Todd Peddicord, owner of Todd Peddicord Designs (Instagram: @toddpeddicorddesigns), admits he heavily relies on Pinterest when bringing a client’s vision to life.
“Pinterest is where people can easily see and save images or design elements that catch their eye, even before meeting or working with me,” he says. “Before that initial consult, I ask each person to sit down and individually collect pictures that inspire them and capture the feel of what they are looking for. Then we review them all together.”
One of Peddicord’s recent projects was an extensive indoor and outdoor renovation on a primary residence in Northern California for Instagram’s original engineer and his wife. To say there was pressure to make the renovation visually appealing—and Instagrammable—is an understatement.
POCKET DESTINATIONS
The 22,000-square-foot outdoor space was part of the single-family home remodel that took more than three years to complete. It infuses sleek and modern design elements while preserving the home’s traditional charm.
“I always look at the existing elements of architecture and material that is inherent to the space for inspiration, and I am always excited by material selection,” Peddicord says. “In every project, there is a specific piece of art or a particular stone or light fixture that serves as a jumping off point for me. I can draw inspiration from a singular material and then everything begins to evolve from there.”
The Transitional design style of the house allowed Peddicord to explore mixing traditional rustic elements with refined materials. The blank slate of the clients’ backyard provided a challenge, but Peddicord aimed to achieve the clients’ vision while mixing and matching the right elements of modern design without losing the comfort of traditional and natural elements.
He explains: “My goal with backyards is to create various pocket destinations. Usually when you walk out into a backyard, you stand on the main back patio and look at the rest of the yard, but there’s nothing to draw you into the space. For this project, the homeowners envisioned the space as being an area of relaxation and connection for them and maybe a few other couples. That told me a lot about what we needed to do in terms of making a few of these destination areas, including a covered patio for intimate alfresco dining, a beautiful lounge pool, a firepit for them to sit and have a glass of wine, and an outdoor kitchen with a view of the gorgeous hillside and West Coast sunset. I also incorporated a Zen deck as a private area just outside the home office for stepping away from the computer to get some fresh air.”
Every “pocket destination” has its own unique purpose and function, yet they are all connected to each other through the design.
OUTDOOR KITCHEN GOALS
Although the home’s interior is more transitional, the backyard space veers a little more modern at the couple’s request. In Peddicord’s experience, outdoor spaces generally use a cultured-stone look and he wanted the same for his clients while acknowledging the couple’s preference for a more modern style. To achieve a modern look, Peddicord used manufactured ledgestone to create a sculptural kitchen space.
“Everything in the backyard is rectangular, including the pool design and the stepping stones, so ledgestone was an ideal choice to fit seamlessly in with the rest of the design,” Peddicord says. “I chose Carbon, which is the darkest palette within the profile, because it served as a nice contrast to the lighter concrete finishes throughout the backyard. It also related back to the pebbles in between the pavers, which are a similar color. I love that duality of a stone that has a natural quality but is also created to be an architectural element.”
Peddicord believes in simple elegance and not mixing a bunch of different materials and accessories. He likes to use the fewest number of elements to get the most impact and believes the ledgestone does that for this backyard.
“The outdoor kitchen is positioned adjacent to an elegantly finished sitting area, and I knew I needed that sense of sophistication to carry over into the styling of the kitchen, as well,” he recalls.
LOUNGING AND ENTERTAINING SPACES
The covered outdoor dining area and lounge represented an opportunity to blend clean and sleek edges with natural elements. For example, the outdoor fireplace features stacked stone that climbs to ceiling height. The dark colorway, known as Black River, complements the stone on the outdoor kitchen while embracing a more rustic style to tie into the artistic textural embellishments and organic wood patina of the ceiling and floor.
The homeowners now have their coveted pocket destinations for relaxing and entertaining, including a swimming pool with free-floating lounge chairs, bar seating adjacent to the swimming pool, a covered outdoor dining area and a conversation space anchored by a modern open fire bowl.
“This was my second backyard design ever, and the homeowners were real champions and supported me through every step of the process,” Peddicord notes. “I received a call from them mid-pandemic and they just thanked me and told me how much they appreciated what I did to create this space. They ended up appreciating everything we had built into the design, like the Zen deck, so much more once they were truly spending every waking moment at home.”
Per Oscar Wilde, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and the homeowners have begun noticing their friends have implemented some aspects of the design into their own backyards. “This is one of the most wonderful compliments to a designer,” Peddicord says. “Modern design tends to be synonymous with something sterile or impersonal, but this was a modern design that was very comfortable. I wanted to soften that idea by adding a firepit and daybed and having fine fabrics and high-end materials to use on the exterior, and it was wonderful to see both the homeowners and their circle of friends really respond to those choices.”
PHOTOS: Glenn Rose Photography
Retrofit Team
OUTDOOR DESIGNER: Todd Peddicord Designs
Materials
OUTDOOR KITCHEN LEDGESTONE: Pro-Fit Modera Ledgestone in Carbon from Cultured Stone
FIREPLACE STACKED STONE: Black River Stacked Stone from Eldorado Stone