Practical projects and tips for the backyard DIY fanatic
Courtyard The owners of a newly renovated Melbourne house called in landscape designer Jim Fogarty to transform their garden into a modern, contemporary courtyard. This posed a few problems, because the area was only about 6x6m (20×20′), the side fences...
Cutting Edge Design For many years house design in Australia has been predictable, straightforward and frankly ordinary, but in recent times all that has changed. The Burke’s Backyard team visited a wonderful house designed by Frank Macchia, an architect from...
Designing for the Future Queensland architect Gabriel Poole is passionate about improving the quality of housing in Australia by designing for our climate and building houses that everyone can afford. He believes that the houses people live in should enrich their...
Fashionable Fakes There’s nothing quite like walking into a room and seeing a beautiful arrangement of flowers, but unfortunately most people can’t afford to have fresh flowers in the house every day of the week. Artificial flowers have been around...
Fibro Makeover – Tuscan effect Late last year Don and the Burke’s Backyard team transformed an ugly backyard into a spectacular, Tuscan inspired entertainment area. One of the problems they had to contend with was an old fibro garage with flaking, powdery...
French Riviera Carport Whether we like it or not, the automobile is an important part of our busy, everyday lives. When it comes to the problem of where to keep the car, we can either go for the traditional garage, or perhaps something a bit more stylish. Don looked...
Sydney graphic designer Elly Clark lives in a red brick block of flats with a rounded Art Deco influence. The building itself presents an interesting challenge, but Elly was really stumped when it came to her tiny, useless balcony. What could be done to make it look...
Cooking food outdoors on the barbecue is a great Aussie tradition, and nothing sums up the laid back, unpretentious nature of Australia better than the backyard barbie. Or does it? In recent years barbecues have moved upmarket and are now competing with the family car...
Don demonstrated how to transform a large courtyard into a stylish entertaining area using blue metal dust, an inexpensive but very classy looking material. A site analysis revealed several problems which needed to be addressed during the makeover: the white buildings...
In the winter when the garden is looking drab, camellias come to the rescue with their beautiful flowers and glossy green foliage. It’s natural to want to bring them inside and use them in flower arrangements, but the problem is they have very short stems and...