Outdoor Gazebo

What is an outdoor gazebo?
It is an outdoor structure that can be used as either a garden shelter, outdoor room, or viewing pavilion. Gazebos go back 5,000 years in history to Ancient Egypt. The modern outdoor gazebo, however, is based on the combined design motifs of Japanese teahouses, Chinese garden shelters, and small Dutch buildings.

What types are there to consider?
There are several different types that you can choose from. There is the conventional style that is basically an outdoor room with a floor, supporting pillars, and a ceiling. Some people, however, prefer to have a custom patio substituted as the floor, or to have the gazebo itself built on top of a courtyard patio.
You can also have a portable gazebo constructed that can be moved from point to point within your yard.
What shape are they built in?
They can be built in hexagonal, octagonal square or rectangular designs.

Why should I consider an outdoor gazebo?
It is a great way to enjoy a view of your home, garden, and the surrounding Houston landscape. The covering gives you shelter from the sun on hot days, and it gives you shelter from rain on cloudy days. A screen can even be built around the sides to keep out mosquitoes.

What are these structures made of?
They are almost always made of wood. Cedar and pressure treated pine are the two most common wood types used. Cedar is much more expensive. Pressure-treated pine can be stained and painted to make a strong, sturdy structure that will last and that looks good near any garden, pool, pathway, or natural pond.

Can any other materials be used to build an outdoor gazebo?
Yes. In contemporary gardens, such a structure can be built out of metal, reinforced concrete, or even stone. The roof can be made from copper, slate, or some other inorganic material to contribute to the Mentalist themes of contemporary landscaping and contemporary gardens.

What are a few features to consider?
Outdoor lighting is always a good thing to have in any outdoor structure. It will not only make it easier for you and your guests to see each other at night, but it will also make the gazebo itself a notable landscape element in its own right.

You can also have a small bar installed, complete with an electrical outlet so you can plug in a blender for mixing drinks. Most Houstonians also want a ceiling fan installed in the top of their gazebo.

What is the best architectural style for an outdoor gazebo?
To a certain extent, the style is flexible. The only absolute here is that it has to compliment the architecture of the home. Beyond that, anything from an Amish design (which you typically see in garden pictures) or a wrought iron Victorian style will work with a variety of outdoor landscaping themes.

Try not to restrict yourself to a preconception of style, however. What we prefer to do is to create a landscape master plan that reflects the entirety of your dream of an outdoor lifestyle. The many elements of your landscape will both individually and collectively create this experience. The actual style of your gazebo will ultimately be determined by its location. If it is built near the home or garage, it will compliment building materials in those structures.

If, on the other hand, it is built in or near a garden, or setback among the trees, it will reflect a more organic theme and geometry. The colors and stains used will also support these motifs, so that when you look at your outdoor gazebo, you see an extension of the landscape itself in the form of a structure that both pleases the eye and invites your attendance.

Garden Pergola

What is a garden Pergola?
It is a garden feature that provides a shaded walk through a passageway of pillars. The pillars support cross beams and sidewalls of lattice that give you a place to train vines that will provide additional shad and greenery.

How will a garden pergola compliment my residential landscape design?
First of all, it will give your home curb appeal by creating a bit of extra character. People always love the blend of architecture and greenery these remarkable structures add to a property. It will be an excellent way to add dimension to your patio or garden outdoor courtyard and make it into a major point of interest.

What are some other benefits of a garden pergola besides curb appeal?
The first thing it does is add a vertical dimension to your garden design. Climbers make it look as the garden was reaching upward from the ground. The blend of pillars, cross beams, and vines now create a partly shaded area that gives you a place to sit. If you are looking to turn one of your gardens or courtyards into a central outdoor focal point, then having a pergola built will definitely establish its significance.

Does a garden pergola have to be built only over a garden?
No. Sometimes it is built this way, much like a gazebo, when a small garden in the yard needs added appeal. However, many pergolas are built along walkways. These walkways can lead to any point on the landscape where a sense of entryway is desired. One very popular way to use a garden pergola like this would be to build it between a patio and a courtyard to help transition the mind from a predominantly hardscape environment to a much more organic and lush setting.

Can these structures be customized in size and style?
Yes. The geometry can be either angular or curved, depending on your residential landscape design and the elements of your yard we are building the structure to enhance. There is a famous pergola in Salzburg that looks almost like a tunnel of pure green, with just enough light filtering in to guide your path.

Are garden pergolas ever used as entrances to outdoor rooms?
Yes. In fact, this is often the best way to build an outdoor room, because the tunneling effect of the structure focuses the senses on a new realm of experience that waits just on the other side of the passageway.

Can you decorate a pergola?
Absolutely. Plant-friendly outdoor lights can be installed in the interior if you want low-level ambient lighting at night time. You can also hanging plants and flowers from the crossbeams, and outdoor artwork can decorate the interior side walls. Any wood in the structure can be stained and finished to give it a high-end look.

Garden Outdoor Room

What is a garden outdoor room?
A garden outdoor room is an outdoor room that directly connects to the back of a home. Many of these rooms are built with wings that connect on either side to the walls of the house itself. A custom stone, concrete, or brick patio provides a surface area for people to gather, relax, recline, and relish moments of conversation. A glass sliding door is almost always installed between the garden and the home interior.

What type of feeling should a garden outdoor room have?
Your garden outdoor room should look comfortable and inviting to those inside your house. This is why we almost always connect the two areas with a sliding glass door so people can see everything in the garden and eventually be drawn outside. It blurs the boundaries of interior and exterior space. People in the garden can see kitchens and living areas inside, and people in the house can see outdoor furniture, greenery and custom hardscape, and lighted fountains.

Is a garden outdoor room an important part of landscape design?
Yes. Adding a landscaped place so close to the house does several things for your yard. It brings nature right up to window, so to speak, with a convenience and immediacy that are literally only a few steps away. It also creates a transition area where indoor living turns into outdoor living. When you hold engagements at your home, your guests will appreciate being able to shift so quickly between the two without having to walk that far outside.

How do you determine how large a garden outdoor room should be?
The most important consideration we pay attention to is home architecture. The garden should be built to scale with the size of the house and the size of the yard.

What types of furniture do you put in a garden outdoor room?
That depends on what you plan to use the room for. If you want it to be more of a gathering place where people stand around and mingle, then a few stone benches are apropos. If this is going to be a central hub of conversation, you will certainly need more of a living room effect and a lot more comfort than stone seating provides.

Our design team will help you accessorize and color coordinate any number of outdoor furniture sets with the surroundings of the courtyard. Decorations can be a blend of indoor and outdoor motifs, including flowers, flower pots, planters, lighted fountains, and fine statuary. Patio design is always custom and made to support decorative themes without diminishing human comfort.

Can a garden outdoor room improve my property value?
Yes. The fusion of indoor and outdoor space creates a synergy between personal lifestyle and luxury outdoor living. Prospective buyers will immediately see the advantage of buying a home that already has extended living space, organic vitality, a connection to Nature, and personalized entertainment.

Arbor Living Room & Landscape Design

An arbor can be something simple you sit in under the trees, or it can be the high point of your outdoor landscape design. Many arbors are nothing more than vantage points beneath large trees from which homeowners can quiet moments of the Houston landscape. Others, however, are outdoor living rooms that can only be described as monuments of residential outdoor architecture.

The arbor living room we built for the Friedman family was just such a structure. It was constructed in the form of a formal, outdoor luxury living room. It was built at the end of a long, three-level sandstone patio. Its axial location in relationship made it the second most significant structure on the landscape, and the terminus of the pool and hardscape design.

When you leave the summer kitchen that is adjoined to the home interior, you suddenly find yourself standing at the end of a patio that stretches past the length of a luxury pool and culminates in the grand finale of an outdoor luxury living space decked out with the finest furnishings and a crystal chandelier.

The arbor itself is designed with a traditional style of architecture and a touch of classicism. Four large pillars support a glass roof that shelters the fine furnishings beneath. A chandelier hangs from the roof’s interior. This adds a sense of drama, richness, and tone to the moment. Red curtains frame your view of the Houston landscape when you sit inside the arbor, and they also attract you from a distance when you look at the room from other vantage points in the yard.

The beams are made of solid steal and surrounded by pressure treated pine. They are stained to match the rest of the room’s interior. The roof is pitched slightly to run water backward to an organic wall of Japanese yew trees. This exposes the underbelly of the ceiling just a bit, making it appear to slope upwards. This gives you a better view of the stars and the traditional-style house looming majestically up from the Houston landscape and nighttime skyline.

The floor of the arbor living room is made from the same sandstone that was used to build the pool patio. Limestone inlays are cut into it, which create decoration and scaling. These look superb under chandelier light.

A few other features near the arbor enhance its preeminence position on the Houston landscape. The first of these are sandstone steps leading up to its interior. Every step is set on a concrete base hidden in the grass. Sandstone risers support the 18-inch treads that measure two inches each in thickness.

The treads are cut and thermal finished in order to give them a rich texture and sophisticated look. The generous width of every tread allows for a generous step and allows for a gradual descent to the upper pool terrace. Dwarf mondo grass grows between the risers to compliment the back wall of Japanese yew.

On either side we find additional softscape elements that lend vitality and décor to the sophisticated and complex hardscape designs that delineate this massive Houston landscape into gathering points of interest and activity. On one side we find a formal parterre garden, which runs parallel to the pool. Boxwoods frame the arbor on sides to provide scaling, organic complimentary framing, and structure, and a decorative planter housing Cyclamens adds color and vitality to the scene.

Wrought Iron Arbor

A wrought iron arbor communicates strength while functioning as a backdrop for luscious, flowering vines. And it is that mixture of enduring and ephemeral, hard and soft, that Exterior Worlds find so compelling about wrought iron arbors.

Wrought iron has been around for centuries as an art form. It has been used as decoration in fine homes and gardens in the Mediterranean countries, Europe and in the Americas. You can see it in the forms of doors, balconies, gates, fences, window grilles, shutters, hardware and furniture, both new and antique.

Our clients desire wrought iron for its beauty as well as its functionality—providing utility, security and privacy. In addition to arbors, we use it for other outdoor structures and architectural features. Also, for accents, accessories and functional ornamentation. Since it is a strong material, we like to showcase its intrinsic strength, although it can be used to good effect in most any design.

We can custom-make wrought iron works that are rich in detail in such classic styles as Renaissance, Gothic, Louis XV, Art Deco or Art Nouveau. We also offer more contemporary designs using other metals like stainless steel, bronze or copper. Additionally, we can retro-fit wrought iron antiques to fit your design needs.

As for arbors, they have been part of landscape architecture at least since the 1600s. Nowadays, they can also be made of treated wood, galvanized aluminum, and stone combined with wrought iron, wood or aluminum. Your only limitation on design options is what complements your house’s architecture and the other material you’ve chosen for your landscape design.

Arbors belong to the sub-group called garden structures. Generally, they are an open-air composition covered on top by a solid roof or lattice work. We think they are particularly beautiful when serving as the framework on which vines grow. This combination of man-made structure and natural greenery creates a lovely, green shaded area.

Exterior Worlds has used arbors as free-standing structures or to provide a passageway between different elements in your landscape design, such as a covered walkway to a rose garden, an outdoor water fountain or a custom swimming pool. We have also used their height and interest to create a focal point on a deck or patio design.

A wrought iron arbor can also be practical. We have trained fruit-bearing and vegetable vines to grow on them. In places where it is hard or not practical to grow trees or where an open, airy space is preferred, we have built them to provide welcoming relief from the sometimes overbearing sun.

In Mediterranean landscape design and English garden design, a wrought iron arbor is a pleasant addition. It accentuates the landscape style while providing a place to grow a colorful vine such as bougainvillea or a scented one like old-fashioned honeysuckle.

We also recommend wrought iron for other elements within your landscape—fences, a trellis, wrought iron driveway gates, to name a few. A wrought iron garden gate inserted in a privacy fence creates a welcoming counterbalance of openness. An antique wrought iron wall element conveys an appreciation of history.

Call Exterior Worlds at 713-827-2255 to discuss placing wrought iron elements in your landscape.

Outdoor Gazebo

I want to give my landscape some “pop”—any suggestions?
One idea is a garden structure such as an outdoor gazebo, something we at Exterior Worlds have been building for years. First of all, gazebos are beautiful to look at. Kids love them and, with their young imaginations, can turn a gazebo into a castle, a fortress or a stage. But, because of their versatility, they can be quite functional. You can outfit them with built-in benches and screen them in to provide an artist get-away. Or you can create another entertainment center by installing a fire pit or outdoor fireplace.

What are the best construction materials to use for an outdoor gazebo?
You have a wide range of construction materials for an outdoor gazebo. Over the years, we have used treated wood, which is one of the most traditional choices. It looks good whether painted or stained and sealed. If you have an English garden design, a white, wooden gazebo makes an impactful visual statement. You can combine it with other landscape elements like a trellis, garden arbor or garden arches, covered in honeysuckle or climbing roses. A substantial material like stone or brick makes a lovely gazebo, especially in a Japanese garden. You can further enhance the look by choosing a pagoda roof style (a smaller roof on top of a larger one).

Wrought iron, metal, or painted aluminum are all durable material choices, especially here in Houston with our challenging Gulf Coast weather. We have also had good luck with Hardiplank™, a fiber cement plank product made by the James Hardie Company. It is resistant to our varying temperatures and humidity levels because it is made of stone, quartz, sand and fiber.

Who can help me build an outdoor gazebo?
A competent landscape designer or landscape architect will work all the elements of your landscape into a seamless whole. They will walk you through your design decisions such as the shape you want for your gazebo—octagonal, square, oval and rectangular. You can also add flair to a gazebo with the roof style you choose: a curved upsweep or pagoda-style, steep or flat, open lattice or wooden shakes. Your architect or designer will also help you coordinate these choices with the architecture of your home and what works best with it. We have a list of such professionals with whom we have longstanding relationships.

The different sections of a major landscape design and installation need to be interwoven, very similar to how a dance is choreographed. We try to be frank with our clients as to where we can be most valuable. If a customer only wants a simple garden structure, we may refer them to one of our artisan contractors. But if they want, say, a gazebo wired for lighting and integrated into the irrigation system and drainage system—that’s another matter. The more sophisticated the design, the more important a partner like Exterior Worlds becomes. In these cases, we become a necessity, not a luxury.

Houston Arbor

Regardless of the style Houston home is accentuated by old and stately trees, an arbor built by Exterior Worlds can create a similar sense of shelter and protection that one receives when sitting under the shade of an old, great tree. It mimics the effect of overhanging branches, and it gives a three dimensional presence to gardens and hardscapes. Any Houston home, regardless of architectural style, can be complimented in this manner, and outdoor buildings that populate the backyard will appear more differentiated as specifically outdoor elements with such a structure nearby.

A truly impeccably constructed arbor does several things. Not only does it provide the utmost comfort as a place to sit in the shade, but it also provides a panoramic view of the surrounding landscape. Residents should be able to sit in its shelter and admire the most distinguishing features of their yard. The structure should also ornament the landscape as part of a larger, specific theme. Houston homeowners can sometimes be very eclectic in their tastes, so custom design is imperative in order to get the structure to work with both traditional designs and derivative styles that require an individual approach.

There should also be some concealed creature comforts built into the arbor as well. Houston gets very hot in the summer can suffers from sporadic blasts of cold, damp air in the early months of the year. Climate control should be built into the structure so its vantage point can be enjoyed regardless of external conditions. Interior lighting and hidden lighting controls should also be installed in places where the homeowner can easily and discreetly adjust the lighting for guests without having to get up.

Houston landscape designers build arbors somewhat differently than do other manufacturers. Exterior Worlds, for instance, develops the structural design for the facility in relationship to home architecture and surrounding landscape design. If the property has a stately, European look and features iron fencing, we may build the structure out of iron in order to reinforce a classic, Old World look. This is can also be done in parts of the yard where dark stone hardscapes are blended into gardens and custom fountains.

More commonly, however, we tend to build wooden arbors out of pressure treated pine. While some of our competitors would argue that cedar is a superior building material, we feel it is both too expensive and features too short of a lifespan to adequately serve the needs of our clients. Pressure-treated pine is much less expensive and lasts a great deal of time longer than cedar.

One of the main reasons so many Houston landscaping clients commission us to build them an arbor is because it can compliment so many adjacent landscaping elements. One of the favorite locations for these remarkable structures is at the far end of a patio directly facing another structure, such as an outdoor fireplace or outdoor kitchen. Or, it can be built adjacent to a pool and spa, providing an alternative seating area for swimmers who want something different than patio chairs to relax in. One other popular location is near a meditation or Zen garden, where a person can relax and look out into carefully sculpted greenery and a tranquil fountain that stills all thought.

Garden Arch

We want to add a special feature to our landscape design and have been reading about garden structures. Does Exterior Worlds have a type of structure to suggest?
At Exterior Worlds, we encourage our clients to use garden structures to add interest to their home landscape design. One example is a garden arch, an architectural element that adds shape, texture and variety to your garden landscape. It also provides practicality, by supporting vines and growing vegetables. It can be a nod to the past, create a mood or induce whimsy. It is a relatively simple way for you to express a belief that your living environs extends all the way to the edge of your property.

What are some of the materials garden arches are made of?
Here are some of your choices:
• Wood makes beautiful outdoor arches, whether you choose a simple or complex design. Also, eco-friendly.
• Galvanized steel is known for its strength and longevity.
• Wrought iron arches—you can’t go wrong with this classic choice.
• Vinyl arches have the look of painted wood, without the bother.
• Copper arches fit perfectly into a Japanese garden design—or, truthfully, any other landscape design.

You will want to include many factors in your material selection, such as style, durability and financial considerations. Also, be sure the look of your outdoor arch is well-coordinated with your other hardscape selections.

What shapes do garden arches come in?
From curvaceous to right-angled, arches come in many shapes. The long list includes the traditional French shape, made famous by Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France. The central alley of his garden is covered with climbing roses supported by iron arches. These arches have a flat profile, making them perfect for wider spans.

Another option is a Roman arch, which is typically larger in height and width. When covered with flowering vines, it looks like you have a living ceiling made of green plant material, interesting texture, fragrance and color. Consider putting Roman arches together with an outdoor sculpture or outdoor water fountain.

Yet another type of arch is the fruit tree arch. It is sturdy and practical since it was designed to have a fruit tree planted on either side of the arch and trained to meet at the top.

Within our landscape, where should we place a garden arch?
If you put them to work, arches can be used to support vegetables, fruits, vines or climbing roses. They also work as pure decoration, creating a conversation piece and hinting at something in the beyond.

For our clients, we have used outdoor arches near doorways to a garden or home. Or sometimes we place them in a series, as when we cover the pathway to a garden gazebo. If you have a flat yard, they can create vertical dimensions in your landscape. When paired with a gate, they make a memorable entrance. We have included them in patio designs and deck designs, and used them as a focal point in a small garden design.

Garden Arbor

We want to add an arbor to our landscape design. Is that something that Exterior Worlds can help us with?
Yes! We have built and installed garden arbors for many of our clients. A type of garden structure, arbors give vertical depth to your garden landscape. Our clients like them because they can be either functional or decorative. When used as a functional structure, garden arbors support vines, climbing roses, and other plants. You can also use them purely for aesthetic reasons, for example, serving as an invitation to your guests to enter the landscape.

We’d like to be as prepared as possible before buying. What more can Exterior Worlds tell us about garden arbors?
Garden arbors dress up any space. Your landscape designer or landscape architect can help you integrate the arbor into your total landscape picture. For instance, you may want to pair it with an outdoor water fountain, place it over a path that leads to an outdoor room, wire it with landscape lighting or combine it with other hardscapes in your yard. If you have a themed garden such as a Japanese garden, Mediterranean landscape design or English garden design, you can find arbors with Asian, Moorish, Victorian or Art Deco influences.

Sometimes called a garden arch, an arbor comes in many shapes—squared, rounded or as an arch over pathways. Arbors can be made with decorative ironwork, giving your garden a timeless and graceful appeal. Some are gated. Others have built-in benches.

You have a wide range of choices with materials, too. A sturdy tubular steel construction covered in a black powder coating makes for a durable, weather-resistance arbor. Other choices include vinyl, copper and wrought iron. If your arbor is to be a stand-alone element, then consider using a high quality thick-timber redwood frame. Other woods in this category include cedar and willow.

Because we want our landscape to be special, how does Exterior World suggest using an arbor?
Landscaping ideas with arbors include pairing them with a garden gazebo that creates a focal point that draws the eye into your yard year-round. When used as a gate to your garden, an arbor issues an especially warm welcome to your guests. They can provide shade during Houston’s long hot months or serve as an entrance to a special section of your garden. As an added bonus, arbors make the perfect setting for photo ops on special occasions like children’s parties, family gatherings or business entertaining.

If your priority is gardening, your arbor can provide support to a particular kind of plant by giving them a secure place to grow. They can be used as a showcase for your beautiful flowers and, since they are displayed at eye level and above, make them more easily seen. Plants that work well with arbors are ivy, clematis, roses, grapes and wisteria.

The best use comes at the end, when you get to sit back and enjoy the vista you’ve created with this simple structure in your landscape garden design.

Garden Gazebo

What is a garden gazebo?
As a focal point, a garden gazebo gives the viewers of your yard a place to visually rest—the mind can go there and take a breather, even when the body is running out the door to the next appointment. At Exterior Worlds, we think a garden gazebo is one of the ultimate outdoor structures within your landscape design, whether your property is all about urban landscaping, is a small garden design, or is multi-faceted.

What materials are used in the construction of garden gazebos?
Your material choice for gazebos runs the gamut from sturdy to whimsical. When making your choice, you can always turn to Exterior Worlds for advice. We’ve been building garden structures for more than 20 years. Popular choices include:
• Treated wood. Whether painted or left natural, treated wood is one of the most traditional options for gazebos. Nothing looks more pristine and wholesome than a white, wooden gazebo, especially when combined with a garden arbor covered in roses or wisteria. These elements work particularly well within an English garden design.
• Hardiplank™. A proprietary product made by the James Hardie Company, Hardiplank™ has become very popular in Texas in the last decade. It is made of stone, quartz, sand and fiber, materials that can withstand our fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels. Its planks come with a 50-year limited warranty.
• Stone or brick. A robust material like stone or brick makes a beautiful gazebo. Stone and brick gazebos look especially fitting in an Asian-themed or Japanese garden, since what we now call “gazebos” have been a core feature of Asian gardens for centuries.
• Metal and painted aluminum. Wrought iron, steel and aluminum are good choices for gazebos. Their properties make them a durable option for the Houston climate—resistant to decay and able to endure our coastal weather.

What are the dimensions of garden gazebos?
When choosing a shape, let the architecture of your home and the topography of your property be your guide. The traditional eight-sided gazebo is pleasing to the eye and to the imagination. And while the octagon is the classic shape for a gazebo, other geometries work, too. Square or rectangular gazebos speak of simplicity and elegance. An oval gazebo appears soft and inviting.

What else do I need to know about building a garden gazebo?
You may think that you want to act as general contractor when building a gazebo—or for any other landscaping project—in order to save money. Unfortunately, this choice can be expensive. Misunderstandings can arise about scheduling and coordination issues, terminology, permitting, unique job peculiarities due to selection of materials, installation techniques, construction methods employed and material availability. A subcontractor will respond much better to a seasoned general contractor, like Exterior Worlds, who understands the work to be performed and with whom they have a good relationship based on past experience. As one of the best landscape service and design companies in Houston, Exterior Worlds has years of experience to make sure the end results exceed your expectations.

Garden Structures

What are garden structures?
Garden structures create visual interest and a point around which your landscape can develop. They can be practical, pleasurable or whimsical. They range from the elaborate, such as a wooden garden gazebo complete with an outdoor fireplace and built-in seating, to a simple rose trellis. If you have a garden structure in mind, Exterior Worlds wants to work with you to make your landscape come alive with your personal aesthetic.

Give me examples of garden structures.
A list of garden structures would include:
• Pergolas. A shade structure often built over a deck or patio, pergolas can be used as a trellis to support vines. Within a patio design, pergolas are outstanding additions to a covered outdoor room because the pergola’s open fratwork creates a transition space between the full shade of the room and the full sun of the yard.

• Outdoor gazebos. While many gazebo designs resemble Victorian-style structures, they can be designed to suit any setting, even a modern landscape design. Screened-in gazebos are practical for areas like Houston that have a problem with mosquitoes.
• Garden and wall trellises. A garden trellis is an outdoor structure, usually in a latticework, that supports plants and vines. A wall trellis works well in a Mediterranean landscape design, especially if near an outdoor kitchen. Your fresh vegetables are right at your fingertips.
• Garden arbors, also called garden arches. Whether singly or arranged in a series, arbors and arches are classical elements of landscape architecture. Either decorative or functional, they can be used to highlight an entrance or a pathway.
• Rose pillars. Think climbing roses, honeysuckle, wisteria and bougainvillea. Now put them on a single column and you have the garden pillar. Beautiful when placed by doors and gates, along paths, or beside a luxury swimming pool.
• Antique garden structures. Outdoor antiques, such as marble urns and columns, stone benches and gates, turn a nice landscape into something memorable.
• Pedestrian bridges. Bridges make eloquent statements and fit particularly well within a Japanese garden design.

What other elements of landscape design need to be considered when working with garden structures?
Landscape lighting, from the simple to the intricate, enhances outdoor structures. Landscape lighting heightens its beauty and the pleasure it provides while increasing the security of your property. By creating highlights, spotlights and shadows, your yard becomes something enchanting in the nightscape.

While these structures are appropriate for any home landscape design, they also serve a purpose within commercial landscaping. A pergola or gazebo in a commercial landscape design makes a good first impression. It also creates a respite for your tenants when they need a quiet lunch spot or a quick break.

Whatever your landscaping ideas are, you can always turn to the expert staff at Exterior Worlds. We are passionate about landscapes, form and function, and the world of design. We also have long-standing relationships with artisan craftsmen in the Houston area who can put your plans together with precision, integrity and dedication.

Heights Landscaping

A Heights family contacted us and hired us to design them an Italian garden with a number of corresponding decorations and functional elements that would support a Classical design theme. The house itself was perfect for this project because it was built with very Old World architecture to begin with. It was a two-story home that had a porch and an upstairs balcony in the front. Stairs led up to the porch, and the windows were decorated with large shutters. Just next to the house grew a very large and stately old oak—ideal for concealing a tree light to illuminate the entire roof of the structure and showcasing throughout the night the European look and feel we intended to create.

The lights that we hid in the oak tree provided more than enough lighting for the roof, balcony, and windows. To light the porch, we concealed fixtures under the eaves to light the walking surfaces, steps, walls, and downstairs windows. In the front area surrounding the oak tree, we planted a small Italian garden with a variety of ground cover plant species, shrubbery, and smaller, ornamental trees. This added an organic feeling to the angular symmetry of the house. We then completed the first phase of our project by placing urns on either side of the stairway leading up to the front porch. This lent a sense of Classical grand entryway that, although technically Roman nonetheless remains consistent with the theme of an Italian garden in form, proportion, and placement.

Because the house itself had been built more toward the front of the lot, there was a great deal of property behind the home that gave us plenty of room to integrate organic, functional, and decorative elements of an Italian garden. The first thing we created for our clients was a planter, built in the shape of a small wall just tall enough to sit on. This wall followed the contour of the rear of the home, and provided both a place to plant greenery, and sufficient room to comfortably sit and have coffee, conversation, or a quick read of the morning paper.

Just beyond this planter, we then built a water fountain in a design consistent with the architecture and general layout of the property. All Italian gardens work to support the linear movement of architecture, so the design we chose was a simple rectangle whose decorative appeal was enhanced with lighting and water jets. In the evening, four water spouts spray upward with the light dancing between them.

To further compliment linear design and right angles, we built a limestone patio around the water fountain. The limestone pavers actually began at the base of the planter, and were slightly sloped on that end toward concealed, 1-inch drain channel to provide water runoff. It was constructed with a blend of hardscape and softscape that created the illusion of it stretching past the fountain and fading away into the grass. This helped the patio blend harmoniously with the Italian cypress we planted in the garden, and complimented the handmade pottery we interspersed among both organic and inorganic designs.

To create a sense of enclosure and destination for our new Italian garden, we built a fully functional garden arbor at the far end of the property. This area had previously been obscured by the unsightly appearance rising out of an adjacent commercial lot behind the property. The new wooden arbor, built over a limestone patio with Permacast columns and a cedar roof, worked to partly block the view of this building. To further draw the eye away from it, we added a rather innovative feature in addition to the standard lighting and ceiling fans we normally build in our arbors. We placed a mirror on the back wall that reflected the patio in front of the arbor and the Italian garden that stretched all the way back to the fountain and the planter. Like all mirrors do, this had the unconscious effect of making the property look a little larger and more self-contained within its own boundaries. Then, to complete the project with an extra touch of comfort and elegance for guests, we decorated the patio and placed chairs and tables in front of the arbor that would give seated guests a good view of the Italian cypress, the fountain, and lighted interior of the arbor.

Landscaping, Pool Remodel & Iron Arbor

Iron Arbors and Their Place in the Landscape

Will an iron arbor clash with my vegetation?
At face value, you would probably assume it would. However, the opposite is true if it is built with the right proportions, and properly integrated into the surrounding stonework and vegetation of the landscape. A wrought iron arbor can lend an elegant touch to any garden, walkways, patio, or swimming pools.

How do you integrate iron into stonework and vegetation?
One way you can do this is to use flat stones to create a walkway leading up to the arbor. You can plant flowers, monkey grass, ferns, or any number of indigenous plant species in and around the steps to create the look and feel of a natural pathway. Planting larger ferns, shrubs, or vines around an iron arbor can also help it achieve a greater organic synthesis with natural elements.

Wouldn’t a wooden arbor look better by the pool?
That depends on the type of atmosphere you want to create around your pool. If you are given to formality, a wrought iron arbor is definitely a refined, Old World element that can make your pool area look just as much a place for conversation as it is for fun and swimming. This is especially true for homeowners who host private black ties at their residence, or frequently host dinner parties and wedding receptions at home. All of these events are much more effectively catered with the type of European sensibility often symbolized by wrought iron fences, arbors, and trellises.

Is an iron arbor comfortable?
Yes. In fact, it can be even more comfortable than a wooden arbor. Heavy wooden structures will often block a summer breeze and create hot, stagnant pockets of air within. Iron beams and joists, even though thinner than wooden equivalents, are much thinner as well. This allows for much more Spartan, minimalist designs that you typically visualize when you picture ironwork of any kind in your mind. Even the slightest summer breeze has no difficulty passing through such a structure, and amenities like ceiling fans and interior lighting can be installed in iron structures just like that can in wooden arbors.

What else can iron be used for besides building an arbor?
Wrought iron is an excellent material to use in fence work, particularly around a swimming pool or stone patio. This is what we ultimately created in one of recent projects for the Macalister family in Houston, TX. Another structure you can add is a garden trellis, which we also built for the Macalisters. When positioned across a patio or yard from an arbor, and iron trellis covered with ivy can provide a wonderful structural compliment to the sculpted designs and geometric form of an iron arbor, gate, or fence.

If you are interested in any high-quality landscape services, Exterior Worlds has been providing the high-end residential landscape services and garden design services discussed above for the Houston and the surrounding areas including the Memorial Villages, Tanglewood, River Oaks, area since 1987. Contact us at 713-827-2255

River Oaks Landscaping Arbor

We are thinking of having an arbor constructed in our yard. We would like it to be built of cedar, but also want to have lighting installed in the structure. Investing in the high cost of cedar and having visible wires seems like a bit of an over expenditure for us. Do you have any methods of landscape arbor construction that would create a more affordable and presentable aesthetic?

Yes. We recently installed just such an arbor as part of a larger landscaping project in River Oaks. Rather than use cedar, we built the arbor out of pressure-treated, rough cut pine and stained it to look like cedar. We built this arbor to look like part of the landscape itself, and designed it for maximum comfort. We installed lighting on the arbor to spotlight urns located between the arbor and the swimming pool, and placed a ceiling fan in the top portion of its interior. In order to avoid detracting from the aesthetic of the arbor and the backdrop of the landscape, we took a rather innovative approach to wiring the structure that eliminated the need for external conduits.

We actually erected the beams and joints, notched each one individually, and then took them and ran the wires through them. Notching the beams and joints in this manner both added strength to the arbor and allowed us to completely hide the wires within the wood. We also installed lighting controls on the interior of the beams so that they could not be seen from the front.

While the cost of this type of labor is more expensive, in the long run, it is well worth the investment. Rough-cut pine lasts much longer than cedar—up to 30 years—and thus eliminates the need for maintenance and replacement. Also, the elegant presentation of a wireless design like this contributes to the illusion that the arbor is actually part of the landscape and its background vegetation. In the case of our River Oaks project, the arbor was framed against a hedgerow planting of Japanese yew. The beams were slightly arched to look more lifelike, and to provide a compliment to the arc of the pool. This sense of unity between Nature and structure was further magnified at night by mercury vapor up lighting which illuminated the yew behind the arbor, and blended the colors of the wood and the greenery together in a surreal synthesis.

One more step was also taken in the construction of the structure. We made OGEE custom cuts in the beams and planted ivy at the base of the arbor. In the next few years, the ivy will grow up the beams and cover the wood in leaves. This will further blend the arbor with the greenery of the landscape and make the entire structure appear to be something that sprung from the ground as if the earth itself had somehow conceived of a perfect outdoor structure.