Cornerstone Landscapes Featured on HOUZZ
Yard of the Week: Magical Moments of Joy on the Pacific Coast
Landscape pros create special and surprising spaces at an artistic couple’s longtime Santa Barbara, California, property
By Becky Harris
Perched on a hill in Santa Barbara, along California’s Central Coast, this well-loved midcentury home enjoys views of both the Pacific Ocean and the mountains in the Los Padres National Forest. The homeowners are a creative couple who have lived here since the 1970s. Their home is filled with happy memories for them and their adult children. After many decades, it was in need of thorough remodel, both inside and out. After an extensive renovation of the house was completed, it was glaringly apparent that the landscape was not worthy of its beauty.
“The remodel on the house was beautiful, with high-end finishes and gorgeous stone masonry,” Greg Hyman of Cornerstone Landscapes says. “The landscape was full of weeds and had almost zero usable space. It did not reflect the quality of the house.” Landscape architecture firm CJM::LA redesigned the landscape, and Cornerstone Landscapes handled the construction. The design includes special places where the couple’s grandchildren can play and explore, and the renovations were completed with the intention of creating a legacy for future generations. Come take a virtual journey through this series of outdoor rooms and discover delightful surprises along the way.
Here’s a glimpse of the renovated house with its new landscaping and impressive stone chimney, which inspired the masonry choices throughout the yard. The stone block retaining wall around the driveway was inspired by existing dry-stacked stone block walls. The landscape contractors replicated and repeated these walls along the driveway, having the stone blocks fabricated from large boulders to match. The design also incorporates fire-wise practices, including creating a 100-foot defensible space between the house and the natural areas around it.
While the existing stone block walls were dry-stacked, the newer retaining walls near the top of the driveway provide structural stability. “We repaired all lower driveway walls reusing old blocks and fabricating new blocks. The upper driveway walls are all-new, built on reinforced concrete footings with rebar dowels,” Hyman says.
On either side of the house is a way to proceed directly from the driveway to the backyard. On this side, stone steps lead from the driveway to a gravel path. A century plant (Agave guiengola, USDA zones 9 to 11) marks this entry, hinting at the rich tapestry of plantings that await in the yard.
Up the steps and just past that century plant (seen here on the left), a short gravel path leads from the driveway to a round dining patio. The plant palette is Mediterranean-meets-coastal California. Plantings include a mix of palm trees, productive trees (including orange, avocado, lemon and olive), herbs, succulents, pollinator-attracting perennials, ground covers, grasses and lilies.
Off the driveway, visitors arrive at the first garden room, a circular dining patio. A bespoke compass rose mosaic, designed by CJM::LA, marks the spot. The homeowners’ love of Santa Barbara inspired the design. It includes waves, palm trees, citrus trees and the mountains. The yard is full of fun surprises like this, making traversing it a journey of discovery.
Jonathan Cohen of Joseph and Sons crafted the mosaic, collaborating closely with the Cornerstone Landscapes team. They prepped the site to make sure the mosaic would be properly set and last for many years to come. “This was a combination of Jonathan coming out to the site and working remotely with us, back and forth,” Hyman says. “He gave us a life-size print of the design, and we constructed a raised portion of the concrete for the mosaic.
The sculpture on the right is an existing dead tree painted blue. “The homeowners are very creative people, and it was their idea to paint some of the dead trees on the property rather than remove them,” Hyman says. “It’s a dead trunk dressed up.”
Next along the procession is this patio inspired by Japanese Zen gardens. The homeowners designed this space themselves many years ago, and the landscape architects integrated it into the new design. The team also replaced an aging bamboo fence with this new cedar one. They designed the fence specifically for this garden room, and it is not repeated elsewhere on the property.
