Your Custom Text Here
Yes, this is a different take on “green.” The garage’s dense, vine-covered wall forms one playful side of a courtyard driveway, bound on two other sides by an eave-height hedge. Since it can be a maintenance headache, I wouldn’t recommend growing vines like this against your home, but it’s hard to resist on an outbuilding. Even harder when teamed with window boxes and plump, cantaloupe- and watermelon-shaped boxwoods.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Click on this photo to see it in the KHS photo note cards/prints gallery.This old, square, casement window, tucked into a curved wall, has much to recommend it. The 16-lite window configuration reinforces its squareness amidst the curve. While the eave trim and shingle cladding follow the curve, the square window finds a comfortable angle within the curve. The simple batten shutters stand straight, but humor the curve with a tubby whale cut-out. The soft geometry of the wall and the rigorous right angles of the window make for a happy pairing of contrasts, each accentuating the other. Whatever floats your boat – or old-time weathervane.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
So you want to convert a small firehouse to a residence. What do you do with the space behind the firehouse overhead door? Taa, daa. Here’s a great solution. This inset porch, featuring worn, bright-blue, wood decking and white, clapboard walls with five-panel entry doors, sets a festive summer stage. White, wood rockers with natural rattan seating, companion footstools, and patriotic throw pillows, plus tongue-in-cheek firehouse accoutrements all contribute to a brilliant show. What fun! Often it takes an unusual circumstance to prompt an inspired design. Change of use can be a great instigator.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
Set on a grassy perch, the symmetrical building elevation, approached via symmetrical landscaping, shapes a dignified and balanced little bungalow. The simple, broad strokes of the thick mullions and repeated, large, double-hung windows on the enclosed porch delightfully offset the quiet, low-sloped, gable wall which peeks above it. Blue door, matching blue planters, and flanking flounces of lavender are cheerful accents which contrast the milk-white trim and sunny, yellow shingles. The narrow sidelights, featuring muntins designed to align with the double-hung window divisions, and fence-like shutters are appealingly quirky details. This small package brims with gusto. It had me at hello.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
All too often the driveway is a design throwaway. Not this one. Here there are three clearly considered zones: the outer area for passersby; the large, intermediate area for a car; and the more intimate, inner pathway for guests or occupants.
The old, masonry sidewalk and curbstone, which accommodate the passing public, set the scene with authentic, worn, brick and granite. The intermediate zone is defined by a Belgian block border, which frames a pea-stone car pad, and continues off-camera to the left in the form of a Belgian block footpath leading to the front entry. The complementary color of the pea-stone infill provides subtle differentiation in texture and demarcated purpose. Plus, pea stone is more economical than Belgian block. A double row of Belgian block announces a threshold between the car pad and the pea-stone, inner footpath, which is appropriately less formal than the front footpath.
Lush perimeter plantings, below fence height, soften the edges, and progress from the more casual toward the street, to the more refined toward the inner gate. Climbing roses add a splash of color for passersby to enjoy.
Overall, this driveway creates a rich, nuanced experience. As an added perk, the pervious assemblage facilitates drainage in the process.
by Katie Hutchison for House Enthusiast
