Views
Most of our urban clients long for a private outdoor space in the city. Our challenge is always to deliver this, while also devising views from the doors and windows of the house that will enhance the pleasure of living there while creating a new sense of space.
A Chiswick Hideaway
Upon stepping through the front door of the house, your gaze is immediately drawn to the garden, an enchanting space that beckons you with its allure. The sliding glass doors serve as a frame to a living artwork, one that undergoes a mesmerising transformation with the changing seasons, imbuing it with an air of suspense and anticipation as you await the unfolding spectacle.
The elegant outdoors: Alexander Square, London.
Whether seen from the basement or the ground floor, this garden is dominated by the round table and colourful pendant lights hanging over it. This carefully constructed view draws the eye away from the garden’s narrow boundaries, creating a sense of space.
Edgy Woodland Wonderland
The sliding glass doors hold and frame the view of the captivating garden beyond. As the curtains are drawn back, a theatrical unveiling commences. The garden takes on the role of a grand performer, seamlessly transitioning from season to season. In early spring, delicate spring bulbs make their debut, peeking through the earth. Summer arrives, bringing forth the lush and layered greenery of the woodland garden. Finally, as autumn approaches, the scene crescendos with a breathtaking spectacle of Ginko leaves transforming into vibrant shades of yellow, harmoniously echoing the yellow pots, which now claim centerstage. All of this natural splendour unfolds before your very eyes through this enchanting view.
This perspective, however, doesn’t encourage you to merely observe the garden from a fixed vantage point. Instead, it draws you into the space, transforming the performance of the garden into an interactive masterpiece that invites you to embark on an exploratory adventure.
Maximum rewards: Redcliffe Road, London.
We stopped the view from the basement of Redcliffe Road in Chelsea with a multi-stem Amelanchier lamarkii, which is guaranteed to delight the eye with spring blossom, summer berries and autumn colour, giving pleasure throughout the year.
Seen through the doors of the basement, an enfilade of elegant pots create another eyecatcher, and draw the eye towards the steps.
Satisfying the senses, Cresswell Place, London.
The most important feature in this garden is a wall fountain made from three bronze taps running into a stone basin. The fountain sits at the centre of the view, distracting the eye from houses that might otherwise appear to tower over the garden.
Spring Blossom, Autumn Fruit, Kensington, London.
The view through the basement is interrupted only by the narrow glazing bars of the window, so that the garden has become an almost seamless extension of the house. By creating this bond between house and garden we made the limited outdoor space feel very much larger.
New house, new garden.
This feature wall is made of subtly coloured, glittering tiles taken from Cristina Celestino’s Plumage collection, produced in Italy by Botteganove. It transforms what was once a dull view from the basement, drawing the eye and tempting us to step outside and sit down at the table.