A well designed backyard changes how you live at home. Not just on weekends when guests are over but on regular evenings when you step outside with a drink and realise you actually want to be out there. That is what a properly designed outdoor entertaining area does,  it stops being a space you look at through the window and becomes somewhere you genuinely use. Whether that be somewhere for yourself to relax and appreciate your home, or somewhere that brings your family and friends even closer together. 971

This doesn’t have to be a difficult choice, but it’s one you need to make carefully. If you make the wrong choice, then every time you step out, that surface will always remind you of how unhappy you are with it until someday when maybe another surface replaces it again. However, get it right, and you have an outdoor space that actually gets used. The fact is, both paving and decking have their moments to shine. 683

Here’s the thing about Sydney properties – they’re not all flat. Shocking, right? If you’ve got any kind of slope going on, you’re probably losing soil, dealing with drainage headaches or just looking at wasted space that could be something better. A retaining wall creates extra usable space while holding back soil. 680

If you live in Sydney, you will know our relationship with water. One month we are dealing with flash flooding; the next month we are on level 2 restrictions, wondering if our prized roses are worth the guilt. It is exhausting. But let’s keep in mind that developing a water-wise garden for Sydney home residents, which they can actually maintain, does not mean looking at some brown, crunchy plants pleading for mercy. 677

If there is one thing that the gardens in Sydney that have been created as a result of landscape design all have in common, regardless of their size or shape, it is an aversion to bugs and pests. Most of what grows in these gardens is at risk of being damaged, or worse, killed, due to specific bugs or pests deciding that they are to be their next victim. 645