I’m not really shed ‘geek’ but I wanted to get some of your juices going before presenting this Super Sheds article from the TreeHugger site displaying some fantastic ideas (like the one pictured above) for garden sheds and garden offices – see if you like some of these ideas and want a new shed then you’ll need a garden to suit…and that’s where I come in!!

If sheds isn’t your ‘thang’ then I’ll find out what is.  Everybody loves their garden for a reason – for some its sheds, for others its BBQs, or plants, or sunshine (obviously not in this part of the world!), or for kids, or for fresh air, or vegetables, or wildlife… anyway whatever the reason is, I think it should be celebrated because I love gardens and I know how you feel!

So have a look  – there are some pretty cool ideas!  So cheers for now folks – I’m off to build something in my shed (actually I’ll just stand and gaze at all my cool tools for 20 minutes…but by intermittently banging a hammer on the shelf I can fool the neighbours!).

Ciao for now!

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

Article via TreeHugger

Margaret Traynor is a hard-working nurse in Glasgow’s Yorkhill Sick Children’s Hospital.  She is due to retire soon and her daughters Linda and Karen decided to write to ITV’s flagship daytime magazine show “This Morning” to see if they might help out with a special surprise.

Margaret's garden lacked any function or usability

Margaret had planned to renovate her garden for years but didn’t manage to get the time and resources, given her hectic work schedule, to do this.  The This Morning team decided to arrange this special surprise for Margaret as part of their Dreams Come True series.

Nicky was contacted just a few days before Christmas and asked if he would be interested in getting involved with the project.  He duly obliged and so he and the ITV team took their Christmas break in anticipation of a 48 hour surprise makeover in the second weekend of January.

On returning to work Nicky met with production assistant Ben Elcombe and Margaret’s son in law David at Margaret’s home in Partick in Glasgow.  This was a secret recce and Margaret was at work completely unaware of what was transpiring back at home.  Nicky had to work quickly taking measurements and drafting initial design ideas – the makeover was due to take place in 3 days time!

Concrete and old bark did not offer any colour

RHS medal winner, and host of ITV’s This Morning’s gardening spot, David Domoney conversed with Nicky by phone in detail about what might be possible to achieve in Margaret’s garden at the weekend.  It was agreed that decking would form the main functional area since Margaret had always wanted a deck, while aggregate and extensive planting would generate an attractive environment for the rest of the garden space.  David hadn’t yet seen the garden since the project was agreed upon at the last minute before the festive break and was reliant upon Nicky’s expertise in order to form an agreed design and plan of works for the project.

On Saturday 10th January at 10am Margaret was whisked away by her daughter Karen to Mar Lodge for a luxury spa weekend as both celebrated their birthdays.  David and his team of Garden Angels arrived in Glasgow around 330pm and met with our designer Nicky to formalise the plan of action and begin the ripout of the old garden including the shed, patio and old furniture, and source and collect the relevant materials.

The whole project was for charity and donations of plants and materials came from many well-known trade supporters such as B&Q and Dobbies Garden Centres.  The full list of suppliers can be viwed on ITV’s own page for the suppliers of this project. Nicky and GardenImprovements.com donated the decking materials and the services required to fit it.

Since no builder’s merchants were open on the Sunday it became a race against time to get all the relevant materials to the site ready for construction on Sunday.  The weather was horrendous!

8am on Sunday 11th January and already soaked to the skin the team began to plant up the trees and terrace the slope of the garden while Nicky made the preparatory cuts for the decking (squeezed into the back of the van for shelter!)

David Domoney

12 hours later and with much help from Margaret’s brother Ken and son-in-law David the decking was complete and the rest of the garden almost there.  The house was in the middle of a terrace and so all the materials had to come through the house or over the neighbour’s fence.  David Domoney’s team of 7(!) had to manouevre all their gear over and through the area where Nicky was earnestly piecing together the new decking for Margaret.  Daughter Linda played hostess to the whole team keeping us well fed with tea and rolls throughout the day and was left with a muddy brown (formerly white) kitchen to clean up when we had all finished!

Nicky commented, “It was a very daunting task having to complete all the work in little more than 12 hours – nevermind appearing on live TV! – but when you are up against it you tend just to get on with it and I didn’t really think about the weather at all.”

ITV Crew arrives at Garden Makeover project

On Monday 11th January the TV crews arrived and the finishing touches were applied to the garden.

Throughout the morning Philip and Fern spoke to David live while Nicky and the team made sure everything was in place for the surprise reveal.

At 12 noon Margaret arrived home and was greeted by David and a TV camera crew at the top of her front path in Partick.  She gasped at the site of the full skip and continued into the house to see what had happened.

The gasps of Philip and Fern were echoed by Margaret when the curtains were drawn back and Margaret stepped into her brand new dream garden!

The completed Garden as presented to Margaret on live TV

The transformation was tremendous and Margaret wept as Nicky and David and the Garden Angels team, family members and colleagues from Yorkhill congratulated her and toasted her upcoming retirement in a garden that she could truly enjoy.  Margaret, a previous lottery winner with 4 numbers, said to Evening Times reporter that it was better than winning the lottery in an article in which Nicky was also required to comment upon!

Post Live TV party on Margaret's new deck

Nicky was commended personally by David Domoney for his work with the promise of work on future projects at RHS Chelsea, Tatton Park and Hampton Court Flower Shows – so watch this space!

A grinning Nicky commented, “I am honoured to have been personally commended by David Domoney and I am looking forward to working with him again later this year.”

Once David and his team had headed home Nicky was invited by the family to stay behind and enjoy a glass of Champagne – he is also looking forward the celebratory BBQ to which he has been expressly invited to when the weather warms up a little!

Nicky added, “Linda made the whole experience a pleasureable one and I enjoyed meeting her and the other family members immensely – Ken and David were particularly helpful in assisting me with the deck construction!”

Margaret in the garden after all the hard work

Michele Tamlin, ITV’s This Morning producer also commended Nicky and this can be seen on our new testimonials portfolio – soon to be updated with the previous 3 years commendations.

Margaret and Daughter Karen relax with a glass after the TV crews have left

Nicky himself is very satisfied with the project and with Margaret’s delight at her new garden, “It was a real pleasure to see Margaret’s reaction at what we had all achieved and there was a tremendous sense of satisfaction among the team members and TV crew and there were hugs and kisses all round!”

Some sunshine at last!

Nicky Patterson

GardenImprovements.com

Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Nicky Patterson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

This design was commissioned by Richard and Karen E from a new-build estate in East Kilbride, near Glasgow in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The family had a large new build garden upon which to make a family garden and their brief consisted of

• A largish lawn for the kids to run around on

• Small degree of terracing of the existing slope

• Patio’s for entertaining

• A area exclusively for the children, including the potential for a vegetable plot

• The clients had a budget of around 10k and were happy to undertake the planting themselves over a period of time

The plan is to have two separate areas; one for the adults (on the left hand side) and one for the kids, on (the right hand side). The adult side will consist of a breakfast patio – where Richard and Karen can enjoy a glass of OJ and read the paper in the morning rays; a large black Slate entertainment patio emanating from the house – perfect for BBQs and Sunday lunches; and a separate lawn area with a water rill leading through conjoining these elements. The two sides are to be separated by a pergola cutting through the lawns with the kids area consisting of soft play and their own lawn. The idea behind this is to give the parents a bit of chill out time while knowing the kids are having a ball in the play area safe and sound.

So in this shot of the design we can see the breakfast patio to the left and main patio on the right. We decided on the black slate to give a modern, clean feel to the design and when edged with granite setts the two really contrast each other well. The pergola will add a real focal point as well as giving a new dimension to the space, without completely obstructing the view to the kids play area.

The pergola also acts as a frame to the feature Magnolia Stellata tree at one end and a feature bird bath in the gravel area at the house meaning no matter where you are in the garden you get a fantastic view of a great piece of garden art. We made sure the patio was large enough to fit a table and eight chairs on easily with room left over for secondary seating if the clients desire

And there will be plenty of demand for extra seating with this stunning curtain cascade water feature the main focal point of the breakfast patio. The water will run through a rill travelling alongside the edge of the patio, creating some relaxing noise to enjoy. While the feature is great to look at its also child friendly being extremely shallow – allowing some education and play with water.

The kids side of the garden is to be split into two main areas; the soft play area and the lawn, so if there was to be any boredom on the play equipment they could always jump off and have a kick-a-bout on the lawn. There’s still room for planting so that if the young ones develop some green fingers there’ll be scope for a wee vegetable garden!

The geometric shapes we’ve opted for in this design really make the most out of the space available to us which is critical to the brief. We had to get a lot in here to keep the kids amused – you know the attention span they have!

Can’t wait to get this one started so keep an eye out for updates on how the job is progressing and the finished photos

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

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]]> http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/large-family-garden-design-in-east-kilbride/feed/ 0 http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-south-long-narrow-garden-design-in-clarkston/ http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-south-long-narrow-garden-design-in-clarkston/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:08 +0000 Matthew Thomson http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/?p=741

Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Nicky Patterson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

The design was commissioned by Alastair J from a Clarkston in the southside of Glasgow, Scotland.

His brief required:

• Some decking
• A secondary seating area to catch the evening rays
• A low maintenance solution with a lawn
• A ramp to allow disability access
• Some privacy fencing

The decking area had already been nominated to be protruding from the rear of the house. The garden was long and narrow, (and narrowing!) so ellipsing oval lines became evident after playing around with some different shapes.  These lines also helped develop the area to accommodate a second patio area at the bottom of the garden which was where the evening sun settled.

The tear-shaped deck creates a fantastic base to begin leading the eye around the garden.  The smooth curved lines also sooth the mood of the garden into a calm and stylish space in which to entertain and lounge.

The lawn gives some lush green and soft quality to the area immediately below the decking which then allows us to transgress into a gravel garden area which will be bursting with grasses and low growing shrubs, creating some texture and shape.  The raised bed along the far side allows us to manage the lateral height difference in the garden whilst also installing some further structural interest to the space which will be reinforced by some dense and repetitive planting.

This end of the garden gathers the majority of the afternoon and evening sun – so some shade in the form of a ‘floating’ pergola, is welcome but I fell also necessary here to reconcile with the obstruction posed by the garage building.  Here the garage is somewhat integrated with the garden and therefore becomes less obtrusive.  the form of the pergola offers some contrasting lines to those established by the elliping ovals and this helps to confirm the design aesthetic within thi garden.

The material colour pallete is more or less monochromatic but use of green slate shale in the gravel beds offer tonal interest which prepares the way for the lush green grasses and shrubbery which are accentuated by bursts of white, pink and red.

This design was commissioned yet unfortunately the project has not yet come to fruition, which is disappointing because I really like the design and would love to get the finished article into our portfolio.  C’est la vie!!

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Nicky Patterson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

This project comes from Netherlee, an area in-between Clarkston and Muirend in the southside of Glasgow in Scotland where Louise M has commissioned this design for her small front garden which was cramped and darkened by overgrown shrubs and hedges.

Her brief included:

• A low maintenance solution to the garden as a whole

• To brighten up a originally dull area

• Some terracing and planting to suit the shape of the garden

As you can see the original garden is dense and awkward with planting and light levels are poor. The hedge and large mature tree on either side certainly don’t help either!

The plan is to create a modern and contemporary formal front garden – the entrance to any property needs to befit and frame the building but must be found to be simple yet attractive.  Louise had requested a small seating area to catch some evening sun and I chose to incorporate this in the form of a small circle cobbled patio – to fit a small bistro table and two chairs.  The rest of the design would pivot in radials around this forming a lawn, a gravel path, some attractive low maintenance shrubs and a small raised bed.

To address the issue of the low light levels in the garden and the confinement of space -  I’ve introduced a fan shaped lawn inkeeping with the pivot theme that opens the area up and creates further usable but low maintenance sections. Obviously, being a front garden, I have kept the access steps and path as straight forward as original but have tied these into the rest of the design by cobbling them in a similar fashion to the patio.

Fanning from the cobbled patio is the lawn and a slate shale pathway leading down to the retaining wall and steps to low level where a raised bed provides some essential colour – using low maintenance grasses and shrubs. The slate really brightens the garden up and provides a nice crunch underfoot.

It was important to have a bright base for the low level to reflect some light up onto the walls and the space on the top level so a silver granite gravel will be laid as a pavement, providing a low maintenance solution while offering a good contrast with the dark cobbled edging stones.

Bamboo and lavender planting around the patio offer further audio and frangrant sensory qualities, creating a pleasant environment in which to enjoy a cup of tea or glass of wine, while the different levels and heights help to give that extra dimension and feeling of a greater space than actually exists but also produces some interesting walkways and paths that will procure some enjoyment and sense of function for the client and any guests she may have visiting.

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

]]> http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-contemporary-front-garden-design-in-netherlee/feed/ 0 http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-west-contemporary-garden-design-in-anniesland/ http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-west-contemporary-garden-design-in-anniesland/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:00 +0000 Matthew Thomson http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/?p=591

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Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Nicky Patterson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

The design was commissioned by Nicky K from a new build townhouse property in Anniesland in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland.

His brief required:

• Somewhere to relax after a days work
• A stylish and contemprary design with some light colours
• Simple and low maintenance planting
• A water feature
• Some lighting
• A small lawn area

This design is for the new build property which have been left unturfed with bare soil and with a slight gradient up towards the back fence from the house.

It is quite a narrow garden and so my initial idea was to bring in some shape and create the sense of space through use of circles and curved lines. The basis of the design centres around a circular lawn which dominates the middle area of the garden but is then subdued by the inclusion of tree trunk disks and segmentation by a water rill which springs from a water feature at the top left corner of the garden, runs underneath the deck and then disappears at the house.

The use of pale sandstone will brighten the area and provide the perfect entertainment patio for Nick and Wendy to enjoy some evening dinner in the relative style and comfort of their new garden.

A lemon-shaped deck provides the perfect platform for a couple of loungers which will catch the last of the evening sun and the interaction of the water feature will create a pleasant environment in which the clients can enjoy a glass of wine.

The decked area will bring raised by about 2ft from the level of the lawn thus creating a cascade waterfall feature in front of stone filled gabion cages which allow the water to trickle into the rill. The use of subtle planting and beach pebble creates a seaside effect and we can introduce some height interest through the use of cypress trees down the right hand side.

The low retaining wall will slope from the height of the deck down to the height of the paving thus dealing with the height difference within the garden and allowing for several terraces within the space; one for the patio, one for the lawn and one for the deck.

Keep posted for the completed pictures of this project!

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

[Follow me to see the completed pics!]

Peter and Julie M commissioned this design in Kelvindale near Hyndland in the west end of Glasgow, Scotland.  Their brief required:

• Removal of the square shapes and lines already established in the garden
• To create a fairly low maintenance space
• A flowing and soft design, no rigid or restricting lines

The garden consists mainly of lawn and has a considerable slope towards the house. Peter and Julie would like to retain the apple tree near the back of the garden, which will fit into the design perfectly.

The new design alters the entrance to the garden: as you come from the original decking at the house (bottom), steps lead you up to a pale sandstone patio and a sea-flint path which runs almost centrally through the garden and up into a purple slate shale seating circle where the apple tree stands.

Some terracing has been introduced in the for of steps so there will be three levels, the patio, the circle at the shed and the seating circle. The Sandstone patio is certainly big enough to hold a large table and chairs and some informal seating created by the steps should help if anyone is left out!

Hugging the seating circle is a reclaimed stone wall which tapers to ground level at the entrance – reinforcing the flow of the garden. Using the reclaimed stone will enhance a rural style and should appear to have been there as an old feature, as will the old apple tree and the wild flower turf used to border the central shape

The central circle will have the gravel path cutting through it and on the shed side will be cobbled to provide a solid surface for potting and accessing tools from the shed.  Opposite, a green slate shale planting bed provides an opportunity to add some intersting specimen plants – here I have suggested a corkscrew hazel as a centre piece.

Shrubs and ornamental grasses will fill out the beds and wild flower turf will add some seasonal variation  – this will be virtually maintenance free requiring a cut only ONCE a year!

Bursts of planting through the Slate Shale will create more dimension to the shapes and will draw the eye from the house toward the seating circle and apple tree. The materials and layout of the design will ensure Peter and Julie acquire a relaxing, flowing country-style garden to enjoy whilst not having to put in too much hard work maintaining it!

We are very excited about this project and hope to get it under-way in the very near future so keep an eye out for the finished pics!

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

Please check us out and connect with us at our profiles below!

[Follow me to see the completed pics!]