‘Our Garden Is Miami-Inspired'

Kel has given her washed-out space a new vibrancy with pops of colour and clever upcycling

- Laurie Davidson

COME ON IN!

ABOUT ME I’m Kel Harmer, 40, and I live here with my husband Dan, 40, children Isla, nine, and Emmie, five, and Cosmo the Goldendoodle in a four-bedroom, three-storey modern detached house in Portishead, Bristol. We moved here in September 2014 and set about stamping our own personality on the place, which included giving the garden a makeover in June 2020.

MY CHALLENGE The garden was so unattractive, with lots of red brick walls and a large brick outhouse encroaching on the space. There were also no plants – it was bare.

MY WISH LIST We wanted our garden to be an extension of our indoor space, with new decking, plants and a summerhouse.

When we moved here in 2014 it’s safe to say that our garden was a bit of an eyesore,’ says Kel. ‘An overload of red brick walls stood out, with the side of our garage on show at the back and no plants – it was pretty unattractive, but I was determined to change that!

Lick of paint

The first step was to get rid of all the red brick wall surrounding the garden, so we painted them white, which took two weeks. When it came to the back wall of the house, however, I wasn’t sure what to do as it’s a three-storey house, which would have taken a lot of work. Instead, we installed an awning and painted up to that. This is the spot where we get most sun, so it made sense to have a chill-out area here with an outdoor sofa, and after adding window boxes and decorative screens onto the wall it made a much nicer backdrop to sit the sofa against.

Adding structure