The team at Coastal Creations Landscaping recently completed a landscaping makeover for our clients in St Andrews Beach on the Mornington Peninsula. Working alongside Robyn Barlow Design and Claire Martin, the team worked to transform this French inspired holiday house façade from overgrown to understated Coastal Charm Cottage.
The landscape design complemented the recent coastal garden transformation of the back yard and two side fences. This was seen through the u-shape flowing drive-way, native indigenous planting, beautiful Indian Sandstone pavers and grass paver blocks creating the industrial edge. A transformation of the side walk-way was also included in the design which included a new outdoor rustic shower, Indian Sandstone pavers, a lock up bike storage box and custom built screen and gate. With the design in place the team starting the project by first clearing out the dead trees, undergrowth and weeds from the front and side. A dig out was completed of the driveway and cement treated base rock was laid. The existing front porch was extended. The fun started though after the outdoor shower base was laid and shower connected to the septic tank. That's when it became apparent that there was a whole new challenge and toileting puns became the savour for getting through the process of dealing with the septic tank and waste. With the council rolling out new septic mains in the area, it was a blessing in disguise for our clients who took the opportunity for a new solution to their old and full septic tank. With the help of Hydrate Plumbing, a new septic tank pumping station was installed and connected to the septic mains. After that it was smooth sailing. The grass pave blocks were laid from Austral Masonry and Bairnsdale toppings were used as a filler. The coastal garden was planted, along with irrigation, geofabric to separate soil from toppings and landscaping lighting. The front yard creates a simple and solid foundation for the plants to grow and flourish, thus creating continual appeal for years to come. We look forward to seeing this space transform. We recently completed a front and backyard landscape design and construction transformation for a new home in Mornington on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Our clients had a small backyard but big ideas on transforming this outdoor space into something they would love and use regularly. The backyard had an existing back fence and a small deck already constructed, but the backyard sloped downwards and the space was unusable. The first step was to construct a retaining wall across the whole back boundary fence and part way along the side boundary fence. This would provide a wall to build up and level the existing free space in the backyard. A box retaining wall was constructed to provide a space to house the clients Thin Tanks (www.thintanks.com.au) and plumbing. The tanks were positioned in ground to hide the plumbing equipment and view for our clients and surrounding properties. The backyard was back filled with soil to create a level backyard ready for the next phase. The side boundary fence was also prepared by installing upright posts and then attaching the palings. The fence was 1.9 meters high on our clients side. With the backyard levelled and fence constructed, we extended the existing deck out by an extra board to ensure the decking covered a previously laid protruding concrete slab. We extended the deck vertically by constructing a merbau screen to create a beautiful flow on effect. Sand stone crazy paving steppers were laid along the side of the house. We had a lot of rain during this project which is one of the challenges of landscaping through the winter months. Our goal is always to minimise projects getting messy and sometimes that means holding off construction on very wet days. Overall we were happy with the level of mud created during the project. The sand stone crazy pavers were surrounded with 20mm gold beach pebbles. During the construction process the fence was painted by our client. Fence height extenders were also installed to increase privacy in the backyard. The astro turf was installed which created a WOW effect in the backyard. Our clients are huge golf fans and play regularly so it was an easy and brilliant idea to turn their small backyard space into a golf putting green. Two lengths of synthetic grass turf were installed and blended to create a natural golf putting green effect. We think the Thin Tanks ( www.thintanks.com.au) are a brilliant idea. And for a little bit extra you can get the vertical planter pockets install which are a great way to hide the tanks and add extra plants to a small space backyard. You can fill the planters with your favourite plants or even create an outdoor herb garden. With the Thin Tanks in place and the plumbing connected, we only had to install stepper pavers in front of the Thin Tanks and surround them with 20mm sunset rock which was also placed at the bottom of the tanks and along the other side boundary fence. With the backyard complete and looking fantastic, we then moved on to the front-yard of this Mornington property. Our clients wanted to create a front courtyard that was low-maintenance but still looked great. The front yard and home entrance is the first things people notice when they arrive. Having great curb appeal can really add value to your home and is a wise investment. We loved that our clients wanted to create a unique and creative landscape design. We first constructed a retained box which would become a planter box for the small front courtyard. Framing for a new front fence was constructed by installing one sleeper across the bottom and 4 vertical posts along which would hold the new horizontal aluminium slats to be installed. The new fence will be 1.5metres high and allow for partial viewing into the front court yard. The area was then prepared for paving. 50mm thick granitic sand pavers were laid in a staggered creative paving layout. These pavers are concrete with a granitic sand finish. 14mm white and cream pebbles were placed around the paving. The client has chosen to plant his own plants around the pavers and in the planter box along the border of the courtyard space. Our client loved the paving design and so did we! A thin retaining wall planter box was also constructed along the drive-way and filled in with the 14mm white and cream pebbles. Small plants will also be planted along this short fence line to add some colour to the space. Lastly the front nature strip was levelled out and topped with soil then seeded.
Our clients loved their front and back transformation and look forward to enjoying more time outdoors! We recently completed a side path landscaping makeover for a lovely house in Mt Martha on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. Our clients are getting their house ready to sell and wanted to transform their side path into a space that looked great and was easy to access. A modern landscape design path was chosen that was low-maintenance and allowed our clients to add their own plants. The project involved removing the old wood edging and constructing a new retaining wall edging to hold the path toppings in place and create a garden bed. Next a bamboo screen was installed to cover the neighbours garage wall and create a feature wall which could be viewed from the main bedroom. A side gate was also installed which was constructed using cyprus paddle pop pickets. The ground was levelled out and weed mat was laid down. The garden bed was filled with black mulch topping and golden beach screenings was laid over the side path walk-way area. Lastly 40 x 40 cm square charcoal pavers were placed on the top of the screenings. Our lovely clients will be adding their own plants to the garden bed and bringing colour to the bamboo screen feature wall by adding their own large planters and filling them with their favourite plants. We think the space looks great! All the best with selling your house guys! Before After
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