Pacific Outdoor Living Designer
Samantha Hung — Landscape Designer
Courtyards, pools and planting-led gardens for Southern California homes, from contemporary to classic.
About Samantha
Landscape Designer at Pacific Outdoor Living
Samantha designs outdoor spaces for Southern California homes, working across full backyard renovations, courtyards and the planting-led front gardens that set the tone before anyone reaches the door.
Her portfolio moves between registers rather than repeating one look. There are contemporary schemes built around clean paving and water, an estate garden organised around roses, a Spanish-style property where the landscape answers the architecture, and front yards carried by succulents and woodland planting instead of lawn.
Every project runs through the same Pacific Outdoor Living design-build process, so the plan, the materials and the crew installing them stay in one hand from the first site visit through construction.
- Courtyards and garden rooms
- Complete backyard renovations
- Estate gardens
- Front-yard and planting design
- Pools and outdoor entertaining
Selected work
7 projects designed by Samantha
Every project below was designed by Samantha and built by Pacific Outdoor Living. Open any one for the plans, the before photos and how it came together.
-
Rose Garden Estate A Spanish Colonial estate kept its pool, spa and court. Everything between them became a rose garden, with a new paver driveway, re-decked terraces and a stucco fireplace.
View Project
-
Spanish Estate A Spanish-style estate yard pulled together around its pool, fire-pit lounge and sport court, with the mature planting doing the screening.
View Project
-
Poolside Paradise A plain pool deck turned into a year-round entertaining wing with a covered pavilion, an outdoor kitchen and fireplace, and a natural-stone spa spilling into the pool.
View Project
-
Courtyard Sanctuary An open, exposed yard drawn in to a private courtyard of decomposed-granite paths, built-in benches, a quiet fountain and layered flower beds.
View Project
-
Calm & Contemporary A sprawling property calmed into zones: curved pool deck, pergola lounge, sport-court edges and a paver driveway that ties the whole approach together.
View Project
-
Woodland Escape A wooded frontage rebuilt around a modern paver driveway, entry steps and low landscape lighting that does the work after dark.
View Project
-
Succulent Serenity A thirsty front lawn replaced with sculptural succulents, river-rock detailing and a geometric concrete drive. Low water, plenty of character.
View Project
Featured project
Rose Garden Estate
A Spanish Colonial estate kept its pool, spa and court. Everything between them became a rose garden, with a new paver driveway, re-decked terraces and a stucco fireplace.
- The site
- The estate was already largely built. A concrete driveway curved in from the street. The pool and spa sat behind the house with their equipment beside them, and brick paving, lawns, a storage building and a play house filled the ground between. We took spot elevations across the parcel and drew the four mature trees on the eastern boundary with their canopies plotted one by one, because the shade and the root zones decided what could go underneath them.
- Samantha’s approach
- What worked stayed. The pool, spa, deck and court are where they were. Everything around them came out. We relaid the driveway in stone pavers, re-decked the pool terrace, built a stucco fireplace at the water, and gave the ground between the buildings over to garden: decomposed granite and flagstone paths, lava rock and mulch beds, a rose trellis, raised planter boxes and a picket fence.
- What was built
- The planting is the substance of this one: 49 carpet roses, 49 white icebergs, 14 pink tree roses and nine iceberg tree roses, Cecile Brunner climbers both staked and trained as espalier, 109 Japanese boxwood, a Carolina cherry hedge, and citrus and Little Gem magnolias behind them. The flagstone paths are set with four-to-six-inch joints planted with kurapia and shade-tolerant groundcover. Lighting runs through the whole garden, so the paths, the wall fountain and the planting all still work after dark.
What homeowners say
Reviews from Pacific Outdoor Living clients
-
…The projects seemed so overwhelming and daunting, but when we found POL, we knew it would be worth the extra cost for a reliable company that could take care of the necessary underground problems while also making it beautiful on the surface. From the beginning, Samantha, our designer, did an incredible job of taking our words and inspiration photos to create a design exactly in line with what we wanted. Even though the full project wasn’t in our budget at the time, we then worked together to decide on phases and prioritize what needed to get done immediately and what we could do later.
Kelly McCart Google review · 3 years ago -
…So many 'moving pieces' to the project (design, demolition, irrigation, hardscape, landscaping, etc.) left me feeling 'stuck'. I hit it off immediately with my designer, Samantha. She explained the entire process and presented me with design solutions perfect for my situation. I felt very confident putting my trust in POL. POL graded my backyard to provide more valuable space for entertaining and a more cohesive look that 'flows' beautifully. The attention to detail was stunning.
Pamela Higgins Google review · 2 years ago -
…We recently renovated our backyard with an in-ground pool and outdoor space. The job took no more than two and a half months to complete. Samantha the designer, worked with us to sketch exactly what we wanted and provided us with a 3D model of how our backyard would look like. It came out exactly what was sketched. Trent, the owner of Pacific Outdoor Living, was very involved in the project himself. He showed up many times throughout our construction just to make sure that everything was running as planned.
Macky Goldscher Google review · a year ago -
…We removed everything, including the old pool, and built a brand-new pool, artificial grass, fire pit area, and a basketball court for my husband (which he loves). The space turned out even better than we imagined. Huge shoutout to Samantha, our designer, for totally getting our style. And here’s the kicker: the project finished ahead of schedule. If you want it done right, and want it done beautifully, go with them.
Janice Chang Google review · a year ago -
…, in addition to plans being developed by a Designer. From the first day that we met with Samantha Hung, we knew we were in very capable hands to help us with the daunting responsibility of coming up with a design. We knew we had options: We just had no idea of where to even begin. Samantha provided us with a vision of what our property could look like. We are thrilled that we ended up with the backyard that we envisioned for ourselves.
Tony Valle Google review · 11 months ago -
They did a great job with our pool deck and pool remodel. Everything was planned in detail before even beginning, and proceeded exactly as expected. Samantha was a great designer to work with, and Scott made sure all needs were met during construction. The company as a whole is just extremely professional and dependable.
Tom Happ Google review · a week ago
How a project runs
Designed and built by one team.
- 01
Understand
We walk the property, listen to how you want to use it, and talk honestly about budget.
- 02
Design
A plan drawn for your site: grade, drainage, access and planting resolved together.
- 03
Refine and visualize
Renderings and revisions until the drawing matches what you pictured.
- 04
Build
One team installs it, so the plan and the crew never drift apart.
Have a property Samantha should see?
Tell us about the property, how you want to use it and the timeline you have in mind. We will walk it with you and talk through what is realistic before anyone draws a thing.