The Close
Click on a photo to enlarge. Scroll down to have a read of the process involved!
This enormous patio is in line with the house and garden and the beautiful Italian porcelain from @lea_ceramiche complements both. Laying a patio this size was no small feat. You can't see from the photos but each slab is subtly different from the next, there are light patterns, slight colour variations and a bit of texture to give character and life to the stone. The size of the slabs was also considerably larger than standard which meant they were awkward and very heavy to lay. Despite this, we made awesome progress and worked really hard to get it finished - at one point we got 27 slabs down in one day!
We’re all super pleased with how the shaping of the curves turned out. It took us a long time spraying out our initial lines with Roger; we did this to make sure that he was happy and that we caught the curve at the right angles in order for it to have the smooth, sexy finish at the end. It's so worth getting it right at the beginning! And this was the reason for laying the slabs in this fashion. We normally wouldn't over lay to this extent and it meant more work for us, however, it was a special case in that the curve hadn't been precisely mapped out and we were being flexible with moving or altering it until all parties were happy with the visual aspect as well as the actual size of the paved area. Once we were satisfied with the curve and how it follows on from the previous bend, we carefully cut through the excess slabs, mortar and subbase to get that lovely smooth edge married perfectly to the fresh lawn.
When I came up with this concept in the design, I knew it would look totally awesome. Landscaping ideas such as these don't come around every day.
The house and the office aren't square with each other. Originally, the paved area around the office was going to be laid square off the office making it face a different way to the main patio. However, when it came to laying this area, we realised that doing it like this wouldn't look quite right.
We altered the original layout here for the sake of fluidity and aesthetics, deciding that it would look a lot better if all of the paving ran square to itself, meaning that it wouldn't run square off the office. This resulted in us having to work out some awkward cuts alongside the office in order to square this part off. We also used string lines to ensure accuracy and precision when laying these last slabs to ensure that all the joints were 100% aligned; despite it being the more difficult option and harder work for us, it was well worth the end result and achieving that elegant, seamless finish.
We were on a bit of a tight timeframe nearing the end of this project and there were too many "Adam" jobs to do with only one Adam and not enough time to complete them. One of those jobs was building the little wall which acts as a retaining wall for the new plant bed. Although Adam could do it and do it well, he happily admits that he’s not a plasterer and that there are more capable, experienced people than himself who not only would get it done faster but also allow him to get on with other tasks.
He reached out to @rickymullenuk of Bosham Landscapes, who's been around a long time now and is very well known in the area, and asked if we could borrow one of his guys to build this wall. He completely surprised us by offering to come and do it himself. Having a million other things he could be getting on with, Ricky was happy to take the time out of his busy schedule to help Adam - this gesture meant so much and it speaks volumes!
With the hard landscaping done, we levelled and turfed over what was previously a large and wildly overgrown plant bed. Due to the height of the paving, we ended up stripping off more turf than we originally intended to achieve a seamless level and finish between the new lawn area and the existing one.
Behold the magic and beauty of plants! The right selections and combinations completely enhance the area, bringing it to life and creating a vibrant feel. We came back at a later date after completing the hard landscaping to plant these beautiful smaller shrubs from @northhillnurseries along the path and office area, as well as the regal giant that is the tree fern from @flourish_plants_uk - our gift to Roger and Natalie.
Roger loved the height and structure of the verbenas around the path and office area so we went for echinaceas, pennisetums and agapanthus in the plant bed on the far curve to create some variety and movement, finishing it all off with some fresh mulch.
It was during this later planting stage that we gave the new lawn its first cut; it took well and looks super fresh. The kids, Tillie and William, were over the moon that they could finally walk, jump and play on it after not being allowed to for a month!
It's such a beautiful space now; what an incredible change from before!