Garden Design California
Brief
Earth Designs, London garden design and build, were contacted by Allison in California, USA looking for a Garden Design by Post :
We saw photographs of your designs on Flickr and are interested in your Postal Design Package service. Our home is located in Palo Alto, California and we have approximately 630 sq meters that is currently bare earth that we hope to turn into a family garden. The climate here is similar to a Eastern Mediterranean climate.
Our house was built in the 1950s in California-modern style with large sections of glass walls. The garden was probably once quite nice but due to complete shading by pine trees (now removed) there were no plants in the garden when we bought the house, the house is now being renovated to meet current earthquake standards but will keep the original California-modern style and we hope to update the garden as well.
My husband and I have been looking at at many designer’s portfolios and have seen none that we like nearly as well as yours. We feel that the blend of modern, contemporary, with an urban edge we see in your work would fit nicely with the 1950s modern style of our house. Please let me know how you normally proceed with your Postal Design work, you have big fans in California.
Solution
We sent Allison and her husband our Garden Postal design kit, to which the completed a number of questions and their own site survey, supplied us with lots of photos as well as details of what they wanted from the garden design
The client requested a contemporary design incorporating several small garden ‘rooms’ with straight lines and strong architectural shapes. The house was built in 1958 and was to be modernised and refurbished.
The outdoor space was divided into three definate areas: an entertaining/dining area, able to accommodate 20 people, an area for children to enjoy, including vegetable gardens and a vine teepee and a more secluded relaxation area complete with hot tub and sun deck.
The dining area was quite minimalist with a combination of English sawn sandstone, naturally light in colour, with a mix of buff, grey and green tones, and balau decking. The larger size paving stones gives a clean spacious look. The block and render retaining walls are both functional and stylish and have been painted an off-white. All the furniture was chosen to match the style of the garden, modern yet elegant and rectangular in form. The planting was also strong and structural with a combination of Mediterranean plants and fruit trees softened by different grasses.
Allison contacted us again to let us know how the build had gone and share some images of the site during the build.
Bringing out the big guns!
The hard landscaping has been finished, the next stage is the planting. We are very pleased with the results and can’t wait to see shots of the garden planted!
Often the clients’ favourite moment during the build, the arrival of the plants!
If you are interested in transforming your own garden please visit our site for details on bespoke garden design and build, postal design available worldwide and garden design consultations, available in London.
