Sanctuary in the City
LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS
About the Project
Stepping into Denise & John’s gated outdoor living room feels like entering into another world: a secret garden. Completely enclosed with a mature maple tree at its center, the city landscape disappears in an instant. In its place, a sense of peace washes over you. While this yard had amazing bones to begin with, there was one Achilles heel: a leaky water feature that looked more like a pile of trash than a pond. From the start, Denise & John knew they needed a total rebuild.
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What they hadn’t expected was my idea to double the size of the feature, which initially gave them pause. Oftentimes people hesitate to build something big in fear of losing room in their yard – especially if it’s a small space – but they don’t realize what they’re missing out on.
In this particular case, we were able to hug the enlarged pond right up against the patio, which created substantially better views of the water, fish, stonework, and aquatic plants. Bumping the pond out also gave us more room for waterfalls (located in the back corner), which we built up alongside the fence using landscape timbers.
When completed, this 16-foot-long by 9-foot-wide pond actually opened things up a bit and cleaned up a previously cluttered look. Additionally, the 10-foot-long stream introduced more depth and interest to the area as well. Between those two major changes, the space not only looks great now, but ultimately feels bigger too.
Before & After
