Jeff Doubet shares Spanish landscape design ideas, photos and pro tips for shade structures and expanded patio terraces for luxurious living in Santa Barbara CA, and beyond. Peruse Spanish style wood arbors that were designed and built at a high-end home in the foothills.
Escape to this Spanish-style luxury home and learn from the design thoughts and special efforts we spent days and weeks figuring out. My initial design assignment was to develop ideas that would enhance the Spanish landscape. My client wanted a plan for high quality covered patio areas that would become outdoor rooms. I wanted my concepts to have the feel of a private hilltop resort in Spain.
AFTER Photos: The newly constructed pergola shade structures were built with rough sawn redwood. A new sandstone retaining wall was installed to anchor an expanded patio and view terrace.
When designing your own Spanish patio, there will be decisions you make that affect other aspects of the project.
Pro Designer Tips For Spanish-style Shade Structures
My first designer tip: Consider designing and building your Spanish shade structure as a self-standing unit. Attaching the pergola to the house would require less building materials however, our team decided against it. A) The attachment methods would require opening up the stucco and this would add to the cost. It could also open up a potential risk of waterproofing issues.
B) Attaching the heavy beam structure to the house framing would also pose other vulnerabilities. Should Santa Barbara experience a strong earthquake, both house and arbor could sustain damage as two dissimilar structures move in different ways. As you can see, the heavy support posts are installed away from the house.
Many luxury ocean view homes in Santa Barbara face South toward the Pacific. Although Santa Barbara has an idyllic Mediterranean climate, the 300+ days of sunny weather pose a first world problem and design dilemma. South facing homes typically need ways to shade the outdoor spaces. But how to do this without imposing on the coastal views?
From the living room, here is the view through a large wall of iron and glass accordion doors. They fold open for easy access to the newly constructed poolside shade structure. The Spanish-style patio furniture in teak looks great with the stained redwood pergola, above.
ABOVE: A close-up of the synthetic “wattle” style woven panels secured to the top of the arbor. The client found these and purchased them in France. The heavy redwood pergola structure with wisteria vines was not enough shade, and these panels solved his problem.
Spanish Landscape Design by Jeff Doubet
I sketched another simple landscape design for a Spanish-style pergola just outside the master bedroom and bath. The ideas within it include:
A) A shade arbor that would be built taller than the roof eaves. B) a design for sandstone landings at the patio doors. Also, furniture, pots + Spanish decor add details to the backyard space. C) An outdoor shower that ties into the existing interior plumbing.
AFTER Photo: This is how the Spanish-style pergola and expanded terrace patio turned out. I wanted to show you this right away so the construction photos that follow will make more sense.
Design Tips for Building High Quality Spanish Garden Structures
When designing your own Spanish landscape design, consider a high quality garden structure (pergola, covered patio, grapevine trellis, grape arbor, etc.). There are many ways to simplify the custom fabrication of them.
My rough concept sketch was turned into scaled drawings of the decorative aspects of the components. These were given to the project engineer, and she developed a full set of construction plans. Her CAD drawings were then shared with Hayward Lumber in Goleta, CA.
The Goleta division of Hayward Lumber works with a Northern California mill to pre-cut large components such as our Spanish-style pergola parts, as seen in the photos above.
If you are in the local Santa Barbara area, check out Hayward Lumber at 79 Federic Lopez Road, Goleta, CA 93117. Phone is 805-964-7711
Construction Photos: Building a Spanish-style Patio With Pergola
There are many ways to develop a Spanish style patio. Here are some early construction photos of how we expanded a limited space to create a view terrace. Also, developing a foundation for the shade pergola.
BEFORE Photo: The contractor crew measures and calculates the locations of the support posts while simultaneously digging trenches for the pergola structural footings.
Pro Designer Tip: If you do not want to see cross brace supports in your custom built pergola design, work with a structural engineer to design a box cage style foundation for it.
This method of pergola construction entails burying cross connected footings below ground. The cement footings (above) run the full length of the trellis, and also structurally connect in between each of the support posts, front to back.
Once these substantial cement footings were poured, the contractor team came back and began squaring up the exact locations of the heavy posts. This construction method is different from pouring individual pad footings for each arbor post.
When the wood trellis is completed, it becomes an interlocking “cage” structure. All info on this page is for reference only. Each project is different and requires an architect and structural engineer to specify the specific needs for your project parameters.
AFTER Photo: Several weeks later, the project is complete. Here you can see how the grid style foundation for the pergola is buried below the decomposed granite patio surface.
See an alternative Jeff Doubet design for a Spanish-style pergola. Another concept design given to a structural engineer to develop technical plans including individual pad footings for the heavy posts, and wood knee brace supports for the trellis.
Design Tips for Building Spanish-style Terraces in Santa Barbara, CA.
We improved the Spanish landscape design by expanding a patio terrace. Once the pergola size and footprint were determined, the construction of a sandstone retaining wall was planned.
Many know Santa Barbara as the American Riviera. I think it feels a bit like Mallorca, Spain as well.
AFTER Photo: This is how the completed project looks as viewed from a site trail, and through the olive grove to the master suite terrace.
ABOVE: I captured this shot in the Mallorcan countryside on a trip to Spain. The hand stacked rock walls and the old olive trees reminded me of our Spanish landscape design project back home.
Design Tips for Building Spanish-style Terraces in Santa Barbara, CA.
There are many different ways to develop Spanish-style terraces in Santa Barbara. White stucco walls are a classic way that often guarantees success.
Pro Designer Tip: Local Santa Barbara sandstone is a versatile natural material you can use to build out a Spanish garden landscape. ABOVE: The completed stone garden wall compliments the decomposed granite used as the patio surface finish.
BEFORE Photo: Once a deep trench was dug and a solid foundation for a retaining wall was poured, the local stone masons got to work. Building this rustic retaining wall was accomplished using local sandstone, rebar and cement to hold it all together.
AFTER Photo: A close up of the sandstone garden wall. Although it appears as a “dry stacked” wall, it is in fact cement mortared together as shown in the photo above.
Here a Spanish style lounge chair was rolled out for a luxurious day in the sun. Overlooking acres of olive trees, and the ocean beyond.
More Design Tips for Spanish landscape design
This hillside is planted out in Honeysuckle and thrives in the direct sun. It is a perfect compliment to the overall Spanish landscape design and the newly completed view terrace.
Large terra cotta pots are planted with several varieties of lavender. Large wisteria vines were planted at each end of the pergola and are already climbing the posts.
A close up of the Spanish design detailing of the heavy timber, as well as the wisteria vines growing up toward the woven shade panels.
The woven shade panels cast soft shadows on the outdoor living space. The teak chairs, ottoman and table arraignment add to the ambiance and peaceful place to enjoy sunrises and sunsets.
The newly built rustic sandstone garden wall, decomposed granite ground cover and luxury outdoor furniture all add to a resort-like experience in this Spanish landscape design.
A hand chiseled set of sandstone steps lead up to the newly created space.
The classic Spanish color on the home and the stain color on the arbor blend right into this rural Santa Barbara setting.
I really knew our team did a great job when the resident dog couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Well friend, this wraps another site visit episode in beautiful Santa Barbara, CA. I hope you enjoyed learning how to infuse more Santa Barbara Style into your own Spanish landscape design project. Scroll to explore more helpful links and resources for designing and building your own Spanish-style home and landscape.
