Top 5 Small Garden Transformations | Great Home Ideas

Discover how small backyards and courtyards can be transformed into beautiful, functional outdoor spaces, no matter the size or budget. From stylish low-maintenance designs to clever budget-friendly ideas, Charlie, Adam, and Jason show how a little creativity can go a long way. Whether you’re after a modern entertainer’s courtyard, a revived garden corner, or easy DIY landscaping upgrades, there’s inspiration for every home.

0:00 – Epic Backyard Makeover
7:48 – Stylish Garden Revamp
15:10 – Modern Courtyard Makeover
22:44 – Garden Space Revival
30:40 – Budget Backyard Transformation
37:50 – Urban Courtyard Upgrade

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So tell me, what are your ideas for the design in this small backyard? For me, it’s all about this tree. You see it from the house. It’s got this sculptural form. It’s fantastic, but it comes with a lot of problems. We got this huge canopy which shades out the ground so we can’t grow grass. And it’s got all these roots, so it’s going to be tough for plant grows. My idea for this garden is starting from the back, I need you to build me a deck coming off there, so an entertaining space with a wraparound bench seat. Another step down just to change level to add a bit of interest. And then we’ll come down to this lower level and to connect the back and the front some stepping stones through a mass planted garden bed. Let’s get [Music] started. A key part of this design is to try and make this garden feel bigger. So to do that, I’m going to run lines along this way so the eyes drawn outwards. Now, I’m sticking with a straight line all the way down through here to give it some symmetry, but I don’t want this paving to feel like a big concrete slab. So, we’re going to stagger the ends there. That’s going to allow more planting in to soften it [Music] up. The paper I’ve selected is a midtone gray concrete paper. This is going to be really hardwearing and easy to keep clean when that tree drops all its flowers and leaves. The light gray color is going to bounce some light around as well. It’s not going to suck any away. Gives us a nice contemporary [Music] look. For the deck, I’ve decided to bulk up the timber and I’m using two 40x 45s. That way, I get maximum span with minimum support because I don’t want to damage the roots of this beautiful tree. Now, I’m also making this decking in a modular system. So, I’m going to make the rectangle frame first and then make another two square frames that will go each side of the [Music] tree. You may think if I paved this whole area that it would be more practical and seem bigger, but it’s in fact going to feel smaller because it’s uninviting. You see it all at once and you’re not going to want to come into the garden. So, I’m staggering the paving which is going to allow me to bring plants in which soften the pavers and I’ve left some strips as well. So, this is going to allow the rain water down, which is going to get to that tree quicker and keep it [Music] healthier. Now, make sure these joists don’t go anywhere. I’m just putting on some joist hangers. Now, it’s very important when you’re putting these on and you’re using a pneumatic coil gun that you get the hardened nails. That way, it won’t ricochet off and hurt you. When you put them on, obviously, they go underneath. And these will make sure that our joist never [Music] move. This deck’s coming together nicely. Now, the good thing about building it in a modular form is that you can temporarily prop it with timbers and bricks. Now, it’s in its final position. We can lock it into place. So, I’m just digging some holes and putting some posts in. Now, I saw how good Charlie was at moving the dirt around before, so I think I might get him to give me a hand. Hey, Charles, do some more landscaping, mate. There’s a reason why people name their dogs after me. You know, I like digging holes in the garden. Come on, get us some. Here you go. It’s a brand new one, mate. Oh, thank you. Beautiful. All right, I’ll race you. Let’s go. [Music] [Applause] [Music] All right. What next? Onto the lower deck. Now, this lower deck is exactly the same as the upper deck. We’ve made it in a modular form, but because you right, mate. Yeah. My back’s still intact. Yeah. Because it’s sitting hard on the ground. The only difference is we’ve used H4 timber instead of H3 because it’s not going to be getting any ventilation. [Music] Last two. Final two, mate. How good’s inbuilt furniture? Love it. Doesn’t take up as much room. Just as practical. And it looks gorgeous. You know what? Most people when they’re putting furniture into a garden, you’ve got to design the space around it. The movement. You don’t need to with built-in stuff. You can maximize the space. It’s great. Yeah, it’s awesome. So I’m here to take what’s mine. I’ve been fighting all my life here. What’s this stuff is PVC called? Aac board. And yeah, it’s PVC. So it doesn’t get hot under foot like the composite boards do. Yeah. Pretty amazing how it works. But they just disappear. [Music] One of the tricks for making a small space feel bigger is to get lots of plants in. I really like hedging around the outside of a small garden because it hides all those angles that draws the eye in and makes it feel small. This is a hedge called waterous. It’s got this fantastic lime green new growth which again is going to make this whole area feel much bigger. [Music] Now, I haven’t left this section of the garden free from decking or planting. It’s a design feature. I’ve got a bit of an issue. We’ve got the drain running through here and a tap. So, it’s going to be difficult to have decking or planting. But that doesn’t mean we can’t have anything nice and green. This is a Magnolia Grand Flora and it’s a variety called Teddy Bear. It’s only going to get to about 3 mters. It’s going to stay even smaller because I’m putting it in a pot. I have one here and the second one here to give us a lovely backdrop to our seating. Let the [Music] outside. If you’re after a lowmaintenance garden, you need to group your plantings so they’ve got similar water requirements like this. fantastic bunch of drought tolerant plants I’ve got here. Now I’m going for a combination of rounded shrubs, the rafflepsis and the winger. And then I’m going to punctuate with vertical accent with a combination of grasses, rock lillies, and these fantastic [Music] echanatius. Oh, look at that. I think I think I’ve done you proud over here, mate. First, Charlie, the enchilada is going in the ground. The is going in the ground. Oh, same different. Yeah, I guess they’re both edible. I know you have that one. My songs I can’t find no words to say. [Music] Hey, I’m still dreaming. Don’t believe what I see. Well, mate, I think we’ve created a banger of a backyard. Yeah, it’s done fantastic on the design. Thanks. And uh you’re a better builder than you are a landscaper. That’s for sure. I’ll take that. What do you reckon we should do it again sometime? Absolutely. [Music] Now, not all of us have a showstopping garden in the backyard. It might be zero desire, but for most of us, it’s just time. You know, we’re busy doing work. When you’ve got a small space to work with, it’s super important to find out from the homeowner what they really want. So, I’m thinking about putting in three modular landings with some built-in furniture so Jack and the family will have loads of space. Heap of paint on the roller. Go over it slowly and concentrate on all the little nooks and crannies. [Music] This is one of the three frames. Now, if you can build a sand pit, which is just the four sides on the outside for the kids, you can build the frame for this deck. It’s exactly that. Four sides and then inlaid with four 50 mil centers. All of this is sitting on the ground. So, it’s important that this is treated pine H4. That means it can go in contact with the earth. We’re going to clad it with a beautiful spotted gum decking. So, from top, it’s going to look like the builders have been in. But the frame underneath is as simple as putting A into B into C. [Music] [Applause] When you’re building a deck, you need a couple of things to make it as easy as possible because it’s very repetitive. For starters, this little drill has a head on it, so when it goes in, it stops at the right height, but it also gives you the large head that hides the head of this flush with the timber. Secondly, if you can afford two drills, it’s great because it means you keep going without changing your bits all the time. All these little yellow markers are spaces at 4 mil. It means I can lay the whole deck out, screw off about every sixth or seventh one and keep going getting the whole deck down before I go back and screw them in a nice straight line cuz I’ve either used a string line or a chalk line to mark the center of this treated pine that I’m screwing into. When it comes to getting a nice straight edge on the ends of your deck, it’s a lot easier to mark it out with a pencil nice and sharp and then cut the excess off rather than trying to butt them all up straight. [Music] About halfway. So, what do you think? Oh, it looks awesome. Yeah, it looks really good. I mean, the option of a lawn really with the shade that you’ve got around here. Yeah. And the amount of work you’d have to put in, there’s kind of no chance. But this, the decks look good. We’ve covered them with plastic, so while we bring the soil and the plants in, we’re not going to ruin it. But I’d say we’re about halfway, which would suggest to me it’s about lunchtime, brother. Hold your horses, mate. Oh, I can’t wait. I eat like a horse, too. Now, as far as my levels go, I’ve raised the garden beds up a little bit. It’s all the soil that’s come out from underneath the three decks, plus we’re adding some mulch and compost. It’s like cow manure. This is a very sandy soil here. So, I don’t have to worry about drainage underneath my three decks. But if you’re on heavy clay, maybe the decks have to sit on top and the garden bed is a step down. Just so you don’t have to worry about drainage. Don’t worry about the treated pine being in contact with the soil. It’s H4. It can go in the ground. It’s the decking here that you don’t want to be touching the soil. [Music] Now, you got to agree the white painted wall looks a lot better than the old brick. But at the moment, it’s working like a massive reflector. It’s highlighting my eyes, but it’s making them squint at the same time. So, to soften it, we’ve got these two storebought down at Bunnings Rusty Screens. They’re about $90 each. [Music] Now, these guys are water houses. They’re a screening plant. They’re a lily pilly, but they’re larger than what we normally plant. Now, you might think, why am I putting such a big plant in a small courtyard? Well, from the back of the house, a negative is that you can see that block of units. These guys will get to four or 5 m. You can cut them back and keep them to a screen or a hedge so they don’t take over the backyard. Block that out. give you more privacy and turn this into a really intimate space. Now, this garden bed’s probably broken up into about four different zones, but we’re going to tie things in together. Now, if you have a look at the base of this one, you’ll get the gist of it. At the front, little ptorum called holein one. Now, they’re a great little plant for a busy family because they keep that ball shape. If you want to put them into a hedge, you can plant them about 50 cmters apart, give them a haircut a couple of times a year, and it works really well. But if you plant them just a little bit further apart than that, they can just fill that shape in. I guarantee you won’t have to touch them for a couple of years. Behind them, we’ve got a contrasting foliage cuz we got the dark and the lime green there of Raphaelis oriental Pearl. We got a few grasses to fill in the places and some liies. And then we got a magnolia teddy bear. The reason why I’ve gone for them is because there’s one next door and it’s doing spectacular. So, if it’s doing well there, chances are it’s going to do well here. That’s a great way to pick your plants. Now, even with the screens up, the white wall is very eye-catching to a negative on a hot summer’s day. So, to soften it and get a hedge sort of through here at waist height, I’m planting some more magnolia. Unlike the little gems, the teddy bears, and even the deciduous ones, this one’s called Cinderella. If you give it a haircut, stays nice and compact. Plus, it flowers its head off. I’ve seen these where there’s been that many flowers, you can hardly see the foliage. And as far as perfume, well, I reckon it’s right up there with [Music] jasmine. Lots of people are of the belief that you don’t water in the middle of the day because you’re going to burn the leaves of the plants. Now, there’s a chance that’ll happen, but it’s far more important that these plants get a bit of moisture now, and I can worry about a few burnt leaves [Music] later. These outdoor seats also double as storage. Stop my line. I’m going crazy. Another look and I’m feeling helpless. I’m going like crazy, mate. What do you think, mate? This is fantastic. Really is. I reckon it’s one of the best uses of a small space that we’ve ever done on the show. And without compromise, it is a very usable space. Think about what you had here before and how much luck you’d had in the garden. Not much. We’ve improved the soil. We’ve planted tougher plants. you are going to enjoy relaxing in this space rather than having to worry about and work on the plants. So, what’s your favorite part of the garden, mate? I just think the fact that we’ll be able to use it more and my daughter can dance around on these little platforms. Thanks very much for your help. Ah, Charlie, we’re always banging on, banging on about great makeovers on how to improve your home and your lifestyle. Yeah. Well, you’re going to love this one cuz after watching, you’re going to be able to build a deck, pave a courtyard, and design a garden from scratch. [Music] The clear out is done. It’s looking better already. Does look good, doesn’t it? What’s your plans, mate? So, I want to create some zones. So, they’ve got some destinations to go to. If you can build me a deck here, maybe a an archway between the two. Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll do some paving down there. Some terracing in between. All right, let’s go. Bryce. Okay. The framing’s complete and we’re on to the exciting part. laying the decking boards. And for that, we’re going for this beautiful black butt timber. To start, I’ve just measured in the width of a board, and I’ve chocked a line. And that’s what I’m going to work to first using this smart bit. I’ll pre-drill my holes, and it counters syncs it at the same time. Then I’ll screw that off. Once this line’s done, I’ll then just repeat the process for the rest of the deck. Not going to throw in to create a separate zone to the deck. I’m using a different surface down the bottom of the yard. And these are the pavers I’m going to be using. They’re relatively inexpensive concrete paver, which means they’re going to be hardwearing. And the color is perfect for our color scheme. We’ve got our timber with our arch. We got some trims and the fence color. And you can see the combination just works really well. [Music] It’s really tempting in a small area to try and get your hard stand as big as possible, but that actually makes it feel smaller and really uninviting. We’ve got two areas. We’ve got the flat deck and this flat bit of paving, but joining them up, we’ve got these two platforms that cross over. Now, the idea behind that is it slows you down as you walk through the space, which makes it feel bigger. We’ve also got some really ginormous garden beds here which you’ll be able to get loads of plants in [Music] because I wanted to put a lounge down in this part of the garden. So, we’ve got dining and lounge. I had to make this paving area quite large. The problem with that is it’s given us these narrow garden beds, but I really want greenery and interest on them. And so, I found this. This is a pack. It’s 10 bucks. It consists of these stainless steel eyelets which just go into holes and then there’s 5 m of wire which we run through and we’re going for a diamond pattern one cuz it looks nice. It’s a totally different feel to the top garden but it also shows off the fence color so it’s never going to feel too overgrown. [Music] As you know it’s pretty hot. Just a little bit hot. So, we need something that can cope with that. I’m using this star jasmine. So, it’s a a nice evergreen climber. It’s also got a white flower, fragrant flower, which is a nice nod back to the rose that was once here. And you’re literally just going to tie it onto the wires. Just wind it round and round. You can tie it on if you’re using small plants, but they’re long enough really to hold themselves on there. Then all you need to do is just keep it to that shape. You can trim it with shears or secretars and pretty good. Sounds amazing. Do you want to have a go at one? Hey, just let it go. You’re going to get there anyway. So, baby, oh, just let it go. A good tip for small spaces is to go big with your planting. And I’ve done it along the deck with these great water guns. Now, this is a variety called Luscious. It’s a real designer plant. It’s got lovely green leaves. It’s got a white trunk and black stems. So, it looks fantastic against our painted fence. [Music] I’m really happy with the planting that’s going into our wide deep garden beds. I’ve started it off with this pitporum. Now, this is called ivory sheen. You may think by putting a hedge in it segregates the garden up, but actually it slows you down. You take the planting in, it makes the space feel bigger. On the lower levels, one of my favorites. This is Raphaelpsis oriental pearl. This has a natural sort of bun shape, so you’re not going to have to clip it and it’s going to form a lovely cloud. We’ve got stringer, which is a native. We’ll keep that tightly clipped. And then to soften all of this, some nice grasses. [Music] [Music] In the lower part of the garden, I’m adding a bit of color using savvias. Now, I really like savvas. I’ve gone for a combination of this dark blue and this one which is a sally fun by color. The thing I like about these two is they only get to about 30 cm maybe 45 cm. So they’re never going to overtake the star jasmine like say a lucanthther or black and bluewood. We’re planting them all the way around the outside and then I’m dotting a few through our larger garden beds just to tie the two together. [Applause] Most of these plants are really quite drought tolerant once they’re established, but it’s a good idea to apply a layer of mulch. Now, I’ve just got drought master. It’s got quite a bit of compost in it as well, which is going to help to feed them over time. About 75 mm. It’s perfect depth. Left, right? I don’t know. You tell me. Where are we looking? [Music] Sick of complaining. It’s all about the styling, isn’t it? That it is. And this is looking complete. It’s looking good, isn’t it? Yeah. Beautiful, mate. I’m feeling so much more level. Yeah, but it doesn’t matter what we think, is it? Well, yeah. Up to Bryce and Alex. Should we go in? Let’s do it, mate. Don’t trip up. Hey, come on out, guys. Oh my gosh. Wow. Backyard. This looks amazing. Incredible. You like it so much in such a short time frame. That’s Well, you helped out, mate. Yeah. Yes. That’s it. It’s amazing to think it’s the same space, isn’t it? Yeah. It just feels so much bigger out here. Yeah. Before was a slab of concrete, and now actually it feels like I’ve got two backyards. Yeah. I I still want someone to pinch me. Okay. It’s real. Okay, let’s go. So, you’ve got a really nice big uh dining area out here. You’ve got a spot to sit in the middle and then you’ve got more entertaining down there. It feels like a really big garden and lots of planting as well. It’s unreal. And isn’t it amazing that the the concrete space is obviously less that used to be here and the gardens are bigger, but it just feels so much more open. No more entertaining on a slope. Like amazing. You can’t blame the wine anymore for falling. Yeah, like I think cuz the house is quite small. Um, so having our family and friends out the back, it’s just going to be amazing. Yeah, beautiful. Well, enjoy, guys. We absolutely will. Yeah. Thank you again. Thank you so much. Pleasure. I think it’s super important that we make the most of what we got. Blocks are getting smaller and areas to jazz up are getting littleer. Take this space for example. You might look at it and go, “Oh, ugly brick walls. Tiny little space. Someone’s had a crack once upon a time put a bathroom tile just straight down on the dirt and I don’t even feel safe walking and I reckon I’d pop them all. But the good thing about this, it’s small and cute. Small and cute means little job and I reckon anyone could tackle it. Hardest thing here is just getting rid of the rubbish. [Music] So, it’s only an area of about 6 or 7 m. But don’t just think of the floor. or think of the walls as well and you pretty much double it in size. Now we got a mismatch of brick work. This has been bagged. You know, 10 years ago, you’d probably try and render that and paint it crisp white, but now coffee shops and trendy restaurants, they pay extra money for it to look like that. And this one here is mismatched, but it doesn’t matter. It all works well together. And the Boston Ivy, well, it goes about four neighbors up and hides a lot of brick work. So, I’m not going to hack into this when I’m putting stuff onto the wall because all of that comes back to that. So, I’m going to look after that and look after my neighbors. So, on this wall, I’m going to use some traditional Turkish antique tiles. They’re reproductions, but they look fantastic. And on this wall, I’m going to use a mirror, which will bring in a little bit of extra light during the day, and some louvers on the side. Look like a touch of France. So, in other words, we’ve got Turkey, France, and a little Aussie courtyard all in Marville. Maringville is one of the most multicultural suburbs in Australia. So, we’re jamming it into this courtyard. I could put the tile straight onto the brick work, but there’s that joint right down the middle and the tiles probably end up cracking. And by using a sheet of marine ply means if I ever want to move it or put it somewhere else in the garden, you can do it. But I’m still going to put a primer and additive over the top to seal it even more. No one’s ever going to see it, so you don’t have to paint with the grain. You just got to give it a [Music] cover. And then check these out. Now, I’ve got a selection of different ones, and they are beautiful tiles. And all I’m doing now is laying them out dry, making sure that there’s not too much blue or gray or white next to each other. I’m happy with that. It’s a good look. Now, rather than lifting one up individually and putting tile adhesive down, I can put the tile adhesive down here and then simply move that over here and lay it. When it comes to tile adhesive, this one has a rubber compound in. And if you have a look in there, all those little black dots, it’s all tiny little pieces of rubber. One bottle of 330 ms is perfect [Music] amount. Set your build to low cuz you want to mix it, not wear [Music] it. Now, if you want your tiles to sit dead flat, you need to use a tool trail like this. Now, those little teeth, I’m getting a consistent groove, gap, groove, gap. Now, the gap’s just as important as the groove. You want all the grooves to be the same height, and you want the gap to be similar. So, when you put your tile down, you move it around a little bit. The groove fills the gap, and all your tiles sit nice and flat. Now, these beautiful tiles are the showpiece. And if I was to go around the outside and border it with a flash new piece of timber, they wouldn’t complement each other. But old fence rails, these were probably rafters in a house. You can see where the noggin went through there. It means you can be a bit rough with your carpentry and it still looks [Music] good. Now the adhesive’s got to set. So I’m going to move away from that wall and onto this one. While I was doing it, little G. We call him little G because his name is Graeme. But we’ve got a big G. Show you little G. He’s put up a couple off cuts of sleeper. I’ve got a mirror I found in the cancel throw out. Now the positives, it was free. It’s got the fittings on the back which I could hook straight onto the wall. The negative is I don’t know what kind of mirror it is. So don’t put it anywhere where the kids are going to be playing footy or cricket because it might break the bad way. But in this little courtyard, she’ll be perfect. Can you grab that maze? So, we’ve framed it with these off cuts of sleeper and a couple of fence palings. Why doesn’t matter? It looks [Music] good. The council throw out just keeps giving. Now, these doors were probably off an old built-in cupboard in a bedroom, and all I want is this end here. [Music] [Music] By the time we’re going to lift that marine ply with all the tiles on the top, I’m going to need an extra set of hands. There’ll be a fair weight involved. So, you can’t just run a little bit of fishing line, a couple of hooks, and hang it on the wall. I’ve got another piece of marine ply which has got the opposite cut to this one here. So, this one I can fix to the back of the tiles. Bring the whole thing in and slide it over the top. All the weight is dispersed across the whole tiled frame wall and I’ve got five fixings into the wall just instead of one if it was a traditional painting that you hung on the wall. [Music] Thanks for that, mate. Well, that’s all the heavy lifting. Now, we can just move on to the fun stuff, the planting out and dressing up. Now, on the floor, I’m putting down hardwood sleepers as my steppers. They’re huge. They’re relatively cheap to buy, and they got more character than the tree to pond. I just like the grain and the fact that they go gray as they get older. Now, I’m putting in a bench. It’s 1.85 85 m long. So, I’m cutting three of these sleepers at 2 m so the feet can sit comfortably on a couple of [Music] [Applause] them. [Music] Perfect. This little courtyard gets heavy shade because of all the big surfaces around the edge of it. The tenanthy with its beautiful jungle type leaf on the top and it’s burgundy underneath is perfect. It won’t get much taller than this and it’ll max out just underneath the shelf. And then between the steppers we’ve got pratia. Now it’s actually called a stepperable when you buy it at bunnies. It doesn’t mean you can play footy and cricket on it, but it means when you plant it out, you do try to step on the hardwood, you can step on a little bit. It’ll just prune it. These will spread out. I’m going to plant them about 100 to 150 mil apart. Plenty of water. They’ll join up in no time at all. I’m going to put them out dry and actually back fill with a potting mix. Of course, I’m going to take them out of their [Music] pots. It’s not our biggest courtyard makeover, but I think it’s one of the best because we haven’t just concentrated on the floor. We’ve put this masterpiece up there which draws your eye right from the back door. Really gives you a destination and a reason to come down here. a couch to relax and a beautiful mirror to uh check yourself out, which makes the space bigger because it draws the light in in the morning and brings it down in the garden. Simple planting. This is a place where you can relax and enjoy the whole backyard. What do you think, Dan? What are you doing on the couch? You know you’re not allowed on the [Music] [Applause] couch. Take a look at this front garden. It’s like a million others across Australia. It’s got very little street appeal and it’s pretty much a blank canvas. Now, you may think it would cost tens of thousands of dollars to transform this into something that’s eye-catching. But actually, no. With the addition of some garden beds, plants, and some simple accessories, you can transform this space really affordably. Now, you don’t have to do all of that work. You could just do a little bit and adapt it to your garden to give it a real lift. The best part is each job is really easy and achievable. Our first step is to put a garden bed around the house. Now, I love doing this because having plants up against a property means that it isn’t just plonked in the middle of the block. It feels like it’s been designed as one. Now, we’re spending about a hundred bucks here. Spread it over the top and dig it in. So, these are the plants we’re using. They’re all readily available plants. Why are they readily available? Because they’re all really good doers. They’re easy to grow. Now, we’re looking at about 500 bucks here. So, let’s get them in the [Music] ground. So, this is what 500 bucks looks like. And to me, it’s quite sparse, but it is going to improve in time and fill in. And if you’ve got 500 bucks to spend, this is the best way to improve the front of your property. But for me, I’m a real planter holic. So, the more the better. I’m going to double the budget and show you what you can achieve. Our second $500 worth of plants has certainly given us much more impact. Now, I’ve gone for a little cheat here. I’ve selected really fast growing stuff, which means we can buy it in a smaller size, which means we get more plants. There’s things like this brack. Now, this is a great little ground cover, really hardy. It’s going to spread around the garden bed in no time. [Music] Well, there you have it. It’s $1,000 worth of plants and a couple hundred bucks in compost and mulch, and we’ve completely transformed the front of this house. Now, you could stop there, but we’ve got plenty more planned. Our front garden bed’s looking great, but take a look at all this wasted space. The homeowners never use it, and that’s because it’s exposed to the street. Now, I could enclose it with a fence, but I think that would be too harsh and stark. So, I’m going to rip up the grass, put in a brand new garden bed, and plant a new hedge. Eat your heart out, Samwood. Show you a workout. [Music] For those of you that aren’t green thumbs, a good tip when you’re picking plants is take a look around your neighborhood to see what works. Our neighbors have got a fantastic Mara hedge, so that’s what we’re using. Maria is really versatile. It can take some shade, it can take some sun, it can take wet soils, dry soils. It can be kept at around about this height, but it’ll also get up to about 3 mters as well. On top of that, it’s got a fragrant flower, which is absolutely amazing. smells like false cherry blossom. This amount of plants cost us 600 bucks. Now, you could take a few out, space them to about a meter apart, and you get a similar effect. Just take a little bit longer to grow [Music] in. So, there you have it. 600 bucks has given us a nice full hedge on the front, but I’m going to chuck another 400 bucks at it and return it down the side. And the reason I’m doing that is I want this to feel more private, enclosed, and to help screen out the neighbors. [Music] To finish off the second part of our makeover, I’m planting a small tree. Now, I’m putting it up in this corner so it doesn’t encroach too much in the garden, but also so we can screen out those houses and add a little bit more privacy. So, that’s stages one and two wrapped up of our three-stage makeover. The hedge and feature tree cost us around 1,200. So, combine that with the 1,200 spent on the front garden. Moving away from the plants, a cheap and easy way to give the front of the house a lift is to give the porch a lick of paint. Now, I’ve gone for a charcoal color, which is going to delineate between the driveway and the porch area. It’s going to make it feel much more considered. With all the hard work we put into this front garden, it’s the small details that can make it or break it. Take a look at this. A little bit depressing, isn’t it? But a contemporary replacement, including the concrete’s, only going to cost about $70. [Applause] [Music] [Music] Rather than have a big ugly brown patch around your new letter box, I carefully cut away the lawn before we started. Once this is all gone off, put a bit more soil in and it should just fold back to give you a nice look like you were never here. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Perfect. The final thing to do is to accessorize with the addition of some seating and potted plants. In this case, magnolia and tippuccas. This adds that finishing touch. So, all up for stage three, this makeover we forked out close to [Music] $1,100. We’ve spent a little over $3,500 on this dull, lifeless front garden. We’ve transformed it into something that’s interesting and exciting. Now, you don’t have to do all of that work. The best part is each job is really easy and [Music] achievable. It is time for a makeover. And I know that everybody is juggling right now. Our kitchens have become master control, our lounge rooms, our offices, and relaxation time. Well, you can just forget about it. So, this tiny little courtyard might aim to add a bit of functionality. This is our lovely family. We’re lucky they’re away at the moment, so we’re going to surprise busy dad Jamie with a multi-purpose courtyard. It will expand his home office outside, but most importantly, create a lovely space for the whole family to relax. With the space cleared out, you can really see what you’re working with. I’m going to create an amazing outdoor entertaining area with the flexibility of a workspace. So up at the house end, we’re going to replace the deck and have two feature pads for paving. One’s going to be for the barbecue and one for the office nook. Now down lower in the garden, I’m going to bring in the garden beds and create an intimate entertaining [Music] space. This is the area I’ve dedicated for the new barbecue. It makes sense cuz it’s close to the back door and there’s no trees above so all the smoke can go up. I’m just digging this area out and afterwards I’ll be using these papers. I’m using a combination of the 600 long and the 400 long. I’m just laying these on a simple sand cement mix. We don’t have to put a base in. This stuff stays quite flexible. I’m just using a cost effective concrete paper. Now it’s a contemporary gray color which contrasts nicely but also blends nicely with the existing bricks that we’ve got. We’ve got ourselves a perfect little spot for a barbecue. This wall is a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve got pink prime timber. We’ve got normal timber. The back of some slats, some extruded bricks, some normal bricks, some bagging, some not bagging. Bit of a dog’s breakfast. So, I’m going to even it all out with a bit of paint. Now, I’m using a texture paint just to even the surface out and to give us one continuous look. And I’m going for a white color so it bounces light around and makes the whole space feel [Music] bigger. This painting job actually turned out to be much bigger than I first thought it was going to be. This took plenty of coats of paint, but what a difference it’s made. It’s completely transformed the space. [Music] We’ve had to do a substantial amount of work to this deck. Replace the whole frame with H3 treated timber and we’ve cleared out underneath to improve the ventilation. Now I’m using a black butt decking board. When you’re laying decking boards, you never want your cut ends to line up cuz it gives you an unprofessional finish. So you want at least two joists before you have a cut. And then if you lay two boards, then you can have another cut and it just looks more professional. Now, I like to use countersink because it countersinks it nicely. And then send in these stainless steel screws. Now, these are quite soft, so if you haven’t done it before, it’s a good idea just have a little practice on a board before you go to your main [Music] deck. It may take a little bit of time and head scratching to get your spacings right, but it’s definitely worth it. This deck looks so much better not having cuts at the back. All I do is fix this one in and I’m [Music] done. Charlie’s been absolutely flat out creating a beautiful multi-use courtyard for lucky dad Jamie. He’s paved and painted, and now it’s time for him to install my beautiful masterpiece. What a masterpiece it is. Thank you, Adam. However you sent it here, I don’t know, but it got here. He’s also sent us up some brackets to attach it to the wall, and we’ve got adjustable feet, so we got a nice level desk to work from. When you’re planting around a tree, you’ve got to be quite careful. You never want to build up soil against the base of a tree cuz it can rot. And if you put lots of soil to build the whole area up, the roots in the soil, they’re not going to get enough water and they’re not going to get enough air. So to deal with this, you want to try and get in there. But there’s too many roots, so I’m not going to be able to. So I’ve come up with this as a solution. Going to use these raised planters and I’m just going to overhang them in the garden bed just to take away the squareness. Now this is going to give me a lovely pocket to plant into. It’s not going to affect the roots around. does look a little bit like a pimple on a pig’s bum at the moment, but by the time I plant it up, it’s going to look [Music] amazing. For our raised planters, I’m going for a combination of garden soil and compost, but I’m only using the compost in the top layer. That way, it’s not going to break down the soil too quickly and the soil won’t drop. And then for the ground level garden beds, I’m just going to mix the compost through to improve it. Then we’re ready for plants. For the planting scheme in this courtyard, I’m going for a green on green theme. That way, we’re not relying on flowers and we can just use texture and you get year round interest. I’ve got a couple of my favorites here. This one is a pisporum called golf ball. Doesn’t really need any pruning. Keeps a lovely round shape and suits the conditions well. We got quite a lot of shade here. There’s only one sunny spot on this side of the garden. So all these plants have to be shade tolerant. They also have to tolerate really bad root runs. This is the New Zealand rock lily. It can take full sun. It can take full shade. The one thing it doesn’t like is water around its roots. So it’s perfect for this [Music] location. When you think of ferns, I often think of nice moist rainforests, but they actually grow really well in dry shade as well. This one is called the silver lady fern and it just grows a really short trunk but it’s got this lovely rosette of feathery leaves out of the top because they like dry shade. They’re good for raised planters and for planting around the base of trees as well. Squeeze this one [Music] [Applause] in. One of my favorite textural plants is this. This is called liaria. Sometime known as farugium. The common name is tractor seat plant. You can see why with these leaves. Now, this will get a tall flower spike with a yellow daisyike flower in winter, but really you just grow it for the foliage. This lovely shiny leaf bounces light around, forces interest down into the bottom part of the garden. It’s a real feature. Really like this one. [Music] A plant that’s really good for adding some medium height to a garden bed is this. It’s the dwarf cardamon. Don’t be fooled by the name. It’ll get to about 1.5 1.8 m tall. Now, this will take up a bit of space. It will start to spread out into the garden bed. But Jamie and Catherine are going to really enjoy pruning this one. They can cut each stem back down at ground level to keep it upright. And the smell that comes from this plant is absolutely sensational. [Music] So now you can see what we were trying to achieve with this really tiny space. There’s so much multi-function going on. But now it’s time for the big reveal. The family’s not here in person, so let’s do it by video call. Wow. So, Katherine and Jamie, first up, we’ve got this amazing office nook that Adam knocked up for us. You’re going to be able to work outside. You’ve got lovely white walls to reflect the light around. Looks absolutely superb. I love that. It’s so bright. We replaced your old rotten deck behind us with a lovely black butt timber. And on this side of the garden, take a look at this barbecue. That’s just amazing. It’s incredible. Now, I’ve used a bit of a design trick here to make your garden feel bigger. And that is by bringing in more plants, which narrows the garden down before it opens up. It’s just a different backyard. Wow. But all of this stuff is really easy care. All you need to do remove a few of the deadlies and keep it well watered and it’ll pretty much look after itself. And then over in the rear section, we’ve got lots of room around a table and chairs so you can enjoy an outdoor meal that you’ve cooked on the barbecue, have a great time with the family. Wow. I like the way that actually. Yeah, reorganized it. I’m really chuffed with this garden and I hope you guys love it, too. But most importantly, happy Father’s Day. We absolutely love the design and the way you’ve created it gives us a whole new room. In fact, it actually gives us two rooms to live in outside. Thank you so much. [Music]