By Jim McCausland, Sunset senior garden writer

This great old Seattle house is built into a slope where it has terrific views of Lake Washington and the Cascades, and where it once had equally terrific access problems. Landscape architect Barbara Stock of Stock and Hill (425 487-1664) tackled the problem in a couple of stages.

To make the entry more accessible (imagine!), she tore out a narrow zigzag staircase and replaced it with the inviting, broad stone staircase pictured above.

The next problem area was the side yard between house and lot line. Guests had to walk up a skinny concrete walkway to reach the stairs that led to the main entry porch on the second floor. Stock replaced the concrete with a Pennsylvania bluestone path, with irregular edges that break up the bowling-alley feel of the walk.

She placed lovely raised relief plaques and a narrow hanging fountain on the adjoining wall to give the approach a gallery feel and draw the eye to the side.

Stock also specified a wooden fence that edges the front lawn and elegantly gates the path to the street below.