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

First in a series of blog posts showcasing some of the great ideas out there that help inspire our garden designs and will inspire you to get design motivated!!

Until our new office is completed on Canary Wharf in London I am committed to working from home in Clarkston in Glasgow.  My office measures 2m x 2m and is used by me and my apprentice designer Matthew who will be making an appearance here soon.  The home-office idea isn’t a new one but is certainly becoming more popular and more acceptable within business models: check out these ideas as featured in TreeHugger.com.

The “New Staple of the American Home”

How to sleep on the job – and get away with it!

Check out this organic and living chair by Shinwei Rhoda Yen

Must have been a fun-guy that came up with that idea!!

Garden gnomes have shifted their twee-ness and transported straight into the 21st century.  Check these wee guys out:

Get the kids involved with the garden this year:

And finally here is a fantastic new site to help you plant up those beds and borders:

Tata for now!

Nicky Patterson, Designer, GardenImprovements.com

This design is commissioned by Stewart and Karen M of Motherwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland.We had already landscaped the back of the Maxwell’s garden and they were keen to have the front made into a hard-standing driveway.  The existing front garden consisted of red chips and a small lawn area.

We had already landscaped the back of the Maxwell’s garden and they were keen to have the front made into a hard-standing driveway.  The existing front garden consisted of red chips and a small lawn area.

The aim of the design is to reduce the impact of the hard landscaping on the effect of the property – a traditional sandstone semi.  Monoblock is certainly far too modern a material to use and the budget ruled out using traditional stone – the driveway area will be at least 110 sq m!  The medium choice is the tumbled block which comes in 3 sizes and always looks handsome when installed.

The turning circle is one of the main reasons why Stewart and Karen want the change; they live on the eternally busy Hamilton Road in Motherwell and parking on the street can be hazardous.  Thus the lawn area has to go out of necessity and furthermore the clients wish for a low maintenance solution for the front.

The replacement for the lawn area is a ‘feature corner’.  Basically we will install two very large rockery stones amongst a bed of beach pebbles and boulders, and plant the area up with grass, sedge, hosta and fern to achieve a clean but interesting effect – an idea which is popular with those that design roundabout landscaping and business parks…though that is meant as a good thing!

So this should present visitors with a subconscious familiarity whilst presenting the property in an easygoing light, not too formal – but thankfully nothing as close to a car park either!

The side of the house is the runway to the garage.  We did discuss the possibility of breaking up the paving beyond here, but Stewart and Karen decided to run the paving the full length – providing their wee boy with a suitable area to run a trike up and down.

The colour of the materials will be more or less subtle variations of pinks and greys to suit the house material.  The feature corner will be linked to where possible through the use of planters which will break up the swathes of stone with some soft lines and bright colours.

We don’t take on many driveways but when we do I am always keen to avoid paving the area from wall to wall – this type of treatment, in my opinion, never looks good and rather than ticking the ‘kerb appeal’ box, I find it tends to set an austere and soul-less tone; which for a home can never be a good thing.  Here the paving is really kept to a minimum as far as possible without compromising the client brief.

This project was completed in January 2008 but we unfortunately lost the finished photographs (along with all of our 06 and 07 builds) in a computer crash.  We will be returning soon to get these so keep posted…and remember backup is the key!!

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

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]]> http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/lanarkshire-tailored-driveway-design-in-motherwell/feed/ 0 http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-east-small-driveway-garden-design-in-baillieston/ http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/index.php/2011/02/15/glasgow-east-small-driveway-garden-design-in-baillieston/#comments Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:01:01 +0000 Matthew Thomson http://gardenimprovements.com/wordpress/?p=852 Welcome to another project article in our Garden Design Portfolio Series.  This garden has been designed by Matthew Thomson and will be built by the team of garden designers and landscapers at GardenImprovements.com.

This design is commissioned by Pamela K in from Baillieston, near to Uddingston in the east end of Glasgow, Scotland.

from Matthew Thomson

Pamela’s brief was:

• To provide a new driveway

• To keep 50% of the area ‘soft’ due to council planning regulations

• To replace existing fence and gate

• Budget of around £2.5k

The original garden is fairly run down and unkempt, while the driveway is plain concrete slabs.

The plan for this design was to start in the top right hand corner, and using a centre point, radiate lines from this throughout the garden towards the house. This creates some interesting curves to break away from the conventional ‘straight’ driveway.

For the driveway itself we will be using a Brindle mono-block, which provides plenty of nice reds and charcoal colour, and finishing off the driveway up to the house is some Golden gravel that will contrast nicely with the mono-block.

The strips of Charcoal block running through the driveway and lawn to the gravel ring in the corner, whilst providing contrast with the other materials, will draw the eye from the house or stepping from the car up to the corner where there will be a feature tree, like a cherry blossom. The sweeping lines through the lawn are gravel and planting strips to break up the lawn area and provide continuity of the radials.

For the gravel strips we will use the same Golden gravel as the end of the driveway to balance the materials throughout the garden. As Pamela is looking for low maintanence planting scheme the strips will consist of some evergreen shrubs such as lavender and heather and some ornamental grasses.

The segments of lawn will brighten up the whole area, coupled with the planting scheme Pamela will have a really attractive garden to greet her from work and have the neighbours casting a envious eye! I think the sweeping lines create much more interesting shapes than your conventional driveway and will frame the house perfectly.

Keep a look out for future blogs to see how Pamela’s driveway takes shape!

Thanks for reading

Matthew Thomson, Apprentice Garden Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

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This contemporary garden design was commissioned by Laura A from the west end of Paisley in Renfrewshire near Glasgow, Scotland. Laura wanted a social area with a sunny aspect where she and her husband could entertain and barbecue.  The new garden should be easily maintained and level where possible with nice deep and wide steps.  As she was expecting she also needed some space for some toddler’s play equipment but was adamant that the garden would be for the family as a whole and not just for kids.

Designer: Nicky Patterson

Her existing garden consisted of lawn with a concrete slab path running round the left hand side of this to the shed and access to a back lane. There is a moderate slope from the house down to the back wall.

Directly from the house is a paved area with plenty of room for a children’s play area and a breakfast patio to catch that morning sun. To negotiate the slope in the garden, sweeping steps will take Laura onto the lawn area and then from the lawn down to the gate to the lane. A dining patio at the foot of the lawn will provide an excellently proportioned entertaining space and a simple somewhere to relax with a glass of wine.

Laura was keen on smooth flowing spaces, so the radial, fan-like design not only creates proportional functional spaces but adds to the aesthetic quality while broadening the narrow garden to the eye. The steps throughout the garden, although a requirement to harness the slope, will enhance the feeling of extra space as they create three separate platforms. The lawn is a good size for toddlers to run around on but the layout also forms a interesting shape in keeping with the rest of the design.

To make the step access more interesting they will be differing sizes and staggered with planting beds at either side. The Cyprus trees will create height and structure on the left hand side to mirror the raised planting bed behind the patio and give a balance to the garden. There is easily enough room on the patio for a table and 4-6 chairs but if that’s not sufficient then the raised bed creates some additional informal seating.

In order to keep a natural theme throughout the garden we will use Travertine paving for the patio and smooth granite sett cobbles for the steps and breakfast patio area. All the lines and shape in the garden are created using the radials from the circular patio thus creating a semi-formal but flowing appeal.

We all know kids grow up fast and in small modern urban gardens there will never be enough space for kids at every stage of development. Instead laying a soft play area here I decided to pave the upper terrace completely, so that when the expected small children grown out of a chute or sand pit these can simply be removed to open up more usable space for Laura and her husband to enjoy.

With room a plenty for keeping guests entertained and children happy, all Laura and co need now is for the sun to shine on Paisley!

This project was due to commence in early 2010 but has been postponed until late 2010 – we will, as ever, post the results upon completion!

Nicky Patterson, Garden Designer @ GardenImprovements.com

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Here is an article I wrote for the much celebrated Landscape Juice Network back in February 2009.  I think much of it still holds true currently for the many businesses, established and start-up alike in the landscape and garden design industries.

Landscaping through the recession : Landscape and garden expert.

To see a commentary of the design process for this project please click here

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

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

The design was commissioned by Arlene L from the Westacres estate of Newton Mearns in the southside of Glasgow in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

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.

Her original back garden was basic and had some concrete press work to from a patio.  The side garden had been landscaped to appear like a small, basic Mediterranean courtyard.  Arlene loved to visit Spain with the family and wanted a flavour of this to be implemented in the new garden.  She also specified that now her kids had reached a certain age they no longer needed the garden and the new space was to be for her and her husband Michael to enjoy, relax and entertain in.

The garden presents an awkward tri-angular shape which isn’t normally very easy to work function into.  We could implement a rectangular theme, with the base lines off-centre from perpendicular with the house – perhaps at 90 degrees to either fence might work; but I wanted to achieve an introversial garden which would create an urban haven rather than one which stretches the boundaries of the space and tries to reach beyond the fence line.  A large dominant circle presented a good base from which to build the different elements of the design upon.  Keeping the perimeter of the circle within the boundary forces an inward-looking and contained environment – which is what we want.

To achieve some essence of the Mediterranean region, or at least some southern European flavour and in particular Spain; I drew some inspiration from Gaudi and Dali.  The raised bed you see will be formed very loosely from concrete – there will be uniform height but no uniform width; this will create some interesting formations as the concrete sets. This is my attempt to pay some small homage to the effects that Guadi procured in his awesome La Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona.  The colour scheme is also very vibrant to suit this and I have opted to install an elegant mosaic water feature in the back corner.  The Dali element perhaps comes in here where the water will pour from taps at skewed angles into an illuminated Belfast sink.

The circular pathway will be formed from smooth beach cobbles to procure a little rustic charm – firmly modernised by the constraint of the pure circle.  Two circular decked platforms reinforce the circular them and splashes of bold block colours maintain a bright and fun, playful element to the garden.

The planting scheme must embellish the established theme and so cypress, lavender and yuccas will be used.  These will be accompanied by some ‘quirky’ shrubs such as the contorted hazel, and sedum.  Lambs ears, hostas and a cercidiphyllum offer some rich strong lines and a varied texture.

The original brick walls on the far side will be rendered up and painted accordingly.  We will use a bright aggregate on the ‘floor’ of the garden and in the raised bed I want to use a stone called ‘moon-stone’ which should further add to the fun of the garden design!

The water feature makes the most of the awkward corner area and provides an excellent focal point which doesn’t intrude on the rest of the garden.

This project was constructed by us in the summer of 2007.  Unfortunately we lost most of our 06, 07 and early 08 pictures in a computer crash but we will be revisiting these projects in the spring of 2010.

Kind regards

Nicky Patterson, Designer @ Gardenimprovements.com

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