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Yeah that all makes sense. I think the garden just needs to make a little more ‘sense’ there’s a big paved area, an ugly ‘stone’ wall step thing, so lawn, a deck which is never used for anything, mature plants to one side and very little on the other (it used to be a huge hedge which I removed. The log cabin would be turned into a purpose built home office/gym which kid would probably turn into a den as she gets older
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Tenderloin
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I'm very jealous of your garden in its current state tbh. Bit of grass watering and that would look luuush.
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Have you drawn a birdseye view of it and drawn out how you use it? I found this really helpful for working out how to redo our back. I used light crayons to then highlight sun/shade spots.
My 2p says that you're starting from an amazing place.
- big paved area - that's good surely? If not get some pots or big planters to break it up
- an ugly ‘stone’ wall step thing - I would work with this rather than against it. Bringing the lawn to the same level would be extortionate for no gain. Add a physical or visual block. At one end of the scale tall see-through plants, at the other a taller wall with built in seating. Then cut into the lawn with some sort of shallow step.
- lawn - useful for a kid. Just go to the garden centre and buy plants for the other side.
- a deck - isn't this for the current log cabin? Why don't you use it? If its shit make it more interesting, see point below
- The log cabin - sounds good. It's the thing at the back left? I would turn that whole area into a 'room'. Maybe something slightly Japanese themed with water that will be nice to look at out of the office/garden room.
- Other - I'd use that interesting and mature planting on the left to build into a kids adventure area. It's next to the lawn for ball games and running, and I think from other pics it's in line with the view from your kitchen right?
Here's my drawing:
Zone 1 - patio with wall and/or seating steps to lawn.
Zone 2 - kids area - play shit and lawn (that tree is begging to be brought into a kids area)
Zone 3 - home office and peace garden / future bunning area for your kid(s) - using matching materials to join the indoor and outdoor space, etc.Other than the garden room I don't think it requires removing much or going mental on the build.
- big paved area - that's good surely? If not get some pots or big planters to break it up
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Most useful thing I did was build a simple SketchUp model, geolocated it and then made some crude sun path maps. It meant I tweaked the layout I was thinking of for the better. Really depends on your site and how you want to use it - but broadly speaking - sunny spot for breakfast coffee - semi shaded area for lunch (if you don’t want to buy a parasol) - sunny area for late afternoon drinks / summer evening meals. We didn’t have a lot of money, the garden was too small in area for a separate play zone - but the kids were little so a lawn made sense - now they are older (9/11) the lawn is pointless and I would absolutely get rid of it. I’m very into the idea of dividing gardens into rooms . Agree with @hugo7 that ripping out mature shrubs comes at a cost later on - so leave / save what you can. Dan Pearson’s book “home ground” was my primer.
seager
hugo7
Sheppz
I'd also think about how old your kid is now (and future kids) and how they'll actually use the garden as time goes on.
We have 4 & 6yo and in the garden have:
Mud kitchen as a staging area for imaginative play has prob had the most play out of anything across all the ages. The Wendy House also gets a decent amount of time, but much more going in and out and the slide has been a novelty rather than a feature. And overall less impact than I thought. I wonder if something big enough for 2 kids to sit and do drawing would be the ideal.
All that to say, don't over thing the kid aspect. Some sort of activity area in a rough sightline and not in full sun all day is all you need.
With some imagination you can make it not look unattractive.