Spear top aluminium automatic sliding gate with brick pillars

Landscape Design by Acre Landscape Architecture | Photos by Tim Turner
This is an example of a contemporary back garden in Melbourne.

Nick Smith Photography
Design ideas for an eclectic enclosed home in London with a game room and multi-coloured walls.

Water feature in a green wall
Inspiration for a modern back formal partial sun garden with a living wall and natural stone paving.

Dee McQuillan, Ivy & Bloom A large terrace was created flowing out from the main living area with a custom built gas fireplace being the central feature. The large concrete pavers were jointed with mondo grass to provide a permeable surface and will help to soften the appearance of the terrace once they mature. A formal hedge of alder trees will provide a leafy backdrop to the garden and the fireplace. The level changes on the site allowed for a separate raised seating area to be created above the main terrace using recycled holland pavers. Another informal seating area, using peastone, was created below the terrace and borders a small productive garden and utility area. The two seating areas benefit from the shade from the mature macadamia tree (existing). The masonry wall and fireplace will be painted to match the house and the wall will be softened by plantings of dichondra 'silver falls'. Planting bays were created within (and slightly below) the terrace with bullnose pavers to soften the edge and give it a floating effect. Two feature trees, Pyrus Calleryana "Bradford" (Ornamental pear) will provide shade in summer, stunning autumn foliage and blossoms in spring. These are underplanted with pittosporum "elfin" balls and white agapanthus. The driveway extension was removed to allow for a larger lawn space. A large planting bed was created for the existing mature macadamia tree on the lawn edge. Planting under both macadamia trees included oak leaf hydrangeas, snowball and annabelle hydrangeas, burgundy and silver heucheras and white agapanthus. A stepping stone path follows the contour of the house to provide access to the driveway and will largely disappear once the dietes grandiflora mature.

Marcus Harpur
Inspiration for a modern home in London.

Photo of a classic back garden in Manchester.

Hampton Conservatories Ltd

World-inspired garden in Brisbane.

Marcus Harpur
Photo of a modern home in London.

Small traditional courtyard formal partial sun garden in Adelaide with a living wall and concrete paving.

Philippa Richard
Inspiration for a small world-inspired shower room bathroom in London with a wall-mounted sink, an alcove shower, a one-piece toilet, beige tiles, ceramic tiles, beige walls and ceramic flooring.

To dwell and establish connections with a place is a basic human necessity often combined, amongst other things, with light and is performed in association with the elements that generate it, be they natural or artificial. And in the renovation of this purpose-built first floor flat in a quiet residential street in Kennington, the use of light in its varied forms is adopted to modulate the space and create a brand new dwelling, adapted to modern living standards. From the intentionally darkened entrance lobby at the lower ground floor – as seen in Mackintosh’s Hill House – one is led to a brighter upper level where the insertion of wide pivot doors creates a flexible open plan centred around an unfinished plaster box-like pod. Kitchen and living room are connected and use a stair balustrade that doubles as a bench seat; this allows the landing to become an extension of the kitchen/dining area - rather than being merely circulation space – with a new external view towards the landscaped terrace at the rear. The attic space is converted: a modernist black box, clad in natural slate tiles and with a wide sliding window, is inserted in the rear roof slope to accommodate a bedroom and a bathroom. A new relationship can eventually be established with all new and existing exterior openings, now visible from the former landing space: traditional timber sash windows are re-introduced to replace unsightly UPVC frames, and skylights are put in to direct one’s view outwards and upwards. photo: Gianluca Maver

Medium sized farmhouse sloped xeriscape full sun garden for spring in Turin with a retaining wall.

Maison contemporaine réalisée par l'architecte Emmanuel Thirad de Comme Quoi architecture. Projet extrêmement complexe en plein cœur de Paris.
Urban staircase in Paris.

A view down the side of the apartment to the raised potager at the end. Designed by HEDGE Garden Design & Nursery. Photo: NZ House & Garden.
Photo of a small contemporary side garden in Wellington with a vegetable patch.

Zu einer Dachgeschosswohnung gehört eine gut angelegte Dachterrasse. Foto: DIMaGB
Design ideas for an expansive classic home in Berlin.

Detail of the black stained plywood stair, tension wire balustrade and herringbone pattern carpet runner. Photograph: Kate Beilby
Inspiration for a small urban painted wood floating metal railing staircase in Auckland with painted wood risers.