Freshen Your Landscape for Year-round Use

With the high cost associated with building a new home, some homeowners are choosing to remodel-inside and outside.  Landscaping upgrades increase outdoor living possibilities.

"Homeowners like being able to take the party outside," says Karl Kuhni, owner of Kuhni Landscaping.  "The outdoors are quickly turning into an extension of the living space."

Freshening the landscape starts with making the best use of the space you have.  Homeowners can make usable space by adding structures like trellises, fountains, outdoor kitchens, fire pits and walkways - creating an environment of gathering.

"Fire pits are great year round," Karl says.  "They're a heat source that's easy to use and it creates a gathering place in summer and winter."

Landscape remodels aren't being reserved for large homes on massive lots. In fact, some of the most creative landscapes Karl has worked on have been on small properties. "When you have smaller areas, you can design areas that have specific functions," Karl says.  

Walkways bring aesthetic beauty to a yard and can be shoveled in the winter to allow for yard accessibility during the winter months.

Warming Up To Spring

Winter is still hanging on and we are tired of being indoors! Fire pits are a great way to stay warm while spending time outside enjoying your yard. Below are before and after photos of a gas fire pit with a seat wall.

Lehi Residence Notepad Design

Although we have a professional landscape architect to design a yard that will compliment your home, you can design your yard however you like. Also, you can request your yard suit needs that are specific to your family and our designer can create a layout to attend to your specifications. This particular design was done by Karl Kuhni and the homeowner in a collaborative effort.

Lehi Residence Completed

We finished the back yard of this residence last week. The front yard, pictured above, was installed two years ago. With a back yard like this, it is like having your own resort.

This view is of the fire pit sitting area with a water feature behind it. Guests can enjoy the sound of trickling water while sitting around the fire.

The swimming pool has dark gray plaster, giving the water a deeper color of blue. Most swimming pools have white plaster giving the pool water a light blue cast.

Stepping stones leading to the swimming pool.This is the barbeque area, complete with a drinking fountain. There is also another water fountain by the stairs leading to the deck above.The two gazebos sit in front of a custom Bocce ball court. Click on the picture for a close-up.
Under the gazebo on the left is the dining area. The gazebo on the right shelters another comfortable sitting area.

View of the dining gazebo.

View under the sitting area gazebo. The homeowner is great with accessorizing and bringing their personality from the inside of the home to the outside.

Doesn't this remind you of sitting poolside at a posh resort? And it is really just steps away from your back door.

Stepping stones lead past the hot tub to the front yard.

The fire pit area is shaded by an umbrella during the day.

The water feature is a core drilled stone. The water travels into a concealed pondless tank and recirculates back to the core drilled stone.

How nice would it be to spend a relaxing evening after swimming sitting next to a cozy fire?

View from the fire pit looking toward the gazebos.

Parade of Homes-Lindon Residence

We landscaped this beautiful home show in 2003 for Magleby Companies. It is always fun to go back to the jobs we have completed years later to see how everything in the yard has matured.

The next two pictures show one of the front corners of the house. All of the plant material has matured and filled in very nicely.

The left side of this photo gives a view of the dry creek bed.

The dry creek bed runs in front of the home. Burning bushes are great for foundation plantings and the leaves turn red in the autumn.

Raised beds add height as well as layers to the landscape.

The wisteria softens the fenceline and looks great over the custom gate.

More views of the foundation plantings.

Here is a large landscape boulder surrounded by large cobble rock. Cobble is very cost effective, because it does not need to be replaced every few years, like shredded bark does.

Landscape boulders and Rose of Sharon shrubs were used along the fenceline.

More views of the dry creek bed.

The walkout basement area has rock slab steps with a rock wall. Creeping Jenny was used to fill in the spaces between the rocks.A small planting area with annual flowers and Oregon Grape, lines the bottom layer of the boulders to add some color.

More rock wall views.

This area is just behind the backyard gate. Creeping Jenny, hostas, dogwood, and spirea was used in this bed.

More wisteria lines the backyard fence, along with roses, and perennials.

Virginia Creeper and Kelsey Dogwood line the back wall.

Backyard side of the custom gate.