ARTICLES Archives - Page 85 of 312

When Ian McGregor approaches a backyard project, he does all he can to embrace the entire environment. In doing so for this project, he created connections between existing indoor spaces and new outdoor rooms that echo familiar functions while injecting dashes of fun.

Indoors Out

The modern concept of "outdoor living" took hold a long time ago - the very first time a homeowner set up a barbecue grill somewhere near the backyard pool, then figured out a way to enjoy a family meal al fresco. This sort of casual and mostly seasonal approach held on for decades, but approaches to outdoor living took a giant leap forward in the 1990s, when swimming pools started being joined in increasing numbers of backyards by

Pond Decisions

Pond liners are great: They're tough, last a long time and endure a great deal of abuse during their service lives - but sometimes people want to do strange things with them, as the first question addressed in this edition of "Ask the Pond Digger" attests. As you'll see, I was asked if it was acceptable to place a new liner inside

Floating islands were a novelty ten years ago, but now they're established, well-researched systems that have proved their value in fixing damaged ponds and lakes. It's all about restoring food webs, says Bruce Kania -- and learning to grow fish instead of mats of algae.

Transition Water

I live beside a lake on a property that also includes the headquarters for my business, Floating Island International (Shepherd, Mont.). The lake serves as our laboratory, and my near-constant proximity to it means that I've gotten to watch how the water has changed through the years. It's been an upward spiral: The water keeps getting clearer, cleaner and

The Big Picture

'Anyone who runs a good business knows that day-to-day operations are so all-consuming that it's difficult to step back and scope out where you fit within your corner of the industry.' 'We can't give those daily details short shrift,' wrote Brian Van Bower in opening his Aqua Culture column in the December 2006 issue of WaterShapes. 'Still, it occurs to me that . . . our daily endeavors need to be

Water’s Power

Designers and builders tend to think about water as a beneficial feature, an artistic medium, a resource for exercise and hydrotherapy and beauty and awe. You all experience that water at its contained, controlled best and know exactly how much joy and delight flow when people are in or around water as part of their daily lives. But this material, as has often been stated in

Beautiful glass tile can be the crowning touch for a great watershape. But if the budget's not really there, advises Paolo Benedetti, you should avoid the urge to cut corners with materials or installation to make it work: You'll only disappoint your client -- and hurt your bottom line.

Glass-Tile Dynamics

For quality watershapes, there's nothing like a finish made up of mosaic glass tile: The material has a great look and a spectacular texture, comes in amazing colors and offers a full range of visual effects, from complete transparency to shimmering iridescence. It's the perfect crowning touch for an outstanding project if the budget is right - and that's where the trouble often starts. Through the years, I've inspected more than 40 projects in which

One for the Ages

I recently enjoyed my umpteenth visit to the Huntington Library, Art Collection and Botanical Gardens. It's an amazing estate in the city of San Marino, Calif., a well-heeled enclave near Pasadena, and was established by Henry Huntington, nephew and heir to transcontinental-railroad magnate Collis Huntington. This is a place that shows you what a serious fortune could buy in the early years of the 20th Century.I like the library and appreciate the art collection, but the reason

The Anxieties of Influence

'I can be quite outspoken,' declared David Tisherman in opening his Details column in the November/December 2001 issue of WaterShapes. 'Here's the unvarnished truth: No more than a hundred pool builders out there can legitimately call themselves designers, . . . while only a handful design at the very highest level.' 'Almost always, the difference between these top-level designers and

Her clients had purchased a property with good potential, writes Colleen Holmes, but it took a lot of effort to turn the rundown jumble she found into the home of their dreams. It started with a coat of paint and a stabilized slope -- then came the hot tub, waterfall and hitching posts.

Natural Revision

This is a story about turning an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan. It starts with a couple who had recently purchased their ideal home - one with room for them, for horses and for serenely rustic outdoor living. But the reality as they found it was somewhat different: The entry from the street was boring, the house was bland, the backyard space was disorganized and the

Encountering a backyard with a good bit of room but a super-wide easement, Tanr Ross dug deep to optimize the space for a pair of design-oriented clients. It took plenty of creativity to organize all the features, he says, but now it works -- both functionally and aesthetically.

Access Excess

It's a small backyard with a Texas-size easement - and a good thing that I like challenges, because designing a project for this outdoors-loving family in Katy was an exercise in making a whole bunch of ideas fit comfortably within an unusually constrained space. As we learned, their gated-community property is separated from the street directly behind it by a tall boundary wall. This meant that there was no backing parcel to share