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| Outside Advice |
| Designer Carl Palasota gives us his tips on making the most of exterior spaces. Read on for insights and ideas you can use |
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On the porch overlooking the front yard, iron Windsor chairs are mixed with cylindrical drums. "Usually floor lamps stand between the seating so that it becomes a room with function, not just a porch," says designer Carl Palasota.
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Originally, compressors for the air conditioning system dominated this space along the side of the house. After the homeowners supplanted them with an underground geothermal system, the area was transformed into a secluded side garden.
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Palasota is heavily influenced by classical forms, as shown near the reflecting pool with its checkerboard stepping stones, pair of obelisks, and a fountain, one of five on the property.
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by Alyse Hamilton Harral
Photos by Tria Giovan
Alyse Harral: The reason these clients hired you was to redesign their driveway, which was narrow, terraced, and difficult to navigate. How did you go from such a practical problem to such a pleasing solution for the entire property?
Carl Palasota: After talking about everything, we decided what really needed to be done was to enclose the front of the house like a Garden District house in New Orleans. We really were trying to capture the spirit of the house. Adding the fence made the front yard seem larger. The owners found a blacksmith to construct the iron pickets and fence. The cement was scored to look like stone on the plaster columns of the fence. For the walkways and driveway, we used salvaged granite ballast from old Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans, which historians say was repaired in the 18th century with stones that ships had used as ballast and then thrown overboard when they docked.
How did the existing landscape influence your design, and how did you expand upon it?
A demilune-shaped bed dominated the front yard, and so it made sense to create shaped beds on both sides, therefore creating two entries. I used shaped boxwoods, which are both geometric and romantic and traditionally found around old Louisiana homes. The front garden consists only of boxwood, ivy, fern, figs, and oaks—all green. The landscape and the exterior of the home complement each other so well. How did you achieve this?
The house has a Dutch Colonial roofline, a classical revival style with a mix of influences on the architecture—very mixed Southern vernacular. I chose a color from the Martin Senour Williamsburg Collection of historic paint colors. The shade is classic and neutral, just as the gardens are traditional and neutral with their monochromatic shades of green. How do you begin to frame the outdoors and create outdoor living spaces?
I see it all as rooms, whether inside or outside. They all have boundaries and lines. I am inspired by classical gardens. In the secret garden, I took a French yet completely Southern concept and made oak trees a benefit by planting lines of them and formalizing their shape. This also lends more privacy to that side of the house. It is a Southern house with working windows that are fitted with screens, so you can get fresh air and hear the water features. The privacy of the secret garden affords the homeowners that opportunity. One of the homeowners made the comment: “One of the things I love most is that almost everywhere you sit, you see something beautiful framed outside, such as an urn or a sculpture.” How do you accomplish this?
It’s all about composition. I want the house to slowly unfold, the perspectives and views to remain fresh, and all to be held within classical lines of architecture, whether interior or landscape. Everything is framed. Everything begins and ends for a reason, whether it’s a chair rail or boxwood hedge. You know what room or space you are in and what its purpose is. I guess that’s what drives me crazy about my profession. It’s the relationships between spaces, and just as important, around objects, and how they speak and act with one another.
RESOURCES: Carl Palasota, Carl Palasota Design, 225/344-0656.
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