Unity between home and garden

Everything Heart for Gardens does originates from the idea of improving everyday living. They achieve this by combining timeless design with distinctive quality, precise attention to detail and a harmonious balance between function and form. Heart for Gardens was also closely involved with this beautiful 1970s bungalow.

Year-round enjoyment in the veranda
This 1970s bungalow has received a complete facelift both inside and out. Therefore, the garden was designed at the same time as the design of the house so that they would be perfectly matched. This applies not only to style, but also to use and layout. For example, a large veranda with fireplace has been realized at the rear where it is possible to sit all year round. The connection to the living room is very direct, as the living room is directly adjacent to this porch. So you walk right out with your cup of tea.

Sleek gardens with atmospheric infill
At Heart for Gardens, they have their own style that can be recognized in every garden they design and build, but of course every project is unique and the garden is tailored very specifically to the residents, the home and the environment. Paul de Graaf, co-owner of Heart for Gardens with his brother: “In general, our gardens are sleek with atmospheric details to create a warm ambiance. This garden is on the sleek and minimalist side for our style, but what characterizes every garden of ours is at least the personal details and the connection between the architecture, the interior and the garden. And this project is no different. The black slats of the house can be found in several places in the garden and the mailbox is bricked with the same bricks as the house. The lines are very clean, but working with lush plantings that fall ‘over’ the clean lines still creates an atmospheric image.”

Getting up with a beautiful view
A bungalow normally has a bit of an old-fashioned connotation. “The home architect’s goal with us as landscapers was to create an overall look that blows you away. Get rid of the old-fashioned character and just show that a bungalow can be unswervingly stylish. The nice thing about a bungalow is that the bedrooms also border the garden. That is a luxury that an average home does not have and then that is precisely something that excites us as garden designers.”

A beautiful interplay of planting and exterior
Great features, that’s what they love at Heart for Gardens. No borders with twenty types of planting divided into all small compartments, but large borders with unified planting. This property contains large borders with hydrangeas, pennisetum (red. dark green ornamental grass with long plumes) and gaura.

“In addition, we like to translate the style and colors of the home into the planting. The stucco is reflected in the white of the hydrangea and the panicles of the pennisetum are in line with the facade stone. The facade stone together with the white stucco form a combination and we also brought this back in the garden by combining the pennisetum with white gaura. To still add some color we chose lavender.” This color is obviously not in the house. Therefore, the lavender was placed in window boxes so that they are more detached from the house.

To still give the large areas of gravel a natural look and to soften the transition between greenery and pavement, it was decided to fill in several gravel areas with stipa. “Fantastic ornamental grass that sways wonderfully in the wind.”

So you see, every home deserves a beautiful garden. Whether that’s a brand-new villa, a canal-side mansion, or – as is the case here – a charming 1970s bungalow.