10/19/2026
Meet the Ashley Hall Retreat.
There are some projects where everything just comes together, and this was definitely one of them.
A backyard built around spending more time outside — with plenty of room to cook, hang out, entertain and slow things down a little.
Over the next few posts, we’re going to break this one down and show you some of the details that made it one of our favorite outdoor projects.
Welcome to the Ashley Hall Retreat.
The goal wasn’t to build a porch that looked good in photos. It was to build one people would actually use.
Morning coffee. Dinner outside. Friends over on a Saturday. Somewhere to get out of the sun without having to head back inside.
That’s when a porch really starts adding something to a home.
Around Charleston, we get too many good months outside not to take advantage of them.
The kitchen doesn’t always have to be inside.
One of our favorite things about a well-planned backyard is being able to cook without separating yourself from everybody else.
Grill going, drinks nearby and everyone hanging out in the same space.
That was a big part of the Ashley Hall Retreat — creating a backyard that works just as well for a random Tuesday night as it does with a house full of people on Saturday.
We’d probably be cooking outside a lot more often if this was ours.
The big picture gets your attention. The little stuff is what we obsess over.
It’s easy to look at a finished backyard and see the porch, kitchen and entertaining space.
We tend to notice the other stuff.
How everything lines up. How materials meet. How a detail finishes. How one part of the project transitions into the next.
Most people may never consciously notice those things — and that’s usually a sign we did them right.
Consider this our argument for staying home this weekend.
Something on the grill, game on, a f
