Waterfront Historic District Garden

Warren, RI

Nestled in the heart of the waterfront historic district in Warren, the landscape design for this finely detailed arts and crafts style home provides a dynamic outdoor living space for a young and active family to enjoy. Previously home to a mature Beech that was removed due to disease, the north facing yard space was left underutilized and unused by the owners. The new terraces, walkways and gardens activate the space with lush plantings and multiple outdoor rooms to move through. A thoughful porportioned dining terrace of natural cleft bluestone provides an area to grill and entertain. A casual landing sits on the edge of the garden, providing a place to sit and view passersby and the surrounding historic downtown context.

Project Team

Anthony Crisfulli Photography

“Design Outside is simply amazing. They are talented designers that listen to your needs, then, if you want, they can guide you through the construction process.

They started the design by asking us, “What do you want to use the space for? What is the purpose?” Once, they understood our vision, they gave us two design concepts – one more formal that matched the formal design of our home, and one more informal that matched our personalities. After we made our selection, they began to design the hardscape and landscape. They showed us photos of recommended plants and patios. They listened to our thoughts. They took drone photos of our yard and incorporated them into the drawings. They created the drawings and planting schedule that were easy to follow. They recommended local plants that were resilient and low maintenance but flowered at different times of the season, so something would always be blooming in our yard.

Once the design was complete, Design Outside scheduled the work. They showed up during critical parts of the construction: laying out patio locations and during planting days. They adjusted locations of things in the field, so everything blended perfectly. They did not take any shortcuts, always answered the phone or text or email. It felt like a white-glove service for our yard’s transformation.

While we could not afford to do all the work at once, Design Outside worked with us to phase the work over two years. We enjoyed each season, and our yard began to grow and take shape.

The quality of the work was spectacular; they addressed all our concerns.

While construction can be disruptive, Design Outside covered every detail. We have a small friendly dog, Bean, a Boston Terrier. While the work covered our whole back yard, they made sure that she had a safe place to go every day with a temporary fence, so she wouldn’t escape.

We do not have a large backyard and while we love the outdoors, we did not spend much time in our yard at home. That was, until Design Outside transformed our property into an outdoor experience. Now, we have two outdoor areas for dining and lounging (Bean has an area, too). I know it sounds melodramatic, but Design Outside changed our lifestyle. I really cannot say enough good things about this firm. They are friendly, kind people and remarkably talented designers.”