Menasha: Built-In Grill

This Menasha project called on several hardscape disciplines. First, there was the installation of glacial limestone boulders in a retaining wall in the front yard to increase the space available by double.

boulder wall

In the backyard, a CMU structure was built atop a concrete slab with footings and a stone veneer mortared to the CMU structure to house the built-in grill, topped with a clematis-climbed arbor for late afternoon shade.

built-in grill island progress photo

A mortared, snap-faced limestone planter bed was built in concert with the grill island to provide a raised perennial garden space that could double as informal seating.

Built-in grill and planter and arbor

The central focus of the raised planter is a magnolia tree with it’s huge, saucer-like blooms in spring.

saucer magnolia

Near the magnolia is another mixed-discipline hardscape feature – mortared limestone structure with two waterfalls and three self-contained planters. The waterfalls are small and the water cascades over each weir stone in a smooth sheet.

masonry water feature

The lower patio is surrounded by a large overhead arbor that later received a green shading canopy stretched across the square middle opening to give filtered shade during the warm Wisconsin summer days.

cedar arbor built-in grill