Learning DIY skills from online tutorials, Monika and Konrad Nowak saved a fortune by building everything in their holiday-inspired garden themselves
Feature Zoe Bishop Photos Lizzie Orme
Monika and Konrad finally finished renovating their Merseyside house at the end of 2019, after months of work squeezed into weekends and in between work and school runs. All that was left for them to do was the garden, but, ‘as we’d spent all of our budget on renovating the house, we decided the garden would have to wait until summer 2020,’ recalls Monika. ‘But then, as we prepared to start work on it, Covid-19 happened. My husband was put on furlough for a month, and we decided we may not have an opportunity again for him to have the time to do it, so the bulk of the garden work had to
be done then.’
The plot was tired and uninspiring, and had been used as a dumping ground during the house renovations – a far cry from the family-friendly, relaxed outdoor space Monika and Konrad wanted to create. So, they came up with a plan to maximise their tight schedule and budget to make it a garden they could enjoy spending time in after a busy year of house renovations.
THE PROJECT
Before the couple could start creating their outdoor scheme, they needed to do some structural work on the garden wall. ‘We realised that we’d have to get the back wall fixed, as it was falling down in places,’ says Monika. ‘Obviously, as it was during lockdown, we were pretty restricted with getting supplies, so knew we would have to be really organised.’ With Monika leading the project, they decided that they would split the garden into two areas – a patio seating area, and a grass area for the kids to enjoy – but, most importantly of all, it needed to be low-maintenance. ‘While I love gardening, I don’t have much time for it, so I wanted the space to be easy to maintain, but still look gorgeous and inviting,’ Monika explains.
WHAT WE DID
Taking care of the practical elements first, the couple started with rebuilding the back wall. They knocked it down, cleaned the bricks and, with the help of a local bricklayer, it was rebuilt and made safe. They then spent a week removing all the rubble and concrete slabs, before laying the patio and building the pergola. ‘Luckily, Konrad is really hands-on and confident working with wood, so he did all the building himself,’ says Monika.
The couple built raised flower beds at the side of the garden and
