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‘We built that’: Bainbridge landscaping company forged in hard work and happy accidents

Published 3:59 pm Sunday, June 14, 2026

The path to Dian Aversano’s gardens is both winding and beautiful

A beautiful, thriving garden is often the result of thoughtful design and hard work, with a welcome sprinkling of happy accidents, courtesy of Mother Nature. Here on Bainbridge Island, you could say the same of Dian Aversano’s path to founding Island Details Landscape and Maintenance.

After early forays into teaching, painting, and building and interior design, Dian launched a Seattle-based construction and property management company with her then-husband, while balancing the needs of a large family. It was the 1980s, and after she became the first woman west of the Mississippi to earn her commercial construction high rise superintendent’s certification from the Associated General Contractors of America, Dian oversaw the couple’s Puget Sound residential and commercial projects for more than a decade.

When the marriage and business broke up, she indulged a life-long dream and restarted her life on Bainbridge Island.

“I had always wanted to be on Bainbridge Island – I had wonderful summers here as a child and just love Bainbridge,” she recalls. “So with little money and no job, the first thing I did was rent a house next to the yacht club.”

Drawing on her design and building skills, Dian soon found work, but it didn’t speak to her the way she hoped.

Then her entrepreneurial instincts kicked in.

Island Details’ landscape professionals provide hardscaping, landscape design, maintenance and construction services for Bainbridge Island homeowners. Courtesy Island Details

Envisioning a future in nature 

Stopping by a service station for her morning coffee, Dian noticed the property was filled with a motley mix of 2 1/2-foot alders and horsetail. “I was really nervous, but I said, ‘Who does your landscaping?’

In that conversation, Island Details Landscape & Maintenance was born.

“I gathered a few tools so I could get started and worked my way around that whole property, day after day, and turned into Disneyland, 20 feet at a time.” That first project would later win an award for the renovation.

Bainbridge had few landscape companies at the time, so as word spread, her son Andy began helping after school and football practice; as business grew, his teammates soon joined the crew.

She remembers cobbling together a few used garden tools and a weedy, well-used garbage can  for her first Bainbridge home show display, expecting little interest in her services. When Woodward’s doors opened, “I looked up from my knitting and at least eight people were standing in line to talk to us!” she says, grateful for her football family and island neighbours who made it possible.

Island Details’ specialty projects include playgrounds, water features, fencing, lighting and irrigation. Courtesy Island Details

“It was the community that started this, and we’re so grateful. I love, love, love working with my customers – they get so excited over their flowers and plants and gardens.”

Today, 26 years later, Island Details is Bainbridge Island’s go-to expert for garden design, construction and maintenance.

Dian’s expert team of landscape professionals offers a welcome mix of hardscaping, including patios, pathways, stairs, rock walls and fire pits, and general landscaping – lawn renovation, garden design, planting, maintenance and construction.

Specialty projects include playgrounds, water features, fencing, lighting and irrigation, but no matter the project, it will pass Dian’s keen eye. “Details is in the name for a reason,” she says with a laugh, adding that the business is licensed, bonded and insured as general contractors for homeowners’ added peace of mind.

“With the team of partners I have, today, we can create just about everything,” she says. “And being outside is such a wonderful life. All over the island, you drive by and you say, ‘We built that!'”

To explore the possibilities for your outdoor space, visit islanddetails.net or call Island Details at 206-855-8047.