Before and After — How a Designer Turned a Small City Dirt Plot Into a Garden With a Fireplace, Breakfast Bar, and Outdoor Shower

Nestled within the heart of East London, just moments away from the frantic, frenetic energy of the City, sits this sanctuary of peace. With rich, vibrant shrubbery lining the edges and plenty of space to sit back and relax, this garden oasis feels a million miles away from the bankers and commuters of Liverpool Street.

The most successful urban garden ideas manage to capture a sense of the surrounding area while still creating a uniquely private space. In busy cities, it can be hard to strike this balance, making your garden both a part of the landscape and distinctly apart from the fast-paced feel of the city. Somehow, Charlotte Rowe managed to do exactly that in this home.

Bringing together modern design with rich, luscious greenery, this small courtyard garden is the dream escape while still being firmly in the middle of the buzz. By creating distinct zones in this space, Charlotte was able to design a garden that was uniquely suited for her client's way of life. With space to lie back and read a book in the sunshine, as well as a dedicated 'dance floor' space, this is a garden built to be lived in.

Before

Worn-down fencing and long-abandoned greenery left the original small garden looking uninspiring, to say the least. Luckily, this complete lack of existing style or personality allowed Charlotte the full creative freedom to create whatever she saw fit.

"The garden is behind a new build house, so there was a blank canvas apart from some fencing which was pretty awful," explains Charlotte.

Part of the appeal of this style of new build is the opportunity it offers to the homeowner to completely reinvent the space, making it a completely unique reflection of their own tastes. You're free from the pressure of adapting to pre-existing features and designs forced upon you by previous occupants and are given an open ticket to full aesthetic exploration. This approach is just as applicable to the interior design of a new build as it is to the outside space. In fact, adopting this approach allows you to create a sense of continuity and flow between these two spaces.

As Charlotte explains, "The garden is very small, so we decided to make it work as an extension of the living room inside."

By framing the garden as a continuation of the living room, the illusion of a more expansive space is created for both these areas.

After

With plenty of different seating areas to choose from, plus a standing outdoor shower and a sleek breakfast bar, this petite garden manages to squeeze in all the features you could desire into one expertly designed courtyard. It's a true masterclass on how to get the most out of the space available to you.

One of the best ways to do this is by zoning the space, as Charlotte has done so seamlessly in this design. "We needed to break the space up into ‘zones’," Charlotte explains, "and it was an unusual shape, so in order to create these specific areas, it had to involve different levels."

Working according to her client's specific requests, these separate zones helped create some sense of distinction between each section.

"They wanted a breakfast bar, a fireplace with comfortable seating, and an outdoor shower," she says.

"The atmosphere we wanted to create was comfortable and cozy, so we decided to create different ‘zones’ by sinking the outdoor fireplace and daybeds and placing the shower and breakfast on an upper level, which allowed us to create a ‘dance floor’ on the upper level. The clients were big party people!"

Standing proudly at the back of the garden is a strikingly modern fireplace, the perfect accompaniment to the sunken fire pit seating area in front.

"Fireplaces such as this are a feature of many of our gardens," Charlotte notes.

"This one has an unusual chimney, which is highlighted, and we just thought it looked good. One crucial factor is that the garden is rhomboid in shape, so the fireplace was placed parallel to the house, not in line with the boundary of the end boundary, so it acts like a visual and actual wall/screen to block the neighbours looking into the daybed area."

This placement allows the fireplace to act as a tool to make this urban garden more private, shielding it from the eyes of neighbours, while the striking design brings in a strong visual appeal for the feature, as well.

Adding to that tropical oasis feel, a sleek, steel outdoor shower brings an extra paradisiacal touch to this garden. Far from a common feature in London homes, this outdoor shower is just another example of how Charlotte incorporated her clients' identity into this design.

"One of our clients is Brazilian and a party person so he thought a shower (at our suggestion hot not cold) was a good fun thing to do," Charlotte comments, "Perhaps he did not fully appreciate the cold English winters!"

With poured concrete tiled flooring, timber painted fences, and a polished concrete table, there was a risk of this garden becoming too stark or cold. However, Charlotte avoids this issue by introducing a lush array of deeply rich and vibrant greenery, injecting life and joy into the garden.

The combination of these sleek, modern materials and the wildness of the plants surrounding them allows for a nuanced and balanced garden design.

"As with all town gardens, it is important that the plants work hard all year round, but we do not just plant evergreen plants, and we have combined the climbers and shrubs with shade-tolerant plants such as ferns," Charlotte explains.

Brightening up the dark grey painted timber fencing is an array of climbers.

"They are climbers not vines and they are crucial in a small garden as they provide additional ‘greenness’ and boundary interest and look particularly good against a dark background as in this garden," says Charlotte.

As fit for a party as it is a wellness retreat, this project shows how a small urban garden can do it all. Combining the most stylish modern garden ideas, with the essence of a backyard retreat, this is a garden we'd happily wile away the summer days in.