2017 Outdoor Living in East Grand Rapids

Another  East Grand Rapids, MI Outdoor Living Space and Intimate Garden is completed. The 3D landscape design was created using Sketchup, an open-source design software used by architects, engineers, interior designers and many other in design fields.

3D Sketchup Outdoor Living and Landscape Design For Home in East Grand Rapids, Michigan

Outdoor Living Space and Landscape Design in East Grand Rapids, Michigan

Crushed Stone Walkway with Stepping Stone Path and Raised Paver Patio

When I was approached by the homeowners, they made it clear I would have a challenge on my hands.  The small backyard had, at one time, been transformed into a flagstone patio with a stream and native plantings.  Years of relative neglect and an unruly dog had returned it to an even more natural state: that of chaos. 

Long-Neglected Backyard Landscape Before Transformation

The majority of the yard was dirt or mud, depending on the weather, with slabs of flagstone and various sizes of cobblestone throughout.  Boards were laid down along the side of the house to allow access from the side door to the main backyard.

Another Before Angle of Before Implementing New Landscape Design

The homeowners' goal was to create an outdoor living space that would fit their lifestyle.

Their teenage children needed a place to gather with their friends.  They needed an area to entertain family and friends.  Grilling, Dining, Relaxation.

Unilock Paver Patio with  Black Diamond Paver Frame

Wood Burning Fire Pit

Though they enjoy gardens, their time is limited by career and family. So, the gardens were to be low-maintenance.  No lawn would be easily sustained due to the mature trees surrounding their property: oak, pine, maple. 

Wood Burning Fire Pit in New East Grand Rapids in Paver Patio Outdoor Living Space

3D Landscape Designs Created with You in Mind

This project includes a multi-level paver patio with a stepping stone path between the upper and lower levels.  The wood burning fire pit was built using Unilock Brussels Block Dimensional wall blocks in Mahogany Ash with Piedmonte Onyx Black wall caps by Techo-Bloc. I used Unilock Bavarian Beacon Hill large format pavers for the main body of the patio with Belgard's Black Diamond 3x12" Moduline Pavers for the border. Aberdeen Rock Garden Brown 20x30" Pavers are used as stepping stones to transition between the upper small patio and lower main patio.

Crushed Stone Walkway with Stepping Stone Pavers - Transition Between Large Lower and Small Upper Patios

I can design and/ or install a gorgeous Outdoor Living Space for you as well.  From concept to completion.  3d designs created so you can see your landscape before installation.

If you live outside of West Michigan, I would still be happy to consult on your project and design your intimate gardens and outdoor living space.

Call or Text Brent now to your initial consultation @

(616) 328-3258

2017 Outdoor Living - Boston Road East Grand Rapids

I have wrapped up the patio area of the Boston Road outdoor living space project in East Grand Rapids, MI.   For the paver patio, I used Belgard's new smooth/ crisp Cotswold Mist Moduline series large format pavers with Black Diamond accents.Wellington Wall was used for window well and fire pit with the 48"x14" natural gas American Fire Glass stainless steel pan. The fire pit cap is Techo-Bloc's Piedmonte in Onyx Black to tie patio and fire pit together.

The designed Trex deck with cable rails installed by Bruce Grifforst with Adaptable Homes is Completed as well. New Deck Pics Coming Soon.

I can transform your landscape from ordinary to extraordinary by designing and installing your new Intimate Gardens & Outdoor Living Space.

If you live outside of West Michigan, I would still be happy to consult on your project and design your outdoor living space.

Contact Brent now to learn more. (616) 328-3258

Creating Harmony in the Landscape: Color Schemes

In the landscape, harmony refers to the way in which various elements in the landscape are organized to create a sense of unity or continuity within an individual garden area as well as between distinct areas within the overall landscape. Various elemental types can be used to create harmony within a landscape. Each element adds a new dimension of unity within the garden and landscape. Among these various elements, I would like to emphasis the following: Color Schemes, Hardscape elements, Repeated Forms, and Green Spaces.

Let’s first consider color schemes.  Color Schemes are probably the most easily identified element in a landscape, and therefore the most habitually emphasized. Color schemes rely on specific color combinations that can make or break a garden. They can create harmony or consonance within the landscape.  Therefore, color schemes must be chosen with care to ensure you accomplish your express purpose. 

The most exciting combinations are not always planned.  As you create your gardens, you will unexpectedly come across combinations that excite your senses.  Feel free to experiment with new partnerships. Choose an individual color, several analogous or complimentary colors to be used throughout the landscape. 

Color partnerships can be separated into two categories: contrasting/complimentary colors and analogous/harmonizing colors. When contrasting colors are combined, they tend to draw attention to themselves through explosive relationship. Tension is created, heightening our senses and drawing our eyes to them. By standing out, these vibrant color combinations further emphasis the more harmonic color combinations. Seizing our attention, these contrasting color combinations can highlight transition between two areas in the landscape. Beware: too many dissonant color combinations can destroy a garden. Our goal should then be to limit these contrasting color combinations in order to emphasis the overall unity of the garden or landscape. I often combine purples with complementary yellows in smaller numbers or greens with bright reds as seen in the Poppy or carnation.

Complimentary colors, on the other hand, are soothing.  They create a sense of serenity. Try using blues and purples or reds and orange.  When transitioning between color combinations, use neutral colors such as whites, silvers, greys and blacks. (Check out this free online interactive color wheel to learn about color wheel theory http://thevirtualinstructor.com/interactivecolorwheel.html).

It is easy to focus exclusively on flower color. However, flowers come and go. They blossom and fade with the seasons’ change. Foliage, however, is longer lasting and often “evergreen” and thus the more significant color producer in the landscape. I would, therefore, encourage you to try basing your color scheme on the foliage of one or more specimen plants. Consider basing your color scheme on the hues of elements such as tree and shrub bark, boulders, garden sculptures and brick or natural stone pavers.

Hardscape elements repeated in the landscape can also draw together a disparate landscape. Thus, when you are dealing with various themes such as formal and informal areas, perennial, annual or mixed, sun and shade gardens, consider using common hardscape elements such as stone or brick. Both of these can be used in a number of applications. For instance, granite can be used to create a very appealing patio or walkway as well as retaining walls, stream beds, accent rocks or sculptures. Perhaps you could use granite to create a unique water feature such as a fountain surrounded by granite pebbles. Then, use the same granite pebbles or a crushed form of granite to create a meandering path through a woodland garden with granite outcroppings.

Repeating a particular plant such as a Rhododendron or weeping Japanese Maple could also add another unifying element.  Often you will find such plants can be grown in both sun and shade with adjustments to irrigation scheduling. 

Try using Redwood or Cedar in both your fencing as well as your decking application.  Match the brick in your front walkway to the brick on your house. It may be difficult to match the house and walkway precisely, especially if your home is more than a couple of years old. However, there is almost always another brick that will coordinate with the existing house brick.

How to Install a Base for Natural Stone Patios

In order to create a firm foundation for your stone patio, you generally have to start by digging. Sorry. Its almost inevitable. However, if you plan on creating a raised patio, you may only have to dig the base for the wall you'll use to raise it.

Before building your natural stone patio determine the best place for your patio.  Many patios are ajacent to the house. This allows for easy transfer of food and supplies from the house to the patio during dinner parties.  If you do choose to place the patio adjactent to your house, leave a few feet between the bulk of the patio and the side of the house. You can soften the edges of the patio and feather in the height difference between the house and patio using various plantings. Without plantings, this area could appear stark.

When determining your patio's position, consider various views: go inside your house.  Look out your windows. How will your patio look from inside?  How will your patio appear from various places in your yard, from yard entrances?  Your inside and outside vistas should be rewarding to view. 

What views will your flagstone patio offer?  Are there gardens or features that you would like to enjoy while sitting on you patio?  Will you add water features or planters that can be enjoyed from the patio?  Place your patio accordingly.  Spray the outline of your patio on the ground.  Draw another line 4" outside your patio outline. 

If you are going to create a patio more than one hundred square feet, you won't want to do this on your own. All soil gets heavy after a while. Clay, is horrendous.  Sometimes, it is easiest to till the soil before you remove it.  Remember, if you have to move the soil a significant distance, or need to dispose of it, you will need to load it into a wheelbarrow.  Don't overfill that barrow or you will tip it and have to reload it.

So, Time to Start Digging.  Dig along the outside line using a flat shovel, working from the area furthest from the soil's final destination.  You don't want to traverse areas you already dug out.  The wheels of you wheelbarrow will bog down in any loose soil and getting it out of the hole you've dug out will not be easy. 

Keep in mind, you have to put that soil somewhere. If you have any low spots on your property, consider using the top soil to fill these. Usually, the topsoil is only three or four inches deep. Anything below that level is usually useful only for creating raised areas, mix this soil with compost for planting, or filling areas in which you will never plant.

At my own home, I mixed the soil from the hole with compost to create a mounded garden bed.  This is preferable to removing the soil from the sight, if at all possible.

Finding a company that is willing to haul away fill soil, any soil not immediately useful for planting, can be a challenge because they need a place to dispose of the soil.  Disposal sites are limited.  If you must remove the soil from the site, look on craigslist.  I have found many people looking for free fill soil.  You just have to get it to their site.

Digging your patio or walkway base to the right depth and width is essential.  Determine the range of thickness of your flagstone.  Most natural flagstone comes in thickness between one (1) inch and three (3) inches. Generally, it will be sold in range between 1-1 1/2" or 2-3", with a wider actual range to be expected. It is always easier to handle thinner pieces because they are lighter weight. However, keep in mind, thicker pieces are less likely to break if dropped. In addition, the joints will set more firmly with thicker stone. Thin flagstone is best used in mortared applications. Most 2-3" thick flagstone covers between 60-90 square feet depending on the thickness

Add the greatest thickness of the flagstone (i.e. for 1-2" stone, you will use 2") to the depth of the road gravel or crushed concrete base, generally 4-6" deep and the depth of the bed of "chips n dust" or stone dust in which you will lay the stone (1-2").  Plan on digging approximately 8-10" deep.  Better to do the extra work now than to watch your hard earned patio collapse a few years down the road because the base was not deep enough.

I generally dig an area 4" wider on all sides than the finished patio will be.  This allows the crushed stone base to support the edges of the patio sufficiently.  Remember to slope the subsoil away from any buildings.  You don't want water collecting against the foundation of your house.  Make sure to eliminate any low spots that could fill up with water during winter and cause frost heave.  Use a landscape rake to level/smooth the foundation soil. 

Yes, this much digging can be difficult.  Especially if you are digging by hand or have to move the soil a significant distance in a wheel barrow.  The soil removed from a 100 square foot patio will be 2.5 yards or 3.5 tons, minimum.  You will be bringing in just as much material.  Don't let this discourage you.  Take your time.  Bring in help if needed.  The end result can be well worth the effort.

Once the soil has been removed to its new location, start bringing in the gravel or crushed concrete.  I prefer to use crushed concrete.  It is recycled material and compacts better than road gravel which has rounded stone.  Place 2-3" inches of crushed concrete evenly across the patio area.  Hose down the crushed concrete with a nozzle set on "shower".  Too much or too little water and the base will not compact properly.  You can tell when the base material is properly watered by taking a handful and creating a ball.  No water should drain out and the ball should hold together fairly well.

Next, compact the first layer of crushed concrete.  It is best to use a plate compactor.  Tamping by hand can be exhausting and leave your arms and shoulders hurting for days after.  In addition, most people can not muster enough strength to compact the stone sufficiently.  You may still need to use a tamper in areas the plate compactor cannot go: corners and tight curves.  You can rent a compactor for four hours at most tool rental places including Home Depot.  Run the plate compactor over the entire area, starting along the outside and working your way in.  Repeat this 2-3 times. 

Lay down the second layer of crushed concrete and repeat the compaction process as mentioned above.  Make sure to eliminate any dips in the stone base.  To fill dips, use a shovel to add crushed concrete.  Raking with the tooth side of a garden landscape rake will sift the stone and separate the larger and smaller particles.  Avoid this.  Once all the dips are filled, run the compactor over the patio base two more times.

Install aluminum edging along the outside of the patio area, remembering to move the edging in 3-4 inches to allow for proper support of the flagstone.

Finally, spread two inches of chips n dust or stone dust.  Compact this layer as well.  As you lay down individual pieces of flagstone, you will need to remove or add to this top layer according to the thickness of the pieces. 

Coming soon: How to Install Flagstone.

Good luck.

Pictures will be added soon.

If you have any questions, or would like assistance in designing or installing your patio and live in the Grand Rapids, MI area, feel free to email me at omegabrickandlandscaping@hotmail.com or call Brent at (616) 328-3258.
 

Building a Raised Paver Patio

Creating a landscape design with a raised paver patio, built against a wooden deck, requires careful consideration to ensure long-term success, stability of the project. The first detail to tackle is the question of how raise the paver patio.

 

 In this project, we chose to use large (800-1500 pounds each) Michigan boulders.

Landscape fabric was attached to the deck using 2x1's and draped against additional 2x12 treated boards to retain the crushed stone we used as a base for the patio.  Landscape fabric was also used to retain the stone behind the boulders. 

When choosing a landscape fabric for use in hardscape projects, be sure to find a product that has a 25-30 year guarantee.  You don't want the landscape fabric breaking down and ruining your patio or wall prematurely.  Landscape ideas need to be executed with care and quality products.

East Grand Rapids, MI Based Landscape Company: Omega Brick & Landscaping

Omega Brick and Landscaping specializes in the design, installation, and maintenance of intimate gardens and outdoor living spaces.  Most of my landscape design and installation projects include unique and beautiful brick and natural stone patios, walkways and walls surrounded by lush, mixed, low-maintenance gardens.

A clear sense of spacial relationships, an eye for aesthetics, and the ability to balance art and the natural environment, enable me to transform your vision and goals for your property, into a private sanctuary, a peaceful gathering place, or fun resort.

                                          Curved Chilton walls and paver steps in Ada, MI

Chilton wall for raised bed and sitting area.

Curved Steps and retaining wall - Grand Rapids, MI

Custom Hardscape Projects

This past December proved to be a boon for the landscape industry. I managed to benefit from the unusually warm weather by completing two hardscape projects, one in Ada, Michigan, the other in Caledonia, Michigan.

Bill and Ellen Costantino of Caledonia, Michigan invited me back to install a curving stairway between two previously installed gardens.  The steps and new walls compliment the front entrance I installed for Bill and Ellen a couple years ago. 
 
I have posted a before and a couple of after pictures for you to compare.  Amazing what can be done with a little thought and design time.

Before

The tread was built using Moss Creta Wall Capstone and a custom tumbled, moss colored pavers. Each 12" deep capstone required cutting using a gas power cement saw in order to get each piece fitted tightly against the next.

The rise of the steps and the associated retaining wall and facing were built using Moss Creta Wall, a product from Paveloc. The end of each exposed retaining wall block at the end of the wall and center of the wall where the straight and curved walls meet were trimmed using chisels and hammer to keep a consistent stoneface throughout.

To get your landscape design and installation plan ready
Call Brent @ (616) 328-3258

Because the project was installed in relatively cold conditions, I used a high tech mason's glue called Type-4 Ultra Wet. I have never been so impressed with an adhesive. Even in below freezing temperatures, this stuff stayed soft and went on smoothly. And as the name suggests, it adhered even wet blocks with no problems.

To see this project in person, or discuss your own Hardscape project, give Brent a Call @ 616 940-9166.