Funky Wooden Features Bring This Space To Life

This Coogee property was given a new life with creative wooden solutions and an injection of tropical-inspired greenery, creating that holiday experience right in the backyard

- Cassandra Elliott

The clients of this Coogee home needed a repair, rebuild and an addition to their yard. They wanted better access to the garden terraces and the rear studio, which sits at the very top of the steep garden. They needed to repair and rebuild retaining walls to provide better safety, and they wanted to increase their privacy from neighbouring properties.

Andrew Lane from CALDESIGN teamed up with The Other Side Landscapes to design and build a space that met the clients’ needs in a very innovative way.

They began by ridding the property of invasive weeds and overhauled the plants. By selecting plantings in a subtropical style that focused on density, lushness and were also low maintenance, the space was instantly refreshed.

The design of the garden set out the proposed locations of the main feature and structural plants. This layout was underpinned by the grouping and location of the understorey layer, which is two to three tiers of groundcovers and cascading plants, low and medium shrubs, climbers and accent plantings. Micro-factors such as views, shade and soil condition also helped inform this process.

The homeowners love to travel, and the team drew inspiration from some of their favourite locations. Their love of tropical and subtropical environments is now recreated in their very own backyard. The design played to the relaxed lifestyle and lush vegetation in the layered terrace plantings, the plant-fringed path and stairs, the hidden reading nooks and the creative, custom timber elements.