ROBERT’S VIEW

A landscape defined by custom craftsmanship and California character.

Perched on a hillside in the East Bay with long views across the valley, this residential landscape was designed to dissolve the line between house and garden. The centerpiece is a covered outdoor living room built as a true extension of the home's architecture — a vaulted, white-washed ceiling with exposed beams, a full-height cast stone fireplace, integrated media, drapery, and overhead heat that keep the space in use from spring through the coldest months. Open on two sides, it frames the pool, the lawn, and the ridgeline beyond like a proscenium.

The hardscape sets the tone throughout: oversized poured concrete slabs laid in a long, linear rhythm and separated by river rock joints, a detail that lightens the mass of the paving and lets water move naturally through the site. A clean-lined pool anchors the lower terrace, paired with a raised spa in tiled stone and a tanning ledge fitted with in-pool loungers. The grade steps down in broad, deliberate planes — paving to lawn to native hillside — so the modern geometry reads as settled into the slope rather than imposed on it.

A reclaimed timber pergola strung with cafe lights shelters the outdoor kitchen and a dining table built for a crowd, balancing the crispness of the concrete with weight and warmth. Drought-tolerant planting carries the rest of the property: agave and aloe set in gravel, ornamental grasses, yarrow, and gaura threaded between coast live oaks and a mature fan palm, with a private putting green and reclaimed-timber stair tucked into the upper garden. This project reflects our design-build philosophy applied to a modern brief — where restraint in materials, precision in detailing, and genuine functionality produce an outdoor space the family uses daily, all while embracing the textures and tones of the Northern California landscape.