Not every house in the Beach Park area of Tampa is literally on the beach…but so what? Bill Carley and Joe Brancucci, who had lived on Robin Lane for many enjoyable years, recently built a new home on a nearby street only six houses away and made sure to include a fabulous back yard that will give any beach a run for the money. “We so enjoyed the friendliness of our neighbors on Robin Lane that we didn’t want to lose that—especially the progressive dinners at holidays,” says Bill.
Now, while they continue to have a great relationship with their old neighbors, they’ve created the house of their dreams just a few streets away.
Hive Outdoor Living, LLC, headed by co-owner Robert Foster and General Manager Ben Kelver, and assisted by Gina VonEye, Director of Marketing and Communications, worked closely with Josh Layton of Devonshire Custom Homes, builder of the house itself, to meet the homeowners’ desire to minimize the difference between inside and outside. Joe and Bill chose to use four receding patio doors that practically disappear into the walls to enlarge the family room opening, creating almost another room filled with pools and plants. Great for parties or just relaxing on the sofa, the owners are able to enjoy their back yard escape whether they are indoors or outdoors.
Hive Outdoor Living and Devonshire Homes worked closely together to create an integrated flow from the house to the dramatic back yard. For example, Hive Outdoor designed the frame of the cage screening for the yard, including twists and turns around existing and newly planted palms; its dark bronze/brown finish blends into the foliage as if invisible.
There are three major water features—a bubbling spa, a Koi pond and a lily pad pond—each in a curved shape to blend in with a more natural setting and surrounded by stacked Tennessee flat stone plus a variety of plants and palms.
Foster says this back yard is in a class of its own and is very different from those in the neighborhood. “It’s not so important what we want; what matters most is to duplicate the homeowners’ vision. Bill and Joe had specific ideas for their new home and back yard, and we made them happen,” he says. “It was nice working with them because they had the vision to produce a wildly spectacular back yard.”
Throughout the garden area, Bill and Joe have placed a variety of tropical plants, mainly bromeliads of many brilliant colors.
“Almost every time we are out shopping, if we see an unusual bromeliad…we buy it,” Joe says.
Next to the spa is the large Koi pond, which is very special to these homeowners. They have raised Koi for nearly five years and brought them to this house from their previous home. “These fish are mesmerizing,” adds Joe.
At eight years, the orange and white Koi is the oldest of the school of fish. The homeowners shipped the yellow and black fish in from Hawaii. “The Koi are fairly easy to take care of due to the excellent filtration systems chosen for us,” Bill says.
At a slightly higher level is a pond of day blooming water lilies in a variety of colors. Seated on the edge, overlooking the Koi, an 18-inch ceramic frog poses seductively.
Hive Outdoor installed a biologic filter, hidden inside one of the three waterfalls, that relies on porous beads that attract bacteria and convert them from nitrites to nitrates. A mechanical filter, out of sight on the side of the house, controls sediment in all the pools.
Kelver also installed a complex irrigation system that waters the palms and potted plants. Hand-held remote controls allow the homeowners to operate not only the interior of the home, but the spa as well as a rainbow-like lighting system that gives a fantasy feel to the garden.