Before we started, the backyard was almost a blank slate.
The owners of this lakefront home in Marsh Landing, a prestigious gated subdivision in Ponte Vedra Beach, needed a multi-functional backyard space. Each year, they throw two big parties during The Players Championship. When not entertaining large groups of people, they use the space as an extension of their house – an outdoor living room in temperate weather. “It’s an area to read under the oak tree, have cocktails and hors d'oeuvres with a few friends or coffee in the morning,” owner Anna Dennis explains.
The completed patio with tiered planter boxes.
After getting a quote from a landscape architect and bids from five contracting companies, Dennis knew what she was looking for out of the space and out of the people she wanted to execute the project. “I felt an architect would just be an additional cost that I could transfer to larger privacy shrubs, or more pavers,” she says. “What started as just an empty space of grass and beds began to take shape in my head.”
The chaise lounge area with inlayed plant beds and a seat wall.
Dennis decided to meet with Linda from Moderna Pavers out of Jacksonville. She says she enjoyed working with Moderna because they were willing to put in the time to come up with several different design ideas. After a month of going back and forth with computer-aided design (CAD) ideas – tweaking curves and planter sizes, Dennis settled on her ideal backyard patio space, but not before adding a driveway apron, path along the side of the house and path to the front door.
In just a few days, Moderna transformed the Dennis’ bleak backyard into a beautiful and multi-functional outdoor space including a travertine lanai with a step that extends outwards, three built-in planters, a seating wall and irrigated beds for an herb garden, flower gardens and even a space to plant a few veggies.
The hardscape planter boxes can also be used as a small seating wall.
Before the project even started, Dennis knew exactly how she wanted to furnish the space. She was looking to incorporate four chairs and an ottoman, a hammock and a double chaise lounge so that she, her husband and their dog could read and relax together. “I got everything I wanted,” she says. “We use the space everyday. Whether we're entertaining a big group, a few friends or just ourselves, it is perfect.”
A small stoop from the bedroom & a path that leads from the patio to the front yard.