Artistic outdoors

06/30/2025

Another landscape transformation.
The new house was landscaped last year by another landscape company but didn't meet the owner's expectation. There were also a few mistakes made. When I presented my vision to the owners- an architect and engineer couple, they were excited. When I told them that I am semi-retired, they wanted to make sure that I would be in control of the whole project. Here are the before and after pictures.

06/06/2025

A deck, a waterfalls or a landscaping project? This is where the Artistic Outdoors stands out from the pack.
The three level deck and stone patio flow flawless around the waterfalls. You can see the waterfalls and hear the soothing sound from all 4 different level. No only we created different spaces for different activities, people will see different interests from different angels.

08/27/2024

Another landscape transformation, as usual.
Artistic touches- Creativity + Diversity + Craftsmanship.

07/31/2024

This isn't our typical job. I did prepared a design for this property with pool and cabana before pandemic. However, the owner decided to use precast fiber grass pool to bring down the cost after the pandemic. I was semi-retired then and couldn't take on this job. I gave them some advise and have my mason friend Aldin do the works.
Most people used boulder wall because it is more economical. We used boulders to create more rustic landscape. There are very few landscape companies can do good job placing the boulders although it looks easy. I placed the boulders for the owners the end of last year. I finally did the basic plantings for them last month because they don't know what to do. The job came out nice but could be better if I got my free hands to do the whole project.

07/05/2024

A $200,000.00 question:

Originally the owners of this project were ready to spend about $300,000.00 to upgrade the pool finish and repair the tiles, copings and the landscaping. The other landscaping companies proposed new decking and walls with concrete paver. When it is all said and done, they will still have no spa. The pool is still in a bad location and some portions of the yard will still be useless. I am semi-retired. I only take jobs that require my creativity and special skills. Therefore I gave them a new option by starting with a new pool. It will cost them about an additional $225,000.00. The owners are in their early 40s with three young kids. They have steady high income and can afford it. If it were you, would you go for it?
Here is the trade offs:
A. New pool location with natural flow and maximum usages of a relatively small yard.
B: Brand new pool with raised spa, raised stone bond beam, waterfalls, sun shelve, bench, automatic cleaning system, salt water system as well as Pebble Tech finish and all newer equipment.
C. custom granite firebowl, stone outdoor kitchen and wide open curved steps.
D. Instead of concrete paver, all walls, walkway, decking and coping are constructed with natural stone. The concrete paver will fade and deteriorate over time. 15 years later the surface will be rough and moldy while the stones look even better when they age. The stones are set on concrete which is much stable and eliminates the weeding problems.
You will enjoy the perfect setup as long as you live in that house with your spouse and kids. Unlike buying an expensive car, 20 years later when you put the house on the market, you can recover about 75% of the value while the cheaper paver option will lose more than 50% of what it is worth. That means you are not paying anything other than the interest for your daily enjoyment for the next 20 years or so.Further more, the equity from the additional investment will more than offset the interest. The enjoyment for your families and friends is actually free!

So, Will you do it if you have the resources?

06/30/2024

Landscape transformation.
This is a rundown old house by the Governor's mansion. The new owner wanted to restore the house to its old glory. They had a pool contract already when they contacted me. However, the pool company, Carolyn Pool, had no vision and was the worst company to work with. We changed the location, orientation and elevation of the pool. We also used the reclaim brown stones and old bricks to match the age of the house. You can see the results from the before and after pictures. As always, we didn't just landscape, we transformed the property.
This project was completed last year. I just put together the whole set of the pictures.

05/16/2024

Living art, the art of living.
This is my front entrance today. This is my sanctuary and meditation garden.

04/23/2024

02/25/2024

Water and fire features in the landscape.

Water and fire bring the additional dimensions of sound, movements and sense to your landscape. It makes you feel cool in the hot summer day while bring you warmth on a chilly evening. Imaging yourself and families with a glass of wine sitting by the fire or in front of the waterfalls, it is a paradise right in your backyard. Most landscape companies used precast concrete products which are very easy to build. You can DIY. However, we, Artistic Outdoors, customized every project with innovative design and unsurpassed workmanship. Some of our products are one of the kind. If you like what your see, please visit our website www.artisticoutdoos.com to get yourself inspired.

09/19/2023

The beauty of simplicity.
The owner of this pool knew what she like. She is also a better designer than most of the landscaping companies. I have to give most of the credit to her. I kind of helped her fine tune her ideas and product selections. Of course we did all the construction. It is simple and contemporary yet very classic and elegant.
A lot of the landscaping companies did the same layout with the same material all over the places. I can tell which company did the projects just simply looking at them. Our innovative ideas and diversity enable us to tail down to what the owners needs/wants and what is the best solutions according to the site context. You can see a completely different approach from the previous post.

09/18/2023

Not your ordinary landscaping.
Creativity, diversity and workmanship distinguish us from the rest of the pack. This is Artistic Outdoors. This is the transformation.
We custom created some of the one-of-a-kind elements. They are not only beautiful to look at, we also created a variety of spaces for different activities in the same time. It is a lively living artistic space.

08/14/2023

A little Gem.
Is it the bigger the better?
We did this wall and patio the end of last year but had to wait for the builder to get their acts together. The owners add a nice new addition to the house. We modified the architect's design to create this cozy patio area and tie the stone works all together. The semicircular wall and patio echo the arch windows. Unlike all the big projects we got this year, this space isn't big but enough for what the owners need. Most importantly, it is unique. It is, as I call it, a little gem.