by Jo | Jul 13, 2019 | Landscaping, Garden case studies, Paving
This summer has seen Kebur scoop a coveted Silver Award at RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival, our first year being involved in a show garden. The garden, A Place to Meet, was designed by Cherry Carmen for the landscape industry body, the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL). As well as supplying the hard landscaping materials for the project, our professional team of installers also led the build, with 18 APL member companies involved. We talked to Craig Deeley, our Contracts Manager, who led the build, to reflect on the experience… What materials did you use? We worked with Cherry Carmen on a design that would demonstrate excellence in landscaping skills and highlight some different ways of using natural stone including a raised patio, plunge pool and wildlife pond. As we were keen to use some of our new contemporary natural stone, Cherry’s idea was to show how our Black Granite and Pearl White Leather Sandstone could be softened with naturalistic planting. Naturalistic planting Contemporary black granite steps The inviting plunge pool How was the experience? Manic! I found it really positive from a personal point of view. It’s great to see how designers use planting schemes to complement hard landscaping. You have to put your life on hold the whole time you’re there. It was realistically an 8-week project so we worked 12-14 hour days for 17 days to get it done. There was very little time at home! I loved doing it though and would love to do it again. What were the highlights? Coming together with other talented members of the Association of Professional Landscapers...
by Jo | Jul 19, 2018 | Landscaping, Garden case studies, Paving, Inspiration and ideas
Mr and Mrs Collins asked us to redesign their Hampshire garden which they found overgrown and enclosed due to the position of a number of large shrubs and the poor layout. The brief was for a low maintenance two-tiered patio with a contemporary look, clean and simple lines to suit the house and a high-quality finish. Our clients chose Kebur’s Contempo Thunderstorm porcelain, in a large format 900×450 for the top tier and a complementary, lighter grey Contempo Waterfall porcelain in the same size tiles for the lower tier. Both are finished with sawn graphite granite setts as an edging around the perimeter of the patio. Contrasting bullnose granite step treads were used with a porcelain insert. Twinning Kebur Contempo porcelain with natural stone accessories created a sleek and striking effect. When we visited Mr and Mrs Collins a year on, they were delighted with the end result and now use their garden more than ever. ‘Because the patio is easy to keep clean and the garden is designed with low maintenance in mind’ Mr Collins said, ‘I am finding I now enjoy gardening more than I did before’. Before: a small eating space Now: Plenty of space to eat and relax Before: enclosed and overgrown Now: Contemporary lines in keeping with the house Before: poor sight lines from house to garden Now: A calm spot to look over the garden During the works After: porcelain steps with granite...
by Jo | Sep 11, 2017 | Landscaping, Garden case studies, Paving, Inspiration and ideas
Creating the perfect garden requires careful thought about the look and feel you want, working with your existing space, light and budget, and usually over-coming the odd challenge to make things happen! We asked Christine from our sales team what makes her new garden special… What were your main considerations when designing your garden? We moved to our new home December 2016. The only room that needed any attention was the outside room, better known as the garden. It was unkempt, unloved with no real appeal. There were many discussions about what we wanted from our garden. As it’s southeast facing it attracts sun most of the day. We discussed our ideas with Dan Grimes, a landscaper who uses Kebur. We wanted an open feeling, somewhere to sit, sunbathe and most importantly relax in the evenings and weekends. Nothing too fussy and reasonably low maintenance. Each time Dan came around, our planned patio area was getting larger – we’re really glad it did! Why did you choose the products? The slabs we wanted needed to be low maintenance, bright and good looking. We had a budget, discussed and weighed up which would be the best options to suit our requirements. Kebur had just launched their new porcelain range. Although they were at the higher end of our price bracket, we liked the fact that they didn’t need sealing, are very easy to keep clean, hard wearing, anti-slip and keep the same appearance from new. We chose the beautiful Thunderstorm porcelain which has a lovely detail that looks very like veining in natural stone. What was it like having the work...
