Now that the fence, and two custom structures are in place, the grading of the site can continue and the hardscaping can start!

As the property is on a small slope I divided the design into three separate grades. The back area where the shed is and the portion where the clients step out is 18″ above the grade of the patio. We used a small brick wall to retain the upper portion, with a slight slope leading to the ramp, where the bottom of the ramp below the patio grade by 15″.

Here you can see the footer dug out for the wall that supports the patio and creates the edge of the ramp.

The homeowners and I decided on a ramp over stairs to deal with the elevation change. Partly because the awkward step that was there previously had really aggravated them and if they are using a dolly to load items from the shed, stairs would have been manageable, but still an irritant. Yes, dear readers, all things that bother you should be considered in a functional design.

Other pro’s to having a ramp vs stairs are:

Accessibility. While this wasn’t a consideration for these clients, being able to navigate small areas with a walker, cane, or wheelchair may be a huge plus for a future occupant, many years down the line.

Safety. Ramps are safer than stairs for people and dogs!

Here are the footers after they have been poured. And below, the stair foundation where the bricks get laid.

The walls are starting to take shape.

The patio under the pergola is now nearly finished.

The side lower patio/walkway got installed next. Below we are deciding how to make the garden bed edges look perfectly square, when the neighbours house is not parallel to the clients home. A completely normal issue to have, especially when working with 100+ year old homes.

Success!!

Next, all the garden beds had 18″ of soil removed so we could install soil filled with nutrients and compost.

The photo below shows the results from the  “Soil Jar Test” from various places in the yard to find out the soil composition of each garden area. The soil separates and lets us see how much sand, silt, clay, loam and organic matter is in each sample. The jar on the far left has the clearest water and the least amount of organic matter. The jar in the middle has the most organic matter and the one on the right had between the other two.

The conclusion: the existing soil composition had high amounts of sand, which is great for drainage, but terrible for retaining moisture and nutrients. The organic matter in the soil was hardly evident.

When soil has 50% organic matter, or compost, it retains the moisture nutrients in a far more efficient manner which helps all the plants be the healthiest they can be.

Now on to the part that is the most rewarding personally!! The plantings! Plants bring a multitude of benefits; privacy, they change the look and feel of the property, they bring butterflies, bees (good ones), and birds. They add scent, colour and an overall softness to the space.

Since we removed some of the mature trees that had become problematic because they were oversized for the space, I chose three trees that would be spring flowering and stay compact, so that in 10-20 years they won’t have to be removed.

This first one had a monster sized root ball. The tree dolly wouldn’t fit through the gate, so we had to use a regular dolly and three people to manhandle it in place. Always start with the hardest item first, right?

Next we brought in the yew hedging. For context here is ONE beside the pergola. My grower told me they would be 160lbs each. The best guess from my planter is that they were 300 lbs each. Big and Beautiful!

Large yew hedge = instant privacy!

Once the yew hedging was in, we were able to complete the final grade. One of the clients requests was that she be able to walk out of her shed with a large step. We used metal mesh to block out any areas under the gravel so groundhogs and other pests won’t be able to create a den and cause future problems!

Here is a birdseye view of the other plantings starting to be laid out.

And a quick catch up on the front:

Remember the large stack of bricks that came out of the back yard? The masons reused them and we stuck to the historic guidelines and laid them in a herringbone pattern to match the sidewalk and edged them in granite cobbles to complement the historic granite curbs!

Here is what the plant layout looks like before going in the ground.

This is what blooms in June through July!

Next the neighbours painted their house, while the cushions and mosquito curtains got made and hemmed, and finally we have the final images to share!

In the before photo’s you may remember the pea gravel walkway and the ladder and hoses laying on the ground. Below you can see the ladder got mounted on the wall, the old hose reel got replaced with a smooth gliding one and now the trash and recycling cans can be taken out to the  curb with ease.

As you walk down the side of the home, you come into this side courtyard, that has screening for the trash and recycling and leads up the ramp to the shed, or over to the patio area.

Above is a birds eye view from the clients roof!

Can you imagine yourself sitting here in peace, watching the birds fly into the trees, the butterflies floating around the flowers and your dog lying on his ottoman?

Here is a quick look at the before and after:

Check out the video of this post here

If you missed Part 1, go here for the recap.

We only have one design spot left for the early new year, so if you were hoping to have a design and build for spring, contact me now to save your spot!!

Tell me below, dear readers, what was your favourite element of this project? Did anything surprise or delight you? AND BONUS — how many (amazing) people did it take to complete this build? Let me know your best guess below!

The post Historic Church Hill Richmond Build – Part 2 appeared first on Historic Home Renovation & Design | Denver | Studio Olio Interior Design.

This is a typical Church Hill, Richmond,VA, Back Yard. Twenty Eight feet wide by 150 feet long, which includes the footprint of the home!!

Right after you walk out the back door, you couldn’t walk directly out the back door, you had to walk down two awkward steps then navigate over this awkward step that you had to step up and over EACH way. (image on left)

If you live in a Church Hill Property, you already know that if you don’t have attic or crawlspace storage (as is pretty common in these historic properties) then you have to get quite creative with ways to store your out of season or sports type

gear. The small shed was no longer cutting it.

The plants were quite overgrown for the space and there was no place to sit and enjoy the outdoors while also being sheltered from the elements.

The side pathway along the home was a soft pea gravel and it was difficult to get the garbage and recycling to the curb.

I know, I know, I know — you, like me, we work with what we have — BUT — All spaces can be improved to better suit your life!

I don’t believe in cookie cutter design. Each and every single space I come across carries its own needs and wants that is based on the character of the neighbourhood and most importantly the needs and wants of the people who inhabit the space

And here is the front of the property:

We started the project with some stump grinding, as TWO neighbours had very large trees removed in the previous year.

Next up, came the new fence installation, along with some grading where we found MASSIVE roots from the two neighbours trees!

As you can see from the images, these were plentiful, and in most cases they were also larger than the diameter of my thigh! So massive — uh, not my thigh, but the roots 😉 !!

This is a great time to mention that when you work on properties with limited access, meaning you can’t get machinery in the back yard, you need to rely on hardworking and creative contractors who can navigate the 27″ access points and who have the skills to think outside the box.

The design intent was to give the homeowners a space where they could relax under the shelter of a roof, with the option to enclose the space with mosquito netting. As Church Hill is a city neighbourhood, privacy is also a consideration in the design.

The clients 1889 Victorian has this STUNNING millwork on the front porch, and as a nod to the properties historic roots I brought a little of the history into the design of the pergola.

(Aside; if anyone knows of the original designer of the 1889 scrollwork, I’d love to know!)

We simplified the scrollwork a little, and the carpenter hand-cut (with tools) all of the pieces on the pergola!

Ok, back to the fence! The fence framing was completed concurrently with the pergola. 

Next the custom sized shed got built while the roofed pergola received some interior details. This shed has 9′ walls allowing the clients to have ample storage in this postage stamp yard. I faced the door towards the side fence so that the beautiful cedar sides could be seen and admired from the home and rest of the outdoor space.

The homeowner decided on a copper standing seam room for both structures! They have a second story porch where they can enjoy the changing beauty of the copper!

All of the copper was formed and cut to size on site.

With the main portion of the two structures complete, we moved on to the next portion — prepping for the hardscape!

The large stack of bricks are stored here to use on the front walkway!

The homeowners had been having some drainage issues, so I definitely wanted to make sure that this got taken care of before the hardscapers arrived to build the walkways, patio, ramp and walls!

Here you can see why the drainage wasn’t working!

If you are doing your own drainage, please DO NOT use this floppy, flexible drain line! They get crushed, they get clogged and they fail 100% of the time, most of the time within 10 years!

This particular drainline didn’t have a properly created french drain around it. A french drain should ALWAYS have gravel surrounding the drainline, then also have fabric around the entire drain so that it doesn’t get clogged with dirt and sediment!

What you can’t see from the photo, is halfway through the drain, instead of being on a gentle slope to the exit, the drain sloped down, then UP, then down again! No wonder the drainage wasn’t working!!

We took care of the drainage and got ready for the next transformative stage!

Stay Tuned for PART TWO!

I’ll share what design we went with for the patio, walkways and plantings!!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you, tell me below in the comments what portion has surprised or delighted you so far!

The post Historic Church Hill Richmond Build – Part 1 appeared first on Historic Home Renovation & Design | Denver | Studio Olio Interior Design.

Here is the story as I know it. Many years ago, a woman named Jessie and her sister decided to start a chinchilla raising program to sell for their fur. Have you seen how adorable chinchillas are? As an animal welfare advocate, I have to say that I was pretty happy to hear that their business didn’t quite go to plan and they ended their operations!!

At some point there was a fire and I haven’t found out when the fire in the structure happened, but it must have taken the roof and maybe even the front wall?

Here it is before work commenced:

Overgrown with the swiftly growing privet, porcelain berry, and under maintained trees.

Sporting two broken windows, various missing chunks in the cinderblock walls, debris from the previous owner, our renovation complete with a nest of wasps living inside one of the walls.

As I love history, I decided to approach the design of this structure from a perspective of adaptive re-use. I would keep the floor and the walls, but add to as necessary to create a functional wood working shop with power, lights, AC and heat!

After using three cans of wasp spray, I tried smoking out the remaining wasps. They were persistent, but I eventually won. See the photo with all the cinderblocks installed!

Here are the pony walls starting to go up! The cinder block walls are 7′ tall, so the 3′ pony walls bring each side wall to a height of 10′

Next the Ridge beam was installed at a height of 13′ and we cut and built the roof rafters. Now it’s starting to look like a “real” structure!!

Next the sheathing layer (we used plywood) was added to the front, sides and roof. Once the roof was finished a layer of roofing paper was added to waterproof the roof while the metal was on order. As an aside, my Hitachi framing nailer has been one of my favourite purchases to date. I went through nearly two full boxes of nails (and countless screws) while building this building!

Next I added house wrap, sill plates for the windows and the windows and doors were installed.

Here I am pretty happy with the progress so far!

The fascia and soffit got cut to size and nailed in placed before being primed and painted. The fascia is the white trim you see, and the soffit is the underside of the overhang.

The metal roofing material arrived and we got that screwed in place.

This is what the electrical looked like before I ripped it all out and started fresh!

All wired in correctly!!

I opted for metal siding for the outside of the structure, as it’s easy to maintain and will last a really long time. I am so happy to not see the ugly cinderblocks anymore!!

Here is a look at all the debris I collected from the overhanging trees, debris from before the build started, along with construction debris — it sure adds up in a hurry!

I’ve been wanting to grade the area surrounding the shop ever since we bought the property, and so we finally brought some machines in and graded the land and cut down a few trees that were close to the structure.

Once the earth was graded, I raked out any large rocks and sticks and put down 12 lbs of clover seed as a better alternative to turf.

And here it is!! I’ve named it “The Chinchilla Shop” to honour its previous existence and it’s where I’ve set up my woodworking shop! I have heat, AC and power so far!

While I certainly put in some days with just me working, I had a great crew of two of us doing most of the build. What do you think, want one of your own?

As a reminder, here is what it looked like before.

In Part Two, I’ll share the inside of the new woodworking shop!!

A She Shed, can be any structure that supports you and your creativity or maybe you just need a space of your own to retreat to!

Want or need a She Shed?

Call or email me to set up a consultation, I love designing structures (and landscapes( that support your creative pursuits.

The post Building a “She Shed” Part 1 of 2 appeared first on Historic Home Renovation & Design | Denver | Studio Olio Interior Design.

Here is what the home looked like before the renovation:

Here is the home after the renovation and how it was when I came into the project. Isn’t that herringbone pattern on the chimney amazing?

We wanted to add guest access to the front door, without forcing them to walk in through the driveway. Adding the walkway will also draw your eye to the beautifully designed front entry.

And we were off, starting with the tear down of the front yard and driveway.

Front yard Demolition

The existing driveway was removed.

The homeowners worked with the builder and architect to design the lap pool, here is the back yard when I was brought into the project.

After the back retaining wall was complete and the overgrown plants were removed, I had soil blown into the back beds.

Next we had the beautiful Yew (Taxus HM Eddies) Hedging delivered and we placed them around the perimeter and got them planted.

Here they are before the pretty front plantings of lavender got planted. Neat and tidy like a row of toy soldiers.

On the kitchen garden side, the original bricks were saved in their original configuration and the new retaining wall was built to join the existing older brick retaining wall.

While the majority of the front, back and side yards were completely redone, we kept a few of the existing mature trees; Two Japanese maples, one on the side kitchen garden and one in the front yard, and one small brilliant green leafed maple in the front yard.

Here is the side kitchen garden before.

And After

In the back yard the irrigation lines were installed and we installed the planting beds and plants.

Next we graded the sod areas and installed the sod.

The driveway was graded and the pavers were laid for the driveway.

The front wall placement was decided and the incredible mason built the wall.

Once the wall was complete, we graded the front, built the garden beds, installed the plants and sod.

Here is a collage of the back – after completion!

And the front:

My role as a landscape designer is to design outdoor spaces that:

1. Function for the people living in the home.
2. Are beautiful to see from the inside of the home, as well as the outside.
3. Connect the home to the land – A home isn’t a supposed to be a large box surrounded by grass. A properly designed landscape adds layers of textures by using height and proportion to make the home look and feel as though it has always been there.
4. Consider the neighbourhood the home lives in; a well designed outdoor space compliments and elevates the neighbourhood.

Thanks for joining me on this journey of this project, here are some closeups of some of the plants we planted.

And last but not least, an accolade from my client.

Would you like me to design and build your front and back outdoor space? Email or call me, I’d be delighted to speak with you!

The post From Mature Builder Basic to Welcoming French Provincial appeared first on Historic Home Renovation & Design | Denver | Studio Olio Interior Design.