Reader Rehab: A House Transformed by an L-Shaped Garden - Remodelista
Photographs by Catherine Tighe. If you had a long and narrow side garden instead of a front one, and the opportunity arose to turn it into an L-shaped garden by purchasing a perpendicular vacant lot; would you do it if even if it still meant no front garden? The original intent was to remodel the kitchen, but when the rare opportunity to purchase the vacant perpendicular lot arose, the designers realized that a much more ambitious remodel was required to fully exploit the relationship between interior and exterior spaces that the new garden offered. Looking out on the garden that was previously a vacant lot from the new kitchen addition. The fountain in front of the garden shed is board-formed cast-in-place concrete and contains lotus flowers and lilies. The view of the garden shed, whose western red cedar siding has been stained black, from the street. The garden shed creates an entry to the new garden and kitchen addition with a glimpse of the roof deck above. A 'Before" image of the narrow vacant lot before Robitaille and Curtis transformed it. Because of the L-shaped garden, the two legs of the garden offer two points of access. Above L: The view of the original garden from the original point of access. Above R: The garden now has a destination in the form of the kitchen addition and roof garden at the end. The new kitchen addition acts as an anchor for the two legs of the L-shaped garden, while the new garden begins to reveal itself around the corner. Large areas of new windows and glass doors bring daylight into the home and visually connect the interior of the house to the expanded and remodeled gardens. "To heighten the interior/exterior relationship of our interventions, we carefully considered how the interior material palette relates to that of the exterior," Curtis says. "For the kitchen, we chose a warm palette of durable materials that would patina over time," Curtis says. A skylight brings additional light into the primary work zone. "The existing kitchen was small and had little access to the adjacent garden or daylight," Curtis says.