Garden entrances
Outdoor space is an extension of your house and by thinking about how you move in and out of your garden, you’ll be able to create an outdoor area that works better for you and will ultimately encourage you to spend more time outside. Treat your garden entrance as something special and you’ll look forward to coming home.
Choice of materials
One of the most important elements in creating a garden entrance is the flooring, and here there are two choices: contrast, or continuous flooring – both have their place.
Contrast speaks of transition, change, movement into a different space and this is usual for a front door, where public realm meets private. Under a porch or pergola there may be paving that differs from both the house and the rest of the garden, to emphasise the uniqueness of that space.
Continuous flooring, on the other hand, brings consistency, easy movement in or out, fluidity. This is ideal for a private exit into the rear garden and is synonymous with alfresco living. This would reflect and mimic the internal flooring of the house, whether, wood, stone, tile or brick and bring this outside, preferably at the same level.
In this respect, decking is very useful as it can be raised to the house floor level without concerns over damp-proofing
Seamless link
Location: South-west London
Brief: To make house and garden feel like one open space
Designer: Modular Garden
When Mark and Corinna Butcher decided to revamp their compact city garden, they had two clear intentions. “We wanted it to feel like an extension of the house,” explains Mark. “And it had to be low-maintenance.”
They approached Modular Garden who then came up with a design that used similar, hard-wearing materials to create a seamless link between indoors and out. When the folded doors are completely open, the wooded flooring mirrors the outdoor decking, while a strip of black tiles runs down one side of the kitchen and continues to the end of the garden, which also has the effect of lengthening the space.
“In terms of planting we went for architectural styles that provide plenty of colour all year round,” says Joe Swift, design director of Modular Garden. The new design means the couple and their son James (12) use the garden far more than they previously did. “It’s a very family-friendly design,” says Mark. “And best of all, we feel connected to the garden now, even when we’re inside the house.”
