What's Possible. A Creative Meeting + Assessment

 
There are so many things you can do with outdoor spaces. Isn't it time you indulged yourself and create the sanctuary you have always wanted? A beautiful, low maintenance outdoor space that fits your personality and lifestyle. 

Looking for ideas for your roof deck, patio, back yard, or front yard? 

Not quite ready to jump into a full-fledge design and are looking for someone to bring ideas right to you?

Why not start with a low-pressure, creatively engaging conversation about what possible in your outdoor spaces. Take away the stress of "what should I do?" by talking, one-on-one, with a 15 year professional Landscape Architect + Designer. 

Everything is on the table... pools, hot tubes, vegetable gardens, seating areas, fireplaces, fire features, ball courts, green walls, fencing, screening, pathways, seating areas. Pergolas with swinging chairs, beautiful custom metal cut screens that screen unsightly area, creative dog runs, water features to mask urban noise pollution, and young children play areas. Really, anything you can think of. 

And let's touch on material choices. So many materials to choose from! When would you use a nature material, such as bluestone, or ipe wood, and when to use an engineered or man-made materials. 

Also, let's look at what material is on site. Tired of your uneven stone patio and want a deck off the your house? Great. Maybe we can save the paving material and reuse it on a walkway... or maybe it just isn't the paving material for your home and we talk about what to replace it with.

Are you interested in how your yard participates in the the larger ecosystem of the area? We can explore how spatial arrangements can support insects, birds, bees and other animal life. Instead of piping water to a municipal system, how can you allow water to infiltrate on site and create habit opportunities with that. 

We guarantee that at the end of the meeting you will see opportunities for your space that you never imagined before we met.

When on-site, our intent is to talk. That may sound simple, and yet, the conversation is the very thing needed to get the ball rolling.

By the end of the process, you should have a pretty good idea of these top three questions. 

• What area are you looking to improve first.
• What type of plan you need and what you will get out of that plan
• A working budget range

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Not sure you can remember what we have talked about. For an additional fee, we collect the information in a one sheet summary which  typically includes items such as:

• Photo document key areas and note ideas as needed.
• Notes about the existing trees shrubs, and perennials, along with any plants in containers or vegetable beds. What to keep, What to reduce, where we may want to start over.
• Answer basic questions about how tall or big a plant will get, should it be trimmed or replaced with something more manageable. 
• Talk about general pricing for items and ideas about where to put things. Outdoor Kitchens, Seating areas, fire features, water features. What would it take to get these things installed.
• Share if there are items in our discussion may be impacted by municipal zoning or building codes. Example of this is built structures against the property line or out of the ordinary tall fences. Some municipalities also have ordinances pertaining to the removal of trees and the amount of pervious/impervious surface on your lot. 
• Identify other Allied professional that may be needed on the project (Architect, Electrician, etc.)
• Discuss priorities for your site. what are the trade-off in what to build first. Do you put down a pretty walkway, and then the cooking area? or put up the pergola and enjoy your roof deck first? 

If you select this option, within a week of the meeting you will receive a 

• Provide a 'One-Sheet' summary of the meeting with selected items above documented and recommended next-steps based on our conversation. They may include, dialing in on a budget, creating a Master Plan for your whole yard, or jumping in on a Design Plan for a specific area. 

Creative Meetings start at

• start at $150 for standard Chicago Front and Back Yards and can go up to $800.00 for larger estates or multiple areas.
• One-Sheet Summary has a base fee of  $300.00 for most meetings.