30 minute read
VOWS
by alison nichols gray
KATHLEEN ELIZABETH GODBOLD & WILLIAM BAINBRIDGE DYKE
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8 Kathleen and Will met in the spring of 2011 while at college in Boston. They became fast friends working part-time jobs at Vineyard Vines. But the friendship really blossomed when the store requested that Will dress up in a hot pink whale costume to promote the label during Boston’s Marathon Monday and Kathleen was tasked to help him navigate getting into the costume. Friendship quickly led to courtship. After eight years together, Will proposed while on a walk through the Boston Public Garden, where they had often spent time after dinner dates.
When Reverend Franky Jean announced that the couple was officially wed, the pair exited San Pedro Catholic Chapel in Islamorada, Florida, to a trumpet rendition of Cat Stevens’ “Morning Has Broken.” A reception followed at Pierre’s of Islamorada (where the Netflix hit Bloodline was filmed). The colorful flowers throughout the ceremony and reception were in loving remembrance of the bride’s mother, Connie, as was Kathleen’s veil, worn by her mother on her own wedding day.
The bride, daughter of Christopher Godbold and the late Connie Godlbold of Florida, graduated from East Ridge High School and Suffolk University. Kathleen is our very own partnerships manager for Moffly Media.
The groom, son of George Dyke of Vermont and Elizabeth Fox of Greenwich, graduated from Brunswick School and Boston University. Will is an ocean freight trader for GENCO Shipping & Trading in Manhattan.
The newlyweds live in Old Greenwich and are planning a getaway to Spain and Portugal this spring. G
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1 Basking in the moment 2 Will with his groomsmen 3 Officially official 4 Kathleen with her bridesmaids 5 The wedding party with family 6 Tropical blooms 7 Something blue 8 The newlyweds’ casita 9 The tent under the stars 10 That dip, that kiss! 11 Standing room only 12 Besties from the couple’s weekends in Weekapaug 13 The father of the bride, Chris, having a blast 14 A cheeky flower girl, Lola Portela 15 The little man with the rings, A. Fox Barker 16 Kathleen with Leigh Murphy and Kelly Markey 17 Will having a dance with his mom, Elizabeth
vows
Victoria Morris’s love of color is reflected in the deeply hued entry walls, painted with a product that creates the effect of Venetian plaster. left: The owners were charmed on their first sighting of the 1920s-era stone house.
above: A small, antique Swedish table is flanked by hairpin-legged modern seating—part of the eclectic scheme. opposite: Red velvet chairs from BluDot create a focal point at the living room hearth.
The journey of Brooklynites Victoria Morris and Andrew Selva and their son (now a toddler) mirrors that of many other urban dwellers who have rediscovered home in Westport and environs in the past two years. Settling down in April 2020 for what they thought would be a temporary nest in her parents’ New Canaan house, following the cataclysmic arrival of Covid-19 in the New York metro area, they enjoyed their time as a three-generation household. By June, Victoria and Andrew had begun to entertain the notion of life in the suburbs.
“We had every intention of moving back to the city, but as we helped my parents prepare for a move after selling their New Canaan house, I came across a listing in Westport for a 1929 stone house,” recalls Victoria. Having grown up in another leafy suburb, her discovery struck an immediate chord, reawakening a youthful dream of living in a Cotswold cottage surrounded by greenery. “The price had dropped a couple of times, and when we went to see
it, we were about two weeks ahead of the tidal wave of city dwellers who came looking for a house in Connecticut. For me, it was love at first sight. Even though we knew there were things about it that needed fixing, we put in a bid that was accepted. It was the first and only house we looked at.”
For the fixing, she had an instant solution that she knew would be perfect. Her mother, interior designer Shelley Morris, had been her adviser for furnishings and décor since her college dorm days. Delighted that her daughter, sonin-law and new grandson would practically be neighbors in Connecticut (she had found a house for herself and her husband nearby), Shelley partnered with Victoria to plan the interiors of the new Morris/Selva family home.
Shelley has always liked to create clean, light and elegant spaces. Throughout her professional career, her design work puts her clients at center stage, and her daughter’s home was no exception to the rule. Their designer-anddaughter experience is a kind of roadmap for decorating and remodeling for other city dwellers who moved quickly to suburban homes during the pandemic.
—victoria morris
Part of the couple’s photo collection, a framed Petros Koublis image, punctuates one corner of the living room; the childfriendly sofa is from CB2. below: The designer curates the view between rooms.
STEP BY STEP To begin the project, the pair tackled basic needs for an updated flow and modern comfort. Structural improvements focused on important spaces: replacing an obtrusive beam in the living room with an invisible steel support; warming the master suite floor with radiant floor heating to keep out the cold from the garage below; moving a toilet from a tiny closet off the primary bedroom and creating a more complete and functional bath.
With her reliable local contracting sources and experience with renovation projects throughout the New York metro area and beyond, Shelley could efficiently perform the refreshing process that a new suburbanite requires of an older home. Walls were freshly painted in white. “It enhances and reflects the light in an older home that might have smaller openings than newer construction,” says Shelley of her frequent go-to wall treatment.
“She knows my taste, so throughout the house you’ll find evidence of her design expertise as well as the details that reveal that I’m a color person,” adds Victoria. In the front vestibule—always a great location for a bright statement— the walls are painted with Roman clay, a paint product from a California company that resembles Venetian plaster. Its warm hue is embracing, echoed with a cozy pair of velvet chairs at the living room hearth. Other lively accents of art and accessories—many from the Brooklyn apartment— reveal little punches of color as well as a sophisticated blend of modern forms and timelessly appealing antiques.
Victoria and Shelley—mom and grandmother to baby Logan—were both aware that delicate fabrics and porous surfaces are vulnerable to active toddlers. Therefore, designer
Victoria and Shelley kept the kitchen cabinets from the previous owners, with a few edits. Retaining the rustic wood countertop, they shortened the island to capture more floor space and added a top of honed black granite. above: Decorative touches include flatweave rugs sourced online from Lulu and Georgia.
above: A Niermann Weeks lantern chandelier and black-and-white Staffordshire china create a vintage counterpoint to the modern lines of the table and dining chairs.
and daughter checked off “child-friendly” as a requirement for many of their furnishing choices.
“It’s a concern of young clients that their children have the run of their house,” says Shelley. “And, fortunately, so many retailers are producing attractive pieces with clean, modern lines. They will hold up until the family feels ready to upgrade to investment-quality upholstered pieces.” TIME AND PLACE Another key factor in this design project was its timing, in the midst of lockdowns and contactless deliveries. The team had mom’s keen and experienced eye to see her daughter’s project through to a good conclusion.
“In addition to my daughter’s home, I did several projects for other clients at the height of the pandemic. It was a challenge to shop online for everything. While many of the sources I used were familiar, I had to keep my fingers crossed that the merchandise would be as well-crafted and look as attractive in the real space as it did on the screen,” notes
above left: The Odegard stair runner and upstairs hall carpet reveals a taste for Asian motifs; Victoria and her family have collected numerous objects of Far Eastern origin. above right: White walls and window wells reflect light and brighten the interiors. right: Her office was already outfitted with shelves for Victoria’s collection of mementos and photos; her mother added doors to the lower shelves to stow office supplies and files.
Shelley. Happily, the virtual shopping excursions proved successful.
When combined with antiques that had belonged to both of her grandmothers, or gifted to Victoria from her mom, as well as the couple’s growing art collection, the resulting design provides a satisfying, eclectic look. The charms of 1920s architecture—deep window wells with beautiful casement frames and arched openings between rooms— provide a perfect backdrop for the mix of furnishings and accessories.
The layout also provides something that their previous 1,100-square-foot city apartment could not: his-and-her dedicated offices for the work-from-home protocol their jobs still require. Also, beyond the spaciousness and function of their new place, their property provides a private outdoor setting for themselves and their young son. Victoria and family love their new/old house.
She knows my taste, so throughout the house you’ll find evidence of her design expertise as well as the details that reveal that I’m a color person.
—victoria morris
While the original toilet enclosure was awkwardly placed in a closet, the new space is modernized and fully equipped. opposite: The primary bedroom’s gothic features—arched windows above the bed and arched doors into the bath—as well as the black bed wall enhance the drama of the space.
OUR TOWNS’ REAL ESTATE CLIMATE REMAINS
HOT by jill johnson mann
This outstanding property on Warner Hill Road, Southport, is a custom-built farmhouse designed for today’s needs and done with reclaimed antique wide-plank flooring, hand-hewn beams and fieldstone fireplaces. It has five bedrooms, pub-style bar, pool and poolhouse (Linda Blackwell, Houlihan Lawrence; listed at $2,250,000, it recently sold) he pandemic grabbed all of us by the throat two years ago. Families fled New York City and flooded into Fairfield County. Residents here were initially paralyzed but then reassessed. Some sought more land far from neighbors’ germs. Many needed more space for home offices and virtual schooling. Soon prices rose as demand climbed.
Month after month, Covid-19 hijacked our lives. We are adapting to the pandemic, in both how and where we live, as new variants continue to haunt us. The terrordriven relocations have subsided, but lifestyle adjustments and reevaluation of priorities mean some of the trends of 2020 persist—but with significantly less inventory. Read on to learn more about what is bolstering a seller’s market in Westport, Weston and Wilton; what buyers are looking for; and how to get the best value for your money.
The Pandemic Effect
“We’re continuing to see a very robust demand for homes in our towns,” says Linda Blackwell at Houlihan Lawrence. “I think the pandemic has shifted how and why people are buying in ways that will last for quite a while. What began with a frenzied fear of Covid, and people seeking areas they considered safe havens, has become more about life choices. Businesses and lifestyles have changed. People are working from home or on a hybrid schedule. Families are coming out of the city and buying a second home and switching to a primary residence here.”
Even some folks who did not feel compelled to escape the city have ended up here. “Movement of people has caused more movement of people,” explains Blackwell. “Friends saw their friends moving, came out to visit and discovered the attraction: spectacular towns close to the city, great schools, good taxes, arts and amenities. Even if they weren’t necessarily scared into moving, their friends moving changed where they lived. People are taking stock of their lives and making life choices that are more well-rounded. I’ve also seen people moving to be closer to relatives after not seeing them for over a year or losing a family member to Covid.”
That being said, the huge influx from New York City—making up about 35 percent of purchases across our towns in 2020—has dropped off in most areas. “From January to October in 2021, we had 19 percent of buyers from the city in Westport, 13 percent in Wilton, but 30 percent in Weston,” says Joni Usdan of The JoniHomes Group at Coldwell Banker. “This desire for more land is pandemic related. For years I heard: The less land, the better.” Usdan has also noticed another Covid-related trend with empty nesters: “Some are not downsizing when they thought they would as their kids have been staying with them or visiting more, and they also want their home offices.”
While many are looking to move here—or move within our towns to what they consider their pandemic dream home—some homeowners are still reluctant to put their houses on the market. “There are still those who want to sell but are concerned about opening their homes to strangers and possible Covid exposure,” says Berkshire Hathaway’s Nancy Pantoliano. “Also, the day-to-day can be unpredictable because of the chance of someone becoming positive: showings missed, closings pushed, inspections delayed.” Construction delays are common due to supply issues and costly materials. This market favors a nimble, fast-moving buyer yet also a patient one.
Millennials, Californians & Corporate Shifts
It’s easy to attribute real estate trends to the pandemic, but it’s not the whole story. “Yes, the workplace shifts that changed the housing market during Covid have been in the spotlight,” says Joni Usdan, “but the major market shift was a systemic one already brewing: a generational change. Millennials who have been marrying later or having kids later—they are still the largest segment of the homebuying market. They are looking for a community, a yard, good schools. A few years ago, conventional wisdom was that Millennials will rent forever or live in their parents’ basements forever. Not so much!”
Nancy Pantoliano says, “Some Millennials who thought they would always be city dwellers made the move. Many grew up here and find themselves being drawn back here.”
Another effect of this Millennial wave is a resulting ripple of their parents keeping a foot in Fairfield County. “Some empty nesters move to warmer climates but also want to have a home base here near their children and grandbabies,” comments Michelle Genovese of MG Homes.
Several realtors noted Californians coming this way. “I’ve seen a lot of California buyers in the last couple years,” says Usdan. “The rest of the market is more job centric, but the luxury and uber-luxury market—people in this market can maybe move anywhere now and are choosing our great East Coast towns because of all we have to offer. We are a bargain compared to California.”
Blackwell concurs. “The influx is not just from the city but from California also. As corporations are shifting, we are seeing executives getting moved around as well. There is a lot of relocation from unexpected places. Also, the international buyers—missing for a while here and in New York City—are reentering the scene.”
We’re continuing to see a very robust demand for homes in our towns. I think the pandemic has shifted how and why people are buying in ways that will last for quite a while.
—linda blackwell, Houlihan Lawrence
above: This beautiful property, with a seven-bedroom home, at 157 Easton Rd., Westport, is located riverside, with a waterfall and swimming hole, as well as a two-bedroom cottage, greenhouse, indoor pool/spa, steamroom, tennis court and outdoor yoga studio. Built in 1955 with renovations in 2020, it is listed at $7,995,000; Michelle&Co. Team at William Raveis Real Estate. below: This custom Nantucket-style home, at 3 Devon Rd. in Greens Farms, includes a pool, poolhouse and tennis court. Listed at $5,195,000, it sold recently for 5,500,000; Joni Usdan, Coldwell Banker Realty
Low Inventory
No one can deny that inventory is extremely low. “A few years ago, we had 450 homes on the market in Westport, and it was not uncommon for homes to be on for eight to twelve months and sell at 92 percent of asking price,” says Usdan. “Our inventory dropped to under 100 in 2021. There have been similar drops all over Fairfield County. Homes are selling at asking price in the first weekend.” She reiterates, “We were shifting toward a lower supply before Covid. Interest rates were low and Millennials were aging into the marketplace. That shift would have happened whether or not we had a pandemic.”
While some forecasters predict short supply will eventually drive buyers away, Usdan believes that’s an oversimplification: “Someone who wants to buy a home statistically won’t wait beyond eighteen months, even if they don’t find a hospitable buyer environment, so I’m betting these ‘generational shift’ buyers are going to continue to take advantage of low rates, lower taxes than urban areas in the Northeast and the significant tax benefit a primary home mortgage still provides.” Usdan has seen a trend in homeowners here planning to sell but then stalling or deciding not to. “Some are staying because of a newfound love for Connecticut. The feeling that finally their beloved home is being admired by the appreciating market—that’s irresistible to a lot of property owners. It’s been a beautiful thing to see, after selling homes all these buyer market years, where our owners felt so beat up, discouraged by soft prices and bad press, jumping what was perceived at the time to be a sinking ship. Tables sure have turned, but realestate cycles have never been abrupt twists; they’ve been longer trends.”
—joni usdan, The JoniHomes Group
Let’s Make a Deal
Emotional purchases were rampant in 2020, but the logical, educated buyer was back for 2021–22. “People are more thoughtful about the price they will pay and whether to get involved in a bidding situation,” says Michelle Genovese. “I always advise to try not to get involved in the emotion of bidding, but put the number on the table that you can say to yourselves, ‘It’s OK we lost it.’ ”
Nancy Pantoliano adds, “Cash is preferred in bidding wars, so one has to either have enough cash or have gone through the full process of getting approved for a loan so that you are assured you will be able to close. Rates are rising and will continue to do so. And if someone has changed jobs during the pandemic or decided to pursue their dream as their own boss, qualifying may be a challenge.”
At the end of 2021, traditionally the slowest quarter, Joni Usdan had two listings that both sold in the first weekend they were listed. “One had eight offers, the other eleven, and many were noncontingent offers—no contingency for inspection or mortgage,” she says. “Buyers are waiving contingencies right and left just to get a foot in the door.” Usdan expected these homes to go to Millennials, but both went “to empty nesters who could pay way up and aren’t concerned if the homes don’t appraise at that value.”
Genovese notes that pools continue to make a splash with buyers, who may not be traveling as much or sending their kids to camp. “Properties north of Post Road, with more land, are in demand, as are in-home offices (two preferred) and in-law areas.”
Those who don’t demand turnkey condition will find better deals. “Buyers who are willing to take on a home that needs some work or redecorating—they will get much more value for their money,” says Usdan. “There was no appetite for that during the buyer’s market—everyone wanted new or like new. Buyers have become more forgiving but houses that aren’t updated sell at a much deeper discount.”
Linda Blackwell has noticed such a variety in where and what people want that realtors have had to abandon preexisting beliefs of what clients want. She says, “New areas are getting their moments in the sun. There has been new construction in areas we didn’t expect to be desirable. This new outlook has refreshed all parts of town. Some people moving from the city to suburbs don’t want to feel isolated; they want to be able to walk to town and restaurants. And there’s the opposite extreme, looking to Coleytown, Weston, Green Hill, Redcoat, where they can find a more private setting. It has really been fun and exciting. For a while everyone wanted a new construction with five bedrooms, a mudroom and a pool. Having people exploring and open to different styles is invigorating.”
With a market that is transacting so quickly, Usdan advises, “It’s critical to stay positive, open-minded and strategic. A sense of humor helps a lot too!”
above: Located at 12 Old Stage Coach Rd., Weston, this Colonial with five bedrooms was built in 2000 and has a new roof, updated interior and two acres with a large patio, covered outdoor kitchen and space for a pool. Listed for $1,599,000 with Lori DiBartholomeo, Coldwell Banker Realty
Rental Market
The rental market is tight, as buyers buy time to find the right home, city slickers test out the area, and homeowners hesitate in becoming landlords. Pantoliano says, “Rentals are hard to come by and monthly rent is increasing.”
Usdan says, “The Hamptonsesque summer rental price increases that we’ve seen locally for, say, those ‘executive’ furnished homes with a pool— those prices spiked last year and the year before largely due to travel restrictions. We don’t know yet what will transpire in 2022 with variants, etc., but this same issue will have an effect on would-be landlords listing, as well as tenants coming for seasonal as well as yearly rentals. Scarcity is what has kept prices up. We show scarcity and quick absorption of whatever comes on. This has been the story across the board, all around the country.”
—nancy pantoliano, Berkshire Hathaway
A Sunny Forecast
Noting that the pandemic affected everyone and spurred on moving just as other major life events (marriage, a new baby, a new job) do, the National Association of Realtors recently reported a decrease in average home tenure from ten to eight years—the largest single-year change in home tenure since NAR began collecting this data.
“There’s no way of knowing what curves Covid will throw us, but trends in real estate tend to be long,” says Usdan. “It’s not going to be just a minute-long seller’s market. It won’t turn on a dime.”
Pantoliano concurs: “Prices are still rising and inventory falling. All the trends point to an increase above the average this year in home prices and then slowing to the average increase in the following few years.”
Chief Economist Mark Fleming at First American offers a bright outlook: “The economy is improving, and Millennials continue to age into their prime home-buying years in large numbers, so the context remains good for the housing market.”
Few things speak to a new lease on life like the annual migration from the great indoors to the greater outdoors. Now that the days are growing longer and warmer, we’re coming back to life along with the perennials from seasons past.
Our hunter-gatherer ancestors roamed for miles to find enough food to sustain them and their tribe in hostile environments. Here in the third year of the pandemic, however, we need only step out the back door armed with hand trowels and gardening hats to sustain our bodies but also reinvigorate our minds and soothe our souls.
This spring, landscape architects and designers across Fairfield County are responding to homeowners’ interests— not in manicured lawns and showcase gardens but in sustainability and doing what’s best for the environment.
These professionals are ditching the formality of boxwood borders and orderly flower beds for unmade beds, free-ranging meadows, native plantings and water in any number of forms. They’re also designing large, handsome vegetable garden structures and offering a range of options for helping homeowners become increasingly self-sufficient and truly at home on the range—even if it’s the suburban range.
One sign of the new informality is the open meadows alive with swaying grasses, vibrant wildflowers and pollinator plants that attract songbirds, bees and other beneficial insects.
On a less than an acre of land in Westport, Jay Petrow of Petrow Designs created an open meadow of wild grasses—Korea feather grass and fountain grass—that resembles an impressionist painting but one that changes colors as the seasons change. It covers just a 30’ by 30’ section of the owners’ backyard but looks like a bigger planting than it is.
“You don’t need to eliminate an acre of grass—you can start with just a small area,” says Petrow, who in the off-season creates abstract expressionist paintings that at times are informed by his meadow designs. “Late in the day in the winter when the sun is in that golden time, it hits these grasses and the colors come through. The grasses add texture and color and movement in the wind and can look good through much of the year.”
Other landscape designers and professional gardeners report requests for elements that satisfy an almost primitive impulse.
“The proper term I think is probably ‘homesteading,’ although I think most of our clients don’t think of themselves as homesteaders,” notes John Carlson of Homefront Farmers in Redding. Carlson’s company builds and maintains vegetable gardens as well as other forms of selfsufficiency, “But in fact that’s what we’re doing when we add beekeeping and maple sugaring, and chicken cooping and mushrooming. We’re just expanding the way they can produce food at home."
Even traditional architectural firms that offer landscaping services are loosening their grip on tradition in a bow to Mother Nature.
New Canaan architectural firm, Wadia Associates designs formal mansions frequently informed by classic British estates, with formal landscapes to match. (As if to verify the firm’s commitment to authenticity, Prince Charles, a champion of architectural preservation, contributed the preface to Dinyar Wadia’s coffee table volume, New Classicists: Wadia Associates, Residential Architecture of Distinction.)
The firm’s partial transition away from contained formal gardens reflects a growing sensitivity among homeowners to conservation and a greater appreciation of land and space.
Something new that Wadia clients are asking for is a “live roof”—flat, grassed surfaces, over a series of drainage systems, that aids thermal regulation below and makes that part of the home blend naturally into the landscape.
“I think the phenomenon of Covid has reminded us that space is a luxury,” Wadia says. “For a long time people were moving away from backcountry in Greenwich and now the desirability of having that kind of land is quite high. They’re also looking for more ways that they can engage with the environment organically, literally and figuratively. We have a lot of clients who are asking for greenhouses and gardens—not a formal, boxwood-framed garden but a vegetable garden.”
Landscape trends are leaning away from the perfectly manicured boxwoods in favor of natural grasses and vegetable gardens that allow homeowners to live off the land.
During World War II, the U.S. government rationed staples and asked citizens to plant “Victory Gardens.” Some 20 million answered the patriotic call, producing fruits and vegetables for themselves and their families.
It’s telling that residential architects and landscape designers today are designing home herb and vegetable patches—“Pandemic Victory Gardens,” if you will—on their own properties.
Southport architect Mark Finlay, whose firm designs 10,000- and 20,000-square-foot mansions, had built for his wife a three-section garden structure of raised beds on a side portion of their property. Andrew Tyrrell of Black Rock Compost Company in Bridgeport custom-built the 20’-by20’ structure out of rot- and insect-resistant white cedar, which is completely enclosed in 1”-by-1” black deer fencing. Tyrrell’s company also manages the composting for the garden year-round.
“It’s a big garden, so I designed it like a clerestory style, like a church, so the tomatoes and zucchinis are in the middle section and in the wings herbs and lettuces that grow low,” Finlay explains. The center section is nin feet high, the wings seven feet high. Deer fencing covers the top because, as Finlay found, “birds fly in and poke holes in the vegetables, then the squirrels come in ad finish the job.”
The space doubles as a retreat from the stresses of life in a pandemic.
Even more formal estates are embracing, in Wadia’s words, “a degree or rural sensibilities.” For a large stone manor, a greenhouse used for temperate plants and as a nursery overlooks a grid of raised flower and vegetable beds set between broad, gravel and slate paths.
top left: Mark Finlay’s entry design with overflowing greenery.
above and left: James Doyle Designs’ created suburban homesteading where clients could grow veggies and raise chickens.
right: Homefront Farmers’ designed an enclosed garden surrounded by bright florals.
ENCLOSED GARDEN, COURTESY OF MARK FINLAY; VEGETABLE GARDEN BY NEIL LANDINO
right: Architect Mark Finlay designed and Andrew Tyrrell built this custom garden structure out of white cedar and deerresistant fencing.
below:
A garden design by James Doyle.
A James Doyle Designs water feature
Pools remain a top draw for homeowners, and especially for homebuyers from the City hot to have water in any setting. These are not our parents' pools but rather complex interactions of design, construction and mechanics.
James Doyle Design Associates in Greenwich partners with structural engineers and others to create what he calls “The Moses Effect”— water separated from other water within the same walls of a swimming pool. But water also serves simpler purposed.
At the entrance to a magnificent French chateau on eight acres, Wadia Associates installed a long reflecting pool that runs under a stone bridge to the front door. Fountains in the entry courtyard, meanwhile, send plumes of water skyward. “The idea was to give the homeowners an immediate sense of tranquility when they come home,” says Wadia. “There’s the gentle sound of water, reflected light and lily pads. It’s a little bit of Monet in Greenwich.”
Meanwhile, streams both natural and man made are primal elements—a lifeforce—that sustain birds, small animals and the human spirit.
To reach a modest house on a small lot in
above: Wadia Associates installed a long reflecting pool that runs under a bridge and to the front of the home for an immediate sense of tranquility. below: Another Wadia design showcases a natural stream running through a slew of plantings,
Native plants and pollinators: Black Eyed Susan, Switchgrass, and Echinacea,
here and above: While pools are still a top priority for homeowners, James Doyle says he has begun to add many more types of water features into his landscape designs to create a feeling od tranquility throughout the properties.
TOP LEFT WATER FEATURE AND POOL BY ALEGRA ANDERSON; TOP RIGHT WATER FEATURE BY NEIL LANDINO Darien, the owners and visitors drive over a bridge and narrow stream. Jay Petrow removed the pachysandra crowding the banks and in its place, around boulders he had trucked in, put in a wealth of native plants and pollinators: Black Eyed Susan, switchgrass, asters and echinacea, among others.
Not that a lack of water should be a deterrent. On Dinyar Wadia’s New Canaan property, the man-made stream features a flow regulator that controls the speed of the current and the level of water, which can be lowered during heavy rains. Now that’s what we call a modern water feature.
