A Dallas Modern Backyard Renovation
A before and after look at a North Dallas modern backyard renovation
When a professional family in a 1980s modern creekside home was regarding nature combatting their 30-year-old pool, the couple began investigating options to rebuild. A close friend shared their positive experience with a planting job recently completed by Bonick Landscaping and recommended they contact us for a consultation. In addition to a new pool and outdoor shower, the family also desired ample space for their children and grandchildren to gather and play, a fire feature, and an outdoor cooking and entertaining area. We sat down with Landscape Architect, Tom Nugent and Landscape Designer, Michael Pappas to delve into deliberate design details that went into this stunning modern backyard renovation.
“Tom and Michael are true professionals who listened and deftly channeled our preferences creatively. The result was a landscape design that perfectly reflected our vision. They transformed our backyard from lackluster to an oasis, a stunning outdoor space that exceeded our expectations.” -Susan
The Wilkofsky family desperately needed a solution for their complex swimming pool calamity. Their lot was perched on a creek bank and their existing pool had begun sliding down it. Design team Tom Nugent and Michael Pappas knew that working with the alluvial soils was going to involve some intense engineering challenges. After an extensive floodplain study, Michael developed the idea to fill in the old pool and situate the new one against the existing L-shaped terrace. This allowed the design to hug the home while capitalizing upon the floor-to-ceiling windows to create a tantalizing view of the new negative edge pool and woodland creek landscape.
While this concept came with its own set of challenges, their team rose to the occasion. They worked with the city to execute a landscape that fell behind the floodplain. The new pool was raised and engineered with 25 piers that descended 25 feet. The 1980s porcelain tile was in poor shape, so they had to connect the terrace to the pool working with the existing post-tension concrete slab terrace beneath it. For a seamless finish, the old tile was upgraded to a sleek Mirage Italian porcelain procured by local Dallas rep, Graniti Vicentia.
The artistic half of our client duo played an instrumental role in material, pattern, and color selections. She chose a black and white hexagonal pool tile because it reminded her of the old pre-WWII buildings in the Bronx, where she grew up.
The second piece of this modern backyard renovation puzzle was fulfilling our clients’ request for an outdoor entertaining area, so our team nestled it nicely by connecting the end of the pool to the home through a covered cook station and outdoor dining area.
Our original plans for the deck included clean, modern, wood planks but it reminded our client too much of the Rockaway Beach boardwalk. Since she wanted a more unique feel to contrast the modern lines, she chose a chevron pattern similar to a motif she loved from a photograph of a Mediterranean resort featured in a design magazine. We used sustainable MOSO® decking materials made from recycled plantation-grown bamboo to create this rich honey herringbone deck design.
Our diligent designers created an expansive L-shaped barbeque area wrapped in white local Caesar stone, featuring high-end Hestan outdoor equipment. These customizable products offer infrared heating technology and colored inset panels to create the outdoor kitchen of your dreams. Our client chose a matte gray finish for simplicity.
The high-tech pergola, engineered by Struxture®, featured automatic louvers, integrated lighting, and heating, and even a sensor that opened up the louvers when it detected high winds.
Our crew filled in the old pool to create another outdoor entertaining area with gravel and a luminous Lumacast fire pit for chilly evenings.
Since these gorgeous grounds already contained mature trees and lush ground cover, our designers left those intact and enhanced the space with understory and ornamental trees and shrubs. Dogwoods, redbuds, and oak leaf hydrangeas complemented the garden nicely and helped to screen unwanted views of pool equipment and new home construction on adjacent lots.
One of the highlights of this project was not only the majestic views from indoors, bringing the outside in, but also the pristine pool reflections of nature from every angle.
For over 40 years, our teams at Bonick have been creating award-winning outdoor spaces with meticulous craftsmanship and impeccable detail. From new builds to renovations, we love working with our clients to develop personal sanctuaries with special touches unique to each of them. Contact us today to create the outdoor space of your dreams.
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