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On a sunny afternoon in April , Tom Kuntz hauls a 12 - foot - long weathered Ellen Price Wood dining table out of his hallway , through a yoke of French threshold and onto his sprawling deck in Silver Lake , a bohemian enclave in the hills of Los Angeles . He lines it up with an outdoor banquette , which double as a miniature chest for his three children , appraises it , then depart back at heart for a judiciary and some chairs . He pulls them up to the other sides of the table — now there ’s way for a dozen for dinner party .
A guest strolls down the gravel way of life , lined with fern true pine , at the top of the incline garden . Photo by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE pic OF THIS GARDEN
This down - to - earth approach defines the transformation of the menage ’s once forlorn backyard by the seven - year - old Los Angeles - base design firm Commune , a Godhead of midcentury interior and outdoor spaces for mellow - profile client like the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs and Heath Ceramics ' flagship storehouse in Los Angeles . When Kuntz and his cooperator , Jenny Rask , bought the prop , they make out it needed work . “ The gardens were nonexistent , ” recalls Kuntz , a filmmaker who favors T - shirts and jeans . “ It was a full no - valet de chambre ’s land , an utmost slope , overgrown in a fashion that was not charming . ”
In Los Angeles , a city limit by architectural diversity , with Spanish Colonial , French Normandy , and jet - age structures sit side - by - side , the pair ’s home is an challenging hybrid . The unassuming stucco boxful was built in the International Style in 1931 . It feels rustic yet contemporaneous — an Asian - punctuate , Bauhaus - influenced structure that , with its fundamental court and glass walls framing backyard view , embrace the California paragon of indoor - outdoor sustenance . Kuntz and Rask , a graphic designer , wanted a home that take vantage of the warm mood , with deck and gardens that would be suitable for grownup and children . It needed to be informal , lucullan but unfussy , and virtual . “ I take a office to grow herbs and vegetables and a post for the composter , ” enunciate Rask .
In a redwood plantation owner , Rask grows Borago officinalis , genus Nasturtium , and other pabulum . photograph by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE PHOTOS OF THIS GARDEN
Commune , acknowledge for its pelvic arch / hippie vibration , uses natural materials , include forest , gunny , glass , and ceramic , and partners with local studio to create artisan - craft furnishings and accessories - an aesthetic that dovetailed with the couple ’s casual modus vivendi . Commune cofounder Pamela Shamshiri turned to Angeleno landscape painting designer and frequent cooperator Matthew Brown to harness the grounds .
It would n’t be easy . Perched on a exorbitant hummock , the holding was enshroud by ripe trees that provide cool , shadowy cover atypical of an L.A. garden , allowing for shade plant that require fiddling piddle . Using appropriate botanicals for the condition , Brown ’s goal was to produce harmonious sight lines , colors , and grain that linked each planting orbit and complement the architecture . “ We look at a tidy sum of Japanese garden because I wanted to be faithful to the firm , ” he explains .
To marry the inside and the outside , Shamshiri contrive two sets of L - influence footstep , which descend from the menage into the garden in the fundamental court , and bivalent as amphitheatre - way seating . Outside the dining elbow room , Commune refreshed a Nipponese brandish original to the home , bestow concrete stepping - stones to bridge over a narrow lily and lotus pond . The design firm streamlined the interior using primary fabric : cement tile floors , built - in woodwork , and wall finish in a natural earth plaster called American Clay . The exterior was re - skinned in innate brown stucco , and the same material was used to finish up a 13 - animal foot - tall freestanding outdoor fireplace that punctuates the house like an ecphonesis point .
Wood - and - twine chairs on a circle of gravel live the lower level of the garden . Photo by : Gemma & Andrew Ingalls . SEE MORE picture OF THIS GARDEN
As a designer who focuses primarily on color and texture , Brown is in particular attentive to the sculptural qualities of trees . His first mend were among the round-eyed . In the front lot , he uprooted mondo grass and pittosporum , which had a bungalow aspect , and replanted them in the backyard . He exchange them with ‘ Nana ’ ( grovel juniper ) and he trim the dwarf pine that were on site bonsai - manner for a more Asian feel . Set among tender Colorado Moss cobblestone and shredded cedar bark , the evergreen fingers of the ‘ Nana ’ are slightly spare now , but “ when it ’s produce in , it will be an undulating wench that flows from the house , ” take down Brown .
Past the front door , a circle of door off the chief hall reveals a courtyard . At its focal point is a decades - one-time Chinese elm . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree produces a canopy that filters sun , creating a cool country that allows shade fern and philodendron to coexist with jasmines , Nipponese maple , succulent , and genus Plumeria . “ The trees are deciduous so it feels seasonal , which is a rare matter in California , ” allege Shamshiri .
The home ’s central hall leads from the court to the backyard , which can also be access from a multipurpose deck of cards . The 575 - square - foot , cubic decimeter - mold space — with a redwood kitchen - garden container exploding with edibles from Jimmy Williams of Hayground Organic Gardening in Los Angeles — serves as an candid - strain aliveness and dining way . A pair of metallic element - and - rope midcentury rocking chair by Blackman Cruz Workshop , as well as a tabular array and ceramic piece by Stan Bitters , flank the monolithic open fireplace .
This phase of the redesign was simple-minded compared to what needed to be done on the other side of the deck of cards . The land fell off precipitously into a hillside tangled with debris . produce that landscape painting , Brown faced his greatest challenge . After spend a week visiting the blank to detect the sunlight at all hours of the Clarence Day , he reset the hillside and truck in 40 cubic G of soil to upraise the bottom of the gradient almost 4 feet . The new grade set aside for a monotonous orbit , a rarity for hillside homes in Los Angeles , with a shade - tolerant Marathon 1 fescue lawn where the kids can play soccer . Podocarpus gracilior(fern pine tree ) border the area , providing a screen for secrecy . “ Their Asiatic phase really fit with the expressive style of the house , ” Brown say .
Tom and Jenny wanted the space for the children , but Brown was able to add an area where grown - ups could gather : a roofy of gravel with four woods - and - cosmic string chair . To link the two elevation , he sculpted hang steps from the same stones he used in the front — Colorado Moss cobblestones and Del Rio pebble — with enchanting results .
After instal the garden last fall , Brown cautioned the proprietor to be patient , as ivy and mouse Ficus carica incubate the bulwark , and coleus and acanthus will drop dead back in winter to reveal philodendron , pittosporum , Tasmanian tree diagram ferns , and begonia not yet grow to full glory . “ It ’s not like a painting that ’s finish the first sentence you see it , ” he distinguish them . “ It ’s like soup : The longer it cooks , the better it is . ”
tuck on the slope among the flax , clivia , and begonia are charming focal points . An installation of broken piece from a pit fountain that once model in the front yard gives the appearing of ruins , making the garden look generations erstwhile . A roach and wood swing that hangs from a mammee tree entertains the kids and captivate the centre , a coda to the play space . A hammock hangs between two Taiwanese elms .
Kuntz takes the landscape painting in with a grin . “ Last summer , this area was unusable , ” he aver . “ When we finished , it was like our business firm doubled in size of it . ” Brown nods , “ The spaces are being used — that ’s all a clothes designer really wants . ”
Made in the ShadeShrouded in Chinese elms , royal Canary pine tree , and a sapote Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , the Kuntz and Rask belongings is light sun - dappled throughout the day , creating an idealistic space for tone - loving plants — singular for sunny Los Angles . Landscape clothes designer Matthew Brown pick out vegetation that was appropriate for the status and would offer “ sculptural and textural integrity throughout the year . ” Below are four shade - favorable flora he chose for their textural and color variety .
( 1)Phormium tenax‘Tom Thumb , ’ selected for its bronze color and spiky structure , adds contrast peak against the circumvent green foliage .
( 2)Pittosporum‘Crème de Mint , ’ with its low , mounding social structure , has beautiful variegated foliage .
( 3)Cane begonias , with their glossy folio and frail flowers , add a semitropical feeling .
( 4)Acanthus mollishas prominent deep - green leaves and can raise to three feet in height , with a striking bloom spike that blooms mid- to previous summer .
Brown ’s tips for maintaining such a garden : Make certain the beds are train ahead of prison term and have just , well - enfeeble soil ; add compost if needed . Select appropriate plants , and once they are in , mulch well and seasonally .
David A. Keeps is a magazine and newspaper writer , as well as a television host , living in Los Angeles .
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