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A Facelift for a Seventies House & Garden
Anna Gresham, APLD
Introduction
My clients, Simon and Kate, with their three young children, live in New Zealand's capital city, Wellington. Their large, well-built 70's house showed its age and was in desperate need of updating, both inside and out. The gardens, largely nondescript and overgrown, included a few attractive, well-established shrubs and trees. An architect was hired to facelift the house and I to facelift the garden.
The Design Brief
The 500 square meter property was essentially in two levels: access to the lower area from the basement playroom and access to the upper level from the family room. There were a number of requirements. A keen DIYer, Simon planned to undertake the installation himself, and needed a design within his capabilities. They both liked the look of decking and it was an obvious choice for the sloping terrain as well. Entertaining space for the adults was needed, as well as play space for children. Easy-care, mainly evergreen planting with some color was also specified, as well as a child-safe water feature.
The Problems
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From the family room, access to the proposed entertaining area would require three steps up, leading to an upward sloping, long narrow strip of land between the house and boundary fence. Working with the slope was mandatory, as the clients wanted no excavation. The narrowness of the space was further complicated by the lack of privacy since the boundary fence consisted of an open trellis screen which neither the neighbors nor the clients wanted to replace.
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The lower area posed less of a problem. Flat and fenced, with several mature trees and shrubs, this area was private and not totally unattractive. However, the access from the playroom, up a short but steep flight of concrete steps, was both uninspiring and unsafe. The front of the property was overgrown and in need of replanting only. |
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The Solutions
We cleared the frontage of all plants, refreshed the soil, and then replanted in a simple style in keeping with the modernized exterior of the house. Camellia, Agapanthus and Hebe play a key role here, offering easy-care, seasonal color and year-round greenness. On the lower level a new deck and steps offer a gradual and safe transition from playroom to play lawn. The existing lawn is redefined with a simulated stone mowing edge and the retained mature planting supplemented with additional shrubs and under-story planting including Liriope, Bergenia, Clivia, ferns and Azaleas.
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The upper level was where the bulk of the makeover was directed. The existing slope has been tamed with a series of stepped decks-effective in defining the space itself by creating different zones and by visually widening it. |
| We added privacy to the area just outside the family room with a slatted 'roof' and a variety of ferns. In time vines will clad the trellis screen creating further privacy. |  |
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In keeping with the wood theme a pool was formed from heavy timber beams and lined with a tough flexible liner. To ensure child safety the pool is all but filled with river stones. The addition of a simple fountain and pair of submerged concrete frogs, courtesy of the children, completes the water feature. Poolside plantings include Clivia, and Camellia. |
| The largest and uppermost deck is surrounded by built-in seating and accommodates the dining furniture. Tall timber fences and generous plantings of Camellia sasanqua "Setsgekka" provide privacy from the street. Since the blue trimmed house next door retains some visual influence over the garden, we used the same color for the furniture. |  |
With the children playing safely in their own separate part of the yard, Simon and Kate can enjoy a relaxing drink or an elegant meal outdoors with their friends.
Anna Gresham, APLD is a landscape designer and educator based near Wellington in New Zealand. She works in the Kapiti Coast area and specializes in creating outdoor living environments that are tranquil, easy-care and functional. Anna also has her own correspondence school teaching professional landscape design worldwide. You can learn more about Anna and her school at http://www.landscape-designer.co.nz.
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