“Every thing in front is an extension of the house,” says landscape architect Jeremy Fillmore, describing his work on the contemporary home that we recently featured in IN FINE FORM. Fillmore looked to the bold and boxy architecture for his lead when creating the foreground’s angular gardens and linear hardscape elements. Out back, the narrative changes. “The natural landscape is the main reason the owner purchased the property, and we embraced it with a much looser design,” he explains. If you’re like us, this uniquely transitioning landscape scenes makes you eager to see more. Fortunately, the following outtakes have you covered.
Photos by Joshua Caldwell
Conceived by architect James L. Carroll and built by Jackson & LeRoy, the home features a unique mix of dark and light forms, joined like building blocks in a compelling composition. Northland Design‘s Jeremy Fillmore used this as his inspiration for the front landscape that is as linear as the architecture it surrounds. “The front of the house is very linear and architectonic, and the landscape is an extension of that,” he says
Short walls, lush gardens and a wide lawn create a lively barrier between the home and its curb. “The house is on a pretty busy road, so we had to screen and separate it from the street,” Fillmore explains.
Handsomely layered plantings including fountain grass, hydrangea and a line of deciduous trees adds depth and privacy along the street-side of the home.
In the front landscape, Fillmore placed select round Ore planters away from the home to help ease the design’s hard angles and strong lines. “They are the only round, soft elements,” he says. “The goal is to let your eye rest with so much going on.”
Integrated into a custom arbor, a decidedly modern entry gate signals the style of landscape that awaits visitors as they approach the home. Separated rectangular pads set into the garden perform as a walkway that slows the pace, inviting guests to linger and savor the garden’s distinctive design.
Fillmore injected boxy planters of steel and concrete into the front yard’s landscape. “This house is like a bunch of cubes that create space, and the landscape is also a bunch of repeated cubes and squares,” he explains.
In back, the property slopes down and away from the home’s two levels. Deep decks and shaded patios overlook a wooded landscape woven with meandering paths.
Leslie Schofield, of Lecate Design, composed clean, contemporary spaces inside the home as well as on patios overlooking the wooded site in back.
A raised fire pit creates a chic destination from a simple back patio. Discreet landscape lighting illuminates a grove of trees behind the home.
A path of loose, hand-selected flagstones leads visitors into the sloped wooded site. “They aren’t randomly placed,” Fillmore explains. “You deliberately pick your footing as you move into the green, shady woodland.
This home was originally featured in our 2022 Spring issue, subscribe to the magazine to get more incredible design inspiration delivered straight to your mailbox!
