Who Should Use Our Service

• Individuals and families with a DIY spirit who want to save money and participate in the design process
• Homeowners with a passion for modern/contemporary design

Background and Mission:
Founder and owner Julie Miles has been supporting and guiding homeowners in the design of their gardens with personal, creative, and thoughtful service since 1997. In 2005, she launched MODERNBACKYARD online landscape architecture studio to offer those with a DIY spirit a substantial reduction in design fees without sacrificing design quality. Julie believes that exciting, contemporary gardens should not be hidden behind the gates and walls of exclusive homes of the very-wealthy.  By making smart landscape design affordable, she hopes to help people open their doors to the potential of the contemporary garden.
  

Julie is a licensed landscape architect who received her Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia in 1997. Her early career is defined by work at several award-winning firms: Allworth Nussbaum, The Berger Partnership, and Nelson Byrd Woltz. Her childhood and early adult years were spent in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states, she has traveled extensively within and beyond the U.S., and now makes her home with her husband and three children in Seattle.  

Making a difference:
MODERNBACKYARD donates 5% of profits to Seattle Tilth, an organization that "inspires and educates people to garden organically, conserve natural resources and support local food systems in order to cultivate a healthy urban environment and community", and to other non-profits dedicated to resource conservation and food/hunger issues.