An Oasis Of One's Own

Dreams of outdoor entertaining on sultry summer evenings become a reality for this Newtown family

- Donnay Torr

While inner-city living has a unique charm made up of a mix of convenience and quirky character, homeowners often have to pay a high price: losing the luxury of personal outdoor space. Most of Sydney’s iconic terrace houses have access to handkerchiefsized back gardens, but these are often messy and challenging to landscape. Add an energetic family dog and young child to the existing pool of potential users and this Probert Street terrace in Newtown needed some serious optimisation of available space. Enter landscape designer Steve Warner and the team from Outhouse Design.

“This amazing inner-city terrace had recently been fully renovated with a modern kitchen and dining experience at the rear of the home,” Steve says. “But as so often happens, the creativity ended at the back door, with no connection to the courtyard garden. Old paving combined with a mismatch of garden pots and a clear view to the car was creating the wrong focal point for our clients.”

Warner and project manager Simon Munn from Urban Garden appreciated the rare innercity commodity that is a personal parking space, so didn’t want to compromise this particular benefit. But they needed to find a way to create a safe, low-maintenance space suitable for pets and young children, while still delivering a sense of green and architectural interest to complement the refined internal finishes of the home. “Entertainment was key, but more lounge style rather than the traditional seating function.”