique of the specifics, yes. Like questions of scale. Thing is, I've seen houses very, very similar to mine that have gardens with the same aesthetic as I'm going for, and it works great. It's not an old-fashioned kind of house, but modern houses, like this one, often lend themselves very well to formal modernist design. It's tricky to balance the formality and organic shapes to get the softer result that I want, and I agree that a completely symmetrical plan (in plantings and everything) would be a problem, as would a traditional-formal design...though no more inapproapiate than a cottage garden! But it isn't going to be any of those things. It is hard to express the aesthetic I'm going for through the overhead drawing of beds, but I've already thought through the different styles that might work with the house and lot dimensions and have looked through thousands of photographs of modernist gardens...mostly in Great Britian, where the DO stick modern-style gardens behind pretty much anything, but still... I definitely want to stick with the formalism and the modernism, but I might look and more assymetical forms. They'll be a bit hard to manage with the lot shape, though, while still maintaining usable shapes.

>P.S. your page states that you live in NM.

Yeah. I don't know how to change it... Actually, I will live in NM until the end of this summer, still. I'm remodeling the house before I leave--housing prices here make it worth it.

>Or to put it another way, as a mood "anxiety gardens" rarely work to anyone's satisfaction because there is never a a place to perch or settle.

Not sure what you mean here as the gardens will surround quiet places to relax on one's own--OR busy places full of people for entertaining. The "settle" aspect is precisely what it's formed around--tables and chairs under the trees where you can drink tea and watch the bees go at the azaelas while the trickle of the water over the rocks is a counterpoint to the breeze in the trees. Not sure how this would make one anxious unless one hated the idea of groups of people in their garden! There are places for the eye to settle--the water features, the surrounding conifers, the occasional blooming plant--and for the butt to settle--two permanent table groupings. There are also places for one to walk around and chat with people, depending on what the day's activities are.

If you could give something clearer than a flippant "anxiety garden," I would appreciate it. If it's the fact that it is designed to accomodate large parties, then that's the way you feel. I happen to find parties both stimulating and relaxing! If they weren't relaxing--if they gave me an anxiety attack that I'd want to build a garden to avoid--I wouldn't have them.

Another alternative. This wouldn't be formal--or really modernist--at all but would maintain the Asian influence, this time with a foresty feel rather than a modern one.

The beds wouldn't be bordered by anything but would flow into grass with this design.

The teahouse would DEFINITELY be allowed by the city because it would start behind the front line of the house. The pond, teahouse, and courtyard are wouldn't desturb the trees because they are way forward of the treeline and few if any roots go there. The teahouse would have the outdoor kitchen inside, while the courtyard next to it would be the permanent eating area, while additional seating for large parties could be stored in the teahouse.

Just another thought...I don't know if someone has addressed the distance from house to the entertaining decks? It looks like they are pretty remote from the house. Even though I assume that a refrigerator and sink will be part of the installation, it will be a long hike for the person who has to lug a 25 pound tray of ribs all the way from the house to the entertaining area. Would you feel comfortable pulling this part of the plan back closer to the house? Maybe almost in the plane where the tea house is now? Maybe push the tea house a bit more to the forefront of the space since solitude or isolation from the house would be a plus for a meditative space.

I had to move the tea house back, actually--zoning laws. But if I make that the kitchen and put the main eating ares (versus overflow space for really BIG parties, of which I'll probably only have 6-10 a year outdoors), that could address your concern of distance. I'm thinking now about moving some more stuff around. Let me digest it for a while, and then I'll have a different version up later tonight.

So much for modernist formal, eh?

The same in general as the one before, but an extraneous path has been eliminated and the side yard has been taken into the entertainment area, moving the fence back to the corner of the house. This gives a total hardscaped entertainment space a bit bigger than the two upper ones before, it moves the area quite close to the pool, and it's also closer to the front door. The space being sacrificed was dead space for anything but the dogs running around in, anyhow.

The second version works much better than the first. Privacy, scale, and flow are well balanced here. There was a lot that was "off" with the first sketches but I think you're getting it. Sometimes we get so attached to an idea that it's hard to let it go. I think you need to break some assumptions about what modernism is and isn't- serpentine lines can still be modern. You can have your cake and eat it too in this case.

Ah, but it isn't formal... ;-) It could still be converted into sometihng formal with about that design, though.

Like others, I too like the latest design better than the first. You wrote that you had looked at many pictures. I wonder if you have come across a 4-volume book, published in Japan, entitled Garden Views. One of the four is subtitled Water and Stream Gardens. Ravishing photos, many design ideas. You might need to visit a university library to find these books.
Another designer worth checking out is Russell Page. He does interesting things with water sometimes.
As for your design, much depends on the details, as is so often true of Japanese gardens. If I were you I would make the pond maybe twice or three times as big as you have it. Your guests would admire the koi, the lotus, the water lilies... You'd have to think carefully about how the tea house relates to the pond. You might consult some Chinese garden books and look at photos of Suzhou gardens, where teahouse pavilions look out over the water.

No, I haven't seen the book! I'll check it out.

I think you're very right about the pond. Right now, it's more of a dinky American pond than the massive ones popular in Asia. I'm terrified of hurting the trees, but I'll see where they lie so that I can be appropriately careful of them and still increase its size.

I was thinking of pulling in moderist elements in the tea house by having the side that overlooks the pond have a kind of waterfall from the teahouse itself sheeting into the pond. I do NOT want a traditional teahouse or pavilion, but I want to evoke them. Should be lots of fun!

Um... Do you have an ISBN for the book?

Love the property.

I like the 2nd plan better...but I think it's because the first one "scares" me. I am wise enough to know that this says more about me than it does about your plan.

I'd be interested to see how a really brave person brings it to life. I would like to attend a party at your house.

I wonder what you would think of Islamic gardens.

Entertaining in the front yard is very cool. More people should do it. My cousin has a swimming pool in the front yard of his CA estate. The back slopes too much for a pool. A friend of mine has no back yard and so put her kid's (very classy) play structure in the front. I've heard mean comments about it, but I like it--that house is always full of life.

There is nothing boring about your project...please keep posting on your progress.

I do appreciate the links provided by others above to modern designers. Thank you!

I think you're right about being scared--people are often wary of the unfamiliar. Delighted when it works because it's so lovely and unexpected but wary when they hear of it. I'll be using the placements in the second plan but many elements from the first.

If you like modernist garden design, try searching for modernist garden on images.google.com.

Here's the ISBN for Water and Stream Gardens, the 3rd volume in the series Garden Views (published in Japan in 1991): 4874602509
Good luck! Might be hard to find. As I implied above, I found it in my university's library.

Thanks!