Daily Dose Blogger Bios
Banquette Seating, I Love You
What makes a garden a garden? If you say PLANTS, I'll say there's only room for one smart-ass on this blog! Let's say you have your plants in place and you love what you've done - what do you really need to thoroughly enjoy your handiwork? A place to sit, of course!
My favorite thing is built-in banquette seating, and Judy at Elysian is the champion of designing these, balancing functionality and comfort while keeping it sexy.
Just check out the banquttes we built for a client's garden in Los Feliz, a neighborhood in LA known for its gorgeous homes and high profile residents. Behind the seating, there is a screen of Bambusa ventricosa, or Buddha's Belly Bamboo, which gets big, round, swollen knobs along the culms when grown dry - hence the name. When grown with regular garden water, it becomes so lush and dense ... it's my favorite bamboo to use for privacy. Having all those fresh, green leaves behind you makes you feel wrapped by the garden, a nature hug, if you will! Notice that we put a planter at the end of the long side -it's an important punctuation, I think, and an opportunity to bring plants into the patio without having to clutter it up with too many pots (not that I am anti-pot; quite the contrary! My own garden is very potty) We used Agave'Nova' for this focal point; its color contrasts nicely with the warm tones of the walls and then there is that incredible form - oooo la la...
I love the colors Judy chose for the cushions! The green talks beautifully to the garden, and then the accent of lime green for the piping makes the whole thing sing.(You can see a bit of the piping clearly in the above photo) She was inspired by a Kelly bag on the arm of woman attending a lecture she was giving, and she told me it took all her strength not to run offstage, grab the bag, and make a break for it. Instead, she used it as a point of departure for an amazing piece of built-in outdoor furniture! That's my girl, finding a way to channel the more anti-social impulses - she always makes the right decision.
Sitting out there, in the evening, with the glorious firepit warming us with luminous blue flames ... our clients talking about how this has become their favorite room in the house ...sigh... I just wanted to melt into the banquette and stay there. I love it so much, I think I might want to marry it... Sorry, Jan, I know you understand!
I LOVE the lime green piping. It's that kind of detail to that can really make a difference. I've been thinking lately about pillows for my bench in the cutting garden -- it's much easier to sleep on a bench if it has pillows -- now I have some lovely ideas to steal, I mean emulate.
Grdn_jr, steal...ahem...I mean "emulate" away! Remember to use Sunbrella outdoor material - they have every color and pattern under the rainbow. You'll find the perfect combo for your benches - I'd love to see the finished product! If the spirit moves you, email an image to dominomag.com - my editor will see I get it.
Love, love, LOVE IT. Kudos, Germi. It's gorgeous.
Thanks ever so, Petal! And I'll pass the props along to the other members of the Elysian Landscapes team. (Lest I be accused of taking all the credit - who, me? ... never.....)