Brighton Boutique Courtyard

Location

Situated in Handover, Brighton, an old workers terraced house, featured a small yet precious, split-level courtyard.

Brief

To transform an unloved space into a contemporary, multi-use outdoor room. Must maximise space and the sun. All existing plants need to be retained & be low-maintenance, for this young artistic Brighton family.

Design

The Concept: A beach boutique courtyard! Taking inspiration from beach style and rooftop gardens, I created a stylish and serene garden rooms.

Embracing beach culture, a stylish chill out zone was created on the upper terrace, where the sun hits. Featuring wrap around bench seating, long white cushions and under seat storage. Slightly raised with composite decking, the chill out zone was framed with matching rooftop planters, featuring drought-resistant planting and fragrant climbers. Continuing the beach theme, the masonry walls were restored and painted white, with coastal grey venetian slats screening the back boundary. With two young girls, artificial grass was requested by the clients to provide groundcover to play in winter months. The lower terrace was left open as a place for play. The old stairs were filled and new stairs built, hugging the boundary wall, to maximise space on both levels.

Stylish vertical planters and outdoor shelves provide inspiring vistas from all angles. All existing plants were retained and rehomed in new raised planters, with new sensory planting at low levels for the girls to enjoy, in a palette of purples, pinks and whites.

“Kathryn is a charismatic, organised and highly creative individual. We have been lucky enough to work with Kathryn on the redesign of our garden in Brighton. We have been incredibly impressed with all elements of Kathryn's work; from initial consultations through to meetings with landscapers and then final tweaks as the design came to fruition. We were impressed with how Kathryn found ways to rehouse all our existing plants alongside selecting new varieties to match. Added to which, all the design ideas and materials were toddler friendly which was hugely important to us. It is clear that Kathryn's background working in media has provided a transferrable expertise in working to budget with clients and contractors. She has helped create a garden for our young family which will greatly improve our quality of life.” Emma, Brighton.

Landscaping/Build: Wild Gardens

Size: 17m²

Duration: 2022

Status: Completed

Photography by Elissa Jane Diver.