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Rooms With Views

From pavilion to pathway to carriage-house perch, the scene is spectacular

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BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A lavender stucco wall trimmed in lime green sets the entertaining tone in Kaycee and Michael Krysty's garden, which includes towering dahlias, gurgling water features and topiary creatures decked out in sunglasses. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A tile-lined runnel, waterfall and straight-edged ponds add geometry, light reflection and water music to the garden. The dining pavilion's arbor is at the right, the shed back left, and in the foreground the saw-toothed leaves of Melianthus major in front of lavender Acanthus mollis flower spikes. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Architect Ray Johnston describes the garden as "vibrating right off the map" and not just because of the hot-colored flowers and foliage. The lavender stucco wall trimmed in lime green adds to the garden's color effect. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES A stone path quietly winds its way to a private little garden off the master bedroom. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The garden shed is both repository for supplies and tools, and intriguing destination. Elan Landscaping built it from wood recycled from the old deck and fence, recycled windows, wood and door. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES The Krystys bought their house because they loved the ancient wisteria vine stretched across its facade. BENJAMIN BENSCHNEIDER / THE SEATTLE TIMES Kaycee Krysty's vivid plantings stretch between the house and the new metal-roofed carriage house, which serves as urban cabin/guest house/yoga retreat.

For Michael and Kaycee Krysty, a major home remodel started with the garden. The couple was so adamant about preserving the venerable wisteria stretched along the front of their home, its protection was written into the contract with their builder. Mostly their goal was to visually link house and garden while creating livable, welcoming outdoor spaces for entertaining.

"Our architects completely got that we wanted a close connection with the garden," says Michael. "We wanted to feel like we were outdoors even when we had to be indoors in this climate."

The Krystys decided not to push up a story, in part because of the indoor/outdoor potential of their 1950s-era home. They admire the work of Southern California architect Cliff May, known as "the father of the California ranch style." The couple showed photos of May's work to their architects, Ray and Mary Johnston. "They were May enthusiasts," says Kaycee. "When a decision needed to be made, we'd ask them, 'Is it Cliff-ey?"

Through collaborative site planning at the earliest stages of the project, the Krystys enhanced what was best about their double lot, including views to Mount Rainier. Johnston Architects designed the stylish new carriage house, as well as the substantial remodel of the Krystys' home. Elan Landscaping was called in to create the bones of the future garden even before the carriage house was finished. The result is a series of comfortable outdoor rooms divided loosely by architectural elements and plantings. Perhaps the most functional space of all is the "poodle room" for Max and Louie, the couple's lively black-and-white miniature poodles.

"The structures were designed so that Michael and Kaycee could enjoy their garden by using it, not just by looking out into it," says project manager Alison Walker Brems. Enclosed between carriage house and main house, the 80-by-100-foot garden contains the exuberance of Kaycee Krysty's colorful plantings. "I like screaming color," she explains of her sunny garden planted with dahlias, grasses, cannas and annuals in vivid shades of peach, grape, yellow and red.

Inside and out, linked


By making the garden a top priority from the beginning of the project, the Krystys were able to effectively blur the lines between inside and out. Here's how:

• Doors are placed so that indoor activities can easily spill out into the garden.

• The architects designed wide overhangs, up to eight feet in some cases, for protected, dry outdoor spaces.

• The ironwood-floored dining pavilion with its arbor "roof" feels like an extension of the home's interior.

• The footprints of both the main house and the new carriage house take up a small percentage of the property, leaving room for a generously sized garden.

• The bird's-eye view from the carriage house offers a panoramic perspective of the garden, highlighting its geometry and architectural features.

The design popped the arbor-framed deck another six feet out from the house, where it hovers a few steps above the garden. This wood-floored dining pavilion extends the architecture of the house into the garden and sets the dimensions for the series of intimate rooms that bring this double lot down to human scale. With plenty of room for furnishings and an outdoor barbecue, the deck is a perfect spot for lingering around the table on a summer evening with a group of friends. Around the corner is the couple's "bedroom garden" — stone-floored, private and boasting tree peonies so blowsy they could have been painted by Gauguin.

The plants are flourishing because Elan Landscaping began its work by hauling in 165 yards of nutrient-rich, well-draining soil. Workers paved garden paths and terraces in stone and gravel, created a runnel, waterfall and ponds to link and retain levels of the garden, and built a charming little shed of recycled lumber in the back corner. "It's not like you get a plan from them," says Michael. "It all evolved organically." Perhaps the most effective bit of architecture in the garden is the focal point of a lavender stucco wall with a lime-green window cut into it.

"The results are so great because the landscape process began so early," says Michael. For a couple who bought their house because of a wisteria vine, this is high praise.

Valerie Easton is a Seattle freelance writer and author of "A Pattern Garden." Her e-mail address is valeaston@comcast.net. Benjamin Benschneider is a Pacific Northwest magazine staff photographer.