Tour A Stunning Secret Garden In The City

I think that I'd ever had qualms about a small intimate garden. I think that it's great because it's not overwhelming in terms of upkeep and it was just a great I think design challenge to incorporate like the back of the house which we had renovated, the garage that was kind of dilapidated and the backyard which was also really kind of a wasteland. It didn't have much appeal so it was just a great opportunity. I think privacy was definitely something that we considered because our house isn't on a grid. The houses on the street are kind of an angle so our neighbors can look into our backyard. So we built green walls. We have a whole wall of cedars and then at the back of the house we have another set of and so it really does give us that sense of privacy and feel like it's our little oasis away. This space really combines a lot of our interests and our entertaining needs because we do host really large dinner parties so we were able to accommodate that but we eat out here every night. We often have breakfast out here and we also relax and have a sleep. So there's those kinds of things that really happen here. Then as well I have my art studio so it's just a place for me to go and have quiet and contemplate and just be kind of away from the regular world. Since I was a little girl I have always collected pieces and I think as I've done more studies in design and art history it has just added that kind of knowledge so that things that when I'm out looking I'm drawn to but it's a very fluid type of conscious thought process but I think I'm always looking for the balance in space. I'm looking at older pieces like this old table that my friend John built years ago out of found objects but then I like playing it off of a Cernan table and having that juxtaposition that really offsets both of them. Textures as well you'll see like with the wicker furniture that I think is a great ploy with the live green all around and then the freshness of the white flowers. Those are all conscious selections but I'm always trying not to make it look forced but there's a naturalness there's a relaxed, there's a sense of discovery as you kind of move through the space. I did go to school in Florence Italy that's probably maybe where this all started. They had the most beautiful intimate courtyards that you could wander into and they would often have little chairs and you could go in and have a cafe so I think that was probably like the closest thing to living with something like this before and we definitely we love this space and we pretty much spend our whole summer out here.