Indoor Out family garden
Location:
Site:
Brief:
To create a family garden that can be used all year round.
Challenges:
New extension with challenging threshold detail with sliding glass doors, direct relation to interior styling with Herringbone floor. Requirement to use existing fencing due to challenging neighbours. To include many elements with parents and 2 teenage boys and the varying different preferences.
Design Response:
Classic Harrington Porter styling, plus application of in depth project knowledge – to designa garden with strong “inside out” feel, working with consideration of interior designer design preferences. We created an simple but stylish outdoor seating and kitchen area with textured planting for a ‘low maintenance’ outdoor room.
Recently finished building project, (in fact so recently finished that we skilfully tiptoed around other trades for the first 2 weeks of the job)! Garden was trashed and space was tight.
However the high level of finish of the house immediately gave input into the type of garden required. The requirements from the family were a seating area (hotly debated as to whether it should be covered and with or without heating), a Green Egg BBQ station was deemed essential, and level of planting contested with a green fingered woman of the house up against 3 decidedly ‘non-green fingered’ rugby loving men.
Ensuring that floor detailing was 100% level with the internal floor threshold with no step, means exactly that with Harrington Porter. (Not always the case – we see many “level” thresholds ending up as a trip hazard with doorsills, drainage detail, frames poorly thought out by builders). We took the style of interior flooring, outside with large, formatted Porcelain tiles and picked these up elsewhere at the end of the garden for the seating area (the spot that caught the late sun).
It was decided that an integrated firepit wasn’t required with a preference for added flexibility offered by off the shelf furniture and fire pit. This typically helps with cost and was a welcome relief for our client who nerves had become a bit frayed during the house build (also something we find rather a lot!)
A floating bench with underplanting served as one side of a corner seating set up, the other created with moveable furniture. Which we’ve been reliably informed has since been the location for many an enjoyable beer fuelled evening.
The feature fencing was built using natural cedar, combining with the mature existing Wisteria that was a ‘must keep’. We felt the two worked well together to give this modern garden a natural Victorian and authentic feel.
Artificial grass, a juxtaposition to these natural materials, was used and whilst we would always prefer to use real grass, sometimes for a small garden like this with heavy foot traffic from teenagers, it was the only choice to add this element of green.
Also included was the Green Egg station, a must for many urban gardens over the last 2 years. Bespoke granite worktop and upstand with work shelf and hidden cupboard, worked as hard landscaping balance to the seating area on the opposite side. The large Green Egg comes at a beefy 2ft deep and if this is incorporated within a slab, a kitchen area can be overbearing in such a small garden, whereas if cut in as a half moon, it enables full use of the egg, yet minimises impact in the garden. Experience counts!
Only the finessing and fine tuning of this tightly designed space remained. Expertly achieved by our in house design team’s experience and flair, using cottage style planting to compliment the aged Wisteria combining with carefully curated range of Farrow and Ball soft greys and their signature dark blue colour Railings.
Final features included automated irrigation, remote control lighting and Solus firepit.
All that was left, was to crack open a beer, put a joint of lamb on the Green egg to smoke. And to sit back and enjoy, what our clients confirm, is a fantastic and now essential addition to their family home.
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