French landscape design

In 2003, we were contacted by a West Houston couple by the names of John and Jennifer Randall. They had just built a French-style near Piney Point and Memorial. Jennifer a house like this surrounded by a French landscape design in the style of an Old World Estate, and John had always loved the architecture and landscaping designs of his French ancestors.

The first element we created for the Randall’s was a driveway/parking area that ran all the way to the front porch. French homes typically feature paving like this that funs all the way up to the house. When such a driveway area is created with interlocking concrete pavers like we used at the Randall home, it looks much older than it is. It is a very useful tool in making a new construction look more like an estate owned by landed gentry, and provides a good central starting point around which to develop something as intricate as a French landscaping design.

To the side of the driveway, there was an open area that John asked us to do something with that would be both ornamental and functional. He had purchased a boat, and was waiting for a slip to open at the marina. In the meantime, he wanted a place to park it temporarily without just backing it into the grass. We came up with a plan to accommodate the need for temporary storage that would also play a major contributing role in our French landscape design.

Using small dark stones laid down like gravel, we made a small parking area for the boat that was shaped like a horseshoe. We surrounded it with a bright green, scalloped hedge. We planted boxwoods and Holly trees around this hedge, and we them throughout the yard and around the side of the house. This contrast of light and green ground cover is used a great deal in French landscaping design. The varying shades of color to create an unconscious sense of movement which the eye tends to follow. (The temporary parking area was subsequently transformed into decorative space a few months afterward. John moved his boat to Clear Lake, and asked us to come back and install an outdoor sculpture that looked very elegant when placed in center of the parterre garden.)

The elegance of this residence and its French architecture and landscaping design made this home overnight sensation in regards to Piney Point landscaping. To make sure that everyone could see it at night as well as the day, so we contracted a lighting design company to ensure that all important elements of the house and property were fully visible in the dark. Using mercury vapor lights concealed in trees, we created artificial moonlight over the parterre garden and front porch area. To accent the architecture, we used a blend of up lights and down lights, and we further emphasize the front of the home with special façade lighting.

John and Jennifer have since sold the home and moved on to even bigger and better things. However, the home they built and the landscaping they so carefully maintained throughout their stay in Houston has remained a premier attraction for this West Memorial neighborhood.