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These Austin, Texas, homeowners have daughters in elementary and middle schools, and they wanted to create more usable space in their steeply sloped backyard to encourage outdoor play. They also wanted space for entertaining their friends.
José Roberto Corea of Austin Outdoor Design transformed the yard into a series of outdoor rooms featuring a pool, a spa, an outdoor shower, a fire table lounge, a play area, a renovated two-story porch and a pergola-covered dining and grilling area. At the same time, he preserved several existing live oak trees. The result is a cohesive, beautifully terraced modern yard that the whole family and their friends enjoy.
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In front of the treehouse, Prassas created a mound of meadow grass — Pennsylvania sedge (Carex pensylvanica, zones 3 to 8). “I wanted to create a soft meadow for the kids,” Prassas says.
“This is a shady garden and naturalistic play space. I wanted to add shade-tolerant plants with lots of textures and different-colored leaves,” Prassas says. “These include ferns, hostas, grasses and sumacs that make it more interesting for the kids. Another plant I included is witch hazel, which flowers when nothing else is flowering.” The witch hazel species he planted is Autumn Embers vernal witch hazel (Hamamelis vernalis ‘Autumn Embers’, zones 4 to 8).
Woody plants Passas added to the garden include ‘Little Henry’ Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica ‘Little Henry’, zones 5 to 9), cutleaf staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina ‘Laciniata’, zones 3 to 8), Snowmound spirea (Spiraea nipponica ‘Snowmound’, zones 3 to 8), bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora, zones 4 to 8) and a variety of hydrangeas.
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This article was originally published by a www.houzz.com . Read the Original article here. .
As for the layout, the footprint of the room stayed the same, with the plumbing for the tub, shower and sink remaining in place. The challenge was to make the room feel lighter, airier, taller and more luxe.
Because the ceiling was less than 8 feet high, Thomas oriented the 3-by-12-inch tiles vertically. This, emphasized by the light grout lines, draws the eye up, while the gridded pattern adds a fresh, modern touch.
Figuring out where the tile would begin and end was important. Rather than trying to make the bump-out disappear, Thomas embraced it, wrapping the tiles around it from floor to ceiling. “By carrying the tile all the way around the bump-out, we highlighted it,” she says. The tile has a handmade look, and its lovely tone variation gives it a watery appearance that creates a sense of calm in the space.
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