Life & Style | Home & Interiors
Arabian Ranches garden is all about detail
An Arabian Ranches garden uses light and texture to bring the best of aesthetics and functionality into play
- By Angela Boshoff Hundal, InsideOut magazine
- Published: 00:00 December 15, 2011
- Image Credit: Hilary Schacht/ANM
- While designing his garden, Paul Toscana focused on the integration of indoor and outdoor living and opted for natural materials including marble and stone.
When Paul Toscana, owner and director of Toscana Landscaping and Pools, took on the job of creating his own dream garden, he saw it as the ultimate opportunity to design something truly creative.
"As the owner of an outdoor business I always knew designing and landscaping my personal space was going to be fun because of the amazing products I had at my disposal," he says. "What I didn't know was that it was going to be one of the toughest projects I've finished because it's so difficult not to say yes to every beautiful thing you see!"
Focusing on his company's design philosophy, which is to ‘create gardens for living', Paul opted for a style "that's not only functional and easy to maintain but also a treat for the eyes. While my design team and I looked at many style options, in the end we sourced a variety of unique materials that best matched my family's taste," he explains. These included crackled pool tiles from Thailand, antique-finish marble from Spain and Turkey as well as locally designed and manufactured stainless steel and fire features.
Aside from looking luscious, the garden's main purpose is to maximise the use of the large outdoor space. "Everything has a reason for being here," Paul says. "I chose plants, which include washingtonia, carpinteria, roebelenii, cycas, murraya, zamia and my favourite olive tree specimen, for their colour, scent and structure while the tile flooring offers interesting hues and textures, not to mention durability."
Keeping practicality in mind, Paul built a contemporary seating area along one of the outside walls where the family can enjoy meals and spending time together. "It's the place where we create and enjoy our most memorable moments, relaxing together under the Dubai sky," he says.
At the front of the garden one finds a lotus fire feature built atop a water feature for a striking contrast of elements. "The lotus feature was ideal because it's not only beautiful, but it can also support a fire inside it," Paul says.
Located on the Arabian Ranches Golf Course, the most vital aspect of the outdoor space was making the most of its gorgeous views. "I achieved this by elevating sections of the garden and constructing a hard-built seating area, both of which overlook the greens," he says.
While Paul's love for functional and elegant design is apparent throughout the garden, so too is his love of technology. "The pool boasts LED lighting that can be changed via remote control. The use of different colours helps reflect the mood we're after for the evening, from bright party illumination to more relaxing shades. I've also installed a system that can cool or heat the pool so it's at the perfect temperature no matter the weather," he says.
Of all the elements at play, Paul says lighting was the most thought out. "There are several layers of light throughout the garden that can create a party mood or a more subtle atmosphere. Some are used to highlight focal points, such as the recessed low-intensity LED lights over the terracotta pots, while others are used to bounce light off trees and walls and indirectly illuminate the areas around them. The golf course view is enhanced with two floodlights pointing towards the greens. Our garden is by far our favourite place to relax after a hard day at the office."
Toscana Landscaping and Pools www.toscanalandscaping.com
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