Beginning in June and spanning throughout summer, GuildQuality powered our first online poll series featuring best outdoor living areas submitted by Guildmembers and non-members alike. The series titled “GuildQuality’s Backyard Battle” highlighted three different groups of companies, with the winner of each group squaring-off in the ultimate Backyard Battle Championship Poll at the end of August.

Seattle Guildmember, Prestige Custom Builders was voted as our honorable Backyard Battle Champion. Their entry featured a sophisticated Asian-influenced garden paired with an outdoor entertainment pavilion fully equipped with hot tub, barbeque, fossil stone wrapped fireplace, skylight and infra-red heaters. Who wouldn’t want to spend their summer (or winter) there!

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Jeff Santerre, Co-owner and President of Prestige Custom Builders, about his Championship entry, and learned it was actually a wish list item included in a whole home renovation.

“The whole project, including the outdoor space was a fairly aggressive undertaking,” stated Santerre. “Our clients expressed their main desire to downsize from their large estate and find a property closer to the city.”

Prestige’s clients found an older home on a corner lot in the Canterbury neighborhood in Madison Park with room for everything, yet still meeting their criteria for a more simplified living space. They were ready to make their move!

Prestige Custom Builders went to work, stripping the entire home to its foundation. The project entailed a total rebuild from the first floor (deck up) and replacing what was once an ordinary swimming pool with a tranquil Japanese-inspired oasis. The Prestige team would then surround the corner lot and secure it with black bamboo aside transom topped cedar fencing to ensure privacy.

Among their entry photos and the photos displayed in this post, it’s evident the homeowner’s have an affinity for stonework. Prestige Custom Builders made it their priority to integrate this element throughout the project.

“The owner’s passion for stone leads to exemplary applications of granite, limestone, marble, Paperstone, Caesarstone throughout the home,” stated Santerre. “The affection for stone is especially displayed in the outdoor space with the helix-inspired, Basalt monolithic fountain. Water looks exquisite spiraling down.”

Plant materials were specifically hand selected for each spot of the backyard to give style, texture and color. Prestige Custom Builders enlisted the help of longtime Seattle landscape design partner, Stock & Hill Landscapes to ensure their client’s dream outdoor space came to fruition.

Stock & Hill had this to share about the outdoor project: “Truly a remarkable garden! We are very thankful to have had this opportunity to create such a wonderful space for this family. Enjoyment for years to come.”

The beauty of the outdoor space is aesthetically soothing, but what is equally as impressive is its functionality. The space includes a barbeque, fossil stone wrapped fireplace and infra-red heaters.

The homeowners also included a hot tub on their new home wish list and Prestige Custom Builders delivered with the Vanguard Hot Spring Spa from Olympic Hot Tub. Learn more in Aqua Magazine’s feature.

It’s notable to mention the Canterbury project as a whole earned a rating of 3 – Stars from the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties Built Green program. Built Green promotes quality construction using environmentally friendly methods and material. This project also received the Green Choice Award in the Remodeling Excellence Awards program through the Remodelers Council of MBA of King and Snohomish Counties.

The inside of the home is just as breathtaking as the outside. So much so, I’ll share photos and details in part two of this post.

Tags: Backyard Battle, Dream Backyard, newsletter, outdoor living, Prestige Custom Builders