Author: Vanessa Drew, landscape Designer at Tobermore
One of the favourite aspects of my job as a landscape designer is that no two days are the same. Every project is different, as are the requirements of individual clients. A project may be a completely blank canvas if it is a new build house or it might be an established house and garden requiring a revamp, or perhaps it will be a renovation or extension project.
No matter what the project is, Tobermore will have a design service to suit your needs. The more you prepare in advance, the better we can plan your garden to suit you. Make a list of who will be using the garden – do you need a play area for children or grandchildren? Do you need a dog run? Most houses need to screen off unsightly items such as the oil tank, coal bunker and bins, so we can include this in the plan. Perhaps there is a lovely focal point visible from your garden such as a church spire, sea view or mountains? We will try to make the most of that, and equally try to screen anything you don’t want to see. A lot of clients need a shed but often there is nowhere to hide it. In this case, consider painting it a pleasant colour, fit window boxes and make it look like a summer house to make a feature of it.
From the very start of the design process, it is useful if you can find inspiration for the style of garden you would like. Flick through magazines and cut out photos. Look online – Google and Pinterest are an endless source of ideas. Choose a style – do you prefer modern and minimalist with straight lines or cottage garden style with curved lines and soft planting?Or maybe somewhere in between?
The next stage is to choose paving products you would like to use. Come in to one of our paving centres. We have all of our products laid in show garden style so you can see how they would look in your garden. Have a chat with our paving centre staff and take home some samples to see how the colour will tie in with your house colours.
At Tobermore we have two design services. The first is free of charge and is a good starting point for a larger project and often all that is needed for a smaller scheme. Clients simply phone in to book a 30 minute appointment. If you would like to avail of this service, take as many photos of the area from all angles, including one from an upstairs window if possible. Also required are the measurements of the area, including distance to the boundaries, the positions of all the doors and how many steps, etc.
If you feel the project warrants a visit, we can come to you. On this visit, we will measure the area and take photos and have a walk round the site with you and discuss the possibilities. After doing a quick sketch on site, we then come away and draw the plan to scale on the computer. For this call-out service we charge £175 for a single area. When the client purchases £1,000 of paving from Tobermore, this fee is refunded. This is certainly a valuable service.
For either design services, we will quantify the paving required and draw up a quotation to supply and deliver the products. We usually try to ascertain if the client has a budget in mind, so that we can select paving products to suit. We have so many products at different price levels that we are sure to find something to suit all pockets.
So what are you waiting for? Get in touch and let us help you transform your outside space!
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