Matt has had a slow week on site due to the weather, as most of the jobs he needs to complete on the garden design and build in Bethnal Green , such as painting walls and sheds, require a dry day. He has fixed some lighting and completed the planting, however.

Katrina has been working on the postal garden design for our clients in Tadworth Surrey. The client has a relatively new house and wanted a curvy garden design to self-build over the coming year. Click on the link to read the details of this landscape design in Surrey.

Katrina has run into a few complications for our garden design in Romania, as some of the measurements supplied by the client don’t seem to make sense. Katrina has emailed the client a layout asking them to complete the dimensions. Once she has these dimensions hopefully it will be plain sailing.

Updates continue on both our web-site and our garden design portfolio. The job is a long and laborious one and attention to detail takes it toll on concentration. We have several new projects to add to both our web-site and portfolio as well as updating all our magazine articles. If anyone has any comments regarding our web-site it would be great to have some feedback.

Matt has been asked to produce a quote to replace some garden decking and fencing in Holloway, North London.

We have also been contacted by a multi-media communications company based in Shoreditch, East London, to provide a quote for a temporary roof garden for an event they are holding in July. They require a long deck and pergola built over a shallow bespoke water feature. The roof terrace is on a 5 storey building with limited access, and they would require the project to be completed in 5 days prior to the event, so it would be an interesting and challenging project.

Katrina was contacted with regard to a small garden design in West Hampstead. The client has a small son and wishes to create a safe outdoor environment for him to play. They would like to remove the existing paving and replace it with decking and artificial lawn. He is in discussion with his wife as to whether they require a design lead approach, adding more into the space, or whether they would like to follow a more practical approach and scale down their plans for the garden to allow funds for the interior renovation of their new property.

Katrina is taking bookings for her garden design courses. The next batch of courses will take place in the Spring and are beneficial for both trained garden designers and students alike.

The guys at popular garden design blog, Studio ‘g’, have run another fantastic feature on Earth Designs this month. Click here to read the post.

This postal garden design has just been completed for a client in Tadworth, Surry. The property was built in 1988 and has a garden that is already landscaped but is looking tired and outdated. The couple have a new baby, so are looking for a design that is family friendly. There are several mature trees and an acer palmatum to be retained in the new design. The clients would like a clean simple look, and have an affinity with Japanese gardens. There are a few level changes in the garden addressed in the re-design. The client requires a low maintenance garden suitable for entertaining and relaxations, including a paved area with space for BBQ and a children’s play area which can easily be seen from house. The garden also needs refencing. They expressed a preference for a curved garden design. This will be a self-build project and the client has a low budget.

We sent the client three concept sketches from which they could choose their preferred layout:

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 1

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 2

Surrey Postal Garden Design concept sketch 3

They opted for scamp number 3, and requested minor changes, such taking the squaring off the patio by the house back to the house and enlarging the children’s play lawn. The final design has a curved patio adjoining the house, with a flush planting bed to the left. An archway and step up lead to an elliptical lawn to house children’s play equipment, with a flush bed on the right. Another arch leads to a second lawn which is level with the first lawn. An arced pathway sweeps down the left hand side of the garden, leading from the main patio adjoining the house to a paved circle at the bottom of the garden. At the beginning 0f this pathway are 3 timber arches, with a further 3 arches straddling the path about two thirds along its length. A large raised bed 50cm high stretches down the left side following the curve of the path to address the level change in this section of the garden.

• One of our past gardens appears in this month’s edition of Real Homes magazine. The article is all about balconies and features the roof terrace we completed in Wapping, East London, 3 years ago.
• Katrina conducted a consultation for a garden design in Brentwood on Sunday. The clients have owned the property for a year and now that the interior renovations are complete, they are considering getting the the garden designed. They called in Earth Designs to come up with a few ideas based on a Moroccan garden design.
• We also went to see a potential client in Stratford. The front garden design will hopefully be funded by a grant from Newham Council, who are the host borough for the 2012 Olympics. The council are offering grants to residents to help tidy up the borough ahead of the games. The next door neighbour will also be applying for a grant for a new wall and tidy up for her front garden. Matt will send them a quote for the work.
• The second instalment of our feature on the ‘studio g’ blog was published this week. You can read the full article by clicking here.
• Katrina has started work on one of our garden designs by post. The client of this Surrey Garden Design likes our style and so commissioned a postal garden design. Katrina has completed the initial sketches and emailed them to him for comment and approval before the final plan and planting scheme are completed.
• The layout for the garden design in Romania is underway. The clients had competed their own site survey and unfortunately there were a few measurements that didn’t add up, so clarification was required. Katrina has been liaising with the client via email to get the measurements ironed out before the design process begins. Click here to read what we have been up to for these clients so far.

Me, I’m a colour junkie, I can’t help it. I try to calm things down with beiges, taupes and creams, but when you love colour it is hard not to be sucked in by bright beautiful bold blocks that aim to dazzle. So when I found these at De Castelli I wanted to include them in my next modern garden design immediately.

The Delta planter - just need to decide which colour to have!

Yet again the designers at De Castelli have seamlessly taken the traditional and added a contemporary twist. The classic every day terracotta vase is transformed into steel and metal creations so enormous that they dominate all but the biggest space and add distinctive personality to any design. They look great simply as architectural decoration, thereby negating the need for irrigation systems and planting. The only tough part of this purchase is deciding which colour to buy!

~ Katrina has set up some new Spring dates for her garden design courses:

•  3d Drawing Course, Greater London – 29^th February – 1^st March 2012

• How to find Creativity, Central London – 14^th & 15^th March 2012

For details of the full range of courses we offer and information on how to book, please click here.

~ Matt has completed a One Day Attack garden tidy for our client in Harrow-on-the-Hill. We built the garden back in January 2008 and the client gets us back each year to make sure it is looking good ready for Spring. He was delighted with the transformation and wrote in an email:  ‘Thank you so much for all of this. We really appreciate it and will appreciate it properly at the weekend when we actually get to see it in daylight! Thanks for all the care you took.’

~ Matt has also been out in the garden in Bethnal Green where he has been adding the final touches to a garden we started a few years ago. The clients were having extensive renovation and extension to their basement, and our build was to be phased around the interior work. However the extension was fraught with complications, meaning the works took longer than planned. Matt has returned to lay in pebble mosaic rug, re-paint the raised bed walls and shed, add some planting and fix the lights.

~ Katrina has taken on a new design. The clients want a garden design for their Leytonstone property to match the renovations they are planning for the interior. Their builders will be undertaking the work over the summer, but the clients are keen to have a garden plan in place early to ensure they are clear what they are working towards with the landscaping when the time comes.

~ The interior design for our clients in Romania has been completed. The top floor and ground floor of the property in Bucharest is now planned out and has been sent to the client. You can read all about the design of both areas by clicking here. Katrina is now starting work in the garden design.

~ Work continues on our updated garden design portfolio. As we now produce all our designs in Google Sketchup,  Katrina is re- drawing some of the hand-drawn plans for gardens we have previously built to ensure all the plans in the revised portfolio are representative of what a new client can expect to receive from us. She has a lot of work to do!

~ Our Facebook fan base is increasing.  Our New Year resolution was to try and update it more frequently to let you know what we are up to on a daily basis. If you haven’t yet become a fan, you can do so by clicking here London garden design

Katrina has finished the Interior Design for our clients in Bucharest, Romania. Oliver and Alena are previous clients for whom we produced a garden design a few years ago. They have moved house and last October asked Katrina to return to produce a garden and interior design for the new three storey property. Before Christmas Katrina produced the design for the top floor, which is to be a self-contained living area, and since the New Year she has been working on the rest of the property, principally the ground floor which is to be converted into an office for their respective businesses. As mentioned in our previous posting on this subject, the client’s have a limited budget for the re-furbishment, so Katrina has focussed on the use of stylish and funky furnishings, objet d’art, wallpapers and colour schemes to achieve a transformation to the space rather than potentially costly structural changes or a major refit of existing features such as flooring or shelving. Here’s what she came up with:

Office:

The main focus of the ground floor is to be a large open-plan office. The majority of the existing features fireplace will be retained and transformed – the fireplace will be boxed in with red Perspex panels and the shelving beside it painted and partially enclosed with new doors to store the office IT equipment. The client’s existing desks will be positioned to provide face-to-face working, with a large oval table offering ample space to conduct meetings. The wall beside the triangular window will be branded with a large facsimile of the Brainovate company logo. The shelves to the right of this will be painted and used to store branded boxfiles and office books. An unusual and eye-catching hanging geometric room divider will delineate the office area from the entrance area.

Reception:

The existing display cabinet and glass shelves will be removed. The alcove between the kitchen and reception area, that currently contains glass shelving, will be adorned with a decorative aluminium screen. The existing shelving alcoves will be painted. A large curved white divan sofa will give visitors a stylish and comfortable place in which to wait. A free-standing art deco style shelving unit placed between the pillar and the wall will help to give a sense of enclosure to the reception area and create a separate entrance hall directly adjoining the front door. The existing pillars will be stripped back to expose the more attractive stainless steel cladding beneath. The curved feature wall beside and beneath the existing display cabinet will be enlivened with the client’s choice of patterned wallpaper.

Kitchen:

The kitchen will be fitted out with a standard Ikea fit. The visual shown here is merely a representation of a possible layout – an exact design from a professional kitchen fitter should be obtained. The red Smeg fridge would be a nice retro addition and has the advantage of being portable when you move. If this is not feasible, I would recommend an integrated fridge freezer. The wall art is optional and many variations are available. I would suggest something bold and simple in a block of colour. The kitchen table and chairs could be substituted for a kitchen island with bar stools if that is deemed more appropriate for use.

To view Katrina’s design for the top floor self-contained apartment click here

Matt will be attempting to finish off several jobs over the next two weeks, while dodging the raindrops. He has a deck seat to build for clients in Stoke Newington, a little pointing for the paving in Hackney, and stain for the decking at our garden build in Willesden Green. We also need to undertake some work for a garden in Bow we partially built a couple of years ago (the finishing was postponed by the client due to a major extension they were having built on the house). Once all these projects are complete, we will be ready to start our next project in Brentwood.

Katrina has been contacted about a consultation for a garden design in Leytonstone. The clients have recently bought the house and they need a design for their long thin garden. Katrina is visiting them on Saturday to carry out a free design consultation.

A few minor changes are needed for the garden design in Maida vale. The client requires less decking, would like to include a garden office and also wish to explore different colour schemes. Katrina will be working on the tweaks over the coming week.

The last few details are being added to the Romanian garden design and interior design. Katrina visited Oliver and Alina back in November when they commissioned a garden design and asked Katrina to look at the styling for the interior of the house – you can read all about the project by clicking here.

Earth Designs is soon to have a regular feature on a very popular blog: Studio ‘g’. Katrina was asked to become a regular contributor in her role as a London Garden Designer, and her profile will be launched on the website this week. Studio ‘g’ is a daily website dedicated to garden and landscape design, developed and maintained by Boston-based writer, Rochelle Greayer. Launched in July 2008, Studio ‘g’  has been voted ‘best garden design blog’ by readers. Studio ‘g’ shares garden design inspiration, landscape ideas, hotel resort and spa gardens, outdoor art and design, industry events and trends, the latest in landscape products and services and aims to inspire readers to recognize a sense of place so as they travel the world they can celebrate and value it.

Work continues on updating our current garden design portfolio with some of our latest projects.

Our annual web-site update is also underway. Some of you that follow Earth Designs London Garden Design and Build on Facebook will have already seem some of our latest gardens. Once the update has been completed we will  be asking for your opinions on our latest projects.

This town landscape concept sketch focuses on the strong geometric lines present in these mahogany bookshelves designed by Betty Joel.  This concept is ideal for a  small town garden and could have a myriad of uses built into its design.  It is palindromic in its design and works in either direction or as a mirror image of itself. A large patio directly outside the entrance to the garden, constructed from large Indian Sandstone slabs, reflects the staggered motif dominant in the design. The backdrop to this patio is a representation of the bookshelves as garden feature, with deep shelves created from chunky exterior grade timber (for example, railway sleepers) to allow the client to fill with ephemera, garden art or decorative aggregate as required.

A pathway leads through an archway in the screen and doglegs through the centre of the space to terminate in a mirror image of the first area. A second patio offers ample space for a multitude of uses, including a screened storage area, somewhere for children to store their play equipment, a hot tub, or simply a secondary entertaining area.

The rest of the garden will be laid with lawn defined by deep planting beds containing simple evergreen shrubs for a low maintenance garden. Lighting in this garden can afford to be quite dramatic with such striking garden structures positioned in the space.

Katrina has been working hard on the garden and interior design for our clients in Bucharest, Romania. Oliver and Alina have employed Earth Designs to come up with a modern, funky and stylish budget for their property in central Bucharest. They have a fairly modest budget for the renovation, which needs to stretch across three floors and an outdoor space, so Katrina is having to think creatively to come up with a solution which works aesthetically and practically without breaking the bank. This week she has been working on the design of the top floor of the house, which the clients intend to convert to a self-contained apartment for their everyday living.

The style throughout will follow a modern retro vibe, with emphasis placed on texture and colour choices to transform the space with minimal construction.

The structure of the bedroom will remain largely as is. Some of their existing wardrobe space will be removed and new built-in wardrobes constructed. A bespoke padded headboard will act as the backdrop to the client’s bed and funky geometric wall art will enliven the space. The client could choose to paint the arced ceiling detailing in an accent colour. Luxury curtains will add class and colour to the room.

A mixture of light construction and planting will transform their roof terrace. The space contains an odd chimney/bbq structure, on which the client’s are not keen. This will be disguised with the removal of the barbeque element and construction of a deep rendered block bench seat to the front, with the chimney acting as a backrest. Parts of the area surrounding the property is unsightly, so the view from the terrace will be screened using tall, colourful fibreglass planters containing lush bamboo.The main focus of the garden will be a hot tub spa. Due to its size, the hot tub will need to be craned into position and it may also be necessary to consider weight loading limits for the roof terrace. To increase comfort and enjoyment of the space throughout the seasons, the client might also wish to consider installing shutters and shade cover for the existing pergola structure.

The main living area will be divided into three distinct sections – a kitchen/diner, an entertaining area and a space for relaxation. The kitchen/dining area would comprise a bank of cupboards, work surfaces and utility equipment (cooker, fridge, etc) set into a long alcove on one side of the space, with a curved breakfast bar providing additional work surface and opportunity for informal, on-the-fly dining. A small dining table large enough to seat four will allow for more formal dining – this table could also easily be taken outside for impromptu alfresco dining.

The main entertaining area will focus on a selection of twentieth century design classic items of furniture placed around a central cowhide rug, to create definition and coherence to the space. Focussing the transformation on dressing rather than structural changes allows for portability, giving the client the flexibility to transport their investments to future properties and recreate the styling with a minimum of fuss and expense.

A feature wall covered with purple wallpaper will help to frame the room. This wall could be decorated with groupings of the client’s pictures in  black frames. Low level radiators could be installed to avoid detracting from the aesthetic simplicity of the feature wall. The entertaining area could be separated from the relaxation/tv area by a set of modular cube shelves. These shelves could be left open as a design statement or could be used to display books, art or ephemera according to the client’s wishes.

A combination of the client’s existing furniture and selected retro items would be used to furnish the relaxation area, providing good quality unique furniture as relatively low cost. The client’s existing sofa will be placed on a large red rug, with an old chest acting as a coffee table. Storage for audio visual equipment could be provided by a 1950s or 1960s retro sideboard. The client’s Budda statue could be set against a large fabric panel to create a visual statement and give colour and texture to the room.

This garden design takes inspiration from the striking work by Do Ho Suh ‘Staircase III’ which is a large scale installation piece based on his personal memories of architectural spaces. Since the mid-1990s, he has replicated parts of his parents’ traditional Korean house in Seoul and his own Western-style apartment in New York.

The design seeks to replicate the striking nature of the installation and transpose that into a family garden suitable for a myriad of uses. Directly outside the patio door is a large Indian sandstone patio in a formal lay pattern. A covered pathway leads away from this patio to a partially screened children’s area. This area can be bark chipped with play bark to provide a suitable landing pad for children’s play equipment including a trampoline, sandpit and other climbing apparatus. This area is screened from the rest of the garden by timber framed mesh and perspex screens, chosen to reflect the translucent nature of the installation.

Leading round the edge of the lawn is a pathway in a step style layout suitable for youngsters to ride their bikes round, this acts as not only a path but a useful and practical mow line for the lawn.

In the back left hand corner a raised deck area allows the garden user another aspect of the space by having this raised area on which to view the garden. Giving consideration to decking planning lawns, the platform could underneath be a cosy night time den with giant floor cushions and red drapes, again reinforcing the ideas of translucency and seduction. The upper deck can be used as a sun deck and can be accessed via a staircase or via a ladder to the children’s area. A tree planted at ground level and enjoyed from upper and lower levels helps with the feeling of perspective and challenges our perceptions of scale and proportion, much like ‘Staircase III’ Co joined to both these spaces a pergola with a sail attached and hanging from it a double swing, an area for children and adults to enjoy together.