Their bench is the top of a low retaining wall

Sunset, July, 1988

Their bench is the top of a low retaining wall An extra-wide top turns 18-inch-high retaining and planter walls into benches in this La Jolla, California, back garden. Space in the patio (16 feet across at its widest) is tight; the bench-walls save room outdoor furniture would take up.

Stuccoed to match the house, the walls have two courses of 8-inch-high concrete blocks. Capping the blocks, and held in place with countersunk and plugged 1/2-inch bolts, redwood 2-by-12s have softened edges; white enamel seals the wood.

The wall jogs in and out along one end of the 44-foot-long patio. A planter on the patio's back edge uses similar details. Design: Fry Stone Associates for Elizabeth and John Brooks.