Garden Design

Case Study: "Durie Garden" - featured in Canadian Living Magazine June 2007.
Bloor West Village, Toronto.

Goal:

In the Bloor West Village area, homes tend to be quite small and so the garden becomes an integral part of this home's living space.

Lisa worked on this private project to transform a bare backyard to a beautiful, lush oasis. Lisa needed a design to "widen" the garden, hide the storage area and provide a choice of outdoor "rooms" that extended the indoor space into the outdoors.

Solution:

The entire design, from concept to completion was Lisa's - including all flowers, pots furniture, accessories, all hardscape, softscape, placement, lighting and fabrics. Lisa was aided by Andrew Smith Contracting to build the pergola - which is now surrounds the family's favourite summertime dining room. Strategically placed lights illuminate the garden at night and transform it into magical patterns of light and shadow. Spotlighting the pergola's sturdy open lattice at the end of the garden creates a focus, and usable evening dining space.

As for storage, the ugly shed never makes it into Lisa’s gardens. In this instance, the challenge was for Andrew to take the antique doors from a Cabbage Town home and make that the focal point of attention, hiding the “shed” area in behind. The height of the doors helped to camouflage a very unattractive and large shed in behind the home. Andrew cleverly installed them on a sliding system so they wouldn’t take up as much room either opened or closed. This has become a main attraction in the back dining area

Last but not least, Lisa would like to thank her faithful dog, "Toto" for his constant presence and support.