Lovisa and Barone Landscape Associates of Mishawaka, Ind. was retained to transform this backyard into an outdoor-living oasis. The highlights include a custom-built granite-topped bar and kitchen with a grill, side burner, sink and cabinets, an outdoor terrace adjacent to the bar, a fireplace with paver inlay and wrap-around seatwalls and a 20-foot by 40-foot saltwater pool with a custom-built standup bar.

When a homeowner looks out their back window to see an outdoor-living oasis, but can only see a mirage, they must, if they want to make that mirage a reality, choose whether to move to a new house, buy a secondary home or transform their present yard.

Deciding on the third option requires the help of talented landscape designers and contractors. And if the desired backyard is distinctly different from the present yard, the people that they work with have to be able to see the big picture, yet have the know-how to be able to render it down to its finest details.

When Shane and Nicole Ditty of South Bend, Ind. chose to restyle their backyard, they happily found the services of Lovisa and Barone Landscape Associates.

"This was a complete design/build project by our company," said Thomas Lovisa, the company's president. "The client wanted to create many outdoor living spaces throughout his backyard versus purchasing a different house."

Besides a pool area, the homeowners' wanted an area to cook, eat, and entertain and a separate area for gathering around a fireplace – essentially creating a backyard that would be ideal for spending quality time throughout the seasons with their growing family and their friends.

Lovisa and Barone designed and managed the entire project, crafted all of the hardscape, put in all of the landscape, designed and installed the bar and the fireplace, and installed the kitchen appliances.

They also oversaw the work by the subcontractors, which included the excavation, the installation of the irrigation, electrical and pool, the fabrication and installation of the granite bar top and the construction of the pergola.

The bar was designed by the landscape company and manufactured by Harmony Outdoor Living, Inc., which also manufactured the fireplace and the pillars. The bar was shipped in four modular pieces and then installed by the landscape contractors. Brussels Block pavers are used as the field brick for the terrace floor, and all the floors. Copthorne standard brick is used for all of the floors' soldier courses, all of the walls' accent layers, and all of the accent pieces on the bar and pillars. The corners used for the vertical supports on the seatwall, and the blocks set on top of them are Olde Quarry retaining wall. The contractors then set a layer of accent bricks and capped the wall with Ledgestone coping. The inlaid bricks on the bar and pillars are trimmed with sandstone-colored fullnose. Alpine Construction built the pergola.

All of the appliances are from KitchenAid and include a grill, a side burner, and a refrigerator. Stainless steel cabinets and a sink were also part of the installation. Z-Stone of South Bend, Ind., fabricated and installed the granite bar top and counter top.

Breaking Ground
For this backyard conversion, site excavation was no small undertaking. To handle the job, the contractors put into service a Bobcat T-300 track loader, a Bobcat 336 Excavator, and Chevy Kodiak dumps trucks.

The extensive hardscape work required over 4,300 square feet of pavers, bricks, blocks and caps supplied by Old Fort Building Supply, a local source of masonry products.

The wet bar and the fireplace were modular units built by Harmony Outdoor Living Inc., a company that uses Unilock and Belgard products to manufacture a full line of modular hardscape elements. Instead of choosing from their pre-built product line, Lovisa and Barone custom-designed the bar and fireplace to their specifications. In order to lift and position the heavy modular pieces, a Lull extended-reach boom lift was used.

The landscape master plan was created with texture, color and mass plantings to give the area a resort feel. The plant pallet included a Canadian cherry tree, a Japanese bloodgood maple tree, three aristocrat pear trees, and five Norway spruce trees. Throughout the seasons, many plants will flower at the same time.

Lovisa reports that there were a number of challenges, starting with the mature maple tree in the middle of the lot and close to the house, which limited their planning options yet had to be saved to shade the upper terrace from the western exposure and keep scale to the backyard. Ultimately they were able to design and build around the tree with little impact to it and its root system.

Another issue that needed addressing was the lack of space in the overall plans for a pool house where guests could change and use a bathroom. This issue was complicated further in that the only bathroom access was through the kitchen on the second floor.

Opening up access to the house's basement, which already had a bathroom and now has changing rooms, solved this. To do so, the contractors cut the foundation wall out below an existing egress window and installed sliding glass doors. A staircase leading down to the new doors was then designed and built. This brought the additional issue of proper drainage.

Lovisa and Barone also designed and installed the fireplace, which was built offsite. It was shipped in five pieces: the fire box, hearth, chimney and two wood boxes. In the center of the floor is a paver quilt inlay of accent bricks in a 45-degree herringbone pattern. The outdoor furniture was provided by the homeowners.

For the steps leading up to the outdoor bar, Lovisa and Barone used Fond du Lac natural stone for the risers. Coffee Creek was the color chosen for all of the field bricks, the wall blocks and the corners. The coping was buff-colored. Burgundy red, burnt clay, and old oak were the colors of the accent bricks. The decorative safety railing was custom-built from aluminum by Mike's Fencing of Nappanee, Ind.

To help conceal the pool's equipment, The landscape company designed and built a stand-up bar from blocks, corners, accent bricks and coping. Behind the bar are Norway spruce trees. The entire project took nine months. On any given day, Lovisa and Barone's crew ranged from two to six people.

A Creative Outlet
To remedy that, the contractors created a landing of permeable pavement and designed a free-flowing drainage system that daylights out at the existing lake five feet below grade.

To Lovisa, this was one of the "coolest" aspects of the build because it was a complicated situation that required innovative solutions such as creating a permeable floor out of a brick that is not a permeable product. They also had to put a check valve in the drain to prevent it from backing up if the lake level rises.

By design, this new entrance is right next to the pool for convenient access.

To build the pool, another challenge had to be overcome. The main electrical line for the subdivision was actually within the Ditty's property line. It was deep enough underground that the pool deck could be built over the top of it with no modifications required, but if the line ever needed servicing, the deck would have to be torn up.

So Lovisa and Barone worked with the electrical utility company to move the mainline to a common easement.

The aboveground pool equipment presented a challenge since the owners wanted it hidden from their and their neighbors' view. Lovisa and Barone took care of that by designing and building a stand-up bar that surrounds and obscures the equipment.

From start to finish, the build took nine months. The combined efforts of the team resulted in a complete granite wet bar with a grill, side burner, sink and cabinets, an outdoor terrace adjacent to the bar, a fireplace with paver quilt inlay and wrap-around seatwalls and a 20-foot by 40-foot saltwater pool with automatic floor cleaning and a power- operated safety cover.

The project came in just slightly above the initial budget but given the scope of the build and the added creative flourishes that the Dittys initiated, Lovisa was very happy that they were able to "stay as close to the original budget" as they did.