Displaying posts labeled "Outdoors"

I can smell the salt in the air and hear the crash of relentless waves. Sand whipped up by the stiff onshore breeze stings my shins. I squint into the bright light and wonder if I’ll trek down to the beach and plunge headfirst into the sea or whether I should be sensible, walk back inside and slather cream into my sunburn. A beautiful location, a beautiful house, a beautiful daydream. Big Bay Beach House, 25 minutes drive from Cape Town, South Africa and available for holiday let. Maybe not a dream after all.

It’s probably too late in the year. It is probably too cold. Snow may have fallen and the trees are more than likely bare by now but next year… next year as summer fades and the autumn closes in you’ll find me sitting on the porch, perhaps with a fire crackling in the corner, a rug close by. Yes you’ll find me rocking quietly, drinking in the view… in my dreams. By Meyer Davis Studio.

Is this the ultimate home cinema? Pass the popcorn and roll the film, I’m moving in. Perched on a ridge line in the Hollywood Hills, the Skyline Residence by Belzberg Architects may incorporate sustainable design practices, may have clean modern lines, expansive rooms with outrageous views through vast walls of glass but what we all will be pinning and filing away for another day will be the outdoor theatre. Genius.

With the warm weather my garden is shooting away. I swear I can almost see the plants growing. Up until now my backyard has been a little hit and miss. A cutting stuck in here. An overgrown houseplant liberated into a garden bed there. It’s time to get serious. It’s time to channel my inner gardener. My husband and I don’t want to be weekend slaves to the lawn mower. We are lucky to have old brick pavers but as they were once a driveway they cut through the space with surgical precision. It all needs a little softening. We would love rambling groundcovers or meandering paths of crushed granite. Perhaps vines and stands of bamboo. Definitely overgrown. Somewhere shady to sit. Maybe we’ll break up the paving into a checkerboard of plants and bricks and gravel. Something graphic but still casual with space for a veggie bed. I’ve started collecting inspiration. Here are a few ideas from two of my favourite Australian landscape designers… Eckersley Garden Architecture and Brendan Moar. I can see a trip to my garden centre very soon.

Eckersley Garden Architecture

Brendan Moar

 With over 200 years of horticultural heritage, Hayes Garden World attracts over a million visitors a year. Set in picturesque Ambleside in the UK, the centre stocks an extensive variety of interior design, and garden features.

You’ll find me here with a bowl of popcorn or maybe a pizza slice and definitely a dip in the pool if the on screen action gets a little too hot. Love this house by Koning Eizenberg.