Before Photo
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After: “One of the design objectives was to make the yard more tidy and functional,” Himschoot says. “Stylewise, we gave the front yard more of a cottage garden feel. This was appropriate for the house and the neighborhood.” A new small curved lawn opens up views of the house and lends a more inviting feel.
Himschoot planted the beds with a mix of perennials, grasses and shrubs for nearly year-round color and interest. Perennials include ‘Summer Beauty’ allium (Allium ‘Summer Beauty’, USDA zones 4 to 9; find your zone), ‘Visions’ astilbe (Astilbe chinensis ‘Visions’, zones 4 to 9), ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint (Nepeta racemosa ‘Walker’s Low’, zones 3 to 8), ‘Little Spire’ Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia ‘Little Spire’, zones 5 to 9), ‘Blue Mouse Ears’ hosta (Hosta ‘Blue Mouse Ears’, zones 3 to 9) and ‘Petite Delight’ beebalm (Monarda didyma ‘Petite Delight’, zones 3 to 9).
The grasses are golden Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’, zones 4 to 9), ‘Ice Dance’ Japanese sedge (Carex morrowii ‘Ice Dance’, zones 5 to 9) and ‘Bowles Golden’ sedge (Carex elata ‘Aurea’, zones 5 to 9).
The shrubs include ‘Ruby Slippers’ oakleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia ‘Ruby Slippers’, zones 5 to 9), dwarf fothergilla (Fothergilla gardenii, zones 5 to 8), ‘Blue Star’ juniper (Juniperus squamata ‘Blue Star’, zones 4 to 8) and ‘Little Devil’ ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Donna May’, zones 3 to 7).
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Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A family of four
Location: Mendham Township, New Jersey
Size: 336 square feet (31 square meters)
Designer: Alison Griffin of Griffin Designs
Before: The house is set perpendicular to a fairly busy road. The home’s front entrance, pictured here to the right of the windows, opens to a side yard.
The room — which previously contained only living and dining spaces and now also houses the kitchen — extends from this side of the house to the other in one open space. This photo looks toward the dining and family room areas. The other end of the room, which was not photographed before the remodel, contained a rarely used sitting area with expansive views of a dense forest preserve.
The room’s ceilings were just 7⅓ feet, which made the space dark. “This is such a large, long space, which made the ceilings seem even lower,” Griffin says.
The original kitchen was on the other side of the house, in a back corner. “That kitchen was small and cramped,” Griffin says. The homeowners wanted to move the kitchen to this side of the house.
This dining table, with its wood top and metal legs, was a good fit for the new city loft look and was kept.
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