outdoor kitchen design

It's always fun working with clients who know what they want but don't think they can have it, writes Shane LeBlanc. And that's particularly true when they're great collaborators who've already taken steps to set the tone and prepare the space for a crowning aquatic touch.

Easing Transitions

If I've learned one truth about working with water in confined areas, it's that success is most often measured by how much more spacious an added watershape makes those areas seem. The funny thing in this particular case is that the yard wasn't especially small, sloping away from a formal house down to a rustic cottage set on the edge of the property. What was crowded was the upper-level area into which we decided to insert a big part of the pool: It was hemmed in on one side by the home and on the other by the lot's setback - a span of maybe 28 feet - below which the available space opened up and flowed down for about 30 feet to the cottage. In quick order, I found myself confronting three

Martha and Randy Beard have achieved watershaping success by executing sophisticated design programs for a variety of high-end architects and landscape architects in southern California. Here’s another in their series of articles about these collaborations – in this case a look at their recent work with architect David Tardiff, a cutting-edge designer of homes and spaces for affluent customers who demand beauty and excitement in their surroundings.

Senses of Direction

Water moving in all sorts of different directions (but always in controlled ways) is a hallmark of one our favorite designers, architect David Tardiff. We've built the watershapes for many of his projects, and we've particularly enjoyed those that put both his vigor and special subtlety on display. Time and again, his designs have challenged us technically while rewarding our clients with results that always seem to leave them proud, amazed and thoroughly satisfied. As we've discussed in our previous WaterShapes articles, a large part of our business is about executing watershapes for architects and landscape architects in the backyards of mostly affluent clients in southern California's Orange County. Each designer has his or her own creative style and sensibility, leaving us to adapt the work we do to their "idea sets" while lending our years of practical experience in engineering and construction to the process. In working this way, we find that everyone comes out a winner: The designer creates work that is based in reality; we stretch and expand our skills to realize truly spectacular design concepts; and most important, clients gain refined spaces that hit the mark with respect to both functionality and aesthetics. The two projects we'll visit on these pages are