A Fabulous Garden Makeover for Modern Living

Built by a team of four in three months, this major garden makeover provides a pattern for outdoor living and combines seven different products from London Stone. We take a look.

Peter Lusis likes clients to think outside the box. Involved in garden transformation since a young age, he's a garden design expert who encourages clients to, as he says, open up to new ideas "even if they seem too modern at first".

Of course, he listens carefully to the client too. "Every project needs detailed planning, so it can be completed 100% right," says Peter. "Everything starts with design and a couple of meetings. We offer a few design options and, following our customers' needs and desires, we create the final design."

The results of this approach are to be seen in this makeover in South Woodford, London, carried out by Gardens of the Future, the company he runs with co-founder Martin Pluksna. We follow Peter on a tour of the garden.

Take the tour

First stop, the relaxation area

Right next to the house we have the fireplace, with sofas under a glass roof. Even when it rains, the customer can enjoy being outside and seeing the entire garden. "Around the fireplace, we used Millboard composite decking in Golden Oak," says Peter. "We'd say this is the best composite decking on the market, without a doubt."

Raised flower beds bring interest and life near the house, and also define the boundaries of the zone. The beds are faced with Steel Dark DesignClad tiles. "These tiles give 100% luxury feel," says Peter. "We've been using them in all our projects in different colours." From the client's point of view, they combine a great look with low maintenance, as the vitrified porcelain panels are extremely robust and only need a wipe down to look pristine.

The dining and outdoor kitchen area

Pass the fireplace, step down from the decking onto the Cream porcelain paving and you're in the dining area. "This had to be near the house, but have the feel of a separate area," says Peter. "It also had to complement the whole garden."

Here, 900x600mm Cream porcelain paving has been laid across the width of the house, connecting the dining area with the outdoor kitchen. The pale paving contrasts with the dark metal pergola, which has pillars clad in Steel Dark DesignClad to match the raised beds in the seating area.

Close to the dining table, providing a gentle background sound, a bespoke water feature borders the lawn, with water spouts that echo the construction of the pergola. Again, Gardens of the Future used Steel Dark DesignClad, making the colour a theme that helps unite the different zones.

At the other end of the patio, the outdoor kitchen is clad in Golden Oak Millboard, creating a link with the seating area and brightening this corner of the garden.

A clever paving detail is the mix of Lugano and Gromo Antica clay pavers, laid here and also under the dining set to help link the two areas. "It gives an almost carpet effect," explains Peter. The colours also complement the features around them.

Feature walls

Leaving the outdoor kitchen and crossing the lawn, you pass a striking feature wall incorporating shapes that complement the overall design of the makeover. Metal posts echo the pergola, while eye-catching planters stand out against a porcelain clad backdrop. "We used Luxury DesignClad tiles with a rustic metal effect," says Peter. "They not only look great, but also look like Corten steel. This is our favourite tile and we've used it in many of our other projects."

It also works very well tonally with the Golden Oak colour, and together they provide a light complement to the darker notes in the design. If Steel Dark had been used here as well, the design would have felt quite heavy.

A garden sanctuary

At the far end of the lawn, a garden studio provides an inviting destination. The cladding continues the Golden Oak theme. Millboard Burnt Cedar fascia board adds a darker tone to the edge of the raised area, complementing the Steel Dark DesignClad nearer the house.

Returning to the dining area, an unusual path of Florence White porcelain paving keeps a light touch. The longer stripes integrate it into the lawn, uniting the different elements with this simple design hack. The extra length lines up with the entrance to the pergola-covered dining area and the stripes created in the lawn echo the repetition of the metal posts, strengthening the effect of this design elements.

As well as a haven by day, the garden has been made a wonderland for evening entertaining, with carefully considered lighting distributed across the space, highlighting the different features.

A happy conclusion

Despite the enormous amount of work this garden makeover entailed, it only took a team of four three months to complete. They had fairly easy side access to the back garden, which always makes a huge difference to the ease of a build.

"To build all this garden was an exciting process," says Peter, "as we have lots of zones and interesting elements. We are continuing to maintain this garden for our clients. They LOVE it!"

About Gardens of the Future

Gardens of the Future is owned by Martin Pluksna and Peter Lusis. Peter explains, "As a main start-up service, what we provided was garden maintenance. A few years later, we started getting landscaping-related requests from our regular customers, so we slowly started undertaking small works, like building new patios, fences etc."

Now, with over 10 years' experience in hard landscaping, they offer a full garden make-over and maintenance service as a full package, plus garden design. Nowadays, most new work comes by word of mouth and recently they've completed a lot of large-scale private gardens.

"We started as a two-man team," adds Peter. "Now we're a team of 12 and still growing." Gardens of the Future have more than 300 landscaping projects - big and small - under their belts, and more than 250 regular customers. "Our customers," says Peter, "love our work ethic."

With thanks to Gardens of the Future for their help with this article