UK Garden Tour: A Tiny, L-Shaped Courtyard Gets a Chic Makeover
This small apartment garden is a tricky shape and needed to serve numerous purposes. Enter a practical new redesign
Garden designer Georgia Lindsay’s clients had seen a project of hers on Houzz with similarities to their own tricky plot in London, UK, and got in touch to see if she could help them. That courtyard was also a small space and one into which Lindsay had packed a lot of functionality.
This appealed, as the owners needed their compact outdoor area to include a family-sized bike shed, a parking space and extra security. It also had to be a relaxing place to sit, to acknowledge the owners’ appreciation of stylish design, and to include bee- and butterfly-attracting plants.
This appealed, as the owners needed their compact outdoor area to include a family-sized bike shed, a parking space and extra security. It also had to be a relaxing place to sit, to acknowledge the owners’ appreciation of stylish design, and to include bee- and butterfly-attracting plants.
Lindsay’s visualisation of her client’s L-shaped space shows the redesign from above. The green area next to the car is the neighbour’s garden.
“It’s quite an unusual plot,” says Lindsay. The owners’ garden belongs to a large, upstairs converted apartment; the original garden was divided into two when the house was converted. The result is an L-shaped plot that includes a metal staircase leading up to their floor.
Before Lindsay came onboard, the garden had low fencing that wasn’t doing a good job of providing screening for either side. “Because of the layout, the owners and the downstairs neighbour felt very much in each other’s pockets,” she says.
The other garden forms a rectangle inside the L. The aim was to create a sense of intimacy without it becoming claustrophobic or hemmed in.
“It’s quite an unusual plot,” says Lindsay. The owners’ garden belongs to a large, upstairs converted apartment; the original garden was divided into two when the house was converted. The result is an L-shaped plot that includes a metal staircase leading up to their floor.
Before Lindsay came onboard, the garden had low fencing that wasn’t doing a good job of providing screening for either side. “Because of the layout, the owners and the downstairs neighbour felt very much in each other’s pockets,” she says.
The other garden forms a rectangle inside the L. The aim was to create a sense of intimacy without it becoming claustrophobic or hemmed in.
The standout feature is the black fretwork screening, which Lindsay put up on two sides of the garden; one section of it includes the gate out to the car parking space. The screening was partly to conceal the car and hide the bins from the rest of the space, but also for added security. Previously, there had just been an open, wrought-iron fence between the old bike shed and the street, making it very visible.
This photo is taken from where the car would normally sit, looking towards the garden. The flooring is resin-bound gravel. “It’s a poured surface, but it’s permeable,” says Lindsay. “This is good for [allowing] water to go back into storm drains and it’s great for driveways.”
Lindsay chose a grey colour to tone with the grey porcelain tiles in the garden. All the fencing is painted in a darker grey.
Find a landscape architect or garden designer near you on Houzz to make a retreat of your outdoor area
This photo is taken from where the car would normally sit, looking towards the garden. The flooring is resin-bound gravel. “It’s a poured surface, but it’s permeable,” says Lindsay. “This is good for [allowing] water to go back into storm drains and it’s great for driveways.”
Lindsay chose a grey colour to tone with the grey porcelain tiles in the garden. All the fencing is painted in a darker grey.
Find a landscape architect or garden designer near you on Houzz to make a retreat of your outdoor area
Lindsay had a metal-framed hardwood seating area built in with planters at either end. “[It’s a floating design] to create the illusion of as much space as possible, rather than one down to the ground that could have closed off the space,” she says.
This close-up image of one of the planters shows it filled with a mix of Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii ‘Black Pearl’ (at the back), two heucheras (’Blondie in Lime’ and ‘Obsidian’) and Lysimachia tumbling onto the cushion in the front. Each planter features a similar mix. “I wanted to get some real acid-green colour in there to lift the monochrome,” says Lindsay.
Many of the plants, including an out-of-shot Persicaria, will also look good all year round. “In a very small space, it’s good to have a lot of evergreen foliage,” says Lindsay. “You can’t get away with bare patches in a small garden.” The tree seen in the previous shot is an evergreen Nandina domestica.
This close-up image of one of the planters shows it filled with a mix of Euphorbia characias subsp. wulfenii ‘Black Pearl’ (at the back), two heucheras (’Blondie in Lime’ and ‘Obsidian’) and Lysimachia tumbling onto the cushion in the front. Each planter features a similar mix. “I wanted to get some real acid-green colour in there to lift the monochrome,” says Lindsay.
Many of the plants, including an out-of-shot Persicaria, will also look good all year round. “In a very small space, it’s good to have a lot of evergreen foliage,” says Lindsay. “You can’t get away with bare patches in a small garden.” The tree seen in the previous shot is an evergreen Nandina domestica.
The climber is a clematis. The screening provides a good structure for it to grow up.
Browse more beautifully landscaped gardens
Browse more beautifully landscaped gardens
Another key design detail is the tiled ‘rug’ inlaid into a plain porcelain tile surround, which nicely zones the seating area. The patterned tiles are also porcelain, designed to resemble traditional encaustic ones.
“They’re printed to look encaustic, but they’re much more hardwearing and don’t need sealing every year.”
“They’re printed to look encaustic, but they’re much more hardwearing and don’t need sealing every year.”
Here’s a close-up of the tile-inlay flooring in the porcelain paving.
A significant existing feature was the wrought-iron staircase that leads to the owners’ apartment, the under-stairs part of which is used for storage. Also, behind the stairs is the neighbour’s back door.
To screen all this and to incorporate some greenery into the area, Lindsay clad the risers with artificial maidenhair fern panels. The faux fern comes on grids and was fitted behind the metal mesh of the risers and pulled through the gaps. “It was quite a job,” she says.
“I don’t usually like to use artificial, but sometimes in the setting it can be very effective,” she says. “And a real fern would have taken a battering here. It gives the illusion it’s real, because there’s lots of real planting in the garden as well. Also, it remains dense, it doesn’t deteriorate, and you don’t have to worry about stepping carefully. It was a good, robust solution.”
To screen all this and to incorporate some greenery into the area, Lindsay clad the risers with artificial maidenhair fern panels. The faux fern comes on grids and was fitted behind the metal mesh of the risers and pulled through the gaps. “It was quite a job,” she says.
“I don’t usually like to use artificial, but sometimes in the setting it can be very effective,” she says. “And a real fern would have taken a battering here. It gives the illusion it’s real, because there’s lots of real planting in the garden as well. Also, it remains dense, it doesn’t deteriorate, and you don’t have to worry about stepping carefully. It was a good, robust solution.”
The planters contain many of the same plants, but this one, next to the bike shed, also includes bee- and butterfly-attracting Verbena bonariensis. Unlike the rest of the planting, it dies back in the winter.
The planters themselves are fibreglass, meaning they can be just three millimetres thick, allowing more space for growing. They’ve been spray-painted to tone with the tiles.
The planters themselves are fibreglass, meaning they can be just three millimetres thick, allowing more space for growing. They’ve been spray-painted to tone with the tiles.
This view pulls back to show the position of the staircase in relation to the rest of the garden. The stairs are just visible, and this is the other side of the ‘L’, which also contains a custom-designed bike shed. The shed is the full height of the fence for maximum storage and accommodates the whole family’s bikes, as well as including shelves above.
The right-hand fence separates the space from the downstairs neighbour’s garden.
The right-hand fence separates the space from the downstairs neighbour’s garden.
The bike shed has a green roof, which brings more biodiversity to the garden. It also boosts the view of the garden from the owners’ kitchen window, which overlooks it.
Your turn
What ideas do you have for maximising space in a small garden? Let us know in the Comments below. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, save the images for inspiration and join the conversation.
More
Love British garden design? Get another fix here with this UK Garden Tour: A New Formal Design for a Tricky-Shaped Garden
What ideas do you have for maximising space in a small garden? Let us know in the Comments below. And if you enjoyed this story, like it, save the images for inspiration and join the conversation.
More
Love British garden design? Get another fix here with this UK Garden Tour: A New Formal Design for a Tricky-Shaped Garden
Garden at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two daughters
Location: London, UK
Property: An apartment on the top floors of a Victorian terrace corner house
Designer: Georgia Lindsay of Georgia Lindsay Garden Design
Garden size: 40 square metres in total
“It’s not that I specialise in small spaces,” says Lindsay, “but I’ve done quite a lot of them and I really enjoy the challenge.”
Lindsay trained as a theatre designer and says she likes creating spaces that are multipurpose, as is often the case with a stage set. “You have to be much more inventive in a smaller space. Things have to double up – a coffee table that’s also a fire pit, or a cupboard door dropping to become a bar area. Every surface is within eye level, so attention to detail has to be very precise because of that.”
The redesigned courtyard may look like a seamless extension of the homeowners’ living space, but Lindsay points out that it’s not typical of this idea, since it’s quite an effort to reach. “You can’t just nip out of your bi-fold doors to get to it,” she explains. In fact, the owners’ flat is up a flight of stairs, at the top of which is a little balcony that they use quite often.
So they wanted the ground-level courtyard to become a secondary space where they could enjoy nature for brief periods and have a drink, as well as storing the bikes and car. It also needed to look good from the balcony and as a transitional space, since the family walk through it to get into their apartment if they’ve been out in the car.