South west facing garden design dilemma
Hi, I’ve been looking at my garden over lockdown wondering how to improve it as I’ve never really given it the care and attention it really needs and realise I need to make quite a few drastic changes, I’m not green fingered but I do like plants maybe more shrubs rather than lots of flowers. The garden is L shaped and quite uneven but I cannot afford to level up and replace the grass, south west facing and I like the idea of 2 zones, 1 with paving and 1 with a play area and grass.. I would like to put paving/tiles up until the end of the annex with a step up into the grass and maybe behind the annex a little area for the bbq. At the back there is a trampoline and I’m hoping to get someone to dig out the concrete paths (we tried and failed!) so I can put a child-friendly base for a climbing frame. I’m thinking of painting the annex dark grey or black to modernise and add texture. Trying to let the ivy grow across the fences no longer works and I will need to fork out and replace the whole line along the right side on the garden. We will most probably try and do as much as we can ourselves to keep the budget down. Any suggestions would be so greatly appreciated to enjoy the garden more! Thanks in advance!
Comments (17)
heenamcha
3 years agoHi Rachel, thanks for your response and the pic - very distracting ;) I only saw your post this evening so will try and get some pics in the day tomorrow. But I redid the layout marking up the buildings so hopefully makes more sense and a couple more pics but not from the able you suggested just yet. The garden gets a lot of sun, a bit too much that I would have to think about a pergola as the back of the extension ie the dining table makes it difficult to sit at on a very sunny day. Would porcelain or something like composite decking be just as slippery?
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Comments (28)I'm going to get a bad name on here for being the voice of doom...........I just like to point out pitfalls so that people are informed. The right side of the house was built as a single storey. Therefore you cannot presume that when the footings were dug, that they were dug deep enough to accommodate two storeys in the future. In fact, it's unlikely, as that would have incurred more cost. Thus, you should presume that the garage floor would need to be dug up and the footings investigated. It is most likely that the whole end would need underpinning of some sort or another / new footings etc to accommodate another floor above. As that's costly, you may wish to amend the plans for the upstairs and the down stairs and consider something more like Jonathans excellent plans. This would be my starting point, along with , as always where the accessible drains are, which as luck would have it, appear to be both front and back, so that's good news. I know that we'd probably all do something different, and I agree with Jonathan about that end. I personally would have to have the big open plan rooms at the rear........better view or not, just simply for the amount of space to move about in unhindered. I like space! If I wanted to have somewhere hot and sunny to sit, i'd have a terrace at the front as well as the back, but I wouldn't sacrifice the frontage to achieve it. If you've got a lot of space then as one of the other ladies mentioned,,,,,,,,,,,,,push a terrace far back enough so that you catch the sun....See Morewindow advice on south facing extension...
Comments (23)Hi Tani Our garden is west facing & we have a window either side of the bifolds. We chose not to have roof openings to avoid extra heat from the sun. We are also considering adding an pergola/awning or something similar so that we can have the blinds open in summer without the hot sun streaming in. I am not a fan of hot weather (hence the integral blinds & air con) so avoid it as much as possible. I’m a bit confused what you mean about access to the traffic door...ours is by the kitchen end & is ideal. I’ve added a few pics so you can see our set up....See MoreHelp with kitchen colours/ design in north / north west facing room??!
Comments (2)Hi! We have a north facing kitchen/dining/living area with a patio facing west and a window on the east side. We went for a lighter colour (slipper satin) on the kitchen units as they are at the 'back' of the room (ie you enter the kitchen from the hallway, then the living/dining area is at the patio/garden end). It is a lovely soft off white and doesn't look cream because of the cooler light north facing rooms get. We opted for Drop Cloth (also F&B) on walls which a lot of people comment on as it looks nice and warm and not too dark nor too pale. Our accent colour on the island/kitchen peninsula is Railings as I have other dark blue accents in my furnishings. If you are going for Downpipe on the island, I would possibly go for Strong White on your units as Ammonite can look quite cold. I have used S White on both walls and woodwork in other areas of my home and love it. Farrow & Ball told me it suits north light well, as does Wimborne White - which is a lovely warm white. Have you tried a sample of it at all? As for the tiles, I much prefer the blanc ones, think they look more modern. I have attached pics of my kitchen and hallway (which has strong white). I also have an instagram page Dekko Bird you could see more pics on. Hope this helps a little! keira x...See MoreNorth East facing garden design
Comments (0)Hi. I’d love your advice and suggestions please. Just about to move from a South facing garden full of roses, lavender, thyme, rosemary etc. to a house with a small North East facing garden. There is a lot of great advice here on planting for lush shade gardens, but I am stumped for layout. The garden in very overlooked and a strange shape. My 4-year-old loves her swing so I’m not sure where to put it - maybe as part of a pagoda would take up less space? We’d love a wildlife pond too....See Moreheenamcha
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years agoSome more pics...the lining on the floor is where a climbing frame of some kind will be going. The ground is very uneven so trying to flatten it out there
rachelmidlands
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years agorachelmidlands
3 years agoOk so here’s initial idea base on your ideas. Not to scale or anything but a few points as follows:
If you take the lawn out where you create the patio it will leave a large surplus of soil so to counter affect this and reduce the need for skips/landfill and also because the patio will be quite large I’ve added in a square raised bed where you can fill with the soil thats been dug up. Even with dug up grass, if you stack it upside down and cover with topsoil it will eventually compost down so no need to import more soil...waste not, want not! Plus then you could add compost and lots of colourful bedding plants. 😊
Kept the kids play area in same location as I think it’s good to be able to keep an eye on them from the house.
Put decking behind the annex mainly because it would save digging out this area and as it would be on a raised platform of sorts, it shouldn’t create too many issues with drainage. It offers a contrast to the main patio and if you wanted a pergola here that would work well.
If you need shade near the patio how about a retractable awning, not particularly cheap mind. A simple parasol might be nice option if it’s just for hot summer days.
Only thing I’m not keen on is where the greenhouse and shed are situated. I feel it cuts the garden in half and makes that area unusable. Do you use the greenhouse at all? Might be useful if you wanted a veg patch up that corner?
I’ve got a few more ideas which I’ll sketch down but in the meantime here’s idea 1 and some raised bed ideas. (Apologies for dirty looking photo, it’s gone dark so under artificial light).
rachelmidlands
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years agorachelmidlands
3 years agoHi heenamcha. Me again. Had some time this morning and sketched a couple more ideas I think you’ll like. (Even coloured them in 😄.)
This one, I’m thinking for future years when your kids outgrow the trampoline and play equipment. So where the trampoline is it looks like there’s a concrete base so I was thinking that in future you could put a pretty shed with lots of lovely planting around it.
Main feature of this design though is the curved decked pathway. This will provide the step up in change of levels to the lawn area. Pop in a few prairie style ornamental grasses to soften the look and I think it will look stunning! Circular patio surrounded by easy maintenance plants. If you need any plant suggestions myself and others can help with those.
I drew in a pond to make a feature of the stone wall but it could be anything you wanted, just trying to put focus on the back of the garden. Hope you like it. Sketch and some inspiration pics below.
rachelmidlands
3 years agoLast one. Bit more formal but in a modern way. Deck and gravel area are raised up a little with a step for the change in levels. Would need a little more working out I think but definitely achievable. Small strip of planting area between trampoline and gravel area I was thinking could be trellis with some climbing plants such as clematis. Doesn’t have to be too high just enough to cover the view of ugly trampoline legs 🙂. Water feature could be something very modern looking but you could just use a planter with some topiary perhaps to keep costs down.
For the base of the play area you could use bark chips or I think you can get recycled rubber chippings, not sure how much these cost but bark chips are readily available.
Anyway hope this gives you something to think about. I think first thing to do is get the fence replaced then get a few quotes in for patio as this is likely to be the highest cost. It’s possible to diy paving but you do need to make sure that the drainage and levels are correct. A big job best left to experts I reckon but do ask landscapers if there are ways you can help to keep costs down.
Mary Ketchley
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years agorachelmidlands
3 years agoheenamcha
3 years ago
rachelmidlands