A Crowd-Pleaser

Thanks to the vision of its new owners, a neglected garden was turned into an outdoor oasis ideal for entertaining.

- Candice Botha

The problem

Marc and Natalie’s first impression of their new home was that it lacked an entertainment area and had a sorely neglected garden.

“We love to entertain, so a sociable space was top of our list,” they say. A beautiful large tree was a drawcard, even though there was only a sparse lawn beneath it and the garden was little more than sand with a few tufts of struggling grass.

“There was also an old concrete storm water pipe buried vertically into the ground in the middle of the garden that functioned as a makeshift braai. It was so unattractive, but we could see that it would make a very practical fire pit with a clever makeover.”

A veranda was also lacking, but there was enough space to build one, which would be north-facing. “We could see that the potential was there to create our ideal entertaining area, so we went ahead and bought the house with our plans in mind.”

They both knew the value of living in a space for a while before embarking on any renovations, so the couple took several months to settle in – and when all was clear, they could start work.