GARDEN - BEFORE & AFTER

GARDEN - BEFORE & AFTER

• October 18, 2018

The garden, the last part of our home renovations, went through some serious transformation earlier this year and we finally have an outdoor space that we absolutely cherish. We've had an amazing Summer in the garden from BBQs to tuff-tray messy play, to hanging out in the garden studio.

The garden really was quite a stark contrast to how it looks now compared to when we first got the keys to our home. The grass was just a huge patch of uneven weeds with a dangerously sharp rotary clothes line base jutting out from beneath the mud, the shed was warped with no windows, the decking completely weather ruined and was also warping and we had pretty wonky fences. It was frankly, quite depressing.

Our uncle helped us remove all the old decking and then tiled the area in whiter than white floor tiles. They were not actually the ones I had in mind (I wanted something cream or natural) but I now really like how it makes the garden look clean and bright. The shed got taken down and all the decking underneath got removed too and a concrete base was newly made so that we had a completely flat platform to later get the garden studio installed onto.

Moving onto the second stage, we picked our garden studio which took 2 months to make and once it was ready, the team came and assembled everything within half a day! We did have issues with them though as the front of the roof was ever so slightly lopsided and they were reluctant to fix it until I pressed and pressed for it.

And finally, I hired a gardener through a friend's recommendation and I can't praise him highly enough. He worked so hard painting all the fences, straightening them up, replacing a broken one and cutting off the concrete post tops off as they were all at different heights. And best of all, as he's a dad himself, he respected my need for cleanliness in the house whilst transporting materials through the it and cleaned up after himself after the end of each day.

Once the fences were done, he worked on ripping up the grass area, flattening the mud, laid down a new stone path to the garden studio and finally rolling down new rolls of grass. How luscious does that grass look! Everything was so neatly done and his rates were very reasonable, if you guys are in London/South East and need some garden work done, do look him up.

The inspiration for the path came from our amazing holiday to Vietnam where we stayed at the Four Seasons. Light grey matt rectangle tiles with small stones in between.

The fence were painted in Stone Matt which is a subtle ash-white, much like a super pale grey to create a little contrast to the very white tiles and the light grey path. The garden studio in a minty colour complimented the white and greys perfectly. 

For the main lounging tiled area, I wanted a dining set that would be super durable, lasting through all seasons without the need for much attention and the chairs had to be comfortable. Ideally, I would have liked something wood but with all the wet and rain we get in the UK, it was going to be too much work to look after it. So instead, I chose a 6 seater rattan dining set in black and cream.

This ended up being the colour scheme for the lounge area so we followed up with a cream and black mini shed for storage, a black barrel BBQ and some black LED string lights for those long Summer nights.

Then I received this absolutely beauty of a fireplace that felt like the ultimate final touch to our garden. The Burford woodburner style fireplace* uses bioethanol fuel which is smoke free, is safety tested and is suitable for indoors in well ventilated areas. I decided to take it outdoors since Summer evenings can still get quite chilly and I don't have a free space in the house for it either.

The heat did get very much lost in the cold garden air but it worked a little better if we kept the parasol over it. We could feel the heat more with the door open but this wasn't particularly safe with Isaac running around. It is definitely more suited to be used indoors such as a conservatory but equally, I think it looks rather splendid in the garden.

How cosy does this look after a stuffed belly of Korean BBQ in the garden!

I hope you enjoyed this garden before and after post, do take a tour of the rest of my home. 

Lounge

Dining room

Kitchen

Bathroom 1 (downstairs)

Home office

Bathroom 1 (upstairs)

Bedroom

Isaac's Nursery

*The fireplace was gifted. All opinions are my own and unbiased