Well designed entries need to start before the front door, and the garden design needs to create a sense of journey and arrival. Often a bit of lateral thinking can solve the dilemma of an unattractive or poorly placed entry.
In this Upper North Shore Gordon home, positioned at the end of a long driveway to a battle axe block, the existing front entrance was accessed via the carport. The front door was partially hidden from view and presented a very unimpressive entry to the home, which sits on a large block and enjoys magnificent bushland views beyond the large rear level pool and decked entertaining area.
The solution was to relocate the front entry to the side of the u-shaped home, where an under utilized courtyard area was formed between two arms of the house. The original front door, now accessed through the revamped carport with automatic doors provides a handy service entrance for this busy young family. Sporting equipment and dirty shoes are now out of sight and the new glass front entry through the garden courtyard has been able to take centre stage.
The long driveway was repaved and replanted and now acts as an attractive avenue street entry point to the home. The front entrance is now accessed through an open ended courtyard, with sandstone paving and deep planting on either side. A new elevated sandstone platform, protected by an aluminium roofed awning, tilted skywards and angled up from the existing roof creates a sense of drama and arrival. A pair of white ceramic pots on either side of the new front door completes the sense of symmetry.
Glimpses of the pool and bushland beyond, now visible from the outer courtyard entry create a sense of what lies beyond and unifies the house with the rest of the garden design and natural bushland beyond, whilst creating a dramatic new entry to the home.
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