Project story

Covington

Stone-Terraced Garden with Outdoor Kitchen and Lit Stairs

Landscape Design
Hardscape
Outdoor Lighting

A sloping garden stepped up in stacked stone, with a built-in kitchen and dining terrace at its foot.

The Garden

A garden that climbs in stone

The land rises behind the house, so the whole garden is built as a staircase of terraces. Stacked-stone walls and wide stone steps carry you up through planting, while pale paving and a long built-in kitchen make the level below the place everyone gathers. Warm light set into the risers and walls ties it together after dark.

Chapter 1 · The Terraces

Stone walls, steps and a pale path

Stacked natural stone holds the hillside in tiers, with a broad run of stone steps cutting straight up between planted walls. At the bottom, a pale paved path with angled joints leads through grasses, yellow kangaroo paw and big blue-grey boulders. Every level has its own planting, so the climb never feels bare.

Wide flight of stone steps rising between two stacked-stone walls, each wall topped with a planter of silvery herbs

Pale paved path with angled joints running past yellow kangaroo paw, grasses and large blue-grey boulders in mulched beds

Looking down a paved stair between two stone-capped planters of grasses toward the back of the house at dusk

Curving gravel path around a mulched bed with a small tree, a stone retaining wall and the lit house below

Chapter 2 · The Outdoor Kitchen

A long island built into the terrace

Below the steps, a stucco island runs along the edge of the terrace with a built-in grill, sink, stone worktop and a bank of stainless drawers. The dining table sits just in front on a patterned rug, close enough to hand plates across. A low planted wall and a few steps tie the kitchen back to the garden above.

Dining table on a blue rug under a white cantilever umbrella, with the built-in grill island and a small green shed behind

Stucco outdoor kitchen island with a stainless grill, sink, stone worktop and stainless access doors on pale paving

Wide view across the terrace to the dining table and kitchen island, with broad steps and a trimmed hedge in front

Chapter 3 · After Dark

Light in the stone

At night the walls and stair risers are lit from within, so the stonework becomes the main feature of the garden. Spotlights pick out trees and grasses above the steps. The dining terrace below glows softly under the umbrella.

Stone steps at night with a light set into each riser and warm spotlights washing the stacked-stone walls

Night view of the dining table under a white umbrella with the kitchen island glowing beside a lit stepped planter

Chapter 4 · Lawn & Planting

Room to sit on the lawn

Between the walls and the house, a stretch of open lawn gives the garden somewhere to breathe. A table sits at its edge, looking up the terraces at the mix of shrubs, grasses and stone steps.