Garden Renovation Before & After: Dublin Transformations
There is no better way to understand what a garden renovation can do than to see it. Below are real before-and-after transformations from LandArt's Dublin projects, tired and underused gardens turned into beautiful, functional outdoor spaces.
Alongside the photos, we've shared the design thinking behind each one, so you can take ideas and inspiration for your own garden makeover. Every one of these was designed and built in-house by our own team. You can see more finished work in our project gallery.
Rathgar: From Blank Canvas to Dream Garden
This Rathgar garden started as an overgrown blank canvas, a tired lawn with no clear purpose and no real reason to step outside. The family wanted a garden they could actually use: somewhere for everyday life and somewhere to entertain, without the whole space feeling like one flat, undefined lawn.
What we did
- Built a spacious patio right outside the house for everyday use, and a second patio with a pergola in the sunniest part of the garden as a focal point for entertaining.
- Connected the two spaces with a pathway lined with structured Taxus domes, adding depth and flow.
- Created instant privacy with mature screening trees, pleached trees and hedging for a secluded, tranquil feel.
- Planted a mix of evergreens for year-round structure with seasonal planting for bursts of colour.
Define zones. Even a modest garden feels bigger and works harder when it has clear areas for different uses, dining, lounging and planting, rather than one undifferentiated space. Two patios doing two jobs beats one that does neither well.
Dundrum: A Bright Family Garden for Every Season
The Dundrum project was a large, sloping, south-facing garden that the family struggled to use. The brief was a sleek, contemporary space with a Mediterranean feel, practical and beautiful for children and adults alike, and usable through the Irish year.
What we did
- Reworked the levels with split-level landscaping and generous porcelain steps to create usable flat areas on the slope.
- Kept open lawn for the children while carving out a circular second lawn, a whole new "secret garden", at the far end.
- Built in a bespoke bench and clean sightlines to keep the space tidy, calm and easy to live in.
- Used robust, climate-appropriate planting, a feature olive tree, topiary, mixed shrubs, grasses and pollinator-friendly borders.
Design with the slope, not against it. Changing levels, handled well, add interest and create distinct, usable areas rather than one awkward incline. Concealing and revealing spaces also makes a garden feel far bigger than it is.
Foxrock: A Newly Planted Statement Garden
This larger Foxrock garden needed a scheme worthy of the house, refined, generous and beautifully detailed. Here the transformation was led by planting: a carefully composed scheme designed to bring depth, balance and year-round interest, and to grow more beautiful with every season.
What we did
- Designed a rich, layered planting scheme, layered trees, tree ferns, Taxus domes and hundreds of hand-selected plants, for movement and natural flow from every angle.
- Laid a new lawn with clean edging to anchor the planting and open up the space.
- Added a water feature and structural shrubs to give the garden year-round presence.
- Detailed every junction and edge to a high finish, in keeping with the architecture of the home.
Detail matters, and so does planting. On a larger garden it's the quality of the materials, the care in the detailing and a structured, layered planting scheme that separate a good garden from a great one.
What These Transformations Have in Common
Different sites, different budgets, different styles, but every successful renovation shares the same foundations:
- A clear design. Each garden was planned around how the family wanted to use it, not decorated ad hoc.
- Good bones. Proper groundworks, levels and drainage, the unseen work that makes everything last.
- Climate-appropriate planting. Schemes chosen for the Irish climate and each garden's aspect.
- One accountable team. Designed and built by LandArt in-house, so the finished garden matches the vision.
Garden Renovation Ideas to Take Away
- Define zones for dining, lounging and planting to make the space work harder.
- Invest in the bones, groundworks and hard landscaping, before decorative extras.
- Use large-format paving to make small gardens feel bigger and more contemporary.
- Add lighting to extend the garden's use into the evening and through winter.
- Choose layered, low-maintenance planting for year-round interest with less upkeep.
- Build in privacy early with pleached or screening trees and hedging.
- Work with the site's levels and aspect rather than against them.
Ready to Transform Your Own Garden?
LandArt designs and builds garden renovations across Dublin, one accountable team from first sketch to final planting. See our garden renovation service or request a quote to start your own before-and-after.
