Home Beautiful

Home Beautiful’s August 2016 issue featured our transformation of a steep, under-used backyard behind a Bondi apartment into a lush family retreat for homeowners Jasmin and Will and their son, Elliott. Jasmin called the original block more wasteland than garden, a neglected slope. We excavated 120 cubic metres of soil to carve it into tiered, easy-to-maintain levels.

Creamy limestone pavers, echoing the home’s seaside setting, ground the gas-heated infinity pool and spa, while spotted gum decking, a sustainable Australian timber finished in clear oil, defines the sun lounge and alfresco zones. The outdoor kitchen wraps a Weber barbecue in spotted gum and black granite, with drink fridges and a laundry built in underneath, and a pergola strung with wire for climbing Madagascar jasmine shades the lounge. A copper shower with a spotted gum screen supplies hot and cold water poolside, and a cubbyhouse with its own picket fence and letterbox gives Elliott a space of his own.

Plantings do the rest: low-maintenance lemon trees, buxus and liriope soften the pool’s edge, bamboo screens one boundary, and a vertical garden of sword ferns and philodendrons hides the shed, while Sir Walter buffalo fills the lawn. “This garden has so much purpose and function, which is really nice,” Jasmin told Home Beautiful. It is proof that a steep, under-used block can become a garden where every corner earns its keep.