Sunshine, shade and relaxation

Designed by Paul Gallagher from Mace Landscape Group

From the landscape designer:

• An overall landscape upgrade was required to elegantly integrate the existing family home with its surrounding outdoor environment. 
• The overall rationale was guided by delivering private, functional spaces that flow and interconnect seamlessly.  
• The design style was inspired by the owner’s taste and by the existing home’s interior styles – this led to the use of contemporary finishes and lush, leafy planting. 
• The leading emphasis for the new landscape design was to make use of the rear garden’s northerly aspect and allow for functional and comfortable outdoor spaces that seamlessly extend from the existing roomy interior. 

• The layout called for a designated outdoor dining space alongside a separate lounging space.
• An outdoor kitchen bench with an in-built barbecue was considered for the outdoor dining side.
• An outdoor gas fireplace next to lounging furniture was considered for the opposite side of the rear terrace.
• A shade structure in the form of a louvered-roof pergola provided the shade and weatherproofed cover to the outdoor dining side of the terrace.
• The perimeter framework of the pergola extended over the lounging side of the terrace to act as an open-roofed overhead frame – this area was deliberately kept open to the elements for a more open feel and to ensure an overall balance is reached along the extent of the terrace.

• Panels of vertical battens on the pergola allowed to visually define spaces and add the ancillary detailing to help with aesthetics and proportions along the terrace length.
• A decorative gravel (crushed limestone hoggin – a compactable ground cover) border skirts the lawn’s interface with the corten steel-retained garden beds.
• The attractive border detail also facilitates some planting forms (topiary balls) that visually ‘emerge’ towards the lawn space – softening the interface between spaces and allowing for additional intrigue.
• The existing subtropical-themed planting inspired a similar theme for the new supplementary, leafy planting forms.
• Some of the existing mature specimen palms remained and become incorporated into the new planting scheme.

Designed by: Paul Gallagher from Mace Landscape Group

Story by: Trendsideas