As the weekend retreat for the owners of a prominent clothing company, this Point Dume property needed to be a soothing alternative to long hours spent inside an office. In the front courtyard, Scott Shrader added a quiet reflecting pool and a cushioned banquette. “I call it ‘sitting soft,’” says Shrader. “It’s not like sitting upright in chairs.” In the sea-facing space to the rear, the West Hollywood designer placed a fire pit to ward off the ocean chill. He also extended the basalt flooring—a honed version inside and a flamed basalt one outside—to impart a sense of additional living space. “I’m really just a frustrated architect,” says Shrader of the outdoor rooms he’s designed for more than two decades. The Palos Verdes native was raised in a household obsessed with gardening. As a hobby, Shrader’s orthopedic surgeon father maintained a citrus orchard in Fallbrook, where his son practiced beekeeping, which produced a homemade honey. “We called it ‘Shrader Sting,’” he says.
“I see a garden not so much as something you look at but as a space that you can use. After all, we have the best weather in the world.”
Let There Be Light
Some beloved garden fixtures are no longer so fixed in place
The Bali wireless lamp from L.A.-based designer Joe Ruggiero has a Sunbrella fabric shade and a weighted resin base with a faux-wood finish. $299 at PTS Furniture, Thousand Oaks.
Mobile concrete fire pits fueled by propane tanks can be picked up and moved around the garden at will. $1,495 and $1,995 at Restoration Hardware.
The New smokeless outdoor fireplaces consume bioethanol instead of wood. The Stix is composed of stainless steel tubes and stands 31 inches high. $1,995 at Room & Board.
Photographs by Noah Webb
