Home & Design

2015 LCA Award Spotlight Every year, the Landscape Contractors Association (LCA) of Maryland, DC, and Virginia recognizes exceptional garden design throughout the region. This annual competition is judged by industry experts, who vote in more than a dozen residential and commercial categories. Get an insider’s look at some of 2015’s winning projects using the links below.

Botanical Decorators
GardenWise, Inc.
McHale Landscape Design, Inc.
Quayle & Company Design/Build, Inc.
Rossen Landscape
Scapes, Inc.
Scott Brinitzer Design Associates
Surrounds Landscape Architecture + Construction
Through the Garden, Inc.
Walnut Hill Landscape Company

Rossen Landscape Grand Award for Outdoor Living Area (Design/Build)

A parking pad in the rear courtyard of a house in downtown DC completely restricted the outdoor-living space. The owners hired Rossen Landscape to transform this problematic area into a usable, secure private yard in which they could entertain and where their child could play safely. The Rossen Landscape team replaced the concrete pad with a usable rear garden space with a comfortable seating area and substituted the old courtyard walls for new brick ones that match the brick on the house. Curving steps transition from the elevated patio to the lawn and a gated brick archway offers a secure entrance to the rear garden. Emerald Green arborvitae shield space from view and an outdoor kitchen area, complete with built-in grill, storage, and an oversized ice trough, finishes the space.

Outstanding Features

  • The archway and custom gate coupled with the arborvitae create privacy.
  • The grill, storage, and ice trough make this outdoor space ideal for entertaining.
  • Long, low steps create a separation of spaces without sacrificing the view.
  • A water feature in the courtyard muffles street noise.

Rossen Landscape
P.O. Box 650970
Sterling, VA 20165
703-327-2284
rossenlandscape.com

Photos © April Sullivan, Rossen landscape

Scott Brinitzer Design Associates Grand Award for Total Residential Contracting (Design Build)

The Hoffman garden began as a blank slate surrounding a newly renovated home. The hillside along the left front lawn is now a limestone walk interspersed with a creeping mazus ground cover; it bisects a bed that blooms throughout the growing season. The open front lawn is now smaller, with crape myrtle and Endless Summer hydrangea flanking the street. A planting bed along the street gives the new front lawn a sense of privacy, encouraging its use as an outdoor room—perfect for a game of badminton. The back garden now boasts a large flagstone terrace centered on a stone fireplace bordered by two stone walls. An iron wisteria trellis wraps around the flagstone terrace, knitting the outdoor kitchen, dining area, stone seat wall and fireplace into one garden space.

Outstanding Features

  • Outdoor stone fireplace with two stone privacy walls.
  • An iron wisteria trellis overhanging seat wall and dining area.
  • Limestone stepper staircase with creeping mazus ground cover.
  • Colorful, diverse plantings, including perennials, annuals and native plants.

Scott Brinitzer Design Associates
2300 9th Street South, Suite 304
Arlington, VA 22204
703-892-0266
brinitzer.com

Photos © Roger Foley

Scapes, Inc. Grand Award for Outdoor Living Area (Design-Build)

This Severna Park homeowner was looking to remove the property’s old, worn-out decks and create an outdoor living space to enjoy spring, summer, and fall. The addition of an expanded upper deck off the master suite allowed for covered living space below and automatic screens was installed between the deck columns to ensure a space for insect-free relaxation. On the patio outside the covered room, a massive stone fireplace beckons. The structure encompasses niches for storing wood and extends to the right of the fireplace to create an outdoor kitchen. Because of the proximity, the owners can easily entertain guests while preparing food close by. Sitting walls along the perimeter of the patio eliminate the need for additional seating for large groups of guests and help frame out space.

Outstanding Features

  • Automatic screens are superbly crafted.
  • Fireplace, kitchen and sitting walls are made with Lake George stacked stone.
  • The patio surface is bluestone.
  • More than 50 lighting features bring this property to life at night.

Scapes, Inc.
Annapolis, Maryland
410-867-6909
scapesinc.net

Through the Garden, Inc. Distinction Award for Front Residential Planting and Entrance Way (Design/Build)

The clients were so enamored with the front entrance feature, a large black-granite fountain from the Black Forest—previously designed and constructed for them by Through The Garden—that when they decided to tear down their house and rebuild on the same site, they wished it to be removed prior to demolition and reconstructed in the exact same manner for the new house. The landscape plan included meticulously reconstructing the entry feature; terracing the rear and side yards and connecting them by formal and informal steps; building a patio outside a “man cave” that was part of the new-house design; incorporating the existing pool and tennis court to ensure a harmonious blend of all elements; and installing low-voltage lighting for a magical nighttime experience.

Outstanding Features

  • The lines of the home’s contemporary architecture are continued in the patios and walls.
  • Hardscaping finishes match the residence, creating a balanced appearance.
  • The pool and deck are seamlessly blended with the redesigned landscape and new patios.
  • Simple, minimal plantings complement the spare, clean lines of the home.

Through the Garden, Inc.
Design offices in Great Falls, Virginia, and New Market & Brunswick, Maryland
800-724-9008
landscapeasart.com

Quayle & Company Design/Build, Inc. Grand Award for Craftsmanship

Quayle & Company is a design/build firm specializing in high-quality exterior architecture. Our team creates environments that enhance the beauty of nature and blend seamlessly with a client’s home. For a project on the Severn River, Quayle & Company faced a major challenge: How to unify the disconnected existing exterior spaces to take advantage of their waterfront setting. The solution created a cohesive flow from one area to another by enlarging spaces, offering more points of access and opening up views. The result is a stunning transformation that encompasses multiple levels of the home and incorporates a new screened porch off the main living area with a stone fireplace, a wrought-iron spiral staircase leading to an enlarged lower-level flagstone patio and an outdoor kitchen for entertaining—to name just a few features.

Outstanding Features

  • Screened porch with îpe wood floors and stainless-steel cable railing.
  • Outdoor gas fireplace with natural stone veneer and flagstone hearth.
  • Wrought iron spiral staircase with custom îpe wood treads.
  • Outdoor kitchen with stainless-steel cabinetry and custom concrete countertop.

Quayle & Company Design/Build, Inc.
8 Evergreen Road
Severna Park, MD 21146
410-647-1362
quayleco.com

Photos © Quayle & Company

Distinction Award for Outdoor Living Area (Design/Build)

The task assigned to GardenWise, Inc., was to integrate a swimming pool into the rear of the town home’s largest contiguous space—the lower garden level—while ensuring enough room for poolside lounging. A dynamic, two-tone travertine marble pool deck was selected and laid in a diamond pattern, alternating darker and lighter tones. A broad staircase highlights the poolscape, providing visual and physical flow and offering casual, stadium-style seating. A large, cobalt urn dominates a water feature that creates a focal point, visible from an elevated dining terrace on the upper garden level, located on the opposite side of the pool. The urn matches the blue-tile border at the water line on the inside edge of the pool, and is echoed by other planters located throughout the two-level terraced space.

Outstanding Features

  • Integration of the cobalt water feature adds a year-round focal point.
  • The bold paving selection creates a dynamic look throughout.
  • A broad staircase provides a visual and physical connection and casual seating.
  • A row of large Little Gem magnolias offers instant privacy.

Gardenwise, Inc.
4111 18th Road North
Arlington, VA 22207
703-243-5982
gardenwise.com

Photos © Michael K. Wilkinson

Grand Award for Outdoor Living Area (Design/Build)

This small backyard on Q Street in DC’s Logan Circle neighborhood was a blank slate. The clients wanted a simple, modern garden that would complement the clean-lined style of their interiors. Our design incorporates a large arc of granite cobblestones that borders a panel of artificial turf to visually expand the narrow property. Pennsylvania flagstone set in concrete in a staggered pattern suggests a loose-sand pathway. Eighteen-by- 36-inch stones repeat the linear proportions of the window mullions. A hand-hewn granite plinth creates a raised fountain and the six-foot-wide side yard is now an outdoor grilling area. Sweetbay magnolias are up-lit to create views from the kitchen. Lush but simple plantings—including espaliered camellias, clump-form bamboo, coral-barked Japanese maple, yellowwood and hornbeam trees—soften the edges of this urban site.

Outstanding Features

  • A hand-hewn granite plinth is part of a custom, raised fountain.
  • Granite cobblestones border a “lawn” panel of artificial turf.
  • Low-voltage LED landscape lighting creates evening ambiance.
  • Plantings soften the urban feel and convey the look of a lush garden oasis.

Botanical Decorators
5011 Olney Laytonsville Road, Suite B
Olney, MD 20832
301-948-6625
botdec.com

Distinction Award for Outdoor Living Area (Design/Build)

Surrounds fashioned this landscape to reflect the clients’ love of their natural environment. The unselfconscious appearance of the landscaping belies its structural complexity. Four primary-use areas are connected by meandering walkways that cleverly incorporate the property’s changing elevations. Grade changes are subtle in some places but steeper and more dramatic in others. Starting at the house, stone steps wind down to the open-air grilling/dining patio. A few steps further down, a spa was installed by a patio made of huge, asymmetrical stone slabs; a mountainous fireplace stands on one side. A set of gently winding steps leads to the pool, and from there, low grass steps—neatly trimmed with bluestone cobbles and shouldered by raw, uncut rock—lead to an expansive lawn where kids can play.

Outstanding Features

  • Walkways are naturally curvy and indirect like a hiking path might be.
  • Constructed materials blend with unconstructed materials.
  • Pavers and retaining walls abut raw, uncut boulders and shocks of plant material.
  • A mountainous fireplace adjoins a simple waterfall that drops into a spa.

Surrounds Landscape Architecture + Construction
21580 Blackwood Court
Sterling, VA 20166
703-430-6001
surroundslandscaping.com

Walnut Hill Landscape Company Grand Award for Outdoor Living Area

This idyllic location on the Severn River provides an outdoor oasis for the homeowners, who wished to enjoy their property with family and friends against the backdrop of breathtaking waterfront scenery. The Walnut Hill team worked closely with Campion Hruby Landscape Architects to implement a conceptual plan centering around a large, oval swimming pool with a vanishing edge, surrounded on three sides by a flagstone patio. The owners wanted to bring the comforts of home outdoors, so a cabana was designed that contains a bathroom, utility room with washer and dryer, outdoor kitchen/bar and outdoor shower. A large cedar pergola defines the entrance to the property from the driveway, while providing shade for the seating and dining areas. Extensive plantings of shrubs, perennials and grasses finish the job.

Outstanding Features

  • Large, oval vanishing-edge swimming pool with solar shelf.
  • Fully customized cabana with all the comforts of home.
  • Mass plantings of shrubs, perennials, and grasses provide year-round interest.
  • Landscape lighting ensures function and enjoyment day or night.

Walnut Hill Landscape Company
Annapolis, Maryland
410-349-3105

Easton, Maryland
410-690-0977

walnuthilllandscape.com

McHale Landscape Design, Inc. Grand Award for Outdoor Living Area

The new backyard features upper- and lower-level outdoor living spaces, a vanishing-edge pool, and a flagstone/aggregate pool deck. A custom wrought-iron railing on the upper level is painted to match the new decking, which is made of Azek to withstand harsh weather conditions and the shaded location of the wooded site. An under-deck loggia is an intimate outdoor room, with a dark-stained, tongue-and-groove cedar ceiling offset by columns and trim made of white-painted PVC. A wall of sliding screens can be closed to create a screened porch or opened to the adjoining patio. Clean, geometric flagstone details, stone retaining walls and architectural railings frame the pool and reinforce the contemporary design. This elegant outdoor living space comes alive at night with strategically placed lighting.

Outstanding Features

  • A rectangular, vanishing-edge pool highlights the backyard.
  • An Azek deck with custom wrought-iron railings extends the home’s living space.
  • The loggia creates an intimate outdoor room.
  • Flagstone details, stone walls, and architectural railings frame the pool.

McHale Landscape Design, Inc.
6212 Leapley Road
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772
301-599-8300
mchalelandscape.com

Modern Traditional 2014 COTY MERIT Award: Residential Addition $100,000 to $250,000

Like most Colonial homes, the original floor plan featured rooms boxed off from one another. Owners with a growing family wanted an open-concept layout with plenty of natural light and more space for entertaining. Sonny Nazemian of Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes met the clients’ needs with a two-story addition extending the breakfast area on the main floor and adding a bedroom above. The renovated kitchen and breakfast area offer a brighter entertaining space, and an airy sunroom/family room completes the project.

Outstanding Features

  • The kitchen boasts commercial-quality appliances and opens up to a brighter breakfast area.
  • A new sunroom/family room touts a vaulted ceiling with four skylights.
  • A double-sided, stacked-stone gas fireplace makes the family room a cozy seating area.
  • A sun deck built using Trex decking completes the home’s stunning outdoor transformation.

Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
8630-C Lee Highway
Fairfax, Virginia 20031
703-641-9800
michael-nash.com

A Spa-Like Experience 2014 COTY Grand Award: Residential Bath $30,000 to $60,000

After 20 years of living in cramped quarters, the owners of this traditional home decided it was time to revamp the master bathroom. The couple wanted a comfortable, relaxing space that was functional enough so they could both use it to get ready in the morning. After relocating a wall to make the room wider, Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes added his and her vanities, a large, glass-enclosed shower, a free-standing tub and a water closet.

Outstanding Features

  • The large shower stall features two heads and a rain shower behind a heavy glass enclosure.
  • Elegant his and her vanities feature stone countertops, vessel sinks, and ample storage.
  • Frosted French entry doors and transom windows bathe the space in soft, natural light.
  • A free-standing tub provides plenty of space to relax.

Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
8630-C Lee Highway
Fairfax, Virginia 20031
703-641-9800
michael-nash.com

Open Entertainment Plan 2014 COTY MERIT Award: Residential Kitchen $40,000 to $80,000

A client turned to Sonny Nazemian of Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes to increase the usable space in a traditional townhome and make it more conducive to entertaining. Nazemian created an open floor plan by removing a powder room and adjacent closet from the main living area and eliminating the bearing wall between the original galley-style kitchen and dining room. The result is a fresh, open space encompassing a functional, modern kitchen and new dining and living areas.

Outstanding Features

  • The five-by-14-foot island offers multiple seating spaces for a buffet.
  • The gourmet kitchen boasts commercial-grade, stainless-steel appliances.
  • A butler’s pantry/bar is highlighted by a ledger stone wall and pendant lighting.
  • Guests can move from kitchen to living room to dining room with ease.

Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
8630-C Lee Highway
Fairfax, Virginia 20031
703-641-9800
michael-nash.com

Something for Everyone 2014 COTY Grand Award: Residential Addition $100,000 to $250,000

To accommodate the needs of an elderly father, a homeowner approached Sonny Nazemian of Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes to add an in-law suite with a master bedroom, aging-in-place bath, private seating area and separate entrance to a covered front porch. The family’s two teens were also in need of additional space in their rooms and each got their own bathroom. Not to be forgotten, mom got the kitchen of her dreams with new appliances, plenty of counter space and a large center island.

Outstanding Features

  • A new front elevation with a comfortable front porch. n A private in-law suite with a living room, bedroom and large bath.
  • A new granite-topped center island makes the kitchen the heart of the home.
  • New bedrooms let the teenagers express their personalities.

Michael Nash Design, Build & Homes
8630-C Lee Highway
Fairfax, Virginia 20031
703-641-9800
michael-nash.com

Waterfront Retreat 2014 COTY Grand Award: Custom Home Over $1,000,000

Clients approached KohlMark Group to design a waterfront home on the ridge of a steep, heavily wooded site with spectacular river views 75 feet below. KohlMark created a unique timber frame structure utilizing natural materials including stone and wood, designed to evoke a park-like setting with water views on three sides. Two timber-frame pavilions flank the drive, creating a stunning entry feature and covered parking. A stone patio and covered timber frame porch enhance the home’s connection to abundant nature and wildlife.

Outstanding Features

  • KohlMark carefully preserved trees, perfectly siting the structure for a tree house effect.
  • Large windows capture unparalleled views on three sides of both water and unspoiled woodlands.
  • Timber frames of douglas fir are present in five areas of the home.

KOHLMARK GROUP
5206-B Rolling Road
Burke, Virginia 22015
703-764-1200
kohlmark.com

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