A compact pool and spa beside a timber dining deck, set into lawn and soft planting under tall gums.

On Bonds Road in Lower Plenty, a mid-century brick house sits in wide lawn beneath established gums. The brief was a pool and a place to eat outside, without losing the open feel of the garden. Our pool design places a compact pool and spa close to the house, paved in pale stone and enclosed in frameless glass. Beside it, a timber deck holds the dining table under a cantilevered umbrella.

Stepping pads cross the lawn to the pool gate. Palms, clipped rounded shrubs, grasses and blue and yellow flowering perennials form low beds that keep the view to the trees open. The design has been built and the planting is establishing, with photographs to follow. It is a landscape design for Melbourne's north east.