PLANTER PERFECTION

Designed by Garden Life and builtby Good Wood, this inner-city courtyard required big thinking-design to fit into a small space

- Cassandra Elliott

The homeowners of this home in Alexandria, New South Wales, wanted a space that brought the outside in and vice versa. They were keen to include native plant species, and wherever possible to minimise upkeep and bring wildlife to the space. Garden Life director Richard Unsworth and landscape designer Sargon Joseph were tasked with creating a vibrant and functional space for a growing family in this small, inner-city space.

“Contemporary family living” is how the team at Garden Life describe the style of the space. By incorporating key elements into the courtyard, the team created a visual connection between the inside and outside spaces. A focal point of the space is the unique bench seat that also doubles as a built-in garden bed. The creation of this piece introduced an opportunity to bring more lush, green foliage into an originally stark space.

The team wanted to meet the clients’ requirements of bringing more greenery into the space, but they didn’t want to introduce a menagerie of pots to dominate. The solution was a custom aluminium planter sleeve, which was inserted into a purpose-built cavity in the back of a bench seat.