Home and backyard renovation

Our couple are a young family + 2 dogs. They had a idea of what they wanted to achieve but needed help to design their dream. It is always exciting working with a client who is open to suggestion and we’re able to get the vision out of their head.

The challenge was achieving a rustic country aspect using modern day materials and bringing an undercover area consistent with the remaining back yard areas, including a new pool area.

During our initial site visit, we found our client thinking about a lot of aspects of the entire block's landscape and quickly identified that starting in the rear BBQ area was not the best path. We needed to understand the bigger picture, so that we could help them bring it all together.

Working with Narellan Pools, who our client had already engaged, we helped with the design of the hard surface areas. We suggested a Himalayan Sandstone finish to the pool area. We work with suppliers who can deliver on high standards. For our stonework, we work with one of the only suppliers in Sydney who dip seal their stone. Dip sealing means that the treatment is soaked right through the stone and you don’t end up with any salt or calcium staining on your coping tile.

To bring in a rustic feel for the pool fence we suggested combining timber and metal, with some really chunky timber posts, slightly weathered and a traditional square top metal fence section. This gave the yard the very country feel, but also maintained a modern blend with the surrounding rendered walls and other aspects.

We built a low level deck from their new sliding stacker door for access from the pool to the house. For this we used a maintenance free composite decking board.

For the undercover BBQ area, we used the Himalayan Sandstone again to tie this separated section back into the greater backyard. In keeping with the rustic feel , we used Weathertex timber finish boards to create a floating BBQ bench and finished the top with a modern Caesar stone benchtop and custom made stainless steel BBQ rangehood.

Being a floating BBQ bench, this didn’t have capacity for storage so we created a high standing cupboard, also finished in the Weathertex boards, to match the area. This would house the outdoor toys for the kids, some BBQ gear and a new bar fridge for those coldies when entertaining.

We worked with A Greener View Gardens for the landscaping. A crushed granite outdoor sitting area, set around a new fire pit, with new native plants and a crushed granite pathway. To top it all off, a composite decking top was added to a bush rock gabion cage seat and the pool equipment was also inclosed in the Weathertex boards.

All elements we tied together on multiple levels, which brought everything together as one feeling of “relaxation” when our clients walk out their back door into their new world.