They say the magic thing about home is that it feels good to leave and even better to come back and that is exactly what this family wanted to create when they purchased their Bondi home and prepared to renovate. Like Marilyn Monroe, this 1920’s Californian-style bungalow was born with the bone structure to be a great beauty. From the outset, it was important the design reflect their personal journey as individuals along with celebrating their journey as a family. Using a limited colour palette of white walls and black floors, a minimalist canvas was created to tell their story. Sentimental accents captured from holiday photographs, cherished books, artwork and various pieces collected over the years from their travels added the layers and dimension to the home. Architrave sides in the hallway and cutout reveals were painted in high-gloss black adding contrast and depth to the space. Bathroom renovations followed the black a white theme incorporating black marble with white vein accents and exotic greenery was used throughout the home – both inside and out, adding a lushness reminiscent of time spent in the tropics. Like this family, this home has grown with a 3rd stage now in production - watch this space for more... Martine Payne & Deen Hameed

After: plenty of seating and an injection of greenery turn this balcony into an urban oasis.

Proyecto realizado por Meritxell Ribé - The Room Studio Construcción: The Room Work Fotografías: Mauricio Fuertes

La terraza abierta al patio de manzana.

With space on the balcony for a wicker couch and chair, we transformed this area into a beautiful outdoor room, adding square footage to the renters' living space. Don't be afraid to mix and match patterns, bringing your favorite colors together.

Elba table (for in and outdoor use). As shown, white high pressure laminate with black inner core/matt black structure lacquered. H75xW200xD91½cm. Elba chair (for in and outdoor use). As shown, grey wicker/matt black structure lacquered. H89/42½xW56xD63½cm.

Photography: Nicole Katz

Custom decorative wrought iron french design and art nouveau balcony An anti rust prevention zinc metalized treatment was applied on the raw iron to minimize maintenance on the gate.

La Cantina multi sliding door

Antonio e Roberto Tartaglione

Chelsea Creek is the pinnacle of sophisticated living, these penthouse collection gardens, featuring stunning contemporary exteriors are London’s most elegant new dockside development, by St George Central London, they are due to be built in Autumn 2014 Following on from the success of her stunning contemporary Rooftop Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2012, Patricia Fox was commissioned by St George to design a series of rooftop gardens for their Penthouse Collection in London. Working alongside Tara Bernerd who has designed the interiors, and Broadway Malyon Architects, Patricia and her team have designed a series of London rooftop gardens, which although individually unique, have an underlying design thread, which runs throughout the whole series, providing a unified scheme across the development. Inspiration was taken from both the architecture of the building, and from the interiors, and Aralia working as Landscape Architects developed a series of Mood Boards depicting materials, features, art and planting. This groundbreaking series of London rooftop gardens embraces the very latest in garden design, encompassing quality natural materials such as corten steel, granite and shot blasted glass, whilst introducing contemporary state of the art outdoor kitchens, outdoor fireplaces, water features and green walls. Garden Art also has a key focus within these London gardens, with the introduction of specially commissioned pieces for stone sculptures and unique glass art. The linear hard landscape design, with fluid rivers of under lit glass, relate beautifully to the linearity of the canals below. The design for the soft landscaping schemes were challenging – the gardens needed to be relatively low maintenance, they needed to stand up to the harsh environment of a London rooftop location, whilst also still providing seasonality and all year interest. The planting scheme is linear, and highly contemporary in nature, evergreen planting provides all year structure and form, with warm rusts and burnt orange flower head’s providing a splash of seasonal colour, complementary to the features throughout. Finally, an exquisite lighting scheme has been designed by Lighting IQ to define and enhance the rooftop spaces, and to provide beautiful night time lighting which provides the perfect ambiance for entertaining and relaxing in. Aralia worked as Landscape Architects working within a multi-disciplinary consultant team which included Architects, Structural Engineers, Cost Consultants and a range of sub-contractors.

Andreas Pedersen #simplerphoto

contemporary garden Terrace in Mayfair London

Larissa Sanabria San Jose, CA 95120