A custom garage set into brick retaining terraces

A Federal Heights backyard fell away from the house steeply enough that most of it could not be used. The fix was masonry: brick retaining walls to hold the grade, then flat, usable ground on top of them.

Brick veneer retaining walls shape the grade across the whole yard, framing the lawn and the planted areas and turning what had been a slope into a set of level terraces. A curved brick wall carries the hillside planting at the top of the site.

A broad curved paver patio sits on the main terrace with dedicated dining and lounge areas, connected back to the house by concrete steps with a black metal railing. Cedar privacy fencing closes the boundary alongside new planting beds, and a black metal gate secures the side drive.

The detached garage was built under the same contract. It has a finished overhead door, a basketball hoop and a concrete approach that ties into the paver hardscape, with storage and bicycle space inside.

Because the masonry, the hardscape and the garage were all ours, the wall heights, the patio level and the garage slab were set against one another once, at design stage, instead of being reconciled on site by three different crews.