Hardscape design
A sloped yard turned into a level outdoor room
Hardscape design- Published
- Location
- Raleigh area, NC
- Site size
- Scope
- Hardscape Design, Custom Fire Pits, Outdoor Grill Islands, Retaining Walls & Gardens
Designing custom hardscapes gets difficult when the space, the grade of the land and the client's wish list are pulling in different directions. This yard had all three problems at once.
The problem with the ground
The yard sloped hard enough that none of it was usable for furniture. Nothing could be laid flat until the grade was dealt with, so the retaining wall came first and everything else was planned around the level ground it created.
What we built
A retaining wall holds the grade and carves out a level terrace. Into that terrace we set a sunken gas firepit, so the fire sits below the seating line rather than blocking the view across the space. Larger-format pavers keep the joint lines quiet across a wide area, and a custom grill island wrapped in natural stone veneer gives the space a working end.
How it turned out
What was an off-camber slope is now a single flat outdoor room with a fire feature at one end and a cooking station at the other.
