Creative construction ideas for a Mornington landscaping project

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!