Find the style your home has been waiting for.
From modern and contemporary to Mediterranean, resort, English garden, and zen. Every great outdoor space begins with a clear point of view. Here is how to find yours.
The landscape should feel born of the house.
Style is not decoration. It is the set of decisions, materials, lines, planting, light, that makes a space feel inevitable. The right style is usually written in your home's architecture already. Our job is to read it, then design an outdoor environment that feels like it was always meant to be there. Below are the twelve languages we design in most, and who each one tends to fit.
Clean lines, disciplined materials, quiet drama.
Modern outdoor design strips away ornament so proportion and material can speak. Think large-format porcelain, board-formed concrete, linear fire, and planting used as sculpture. Edges are crisp, palettes are restrained, and every element earns its place. It suits architectural homes and owners who find calm in order.
- Large-format paving with tight joints
- Linear fire and water details
- Sculptural planting, grasses and structure
- Concealed, warm lighting
Warm, current, and quietly luxurious.
Contemporary design shares modern's clean intent but softens it with warmth, natural wood tones, organic textures, and looser planting. It evolves with the moment rather than following one strict doctrine, which makes it the most popular style we design. It suits owners who want a current, refined look that still feels welcoming.
- Mixed materials, stone with warm wood
- Comfortable, lounge-first furnishing
- Soft planting against clean hardscape
- Layered, atmospheric lighting
The bridge between classic and current.
Transitional design blends traditional comfort with modern restraint. Symmetry and natural stone meet cleaner lines and simpler palettes. It is the diplomatic style, ideal when a classic home gets a modern renovation, or when two partners love two different worlds. It ages gracefully because it never belonged to one trend.
- Classic materials in simplified patterns
- Symmetry with modern restraint
- Timeless plant palettes, boxwood and hydrangea
- Comfortable formality
Established, gracious, and timeless.
Traditional design draws on estate gardens, bluestone and brick, clipped hedges, perennial borders, and a sense of permanence. It rewards patience and craftsmanship, and it never photographs as well as it lives. It suits classic architecture and owners who want a landscape that feels inherited rather than installed.
- Natural stone and brick detailing
- Formal hedging and garden rooms
- Perennial borders with seasonal rhythm
- Classical water and garden ornament
Sun-loving, textural, and effortlessly social.
Mediterranean design celebrates outdoor living the way the coasts of Spain and Italy always have, warm stone, gravel terraces, olives and lavender, long tables under dappled shade. It is naturally water-wise, which makes it both beautiful and intelligent in a California climate. It suits warm architecture and families who live around the table.
- Warm stone, gravel, and terracotta
- Olives, lavender, rosemary, and citrus
- Pergolas with filtered shade
- Long-table dining at the center
Stillness, by design.
Drawing on Japanese garden principles and naturalistic planting, this style designs for the nervous system, asymmetry, negative space, stone placed with intention, water that whispers. Every view is composed, and nothing shouts. It suits owners who want their garden to be the quietest, most restorative room of the house.
- Composed views and negative space
- Specimen trees, maples and pines
- Still or whispering water
- Moss, gravel, and natural stone
Refined comfort with working roots.
Modern farmhouse design pairs clean, simple structures with warm, lived-in materials, board and batten, blackened steel, bluestone, and generous lawns where kids and dogs actually play. It is polished without being precious. It suits families who want a beautiful backyard that never asks them to be careful in it.
- Simple gabled pavilions and pergolas
- Bluestone, gravel, and warm wood
- Generous lawns and edible gardens
- String lights and fire for gathering
Vacation, permanently installed.
Resort design brings the feeling of a five-star property home, a pool at the center, cabanas and daybeds at its edge, layered lighting, and planting with bold, lush texture. Every sight line is staged for pleasure. It suits entertainers and families who want every weekend to feel like a getaway without an airport.
- Pool and spa as the centerpiece
- Cabanas, daybeds, and swim-up details
- Bold, layered, lush planting
- Dramatic evening lighting scenes
Relaxed, sunlit, effortlessly elegant.
Coastal California style is the art of looking unstudied, soft grasses moving in the wind, weathered teak, limestone and sand tones, and spaces that flow barefoot from indoors to out. Nothing is stiff, everything is considered. It suits modern and ranch homes and owners who define luxury as ease.
- Sand, bone, and driftwood palettes
- Native grasses and soft massing
- Teak, limestone, and linen textures
- Seamless indoor-outdoor flow
Romance, structure, and abundance.
The English garden balances formal bones, clipped hedges, gravel paths, stone walls, with joyfully abundant planting that spills over every edge. It is a garden you walk through, not just look at. It suits traditional architecture and owners who love roses, fragrance, and a landscape with seasons and stories.
- Clipped structure with abundant borders
- Roses, peonies, and fragrant planting
- Gravel walks and garden rooms
- Aged stone, brick, and patina
Sculptural, sustainable, strikingly calm.
Desert modern design composes architectural plants, agaves, yuccas, olives, and grasses, against decomposed granite, boulders, and crisp hardscape. It is dramatic by day, otherworldly when lit at night, and remarkably light on water. It suits modern homes and owners who want maximum presence with minimal maintenance.
- Sculptural, architectural planting
- Decomposed granite and boulder work
- Striking uplighting at night
- Beauty with very low water demand
Honest materials, rooted in the land.
Craftsman and ranch landscapes honor the architecture they serve, natural stone with visible craft, timber pergolas with real joinery, and planting that blends into the surrounding hills rather than fighting them. It suits classic California homes and owners who value warmth, craft, and permanence over polish.
- Natural stone with visible craftsmanship
- Timber structures and true joinery
- Native and naturalistic planting
- Designs that defer to the land
Style questions, answered.
How do I know which style fits my home?
Can styles be mixed?
Do certain styles cost more?
Which style adds the most resale value?
Will you tell me if my idea will not age well?
Not sure which one is you? That's the fun part.
Bring us photos you love and the way you want to live. We'll translate it into a design language your home will wear beautifully for decades.
Start Your Design →Tell us about your project.
Design engagements begin at $7,500. The application takes two minutes. Craig reads every one personally, and the projects we can serve well are invited to a Discovery Call.