From brick to bliss: step into a Japanese courtyard garden makeover

The transformation

Homeowners: Claire and Deon Orr, @HomeForeverHome

Location: Winthrop, Western Australia

The project: Japanese-inspired courtyard garden makeover

The budget: $3000

Claire’s top tip for renovators: ‘Don’t overlook the importance of planning! Ordering materials and contacting trades early can save you serious headaches, as wait times for quotes, materials and work can eat into your schedule if you’re not prepared. Planning can also help uncover and address problems before you hit them on site.’

The opportunity

Courtyards are often overlooked – in Claire and Deon Orr’s home, quite literally! Their unsightly ’80s-style brick courtyard was visible from several rooms in their house, including the kitchen, dining room, and kids’ playroom. The space was just begging to be transformed into something beautiful, says Claire. ‘We felt it should be a part of the interior and wanted to bring some greenery inside to create a courtyard that felt like an extension of our living space.’

The couple envisioned a serene, modern courtyard that combined natural elements with clean lines. ‘We love the philosophy of Japanese gardening – spaces that encourage contemplation through the combination of plants, rocks, and water,’ Claire explains. ‘For our garden makeover, we focused on a simple, asymmetrical design with stepping stones, a Japanese maple in a natural stone pot, and some Japanese box plants.’

The result? A modern take on a traditional Japanese garden that suits their contemporary style. ‘This is one of my favourite renovated areas we’ve completed on our house so far,’ says Claire; ‘it was a lot of fun to complete!’

Teamwork, dreamwork

Claire and Deon started by drafting a plan broken down into steps, then listing the tools and supplies needed. A trip to Bunnings later, they entered demolition mode: removing any rotten overhead timber battens and protruding nails. Strategically, they left the removal of the brick pavers till last ‘so we had a stable base for our ladder.’

They sanded timber back, patched holes, and taped around windows to prep for painting. Then the real work began. First came cutting and attaching treated pine timber battens and cladding, then painting frames and windowsills with Dulux exterior paint and spray paint. The bricks were removed, reticulation installed, and finally the small garden planted out.

The James Hardie cladding proved the trickiest element. ‘It’s extremely heavy,’ says Claire, ‘so this involved teamwork with my husband Deon to lift the pieces into place – then he would hold a piece while I used the nail gun to secure it. The pieces above head height were the hardest but it got easier as we got to ground level. Luckily, we work well as a team and have completed many other renovation projects around the house together!’

After removing the brick pavers and enriching the soil with organic matter, the couple hit an unexpected snag when they started digging to plant: patches of concrete from the house slab. ‘We couldn’t remove the concrete,’ says Claire, ‘so this then determined the layout of our planting.’ Rather than seeing it as a landscaping setback, they embraced it: ‘In many ways it helped us create the natural asymmetrical flow we were seeking.’

Once the layout was finalised, they chose a Japanese maple as their feature tree, finishing the plantings with Japanese boxwood. Black pebbles and mulch added visual interest and texture, while stepping stones guide the eye and encourage movement through the courtyard.

Bringing the outside in

The finished courtyard is a peaceful retreat. Claire says their favourite part is how the space connects with the home. ‘It’s lovely to sit inside and view the garden from our kitchen, dining room, or kids’ playroom. It truly brings the outside in.’

If Claire and Deon could change one thing, they’d replace the timber battens across the overhead beams with a metal laser-cut screen to better match the Japanese aesthetic, ‘but we just couldn’t find anything at the time that matched the Japanese courtyard style’. They’re still on the lookout for the right solution, but for now, the courtyard garden makeover stands as a testament to their hands-on approach and love of D.I.Y.

Lessons in hard work

For Claire and Deon, D.I.Y. isn’t just about achieving a stylish home on a budget – though that’s certainly part of it. ‘We learnt early on when we bought into the housing market that a lot of the nice finishes you see online are quite costly,’ says Claire. ‘So, we made the decision to achieve the style we wanted in our home by completing as much work as possible ourselves and saving our money for those trades where you require a licensed professional.’

But there’s something deeper at play too. ‘We are both very hands-on people who enjoy the challenge of D.I.Y. and improving our home to make a comfortable space to enjoy as a family,’ Claire reflects. ‘I think we mostly enjoy the satisfaction when we work to achieve something ourselves. D.I.Y. often involves a lot of research, planning, learning, mistakes, more lessons learnt, but it’s a process we enjoy doing together. It’s hard work but so rewarding – and hopefully our kids learn the value of that as well.’

More from Claire and Workshop

To see more projects and find inspiration like Claire and Deon’s Japanese-inspired courtyard makeover, visit the Bunnings Workshop community.