Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love [Hardcover]

Julie Moir Messervy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2009

An Outside-the-Box Guide to Outdoor Living. Let's face it: most of us have the confidence to improve the inside of our homes with a fresh coat of paint, new rugs, furniture, and fixtures. But when it comes to the outside of our most prized possession, we don't know where to start. That's where Julie Moir Messervy's Home Outside comes in. The acclaimed landscape designer walks the reader through the process of turning any property into the home outside you've always dreamed of. Focusing on key concepts like Finding Your Comfort Zone and Placing the Pieces, Messervy presents breathtaking plans for remarkable front and back lawns, entertainment areas, and contemplative retreats, as well as innovative ways to create a better flow between the inside and outside of a house.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Winner of the 2010 Gold Medal from the Garden Writers Association for Best Book Writing

“One of the Year’s 10 Best Garden Books” –Boston Globe

 "It's not often that a seasoned designer comes up with a fresh, illuminating take on the fundamental concepts of her profession. Her book demystifies design for those of us not trained in architecture, or born with an innate sense of scale." –Seattle Times

“A great book for new homeowners wondering where to start.”  – yourhome.ca

“The pictures are superb. The line drawings clearly illustrate the points raised by Julie. She is an excellent landscape designer and a master communicator. Plumbing the depths of this one book could require an entire winter of studying and dreaming.” –Worcester Telegram and Gazette

Review

A well-designed landscape extends your home beyond its four walls. Landscape and garden designer Julie Moir Messervy shows readers how to create living spaces outdoors in her new book, Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love. Messervy believes most people are more comfortable fixing up rooms than yards, so she seeks to instill confidence by taking a step-by-step approach. She addresses real-life challenges, such as limited time, budget constraints and neighborhood association rules, and provides a wealth of ideas and photos for inspiration.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 249 pages
• Publisher: Taunton Press (January 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1600850081
• ISBN-13: 978-1600850080
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 0.9 x 10.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #26,606 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Outdoor & Recreational Areas

More About the Author

Please visit the Home Outside blog at www.homeoutsidedesign.com/blog. Julie Moir Messervy and her award-winning studio, JMMDS, offer an online landscape design service based on Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love. With the online design service and newly-released Home Outside Palette iPhone app, Julie and JMMDS are pioneering new ways to bring good landscape design to homeowners everywhere. JMMDS also offers traditional full-service landscape design for institutional and residential clients.

With over three decades of experience, seven books, and numerous high-profile lectures, Julie has emerged as an innovative leader in landscape and garden design theory and practice.

Her first book, Contemplative Gardens (Howell Press, 1990), was named "one of the ten best garden books of the year" by The New York Times. Her second book, The Inward Garden (Little, Brown and Company, 1995), won the Garden Writers Association of America Gold Medal in 1996. Her third book, The Magic Land, was proclaimed a "delight" by Yo-Yo Ma and "a companion for inspired daydreaming" by The Boston Globe. Julie's fourth book, written in partnership with architect Sarah Susanka, Outside the Not So Big House (The Taunton Press, 2006), is a consistent best seller on Amazon.com and ranked at the top of bookseller lists in Canada. Her fifth book, Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love (The Taunton Press, 2009), received the Garden Writers Association 2010 Gold Medal for Best Book Writing. In 2009, she published The Toronto Music Garden, an in-depth guide to the conception and creation of this award-winning three-acre public garden, designed by Julie in collaboration with eminent cellist Yo-Yo Ma. She is currently at work on a new landscaping book, due out from The Taunton Press in November 2013.

Julie's vision for composing landscapes of beauty and meaning is furthering the evolution of landscape design and changing the way people create and enjoy their outdoor surroundings.

Visit her blog at http://www.jmmds.com/connect/blog/.

The JMMDS website is at http://jmmds.com/.

For a schedule of upcoming lectures and workshops, please visit http://www.jmmds.com/learn/lectures/.

Pronunciation of Julie Moir Messervy's name: Moir rhymes with "lawyer"; Messervy is pronounced "meh-SIR-vee."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Outside review April 7, 2009

By Ohio Gardener

Format:Hardcover

For the home gardener, this book demystifies many of the principles of landscape design with a relaxed style, terrific photos, diagrams and personal stories. In fact, Julie maintains that many of the design techniques we are confident in using inside our homes can be applied to the outside as well and she gives many examples. I think Home Outside is a must read for professionals as well to help enable them to communicate effectively with their clients. A great book!

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I've never read a book like this June 10, 2009

By befree

Format:Hardcover

This book has gorgeous color photographs, and terrific ideas. I've never had landscape design explained so easily and logically. The book sparked ideas for me immediately, and the ideas will tie my yard/garden together in a much more pleasing way.

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Garden Design Book! January 27, 2009

By Garden Designer

Format:Hardcover

This is by far one of the best written and most informative books on landscape design. Chock full of beautiful photographs, ideas and landscape diagrams. This book is for everyone, from the novice to the trained professional. Great source for inspiration and ideas.

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Home Outside: Creating the Landscape You Love May 23, 2009

By Catherine A. Smith

Format:Hardcover

This book was everything I had hoped for and more. It is well organized, the photos are sumptuous, and the illustrations are very well done and reinforce her design theories. This book is useful for the novice and professional. I have toured Julie Moir Messervy's Music Garden in Toronto and after that experience I kept any articles which talked about her work. She generously shares her inspirations and knowledge for creating these very personal home gardens. This book will not spend much time on the shelf.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly what I was looking for! August 16, 2010

By accessorichick

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book is exactly what I was looking for! The photos and text in this book are informative and inspirational, but what makes this book stand out is the approach of the author. She helps you to identify your personal style and helps you to decide whether you want a front-and-center style of yard, one of overlapping circles, or the like. She challenges you to envision what you want--emotionally--from the garden you are creating, and to use techniques you would use inside your home. This book gave me the final push I needed to finally make sense of my own challenging front yard, and guess what? I love it!

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful, but photos don't match content November 28, 2011

By D. Dickinson

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Finally a book that really guides you through landscaping!
This was very helpful in really helping me figure out how I want my yard to look. Step by step (and simple!) process of figuring out what you want and how to do it and why.

I loved the text, but only three stars because I was very disappointed with the photography. Nearly all the photos are of yard that obviously spent 10's of thousands to landscape their yards... not reasonable and distracting as your read.
The photos of professional and unreasonably done yards didn't seem to match the words of the book telling us how to do our own, realistic landscaping design.
I would have loved seeing some real yards landscaped in a real way for inspiration like is done in "front yard gardens" by Liz Primeau.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and Practical January 26, 2012

By Burgundy Damsel VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Like The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Really Live, this book is designed to empower people seeking to really understand how they live and how to make their homes work for them. Like most books of the genre, it is filled with gorgeous pictures featuring extensive landscaping and terra-forming finished in expensive stone or featuring unique-to-that-property features like a lake or mountainside.

Unlike most other books, however, this one was designed with the average homeowner in mind. Using juxtaposed before and after photos, the author demonstrates how the sculpted and exquisite yards all started off overgrown, barren or starkly without a shred of personality. She explains how to take a yard from point A to point B - all at once if your budget allows or in planned, attractive stages to spread out the cost.

Among the book's best features are the simple, user-friendly diagrams explaining basic outdoor space theory: outdoor rooms, central clearing or the immersed look. Using these basic designs, the author teachers readers how to:
* Map their space
* Arrange for flow of movement through the space
* Manage the view (maximize the best views, hide traffic or close neighbors as desired)
* Finding and utilizing the best flora for your location
* Identifying and creating the form and function that most appeals to you
* Budget-friendly options (concrete patios, up-cycled garden treasures, retreat spaces floored with gravel instead of expensive flagstone, etc.)
* Defining welcoming and functional entryways
* Connecting the inside and outside of your home

Ms.... Messervy appreciates and accommodates the tremendous variety of places and spaces in which we make our homes; whether you have a tiny row house, a western style open ranch or a brand new house in a cookie-cutter subdivision, you will find options and ideas in this book relevant to you. I will definitely be using the tips I found here and passing them on to others! Read more ›

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for inspiration AND how to January 31, 2011

By Spanishteach

Format:Hardcover

I am a gardener for just two seasons now. Made some basic mistakes and looking to re-envision my property. Borrowed the book from the library. It is perfect for my needs. It has great photos, some before and after shots that demonstrate the design principles the author describes. I don't think I have seen another landscaping book that explains design in ways that a layman can understand. I have perused many garden/landscaping books, read a handful from cover to cover, and this one is one I will purchase for reference.