Formal Roots, Relaxed Spirit
Classic materials and soft curves elevate this Ward Parkway backyard.
ina and Marc Hollabaugh’s stately home off Ward Parkway is every bit as impressive as the neighborhood it resides in—big, beautiful, and grand. But after years of living there, the couple realized their exterior spaces needed a refresh to better suit their lifestyle as empty nesters who love to host friends and family, especially their grandchildren.
Their pool was first on the list for repair—new plumbing and filters were essential, a service easily handled by Swim Things. A second opportunity emerged with the building of a new carriage house after they had converted the original garage into a family room years ago. With these upgrades in mind, the Hollabaughs called on longtime garden designer Kristopher Dabner of The Greensman to reimagine the backyard with a sense of cohesion and timelessness.
“The key was to make everything look appropriate for the house,” Dabner says. “They love their home and wanted to ensure that anything new would feel like it had always been there.”
The premise was simple, especially in this older home, where formality rules: it needs to look appropriate with the style of the house. Brick is the obvious starting point. Dabner likes to stick with the existing palette—usually one or two materials only—and use patterns to denote special spaces and wayfinding.
Paving brick, laid in an elegant herringbone pattern, forms the main material palette, while Ashlar bluestone marks transitions with circular motifs that naturally guide movement through the space. Drawing inspiration from the home’s raised stone foundation, Dabner also incorporated limestone touches on features like the grill island and fire pit zone.
Right off the kitchen and family room, the outdoor grill island overlooks the refreshed pool, its stone base a near-perfect match to the home’s exterior. Nearby, a wood-burning fire pit with a gas starter, semi-encircled by a stone bench built by Meyer Masonry, provides a cozy gathering spot. Custom cushions make the seating both stylish and comfortable.
Soft curves and circles balance the formality of the architecture, giving the landscape a relaxed, welcoming rhythm. Visitors will encounter one at each directional turning point, such as at the corner of the house.
Traditional boxwoods frame the planting beds—a suitable choice for the era of the house and are often employed to add structure and define high-maintenance planting beds.
“I really like boxwoods,” Dabner notes. “They give a nice framework for certain areas.”
Dabner filled these beds with hydrangeas and other perennials for seasonal color and bouquet making. Along the back property line, hornbeams planted four years ago now provide privacy and lush greenery.
At night, landscape lighting highlights key features like a Hinoki cypress and a Lyman Whitaker wind sculpture, while café lights cast a warm glow over the entire yard.
“It’s super user-friendly, entertainment-friendly, family-friendly,” Dabner says.
For the courtyard’s brick pavers, he met with mason Adi Shehu to hand-select a palette that matched the home’s front stoop and walkways and laid the herringbone pattern with exacting precision down the centerline.
Behind the scenes, Hurst Construction executed the vision flawlessly, incorporating steel supports that lend the pavilion a sense of permanence. “His infrastructure was so beautiful I hated to cover it up,” Wendlandt says.
That sturdiness was tested last spring when tornadoes swept through nearby Prairie Village.
“We didn’t get wet,” Dan says. “Even with 50- to 75-mile-per-hour winds, we sat out here the whole time—it was amazing.”
Inside the pavilion, ML Designs curated the durable aesthetic with elegant woven outdoor seating, a large textured rug, and a dramatic two-tier woven chandelier that crowns the cupola.
Color cues echo the home’s interiors: while the house leans blue and white, the pavilion shifts to black, brown, gray, and green—tones that blend into the landscape.
“The whole back of the house is windows,” Lindstrom says. “It’s a short distance from inside to out—and it feels completely cohesive.”
With its custom copper gutters, stone counters from Sturgis Materials, and surrounding landscape by Earth Expressions, the pavilion embodies outdoor living at its most graceful. With the addition of Bromic heaters, fans, and speakers, the usable season extends comfortably.
“We cook dinner out here almost every night— more if the weather holds,” Dan says. “Other than January and February, we use it year-round.”
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