Straw Bale House Don visited Jo and Kerry Armstrong in Beenleigh, Queensland, and chatted to them about the straw bale cottages they built as an extension of their permaculture philosophy. They say straw is often considered a waste product and many tonnes are burnt...
Suzi Q Garden Andrew Quixley’s award winning design for his sister Suzi’s garden is adventurous and fun, but also practical. Andrew had to contend with design constraints including restricted space, an ugly wall, views of next door’s Zincalume piping...
Tamarama Apartments Don visited Jake Dowse and his wife, Lu Ipkendanz, at their fabulous beachside apartment in the Sydney suburb of Tamarama. A freestanding terrace house originally stood on the steep site, which Jake, who is an architect, bought and redeveloped as a...
Landscape designer Andrew O’Sullivan convinced the owner of an ugly, red brick apartment block that with the right landscaping and renovations the building would increase in value. In return for Andrew’s input the owner sold him the rooftop at its...
You may remember last year on Burke’s Backyard we did a tremendously popular courtyard makeover using blue metal dust. Recently we’ve been back to check on the progress of the plants and add a very special finishing touch to the job. Update For the...
Landscape Designer Colin Brown is currently creating a garden around a Californian Bungalow style house. Colin’s approach is to ‘keep it simple’, and to try to incorporate elements of the architecture into the design. The solid vertical lines of the...
Colour in House Don visited Cairns to look at a stunning house and garden featuring a mixture of styles and themes. The owners, Rance and Julie Stafford, drew much of their inspiration from the work of Versace. Rance began collecting Mexican homewares, which led to an...
Cut and Fill Don visited a classic Australian housing estate to look at some very serious drainage problems caused by the cut and fill method of construction, which is commonly used these days to build houses on sloping land. What is cut and fill? Cut and fill is when...
Cutting Edge Bathroom Don looked at the very latest in bathroom furniture and accessories at the Taps Design showroom in Darlinghurst, Sydney. He found that modern bathrooms are just as functional as the bathrooms of yesteryear, but they look better and they’re...
Dante Design Ceramic artist Katrina Kenny’s new range of sculptured, decorative giftware was inspired by ancient European and South American ruins. The three-dimensional artworks are available in four different themes: Classic Fragments – Roman face tiles,...