Renovation Update: Landscaping

Over the holidays, my other half smashed it out in the back yard pulling up seemingly never-ending cubic metres of concrete and tearing down the old pergola. The garden had a swimming pool that had been filled in by the previous owners which was dug up by the earthworks machinery earlier on in the renovation. But that still left us the Mr with the job of filling up skip after skip with concrete, paving, bricks, the old jacuzzi and pergola. I think he did a pretty good job!

Our primary goal for the back yard was to retain as many of the trees and plants as possible but clear out the mishmash of hardscaping to create a few defined, greener, open spaces. You can see from the site plan below that there is a lot going on! We were originally going to keep the pergola but it was blocking a lot of the northerly sunlight from the new living areas and needed a tonne of work so we opted instead to remove it and do a larger lawn area and relocate the outdoor entertaining area off the kitchen/family room.

Here are a few photos of what it looked like before.

 

BEFORE – concrete and old swimming pool (left)

BEFORE – paving

BEFORE – pergola and old fibro ‘extension’

BEFORE – jacuzzi and pergola

 

…and in demolition phase..

Now that the demolition is complete, you can see that the size of the garden is quite generous. We’ve brought back the professionals to breath some life into it by putting in some lawn, building up the perimeter plantings, creating a small courtyard off the kitchen/lounge room and paving a new outdoor entertaining space off the family room. We’re also going to establish a screen between the garden and carport and restore the barbeque area.

 

PROGRESS – topsoil poured for new lawn

PROGRESS – paving of new outdoor entertaining area

 

We are going to need some outdoor furniture for the paved entertaining area (above). It is approximately 4.5 x 4.5m and about a metre of that on the right side will need to be kept clear for access to the clothesline around the side of the house. What do you think would look better – a lounge setting or large table and chairs?