Moving on Up...To the South Side

After months of working out of my garage, Austin Outdoor Studio, LLC is moving to its very own location. We are extremely excited about this move and what it means for the business. It means the ability to provide even better service and produce even more products for our customers.

Come and check us out!

From AOS - New Shop Location

From AOS - New Shop Location

4505 Terry O Lane
Suite A106
Austin, TX 78745
512-577-0988

Planting Texas Native Plants

Many of my customers ask me about what type of plants to put in their planters. I always suggest plants that are native to the area. These plants require less water, thrive in our climate, and are available at all the local nurseries. I would stay away from the big box stores, and go to your local nursery in your neighborhood. You'll get higher quality plants, better customer service and you'll feel a sense of pride by supporting a local business.


The Grow Green Guide
Another great resource is available directly from the City of Austin website.
Grow Green Website


Native Plants = GOOD
This page is full of great resources. They list out all the native plants by type of plant, ie Trees, Shrubs, groundcover, etc.
Plant Guide

Invasive Plants = BAD
There is also plenty of documentation for plants to stay away from.
Invasive Guide

The city also prints all the pdf's in a full color document, The Grow Green Guide.

Happy Planting!!

Just some more pictures

Just thought I'd throw in some pics of some of the jobs I have been working on lately in addition to all the steel planters I am building.













I had to include some pictures my son, Parker.

Free Press is Good Press...

You got to love free press. If you saw yesterdays(7/23/08) Austin American Stateman's Life and Styles section you might have seen the write up on Sanctuary, and front and center is a picture of my 48" Parker Bench It's too bad I didn't get a plug, but hey pictures speak louder than words. Unfortunately the bench is no longer at Sanctuary, but has been brought back home to IF+D.

New Ipe Planter at Sanctuary Home Bath Garden!

Just thought I'd post a quick entry about a new planter I made for my friend Hana to go into her new store Sanctuary, in Westlake. She just opened last week and will be carring products of mine soon. So pop in and check out her new home accessories store. She has done a great job putting a wonderful collection together. The store is located next to Breed and Company just off of Bee Caves in Westlake.
Enjoy!

Some Pics of our Custom Work

I thought I'd show some examples of the custom work I have been doing over the last month or so. The first project is a steel and Ipe door. This is a tremendous home which lacked a formal entrance from the street. The owners wanted something that would give them privacy, continue the theme of the house, but bring some warm tones to the steel and cinder block construction. After a couple renderings and material samples we came up with this design that really finished off the house.




Customer Testimonial
"We just wanted to thank you again for all of your design creativity, superb craftsmanship and professionalism with the creation of our new Ipe/steel exterior door!

To say we are thrilled with the results is an understatement: we came to you with a very vague concept and you returned a masterpiece. We couldn't have envisioned a more perfect complement to our existing entryway. The door is the focal-point of the front exterior and we couldn't be HAPPIER!

Here's to nothing but success with all of your future Outdoor Design endeavors!

We look forward to working with you again soon,
Kim & Eric"

The next project was a result of a terrible situation. A drunk driver veered off the road and ran into their tree on the corner of this house. The driver ended up ok, but destroyed the railroad ties and permanently damaged the tree. Our major design constrain with this project was the 18" tall square of soil and roots left behind. The soil could not be excavated because of the root system. The main goal was to make the raised square in their yard look like it wasn't a raised sqaure in their yard. To do this, I brought in several levels to draw the eye down and created planters at two of the corners to break up the space. The project turned out great and transformed the once mundane corner into a showpiece.

Ipe, What Is It?

Ipe (EE-pay), is a beautiful Brazillain hardwood that is an excellent choice for outdoor use because of its unique properties. Some of its highlights as follows:


1) Hardness, almost 3 times as hard as Oak


2) Decay Resistant, Rated by the US Forest Products Lab for 25 years plus.


3) Fire Resistant, has a rating of Class A by the NFPA or class 1 by the UBC




I chose this wood for it's beauty, durability and clean consistant grain. This wood is also a great product to be used decks, fencing or planters. This material does cost more than your typical cedar, but its beauty and longevity more than make up for the difference. If you are interested in learning more about this wood and its uses please contact us or one of our local suppliers here in the Austin area. It is available at both Austin Wholesale Decking and Everwood Decking