An Outdoor Living Transformation
Woodinville Pivot Site Design
Designing an outdoor space that complements this home’s recently upgraded interior to create a fully complete property.
After assisting with an interior remodel of this ’70s era home a few years ago, the homeowners reached back out to us to refresh and optimize their exterior and landscaping. The one-acre lot had plenty of potential, but needed a trained eye to help play to — and enhance — the property’s strengths.
The home is surrounded by trees and green space but lacked the balance and symmetry essential to achieving a site that feels complete and approachable. Excess pavement reached beyond the flag-lot style driveway, wrapping around the home, and combined with an absence of vegetation, the structure looked unnatural and stranded. Windows overlooked views of concrete rather than greenery, and lackluster, industrial garage doors unintentionally become the home’s focal point. Bland exterior colors downplayed the home’s strengths and made it appear dark and isolated from the surrounding woods.
To anchor the home and introduce symmetry into the landscape, we removed the concrete mass stretching along the home’s front-facing wall to make way for usable green spaces. Instead of an underutilized parking area in front of the house, there is now luscious and dynamic vegetation extending beyond the home, melding with the greater yard. To remedy the proximity of the driveway to the front door, we extended stone pavers from the entry, and added a Corten wall to accent and define the new pathway. A similar metal fin wall on the opposite side of the wall amidst the vegetation creates symmetry.
Home Sweet Home
A new address plate is a welcoming detail, literally and figuratively adding a sense of place to the home. The perforated numbers create a fun play of light both during the day and with a small spotlight at night. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Home Sweet Home
A new address plate is a welcoming detail, literally and figuratively adding a sense of place to the home. The perforated numbers create a fun play of light both during the day and with a small spotlight at night. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Site Symmetry
A compact and comfortable seating area at the front of the house – complete with a fire pit and built-in bench – keeps the symmetry of the home intact while adding a delightful indoor-outdoor connection. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Site Symmetry
A compact and comfortable seating area at the front of the house – complete with a fire pit and built-in bench – keeps the symmetry of the home intact while adding a delightful indoor-outdoor connection. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
A Fire Pit Meant for Gathering
No outdoor lounge is complete without a fire pit. This one takes center stage and creates an intimate setting for close conversation. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
A Fire Pit Meant for Gathering
No outdoor lounge is complete without a fire pit. This one takes center stage and creates an intimate setting for close conversation. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
The homeowners also wanted to take advantage of their large lot by adding amenities that improved their indoor-outdoor connection and created outdoor areas for recreation. Because the back of the home is tightly nestled against the tree line, a portion of the front yard directly in front of the grand living room window was transformed into a patio with a custom firepit. This space was chosen to keep the eye centered on the heart of the house, rather than construct a competing space that jeopardized the overall balance. To avoid disrupting the living room views, we set the patio’s foundation 12 inches below grade to position the built-in benches below the height of the living room window sill.
In order to brighten up the home to make it appear more welcoming, the exterior was repainted white, which accentuates the vertical shadow lines of the board and batten siding. The window trim was painted black for a crisp, sharp look. The white walls work well with darker plants and materials, providing contrast and gravity around the home’s foundation. New, translucent-glass garage doors with black framing were installed to spruce up the left wing of the house and beautify an inevitable and functional feature.
Updating the Approach
Thoughtful considerations to the approach to the home help to guide guests toward a refined driveway and entrance, while plantings on either side draw the eye to moments of additional interest, like the statue to the left. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Updating the Approach
Thoughtful considerations to the approach to the home help to guide guests toward a refined driveway and entrance, while plantings on either side draw the eye to moments of additional interest, like the statue to the left. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Conscious Connection
Locating the outdoor gathering space immediately in front of the home's central windows allows the naturally more active areas inside to connect directly with the action outside. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Conscious Connection
Locating the outdoor gathering space immediately in front of the home's central windows allows the naturally more active areas inside to connect directly with the action outside. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Adding Green
Fresh plantings help anchor the home within the wooded context of the sight and offer all-season interest. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
Adding Green
Fresh plantings help anchor the home within the wooded context of the sight and offer all-season interest. Woodinville Pivot Site Design | Photo by Meghan Montgomery.
The entry alcove was redesigned with stained horizontal wood paneling that contrasts with the board and batten vertical siding, and new lighting guides guests to the front door. The bright red door offers a pop of color that references to the fall colors of maples chosen to introduce seasonal colors and vegetative variation onto a property that lacked deciduous trees.
Smaller touches within the landscape also work to balance the greater picture. Planting and boulders were strategically placed on the far side of the driveway to scale and contain the pavement. A large sculptural art piece was relocated across from the opening in the Corten wall to serve as an opposing axis to the activity at the fire pit.
Now, this Woodinville home has a fabulous, useful outdoor space right on par with its updated interior. These homeowners can now fully enjoy their property – inside or out – with new amenities and landscaping that feels natural in the surrounding nature.
What did this project look like before we started?
Quite a bit different!
Grab the slider below to switch between “Before” & “After” images so you can experience the transformation for yourself.
Notes & Credits
This project was built by JP Landscape.
Photography by Meghan Montgomery.
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