Design in Collaboration
Pete Goodlet dishes the dirt on why it’s important to make sure your outside areas look and feel as fabulous as your indoors.
Woo-hoo, it’s time to build, renovate or extend. Excitement mounts as plans develop and your architect/home designer has bedazzled you with fabulous concepts for your new abode. It is vital at this early stage to bring in your garden designer, for a stunning home is left wanting if the garden is considered an afterthought.
A quick drive around Noosa will confirm that a well-designed garden will sing the praises of a beautifully-designed home. The garden will announce itself well before the first sweeping rooflines come into view. Bold plantings, a striking fence and even a letterbox, a touch above the ordinary, will indicate that architect and garden designer have worked hand-in-hand to create a thing of beauty and cohesion.
The first impression is the front path, with the chosen surface echoing or even matching the floor surface of the home’s entry. Planting is chosen to enhance the design, ensuring that plants will not grow and block a vista or some much-needed light. The garden must work from inside and outside the home.
While discussing plants, it’s important to consider which plants suit which architectural style. Cacti, succulents and cycads are a marriage made in heaven when used to enhance a modernist or even a brutalist design. Expertly placed in sweeps of colour or standing arrogantly, alone atop a gravel knoll, these plantings sing the praises of strong architecture. Alternately, lush plantings will set the scene for a holiday at home, a tropical paradise.
Don’t forget to light it up! A stunning façade can be completely lost at night if the exterior lighting is less than excellent. Landscape lighting fixtures now come in a range to suit any architectural style. Aim for an ambient glow across the paths and garden beds with strategically placed spotlights to make a feature or aspect of the façade pop. It’s good to be lit!
Entering the front door of an architecturally-designed home is an exciting prospect. Your anticipation has been heightened by the stunningly-landscaped entry and it is the job of the architect, interior designer and landscape designer to reward your anticipation with a touch of wow! It is time for a spark of joy, a hint of intrigue and a desperation to explore. If entering as a guest, do try to at least pretend that you’re just as excited about seeing them, as you are their gorgeous abode.
As you flow into the home, a well-designed garden will having you gasping to flow right on out again. As your host passes you a G&T – hopefully one that strictly follows my mother, Dame Patty’s, recipe: one very decent slug of gin, a hint of tonic and topped with gin to enhance the first sip – “one must taste the gin!”
Outside, the surface should meld perfectly so the transition from inside to out is seamless. Good lighting draws your eye to focal points and to trip hazards such as steps. Not spilling a drop of your G&T while careening landward, is an art best left to the well-practised.
Aim for a touch of mystery in your garden design. People will automatically gather in your alfresco area, but secret spots will draw the intrepid guest to explore and provide the perfect nook for a bit of stargazing.
The back and side yards are the perfect places for the designers to work in harmony. Alfresco roofing, swimming pools and gathering spaces will work far better when designed by a team. Adding an outdoor shower will be simple if the plumbing is in place at the time of construction or renovation; and exterior lighting should also be a part of the initial hardwiring layout, thus becoming an integral part of daily living.
Great design is all about teamwork. Act early and get Stuart and his team at Earth Creation Landscapes to ensure your architecturally-designed home not only sings but reaches those elusive, high notes with stunning surrounds.
A brilliant design collaboration that is perfectly executed is a symphony to savour.
