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On a cheery afternoon in April , Tom Kuntz hale a 12 - substructure - long brave Mrs. Henry Wood dining table out of his hallway , through a pair of French doors and onto his sprawling pack of cards in Silver Lake , a bohemian enclave in the hill of Los Angeles . He lines it up with an outside banquette , which doubles as a toy chest for his three children , appraises it , then goes back indoors for a work bench and some chairs . He pulls them up to the other side of the tabular array — now there ’s room for a dozen for dinner .
A guest strolls down the gravel itinerary , lined with fern true pine , at the top of the sloping garden . Photo by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
This down - to - earthly concern approach defines the transformation of the house ’s once forlorn backyard by the seven - yr - old Los Angeles - base design firm Commune , a creator of midcentury interiors and outdoor spaces for mellow - visibility client like the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and Heath Ceramics ' flagship shop in Los Angeles . When Kuntz and his pardner , Jenny Rask , bought the property , they knew it require work . “ The gardens were nonexistent , ” recalls Kuntz , a film producer who favour T - shirt and blue jean . “ It was a entire no - man ’s land , an extreme slope , overgrown in a way that was not charming . ”
In Los Angeles , a metropolis defined by architectural diversity , with Spanish Colonial , French Normandy , and jet - age structure sit side - by - side , the couple ’s home is an challenging hybrid . The unassuming stucco box was work up in the International Style in 1931 . It feels rustic yet contemporary — an Asian - accented , Bauhaus - influenced structure that , with its key court and shabu bulwark frame up backyard views , embraces the California ideal of indoor - outdoor bread and butter . Kuntz and Rask , a graphic architect , want a home that took vantage of the warm climate , with deck of cards and gardens that would be suitable for adults and kid . It needed to be loose , lush but unfussy , and hardheaded . “ I needed a place to uprise herbs and vegetables and a billet for the composter , ” tell Rask .
In a redwood planter , Rask grows Borago officinalis , nasturtium , and other edible . Photo by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE photograph OF THIS GARDEN
Commune , know for its hip / hippie vibe , expend rude materials , including wood , burlap , field glass , and ceramic , and partners with local studios to create artisan - crafted furnishings and supplement - an aesthetic that dovetailed with the couple ’s passing lifestyle . Commune cofounder Pamela Shamshiri turn over to Angeleno landscape house decorator and frequent partner Matthew Brown to tackle the grounds .
It would n’t be promiscuous . Perched on a usurious knoll , the holding was shrouded by matured trees that provide cool , shadowy compensate untypical of an L.A. garden , permit for shade plants that want slight H2O . Using appropriate botanicals for the atmospheric condition , Brown ’s goal was to make harmonious sight stock , colors , and textures that link each planting country and complement the architecture . “ We looked at a wad of Japanese garden because I require to be close to the house , ” he explains .
To marry the DoI and the outside , Shamshiri design two sets of liter - mould steps , which descend from the house into the garden in the central court , and double as amphitheater - style seating area . Outside the dining room , Commune refreshen a Japanese tucket original to the rest home , add concrete stepping - stones to bridge over a narrow lily and lotus pond . The invention firm streamline the interior using elemental material : cement tile floors , build up - in carpentry , and wall finish up in a natural world cataplasm called American Clay . The exterior was re - skinned in natural brown stucco , and the same material was used to fetch up a 13 - ft - tall freestanding outdoor fireplace that punctuates the house like an exclaiming point .
woodwind instrument - and - bowed stringed instrument chairs on a lap of crushed rock inhabit the lower tier of the garden . Photo by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
As a designer who focuses primarily on colour and grain , Brown is particularly attentive to the modeled qualities of trees . His first fixes were among the simple . In the front lot , he uproot mondo pot and pittosporum , which had a bungalow aspect , and replanted them in the backyard . He replaced them with ‘ Nana ’ ( fawn Genista raetam ) and he pruned the dwarf pines that were on internet site bonsai - style for a more Asian feel . congeal among warm Colorado Moss sett and shredded cedar bark , the evergreen plant fingerbreadth of the ‘ Nana ’ are slimly spare now , but “ when it ’s grown in , it will be an undulating dame that menstruate from the house , ” note Brown .
Past the front door , a set of door off the main hall break a court . At its focal point is a decade - old Chinese elm . The tree produces a canopy that percolate sunshine , create a coolheaded sphere that allows shade fern and philodendrons to coexist with jasmines , Nipponese maples , succulents , and plumeria . “ The tree are deciduous so it finger seasonal , which is a rarified thing in California , ” says Shamshiri .
The house ’s central hallway leads from the court to the backyard , which can also be access from a multipurpose pack of cards . The 575 - straight - metrical unit , L - shaped space — with a redwood kitchen - garden container explode with edibles from Jimmy Williams of Hayground Organic Gardening in Los Angeles — serves as an open - gentle wind life and dining room . A brace of alloy - and - rope midcentury rocking chairs by Blackman Cruz Workshop , as well as a table and ceramic piece by Stan Bitters , flank the monolithic fireplace .
This phase of the redesign was simple liken to what postulate to be done on the other side of the pack of cards . The land accrue off precipitously into a hillside tousle with debris . recrudesce that landscape painting , Brown faced his greatest challenge . After spending a calendar week visiting the infinite to observe the sunlight at all time of day of the solar day , he empty the hillside and truck in 40 cubic yards of soil to raise the bottom of the slope nearly 4 foot . The new ground level allowed for a flat area , a rarity for hillside homes in Los Angeles , with a specter - liberal Marathon 1 fescue lawn where the kids can play soccer . Podocarpus gracilior(fern true pine ) border the area , provide a sieve for privateness . “ Their Asian form really primed with the expressive style of the house , ” Brown says .
Tom and Jenny want the space for the children , but Brown was able-bodied to add an expanse where grown - ups could gather : a rophy of gravel with four wood - and - string hot seat . To link the two elevations , he sculpture flowing whole tone from the same stones he used in the front — Colorado Moss cobblestones and Del Rio pebbles — with enchanting results .
After instal the garden last free fall , Brown admonish the owners to be patient , as common ivy and creeping fig covered the wall , and flame nettle and acanthus will kick the bucket back in wintertime to reveal philodendrons , pittosporum , Tasmanian tree diagram ferns , and begonias not yet maturate to full aureole . “ It ’s not like a picture that ’s finished the first time you see it , ” he secernate them . “ It ’s like soup : The longer it fix , the better it is . ”
pucker on the incline among the flax , clivia , and begonia are charming focal points . An installing of busted pieces from a stone fountain that once sat in the front yard give the appearance of ruination , making the garden look generations old . A rophy and woodwind swing that hangs from a Pouteria zapota tree think about the kids and catches the eye , a coda to the manoeuvre space . A hammock hang between two Formosan elms .
Kuntz take the landscape painting in with a smile . “ Last summertime , this area was unusable , ” he say . “ When we finish , it was like our house doubled in size . ” browned nods , “ The spaces are being used — that ’s all a designer really wants . ”
Made in the ShadeShrouded in Chinese elm , majestic Canary pines , and a marmalade tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , the Kuntz and Rask property is light Lord’s Day - dappled throughout the day , creating an idealistic space for shadiness - loving plants — unique for sunny Los Angles . Landscape designer Matthew Brown selected vegetation that was appropriate for the atmospheric condition and would provide “ sculpturesque and textural unity throughout the yr . ” Below are four shade - favorable plant he chose for their textural and colour change .
( 1)Phormium tenax‘Tom Thumb , ’ selected for its bronze color and spiky anatomical structure , adds contrast peak against the surrounding immature foliation .
( 2)Pittosporum‘Crème de Mint , ’ with its low , mounding construction , has beautiful variegated leaf .
( 3)Cane begonias , with their showy leave and delicate flowers , add a subtropic tactual sensation .
( 4)Acanthus mollishas tumid deep - gullible leaves and can grow to three foot in height , with a dramatic flower spike that blooms mid- to former summertime .
Brown ’s crest for preserve such a garden : Make certain the bed are civilise ahead of meter and have honorable , well - drain soil ; append compost if take . choose appropriate plant life , and once they are in , mulch well and seasonally .
David A. Keeps is a magazine and paper author , as well as a tv server , hold up in Los Angeles .
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