yard Archives - MidMod Midwest

How to plan a Mid-century landscape…is that a thing?

42 min read Let’s talk mid-century landscaping with a certified expert – Jim Drzewiecki of Ginkgo Leaf Studio.

I get asked about the right landscape design for a mid-century a lot.

And, while I do design outdoor “rooms” and have a landscape at my own house, I am far from the expert on designing beautiful gardens. Seriously…I only just succeeded in not killing (most of) my houseplants in the last couple of years.

So to tackle all your landscaping questions I called up a landscaping expert.

A chat with an MCM Landscape specialist

And big giant bonus? An expert who specializes in design for mid-century homes. Jim Drzewiecki, APLD, award-winning principal designer, is the founder and owner of Ginkgo Leaf Studio where he and Hannah Paulson design beautiful landscapes for all kind of homes.

Here’s the secret to a great mcm landscape

Long story short: The best way to design a landscape to fit your mid-century house is to … listen to the house! Jim so good at doing just that. He’s interested in the shapes and materials on a good MCM house. And not locked into (probably) overgrown and (almost certainly) DIYed plant placements from decades of yore.

Easy Summer Projects to Tackle This Weekend

16 min read Easy summer projects can help you kick-off this year’s (mid-century) home improvement season! Here are a few of my favorites.

What feels like the true beginning of summer to you? Memorial Day weekend? Seeing the first lightning bugs? The last day of school? For me, my birthday in early June is the real start of summer!

It kind of feels like we just dived into the middle of summer in the last week or two and I have a feeling you might be in exactly the right headspace to take on some easy summer projects to make your mid-century home a little more your own.

So, grab your lemonade and a lawn chair and listen in for a few fun (and, okay some less fun but more necessary) summer project you can tackle right now to kick off your mid-century home improvement season!

Progress: a (pretty painless) mini patio for the back yard

2 min read I’d thought my next move was to start framing in the new mudroom between the house and garage but then I remembered … it will never be easier to move the pavers from front to back than right now.

I did a quick about face and prioritized putting together my (mini) patio project. I’d had something like this in mind for a while but had to make some quick executive decisions about size and proportion. Continue reading “Progress: a (pretty painless) mini patio for the back yard”

And now I’m obsessed with concrete and want to use it everywhere

3 min read Because, come on, why wouldn’t you?

I’ve spent the last two weeks struggling through the muggy heat to de-lead and prime the north and south walls of the house and prepping for my upcoming talk at the MREA Energy Fair but when I think about design, I’ve been thinking about concrete and wondering what I can make from it. Pavers? Planters? Benches? The possibilities are endless. Continue reading “And now I’m obsessed with concrete and want to use it everywhere”