Gainesville Backyard Patio of the Month: Outdoor Entertaining at it's Finest!

Although this patio is actually in Michigan (and not a Gainesville patio) it was too cool not to feature with the koi pond, flagstone walkways, and gravel seating area. Barry wanted to change his small blank yard into a beautiful private landscape patio that would provide a nice stage to show off his prized koi pond. He also wanted a yard that could help earn money for The Greening of Detroit as part of the Detroit Garden Works Garden Tour. 
He and Arturo Sanchez, co-owners of interior and furniture design firm Art | Harrison Interiors, hit the drafting board and then the workshop to come up with unique and clever ways to create a backyard oasis that gives privacy from a city park, provides a comfortable area to entertain, and the relaxing sounds of water, and gives his koi plenty of room to swim around.

Patio at a Glance
Who lives here: Barry Harrison
Location: Birmingham, Michigan
Size: 1,050 square feet   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection One of two large granite slab bridges leads to a gravel patio. You are lured across by a 1960s statue of a temptress that Harrison picked up at the Brimfield Antiques show.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection He and Sanchez adapted these luxurious chaises for the garden with an all-weather finish.
    Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Smaller granite slabs create a 2- to 3-foot-deep moat all the way around the gravel patio, which is a great habitat for Harrison's prized koi.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Bamboo and this whimsical garden folly screen out an adjacent city park. Designed by Sanchez and Harrison, the fanciful shed has copper pipes just off the front of its barrel-shaped roof, which spout water down into the moat. The structure serves as the fountain's pump house as well as a cleverly concealed potting shed.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Around the back of the folly, a vintage cast iron bull statue stands guard over the potting implements — and over Harrison himself at the moment.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Harrison also keeps vintage gardening tools, watering cans and cloches back here.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection This large obelisk provides more ingenious hidden storage, hiding an air conditioning unit and larger garden tools, like rakes and hoes.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Stag horns and ferns mark the entrance to the great room. A marble-topped French console helps the space serve as an outdoor foyer.    Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Out front, a foot-deep space at the side of the driveway did not offer much room for plants, so Sanchez and Harrison whipped up sketches for this screen of plants in clay pots. The two design indoor furniture at their firm, so this was an interesting departure. The pots are filled with succulents that don't require much attention.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection The screen nudges you off the driveway and around the side, down a granite flagstone path to the private garden.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Harrison carved pairs of ravens and guinea hens atop Western cedar posts overlooking the plantings.   Add to ideabook by Art | Harrison Interiors & Collection Most of the plant palette is simply lush green, including easy-to-care-for plants like petasites, Baltic ivy, angelina, creeping Jenny and ferns. They come together to make this backyard landscaped patio amazing. 

Catching a glimpse of the bull through this vista for the first time may give you a start, but is a delight.