Boosting the Function and Beauty of a Ho-Ho-Kus Backyard

Landscape specialists meet the challenge of updating an aging backyard on a sloping property

An updated seating area on one end of the swimming pool and two cabanas at the other end ramp up the function as well as the beauty of this redesigned Ho-Ho-Kus backyard. The design called for cutting back into a slope and building a new retaining wall at left to gain about 12 feet of usable space, says Mitch Knapp, owner of Scenic Landscaping and two related companies.

BEFORE

The house was a good fit; the backyard was not. That was how Chris Doherty felt when she first saw the Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, property that she and her husband, Paul, now call home. As a Realtor^®, she had shown the house to a potential buyer. The buyer passed on it, but Doherty liked what she saw. The ranch-style home would be perfect for the soon-to-be empty-nesters, who liked the idea of one-floor living. It also had four bedrooms and a pool — which she knew would help to draw their two daughters back from the city for visits and would do the same for their son once he graduated and was out on his own. It also would allow the Dohertys to remain in their favorite town, where Paul grew up and where they had built their life together.

“I wanted the backyard to complement the home, which is very traditional. I even wanted a bluestone patio, even though people say it gets hot. But this isn’t Texas,” owner Chris Doherty says with a laugh. “I also wanted the Hamptons look with the lawn going right up to the pool edge.”

But she knew that one day they would need to upgrade the backyard. “It was in terrible shape,” Doherty says. “The pool hadn’t been opened in four years, there wasn’t a lot of yard, and there were red landscape rocks and overgrown rhododendron probably dating to when the home was built in the 1950s. The landscape was well done in its day, but it had aged out.”

After moving in, the Dohertys made cosmetic changes to the backyard. But before doing anything substantive, they wanted time to monitor how the sun moves across the property and decide how they wanted to use the space. Meanwhile, her career in real estate introduced her to some properties she loved and that had one thing in common: Mitch Knapp, owner of Haskell-based Scenic Landscaping, Tapestry Landscape Architecture and Tranquility Pools. “It was my goal to have him do our project because the yard needed significant engineering work as well as aesthetic upgrades,” says Doherty, who is also co-editor and co-owner of The Scout Guide in Bergen County.

Knapp installed a classic bluestone-and-brick walkway under the pergola that connects the kitchen cabana on the left and changing-room cabana on the right. The walkway leads to a firepit sitting area that was carved from an overgrown slope. “We maximized the backyard to get as much use out of it as we could,” Knapp says.

Knapp worked with Rick Zimmer, principal landscape architect at Tapestry Landscape Architecture, to plan how to expand the usable space, update the pool and patio, add Doherty’s preferred English garden landscaping style and make it a place for summer dreams to come true.

The house and backyard are set into a sloped lot, and the pool sits at a rather high elevation. “That was a challenge when installing a new patio in a way that would drain properly,” Knapp says. The plan also called for creating more usable space by removing a retaining wall that was only 6 or 7 feet from the pool and installing a new wall deeper into the slope, picking up 12 additional feet. Doherty created a seating area with lounge chairs in that area to take advantage of the new-found space.

“We also changed the elevation at one end of the pool to make room for two cabanas — one serving as a kitchen and the other as a changing room,” Knapp says. The cabanas are from Hillbrook Collections, which essentially provides shells of garden houses, pool houses and office “sheds” that buyers can customize to meet individual needs and aesthetics.

A small circular patio just outside of the primary bedroom is the perfect spot to relax away from the pool. The brick in the patio, as well as the brick in the walkway between the cabanas, is a reference to the brick on the house. “It helps to tie everything together,” Knapp says. An expanded upper lawn area to the right is the future site of a putting green, homeowner Chris Doherty says.

The Dohertys engaged architect Rosario Mannino, AIA, principal of RS Mannino in Rutherford, to customize their cabanas. “Rosario gave Hillbrook specifications to build year-round cabanas that he winterized with a brick footing and insulation and customized with built-in cabinetry, Dutch doors, siding, hardware and lighting,” Doherty says. The kitchen cabana has double refrigerator drawers, an icemaker, sink, cabinets and a built-in bench beside a table where the couple can enjoy quiet dinners when the weather is too wet or windy to use the poolside table. It also features a window that swings open as a beverage serving station when they entertain. The other cabana offers a place for swimmers to change so they no longer have to run through the kitchen to the powder room in the main house. It also has space to store outdoor cushions.

Photo courtesy of @tsgbergencounty
The cabanas were built off-site and then brought to the property and hoisted into place by a crane.

Photo by Julie Blackstock/Courtesy of RS Mannino
The kitchen cabana includes a table where the owners can share a quiet dinner by themselves or with another couple when the weather is too inclement to eat at the poolside table.

Photo by Julie Blackstock/Courtesy of RS Mannino
The changing-room cabana is a better solution than swimmers having to traipse through the house to a powder room to change.

Photo courtesy of @tsgbergencounty
The homeowners love to entertain. A window on the kitchen cabana even swings open for a bartender to serve beverages.

A trellis connects the roofs of the cabanas. Under the trellis, Knapp and his team created a brick-and-bluestone passage that leads to a newly leveled seating area where the Dohertys enjoy the sounds of trickling water from a fountain built into the retaining wall and the warmth of a firepit on cool evenings. “Before the redesign, the slope and invading bushes made that area uninviting,” Knapp recalls. Doherty adds: “Mitch really ‘grew’ the property. He gave us space that wasn’t usable before.”

Lush hydrangeas behind the new bluestone and Karney stone retaining wall add definition and help to further screen the property from another house farther up the hill. The sitting area was made possible by removing the original retaining wall, which had been only 6 or 7 feet from the pool edge, and building a new wall farther into the slope, gaining about 12 more feet of usable space.

Landscaping got a major overhaul, Knapp notes. He replaced old pine trees with new evergreens as a buffer from other properties, planted lush ‘Limelight’ hydrangeas along the new bluestone and Karney stone retaining wall and added hydrangeas, liriope and boxwood topiaries between the house and a new stepping-stone path that leads to a brick-and-bluestone patio outside the primary bedroom door. Knapp also rotates flowering plants in pots around the property throughout the seasons. “The yard has classic 1920s-’30s gardenesque details but is designed for today,” he says.

“I love that we can live indoors and outdoors,” Doherty says. “We’re thrilled with the project, and Mitch and his team were amazing.”

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Design NJ under the headline “Summer Dreams.”
For more stories on the design of outdoor living spaces, see “Backyard Escape,” “Backyard Dream Oasis” and “This Backyard Gives Us Vacation Vibes.”