Unlike the Beach Bungalow, the Ocean View Villa home has adequate space to emphasize a grander garden scale for both hardscape elements and plant materials. Whether your home is on the beach, or perched on the bluffs above the ocean, a sense of outdoor comfort and family tradition is always featured in the Ocean Villa design.
Entertainment areas feature custom furniture pieces and cushions that are surrounded by garden accessories. Benches and seat walls face the majestic ocean. A loggia next to an outdoor kitchen features a bar and big-screen television. Strategically placed shrubs and soft hedges provide relief from the daily winds while soft, wispy grasses catch the ocean breeze.
Many ocean homes feature an interior courtyard or a glass atrium—a focal point combining indoor with outdoor living spaces for a simple, relaxing lifestyle. Don’t forget a back yard hammock to unwind and enjoy the magnificent view.
Ocean View Villa Elements: To compliment the multi-colored furniture, light-colored walkways and patio surfaces (representing the sandy beaches) made of exposed aggregate, natural stone, and custom, random-patterned brick contribute to the atmosphere of living close to the ocean. Marine artifacts, tastefully placed, can add a marine theme to the overall design. Fire pits, fireplaces, and fountains with fire, along with dramatic outdoor lighting, create an inviting environment during the cool evening hours. Simple design, not overpowering elements, must be the theme. The focal point is, after all, the neighboring ocean.
Ocean View Villa Plants: Groupings of natural flowing shrubs and herbaceous perennials that move freely in the ocean winds include ornamental grasses and plants with tall flower stalks. If a formal design is chosen, sphere-shaped foundation plants with accents of dramatic leaves and sword-like succulents do nicely. Specimen plants include Dwarf Aloes, Dwarf Agave, Echeverias, and groupings of low-growing Sedum, Senecio ‘Blue Chalk Sticks’, and Crassula ‘Campfire’. Salt, wind, and challenging soil conditions demand that the right plants be selected.