Coogee, Sydney
This is a front garden that makes a
spectacular first impression. Not only is it the
owner’s main outdoor living area, it has a
wonderfully “beachy” feel that is perfectly at
home given the property’s location in the Sydney
beachside suburb of Coogee.
“The goal was to create a usable outdoor space,
something that would function as an extension of
the house, could be enjoyed by the whole family
and was easy to maintain,” explains designer Troy
Paschini from The Labyrinth Garden. But the designsavvy
owner also wanted the space to have instant
impact and he wanted to have input into the
final design.
“I worked very closely with my client, Ian
Wingrove,” says Troy. “Ian also comes from a design
background, so it was very important to him that
the design not only looked great but was very
usable. His input into the design was valuable.”
To give the garden immediate impact and project
a very welcoming feel, Troy introduced different
surfaces, levels and textures. “The concept was
inspired by coastal boardwalks and old beach
houses — hence the use of recycled timber for
the decking — yet we wanted a level of formality,”
says Troy. “This was achieved by the use of the
sandstone planter boxes and marble pavers.
“When Ian was on holidays in Noosa he came
across an interesting, well-detailed fence and he
wanted to use a similar design in his garden,”
continues Troy. “To replicate this we built the fence
using common house bricks that we clad with
white sandstone flagging. We then used Australian
blackbutt timber in selected sizes to create the
feature section of horizontal slats.”
Troy is particularly proud of the detail in the timber fencing and stone work as well as the deck
built using milled-down old hardwood railway
sleepers and the large day bed that wraps around
the existing mature jacaranda. Australian blackbutt
was used to create the day bed, which cleverly
includes a trap door that leads to a storage space
where Ian can keep his surfboards.
When designing the garden, a major
consideration was the lack of sunlight, which
caused the existing lawn to die off and the large fig
and jacaranda to constantly shed leaves. This led
to the decision to remove the lawn and install hard
surfaces instead — a mix of imported marble pavers
and timber decking. The low-light conditions also
informed the choice of new plants, which include
cordylines, agaves and star jasmine.
The use of timber furniture adds to the warmth
of the space and, to add character and an element
of fun, climbing ropes hang from the jacaranda and
a little seating platform has been erected in the fork
of the trunk.
Garden finishes Chinese Elm