Relaxation and contemplation

Designed and created by Emma Johnston, Goom Landscapes

From the landscape architect:

The owner was guided by the interior designer to engage a landscape architect. 

The design brief started with a meeting onsite with the architect, Interior designer, owner and Goom Landscapes to walk through all the unresolved areas, which was everything outside the house. 

Key Items of the Brief Include the following

• Easy access to the garage, house living spaces and utility area – this involved raising and levelling the ground to the side of the new home so the owner could walk straight out to the tiled entertainment deck from the kitchen/living spaces or from the rear master bedroom to the rear deck area
• A car turning space – as the road this home is on also has a school, the owner requested an on-property concrete turning space at the front of the home thereby sacrificing some outdoor living space for a great safety consideration
• To create a dog run – the entire side garden is fenced front and back, creating an ideal secure dog run for the owner's pet
• Privacy from the neighbours – as the next door's circulation stair overlooked the property, a judicious introduction of operable louvres provided privacy from above as well as shelter from the sun and rain; plus the vertical white plastered elements provide general privacy from the street, while aloowing sightlines so teh owner can still enjoy taking in the length of the property
• A tiled courtyard – introducing drainage was part of the wider brief and in the patio area this took the form of strip drains as the tiled area is a continuation of tiles indoor, creating seamless indoor-outdoor flow; the strip drains avoided going underground or creating a tripping hazard

• A focal point at the end of the hallway – as there is a line of sight right through the home from to back, we installed a granite statue in the rear garden as a focal point for the long sight corridor
• Grassed areas – part of the brief was for the outdoor spaces to be low maintenance and to this end, artificial grass was specified for the rear lawn area and the rear deck is also made from recycled material
• The garden was to be enjoyed from the inside – the owners wanted the garden to be enjoyed from indoors as much as from the outdoors, and with the the living spaces and master bedroom opening up to these areas all now at the same level, the owner can do just that
• A low maintenance garden with colour – enter a profusion of bulbs, chosen for their various blooming cycles so that the garden is awash with colour much of the year
• Shade – mature trees coupled with the operable roof louvres have this covered; the louvre element includes a curved front element, relating to another curve on the home; the louvre also has a hole in it at the front to let a mature grown up through it over time

It was imperative that the design and build of the landscape create maximum impact but with minimal maintenance, both of which are addressed by the points above. 

List of works completed by Goom Landscapes 

All block work; retaining walls; all concrete areas; composite decking; lawn edging and paving; planting; irrigation; metal features; artificial turf

Work completed by others 

Louvres  – Johnson and Couzins 

Designed by: Goom Landscapes

Story by: Trendsideas

Photography by: CMG Studios