Size Revisited

‘Most of us are in business to earn a living,’ wrote Stephanie Rose to open her Natural Companions column in the May 2005 edition of WaterShapes, ‘which is probably why so many of us think of the high-end market as the place to be. . . . But when I look more closely at the work I’ve done through my career, I believe we might be overlooking valuable opportunities for personal and professional growth by being so single-minded in pursuing grand, big-ticket jobs.’

‘To be sure, I much prefer having a few large jobs to a bunch of smaller ones, but lately I’ve found renewed value in thinking small.’ She continued:

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‘On a pure design level, I’d say that small jobs can be even more challenging than big ones. I’d also say that I generally learn a good bit more from configuring small spaces and thinking through every intricate detail than I ever do from designing large sweeps of land. These limited canvases force me to pay more attention to how things fit together and to the ways in which scale, texture, color and balance influence my design decisions.’

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‘In a smaller space, . . . every element needs to be carefully planned and placed to avoid visual conflict with any other focal point. . . . At that level, it’s much harder to stay on the same page with clients whose driving interest is making certain their little paradise includes each and every one of their favorite plants and design details.’

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‘This brings up what I consider to be the primary responsibility for the designer of a small space – that is, to educate clients about the need for balance, harmony and restraint in achieving a visually appealing landscape. In general, I tell them to think of a small room so cluttered that it feels cramped and disorganized and do all I can to get them to understand that these are sensations they want to avoid.’

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‘To avoid such problems, I begin by evaluating views from inside the house, which is where the clients will be most of the time. I use these primary vantage points to guide my approach in just about every design I prepare. . . . Once I’ve sized up the space and determined the clients’ primary wants and needs, I usually create a conceptual design that takes off from the main vantage point inside the house.’

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‘Outside, I configure the space to suit client requirements, trying to balance the visual and functional appeal on a full 360-degree turn. I do so because I like developing a sense in the observer that he or she is fully surrounded by the environment – something that is more literally true in a small space than it is with a big one.’

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‘Several years back, I was asked to take a look at an odd “outdoor” space trapped within a house between the kitchen and the family room. Essentially an eyesore to start with, the atrium was then a patch of dirt hemmed in by glass on three sides with a white stucco wall on the fourth with a picture window in its middle.’

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‘After contemplating the area from many vantage points and discussing various design options, we settled on blending the space into the overall, ’60s-rustic aesthetics of the house – lots of stonework and generally clean, straight lines. . . . This design took a 50-square-foot disaster and turned it into a showplace.’

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‘[C]areful planning was required to ensure visual balance while avoiding visual overload. The goal is to enable the viewer to feel as comfortable in a small space as he or she would be in roaming around a larger, rambling garden.’

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‘If one element or another disrupts things,’ Stephanie concluded, ‘it’s time to find another place for it to be. That’s the key with small spaces: You need to throw some things out, organize everything better and hold on to the things most cherished.’

What’s your take on small spaces? Do you see them as useful (and even valuable) design exercises, or do they represent an investment of time that could be better spent focused on a larger-scale project? Please share your thoughts on this key issue by commenting below!

Stephanie Rose wrote her Natural Companions column for WaterShapes for eight years and also served as editor of LandShapes magazine. She may be reached at [email protected].