From curb appeal to backyard paradise, the impact of professionally designed landscaping is tough to underestimate. While our focus is on building homes, we understand that their comforts extend to the surrounding yards, especially here in Santa Barbara, where indoor-outdoor living plays out year-round. That’s why we always welcome working alongside many of the region’s top landscape architects and installers. Here are a handful of favorites.
AWARD WINNER: Taking advantage of world-class views across the Santa Barbara Channel, this six bedroom, seven bath single-family residence featured the very latest in green technology, including double-framed exterior walls with rigid-panel reflective insulation and a solar system to heat the pool and fuel super-efficient LED lighting. Outside, following the design of renowned landscape architect Robert Truskowski, Steve Hanson Landscaping won the California Landscape Contractors Association award for Residential Estate Installation.CLEAN LINES: Landscape architect Kim True earned degrees in horticulture, environmental studies and landscaping from Santa Barbara City College, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly Pomona, respectively. True also credits her stint as a volunteer wildland firefighter with influencing her expertise in designs that fit the Santa Barbara region, shown here in the landscaping and hardscaping of a Montecito hedgerow single-family property. She launched True Nature Landscape Architecture in 2010. MONTECITO MODERN RANCH: Inside and out, this comprehensive remodel had the family’s grandchildren in mind, welcoming frequent visits with a beach-house ambiance and an outdoor shower and fireplace near the property’s seasonal creek. The landscaping was headed up by Eric Nagelmann, who, among many other world-class projects, designed the cactus garden at Lotusland. SANTA BARBARA CASITA: Checking in at 1,100 square feet, this cottage remodel brought new and expansive life to an outdated home. Maintaining its cozy ambiance, refurbished windows welcome natural light across kitchen and living room upgrades. Out back, the expanded deck holds a comfortable and private outdoor dining space overlooking garden walls and stone paths through grasses, shrubs and trees (orange, grapefruit and pear) assembled by landscape designer Billy Goodnick.
