When you live in the tropics you can be very adventurous in your use of colours, both in the garden and inside the home. Don looked at an award winning house and garden in Cairns, where the bright colour scheme provides a permanent, tropical holiday feel.

Seven years ago, when the owners purchased the house, it had a great view over Cairns. However, just two years later the neighbour wanted to extend and build out their views. They purchased the neighbour’s house and cleverly renovated and joined the two houses together – one for the parents and one for the kids! Both houses are still on separate titles so that they can be sold separately.

The interior is dominated by fun, adventurous colours – ochre, orange, red, purple, yellow, white, black and lots of silver. Wherever you look there are beautiful views and wonderful areas to relax, a glorious swimming pool, spa, bar area and billiard room.

The landscaping was designed to blend the two properties together, and features lots of silvery plants, as well as purples, oranges and creamy stone colours. The plantings, chosen by Andrew Prowse, include Moses-in-a-basket or rhoeo (Tradescantia spathacea), agave (Agave attenuata), variegated liriope (Liriope muscari 'Variegata') and yucca (Yucca elephantipes).

Contact information

Andrew Prowse
Landscape Architect
Phone: (07) 4031 3310

Copyright CTC Productions 2004