Modern Kid-Friendly Backyard With a Small Playground
See how a landscape architect found on Houzz transforms a family’s backyard into a low-maintenance, park-like retreat
Janet Paik
May 30, 2020
Houzz Associate Editor. Passionate about creative homes and the people behind them. Loves thoughtful design, improving her family's 1950s fixer-upper and VW buses. Former designer at the San Jose Mercury News.
Houzz Associate Editor. Passionate about creative homes and the people behind them.... More
With three kids ages 5 and under, a Brooklyn couple wanted to make the most of the 600-square-foot outdoor space at their new townhouse. They turned to Houzz and found landscape architect Sasha Newman of Little Miracles Designs for some design help. “The yard was a completely blank slate. It had post-construction debris with a few inches of topsoil and sod,” Newman says. Within minutes of the clients’ sharing their needs and wishes, he came up with a multipurpose vision for the space. “It was to be a garden where kids can have fun, adults can entertain, and all of the above needed to be low maintenance,” he says.
Backyard at a Glance
Who lives here: A family including three young children
Location: Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
Size: 600 square feet (56 square meters)
Designer and builder: Little Miracles Designs
Before: The 16-by-30-foot backyard was a blank canvas. The yard layout is the same as the layouts of the neighboring townhouse yards on the street. Newman had designed a handful of the latter, so he had a strong understanding of the site and how to give the clients what they wanted.
He came up with several ideas for the garden space using his Houzz portfolio as a reference tool. “Meeting with clients and selling a project has become a comfortable routine thanks to Houzz,” Newman says. “I show clients each of the components I am suggesting, which greatly helps in instantly visualizing how the space will function.”
Find a local landscape contractor
Who lives here: A family including three young children
Location: Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York
Size: 600 square feet (56 square meters)
Designer and builder: Little Miracles Designs
Before: The 16-by-30-foot backyard was a blank canvas. The yard layout is the same as the layouts of the neighboring townhouse yards on the street. Newman had designed a handful of the latter, so he had a strong understanding of the site and how to give the clients what they wanted.
He came up with several ideas for the garden space using his Houzz portfolio as a reference tool. “Meeting with clients and selling a project has become a comfortable routine thanks to Houzz,” Newman says. “I show clients each of the components I am suggesting, which greatly helps in instantly visualizing how the space will function.”
Find a local landscape contractor
After: Newman divided the split-level outdoor space into zones. This view is from an exterior set of stairs. Closest to the house on a lower terrace is an outdoor dining and grilling area. Toward the rear, or upper, portion of the yard are a pergola and play area. “The upper portion of the garden is actually resting on the roof of an indoor parking garage, so there is not too much soil to work with,” he says.
Newman added long strips of synthetic lawn so the kids, ages 5, 3 and 1 at installation, could use that stretch as a play surface. The artificial turf, by SYNLawn, is punctuated by 8-by-36-inch bluestone tile from Extech Building Materials in Closter, New Jersey. “I like using long planks for a more modern and strong directional feel,” Newman says.
On both sides of the yard against the fence, three custom ipe wood benches made of 3-by-5-foot finished planks double as storage for outdoor toys and scooters. The lumber is from Dykes Lumber in Weehawken, New Jersey.
Newman added long strips of synthetic lawn so the kids, ages 5, 3 and 1 at installation, could use that stretch as a play surface. The artificial turf, by SYNLawn, is punctuated by 8-by-36-inch bluestone tile from Extech Building Materials in Closter, New Jersey. “I like using long planks for a more modern and strong directional feel,” Newman says.
On both sides of the yard against the fence, three custom ipe wood benches made of 3-by-5-foot finished planks double as storage for outdoor toys and scooters. The lumber is from Dykes Lumber in Weehawken, New Jersey.
As mentioned, the idea for this family’s outdoor space came quickly to Newman. “Once I drew it on the spot for the client, they gave me positive feedback, and I returned the estimate to them within a few days,” he says. “They responded immediately, and we began the installation.”
The project took six weeks to complete, which is typical for an urban installation, as everything has to come through the house. “At the end of the day, the house gets cleaned to the point where clients can come home and not know that yards and yards of garbage or soil went in and out through their living room,” Newman says.
The project took six weeks to complete, which is typical for an urban installation, as everything has to come through the house. “At the end of the day, the house gets cleaned to the point where clients can come home and not know that yards and yards of garbage or soil went in and out through their living room,” Newman says.
Along the rear fence, an arborvitae (Thuja sp.) hedge was already planted. Newman planted a second row of arborvitae in front. “They will be clipped into a solid wall perpendicular to the direction of the grass strips,” he says.
In front of the hedges, he then planted a cluster of boxwood (Buxus sp.) shrubs. “I chose clipped groupings of boxwoods as a topiary feature,” Newman says. “I also like the bubble-like effect they create. I wanted a whimsical, child-friendly feel in the garden.”
He also included some plantings that would attract butterflies. “I wanted the kids to have the magical experience of nature in this very dense urban environment,” he says.
Read more stories on butterfly-friendly gardening
In front of the hedges, he then planted a cluster of boxwood (Buxus sp.) shrubs. “I chose clipped groupings of boxwoods as a topiary feature,” Newman says. “I also like the bubble-like effect they create. I wanted a whimsical, child-friendly feel in the garden.”
He also included some plantings that would attract butterflies. “I wanted the kids to have the magical experience of nature in this very dense urban environment,” he says.
Read more stories on butterfly-friendly gardening
Newman had Hicks yew (Taxus x media ‘Hicksii’) hedges installed as an extension of each wooden bench; the plan is to have the plants be maintained in the same dimensions as the benches. “It adds strong lines and reinforces the strong lines of grass and bluestone strips,” he says.
Construction-strength steel was used to build the pergola. On the top of the steel structure is a wooden slat design for shade.
One side of the pergola is a dedicated activity wall for the kids, with climbing holds and circles and a rope ladder. The climbing holds are attached to a wall made of marine plywood stained with Benjamin Moore’s Arborcoat.
On the front side of the pergola, Newman attached two swings: a rubber toddler swing and a rope swing with a wooden seat. The swings are spaced with enough clearance for the back-and-forth motion. As the kids get older, the homeowners can swap out the swings or consider adding a bench swing. The top bar is drilled with holes spaced 24 inches apart so the homeowners can adjust the eyehole hooks as they would like. “If the adults want to entertain and add bubble chairs or swap in a new swing, they can. We wanted to make the feature interchangeable,” Newman says.
Behind the play wall, Newman planted a weeping ‘Purple Fountain’ beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Purple Fountain’). “The ‘Purple Fountain’ variety is very slender and will provide a fairy-tale-like mysterious feel spilling out from behind the play wall,” he says.
One side of the pergola is a dedicated activity wall for the kids, with climbing holds and circles and a rope ladder. The climbing holds are attached to a wall made of marine plywood stained with Benjamin Moore’s Arborcoat.
On the front side of the pergola, Newman attached two swings: a rubber toddler swing and a rope swing with a wooden seat. The swings are spaced with enough clearance for the back-and-forth motion. As the kids get older, the homeowners can swap out the swings or consider adding a bench swing. The top bar is drilled with holes spaced 24 inches apart so the homeowners can adjust the eyehole hooks as they would like. “If the adults want to entertain and add bubble chairs or swap in a new swing, they can. We wanted to make the feature interchangeable,” Newman says.
Behind the play wall, Newman planted a weeping ‘Purple Fountain’ beech (Fagus sylvatica ‘Purple Fountain’). “The ‘Purple Fountain’ variety is very slender and will provide a fairy-tale-like mysterious feel spilling out from behind the play wall,” he says.
This view shows the ipe wood stairs that lead from the lower terrace and outdoor dining area next to the house to the upper portion of the yard, as well as a new retaining wall.
“Because strips of grass add a very strong green presence in the garden I opted for a large, multistem Sambucus nigra, or elderberry shrub. Its black foliage has a lace-like quality and adds a beautiful context to clipped boxwoods,” Newman says. “I got lucky and found three large specimens of the elderberry, so they actually fill the role of small trees in the garden. I prune them to keep them open so you can see through them.” They’re pictured in the planter box next to the stairs and next to two of the wooden benches.
Newman introduced hakone grass (Hakonechloa sp.) as a spiller for its weeping quality, he says. “The flower beds are very small in this garden so the combination of these few plants really create an impact.”
“Because strips of grass add a very strong green presence in the garden I opted for a large, multistem Sambucus nigra, or elderberry shrub. Its black foliage has a lace-like quality and adds a beautiful context to clipped boxwoods,” Newman says. “I got lucky and found three large specimens of the elderberry, so they actually fill the role of small trees in the garden. I prune them to keep them open so you can see through them.” They’re pictured in the planter box next to the stairs and next to two of the wooden benches.
Newman introduced hakone grass (Hakonechloa sp.) as a spiller for its weeping quality, he says. “The flower beds are very small in this garden so the combination of these few plants really create an impact.”
This ipe wood retaining wall sits opposite an outdoor grill and additional custom seating in the lower terrace area that’s accessible from the basement of the townhouse. “There was actually an 8-to-10-inch-thick air intake pipe in this corner, and we added the ipe wood slats to conceal that, and added a planter box on top,” Newman says. “I wanted to create a rock garden feel here.” He planted blue flowering bellflower (Campanula sp.), stonecrop (Sedum makinoi ‘Ogon’) and other low-maintenance plants that will cascade over the wall.
Aquarius Supply installed the outdoor lighting and irrigation for this project.
Aquarius Supply installed the outdoor lighting and irrigation for this project.
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No sand space! Children can have so much creative play with sand and a container of water...remember mud pies?
As others have noted - the swings centred over the concrete! I couldn't take in any of the other details because my anxiety levels skyrocketed just looking at this play set-up.
Wow that is spot on