San Ramon

There was not much to work with when we arrived. The driveway and the front entry were both cracked, the side fences sagged with broken gates at either end, and the front trees had grown out over the walkway. The front lawn was dead and full of weeds, the plants with it. The side yard was weeds, dirt, gravel and broken concrete. The back lawn had gone the same way. The one real asset was a line of mature fruit trees around the back perimeter, which we saved. And it was hot out there. No shade anywhere.

The house is not large, and the owners have small children. What they wanted was somewhere genuinely special to spend time and to have people over, a place their kids would remember. There was one more thing shaping it: a converted unit at the back of the property serves as the owner's office, so he works out there through the day with children playing nearby and a neighborhood full of dogs. Managing sound was part of the brief.

A lot of the front is small decisions that matter every day. We oversized the front entry so a delivery can be set to the side of the door instead of in front of it. We took out the step up into the house and sloped everything away from the threshold, so there is nothing to trip on going in or out. The new walkway curves around the mature fruit tree at the corner of the garage, which keeps the tree and its fruit and stops anyone ducking under the branches the way they used to. And we set the gate back from the garage corner, which gives them room to charge their vehicles and keep the cables out of the walkway.

Both side gates are built on welded metal frames with the wood hung on them. It is worth explaining why. A wide double gate built in timber alone takes on water through the first winter, warps, gets heavy, and from then on it drags or sticks every time you open it. Anchoring the whole thing to steel means it stays true. The children could swing on these and they would hold. Good hardware on them too, so they open and close easily.

The right side yard, the part that had been weeds and broken concrete, is now the best spot on the property. There is a paver patio, a fire pit, a pergola over it for shade, and planting wrapped around the whole thing.

Tucked between the corner of the house and the office, right beside the pergola, we built a fountain. The stone was hand chiseled and carved, stacked into a pedestal, then drilled and plumbed so the water rises at the top and cascades down the faces. The sound reflects off the office and house walls and carries the length of the side yard. That was deliberate. Sitting by the fire you hear water, and so does whoever is working in the office.

There are two pergolas, and neither is just framing thrown together. Both are custom shaped, with curves cut into them and the ends of the framing sanded smooth. The larger one spans the back patio, which sweeps off the back of the house and runs to the new lawn. The pavers match front to back. On the narrower side we ran a decomposed granite path instead, in a custom blend with exposed aggregate through it for a little variety. Paver paths lead one way to the fountain and the fire pit, the other straight to the office, and the swing set moved back into the lawn.

Out front, the rusted mailbox that was barely holding onto its post is gone, replaced with one we built in stone with a stone cap. We cleared the weeds and sharp agave that used to greet you at the car door and ran decomposed granite paths across the parkway from the street to the sidewalk. Then we framed the whole front yard in new redwood fencing with a capped top, and the grain on it is lovely. Boulders, planting and new irrigation throughout finish it.