Barry Harrison wanted to transform his little vacant yard to a lush private garden which would offer a healthy habitat because of his prized koi. He also wanted a space which may help earn money for The Greening of Detroit within the Detroit Garden Works Garden Tour.
He also Arturo Sanchez, co-owners of interior and furniture design firm Art | Harrison Interiors, hit the drafting board and the workshop to come up with unique and clever techniques to make a 25- by 42-square-foot backyard oasis that screens out a city park, provides comfy chairs along with the relaxing sounds of water, also provides his koi lots of space to float around.
Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: Barry Harrison
Location: Birmingham, Michigan
Size: 1,050 square feet
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
One of two big granite slab bridges contributes to a gravel patio. You’re lured across by a 1960s statue of a temptress which Harrison picked up at the Brimfield Antiques show.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
He and Sanchez accommodated these lavish chaises for the backyard having an abysmal finish.
Chaises: The Lewiston Chaise, Art | Harrison Interiors
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Smaller granite slabs create a two- to 3-foot-deep moat all the way round the gravel terrace, which is a great habitat for Harrison’s prized utopian.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Bamboo and this whimsical garden folly screen out an adjacent city park. Designed by Sanchez and Harrison, the fanciful drop has aluminum pipes off the very front of its own barrel-shaped roof, which spout water down to the moat. The structure functions as the fountain’s pump house in addition to a cleverly concealed potting shed.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Around the rear of this folly, a vintage cast iron bull statue stands guard over the potting implements — and above Harrison himself at the moment.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Harrison also keeps vintage gardening tools, watering cans and cloches back here.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
This huge obelisk supplies more innovative hidden storage, hiding an air conditioning unit and larger garden tools, like rakes and hoes.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Stag horns and ferns indicate the entrance to the great room. A marble-topped French games console helps the space serve as an outdoor foyer.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Out front, a foot-deep space at the side of the driveway did not provide much space for plants, therefore Sanchez and Harrison piled up sketches for this screen of plants in clay pots. The two design indoor furniture at their firm, therefore this was an intriguing death. The pots are full of succulents which don’t require much attention.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
The screen nudges you off the driveway and around the side, down a granite flagstone path to the private garden.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
Harrison carved pairs of ravens and guinea hens atop Western cedar posts overlooking the plantings.
Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection
The majority of the plant palette is simply lush green, including easy-to-care-for plants like petasites, Baltic ivy, angelina, creeping Jenny and ferns.
Obtaining a glimpse of this bull through this vista for the very first time may provide you a start, but is a joy.
Please tell us I have never seen garden tools cleverly tucked away in a backyard before I saw this yard. Do you have a clever spot for hiding your rakes, hoes, pots and other implements?
Related: How to Construct a Backyard Fish Pond Without Moving Belly Up