For this backyard installation at a house in the San Diego County, coastal town of Encinitas, Bella Vista Landscaping had to blend existing elements with new ones, which included two kitchens. The larger one has a custom-built pergola structure made from 6-inch steel box beams with steel trusses and wood slats covered with plywood and roofing paper. On the roof are BackyardXscapes' Zulu Reed artificial thatch panels. Bamboo pole half rounds were used for trim. The three 60-inch and three 36-inch, GFRC, pre-fab modular cabinets from Eldorado Outdoor that make up the counter are veneered with natural stone panels in honey gold from EastWest. The countertop was made from four slabs (over 250 square feet) of solid granite with a chiseled edge. The appliances are all from Fire Magic and include a stainless sink kit, grill, single side burner, refrigerator, and stainless drawers. A pre-fab cabinet was used for the fire pit structure. Its fire burner system is from American Fyre Designs. Inside it is crushed glass from RealFyre. The pavers are Tuscany-colored Antique Cobble from ORCO.

This gazebo was one of the pre-existing structures that were left untouched. The pathway leading to it is made from 3- to 4-inch-thick pieces of wood cut from the trunks of trees that had been previously cut down onsite. The sod here was installed over NDS grass road pavers to create a drivable surface.

This pathway is made from compacted decomposed granite with bronze-colored Permaloc aluminum edging. Over 20 tons of Baja Cresta red boulders were placed by the contractor. The installation also included over 200 LED fixtures from AuroraLight and Unique lighting. Surrounding the path are knockout roses, candytuft, white lantana, a bat-faced cigar plant, a crepe myrtle tree, an eldarica pine, and a Chinese juniper.

Moving into a house that had been in the family for thirty years posed a question for the new residents – how to best upgrade the backyard of this home in the San Diego coastal town of Encinitas without erasing the charm that the extended family fondly recalled.

To help them answer that question, the homeowners called on Jennifer Michalik, a designer/contractor they had previously met on a project that her company, Bella Vista Landscaping, was in charge of.

They started the process on this project in January of 2013.

"Multiple generations of family members had memories that had been made there, from hiding amongst the fruit trees to family gatherings to parties with friends," Michalik states. "It was a heritage we needed to respect but seamlessly build upon."

After meeting with the homeowners, her primary goal was to "honor some of the past while transforming the landscape into something the present owners could call their own, and create the setting for new memories to be formed for years to come."

That being said, Michalik reports that they didn't have a concise plan at the beginning.

"Honestly, we were all rather overwhelmed at the start," she recalls. "But meeting by meeting, outdoor space by space, we arrived at one, cohesive vision that combined the old with the new, a mountain landscape with a tropical one and multiple outdoor living spaces that respected the past, represented the present and would live on in the future."

The landscape team upgraded this pre-existing gazebo with natural rolled bamboo fence for side panels and artificial thatch panels on the roof. In front of it is a putting green made of artificial turf from Ultimate Grass. The Tiki head planters are plastic.

The smaller kitchen counter was also constructed of Eldorado Outdoor's GFRC pre-fab modular cabinet structures. Its countertop was made from one slab of solid granite in Prada gold with a chiseled edge and bullnose. The appliances include a Premium stainless refrigerator, a 30-inch stainless steel grill with a wood chip smoker and stainless burners, and Premium stainless double drawers and double access doors. The floor tile was pre-existing.

Delivered in three main pieces, the fireplace is the Chica model from American Fyre Designs that was custom-stained by the landscapers. It sits on a base of compacted decomposed granite over pea gravel.

Work onsite started in March of that year. Michalik and her crew first removed multiple large trees that dwarfed the house and were diseased, over 90 feet of eight-foot-tall shrubs, other overgrowth, the turf, most of the irrigation, a fence, a fire pit and a fountain.

After demolition, minimal grading work was done; some 4-inch drainage was installed, as were low-flow pop-ups and Netafim drip equipment.

By October, Michalik and her crew of two to 12, depending on the day, had completed two outdoor kitchens, one with a pergola - the other with a new patio, multiple paths, a fire pit, a fireplace, water features, retaining walls, a putting green, lighting, 3-rail vinyl fencing and gates, and extensive landscaping including grass road pavers, ORCO Turfstone, boulders, edging, mulch, rocks, trees, shrubs and perennials. They had also renovated some of the existing features.

The only subcontractors needed were for installing the synthetic turf, which was done by the manufacturer (Ultimate Grass), installing the Bermuda grass, which was done by the supplier (Pacific Sod), welding steel posts for the outdoor kitchen pergola, craning in the trees, and moving the boulders with a backhoe.

Other equipment used included a Bobcat skid steer, a plate compactor, and a jackhammer, which were rented, and a tile saw that Michalik owns.

Besides the challenges of cohesively blending old and new elements and trying to visualize the new landscape with the existing landscape in place, Michalik reports that the grading and compaction of soils was demanding. But for the most part, the work progressed in typical fashion thanks to a readiness of the landscapers and the homeowners to be flexible and to share ideas.

"As in any landscaping project, there were a lot of changes and modifications and enhancements along the way," Michalik says. "It was a very collaborative process."

And guiding that process was the original vision, so that whenever a change was made, the team always stayed true to it. The outcome was a very interconnected landscape that provides multiple occasions for outdoor living at its best.

Michalik sums up the results by calling them, "a testament to the variety of outdoor living spaces that can effectively coexist within one landscape."

Today Michalik applies her expertise in an additional way as the outdoor living sales specialist for Hydro-Scape Products Inc., the landscape supply company that was her source for the products used on this renovation. In this new role, her design and construction knowledge helps give Hydro-Scape's customers a competitive advantage.