by brandnestMy Garden Design Project
This Garden Design Project was a labour of love…
In fact, this was more than just a Garden Design Project – it was a beautiful mix of design, vision and collaboration.
We’ve recently moved into a new family home after waiting months for the build to be complete. After countless setbacks and snagging issues, we gratefully took residence at our new home in November 2022.
Now, the real work begins as we delve into a series of projects to set up the house for family life.
Our first step? The garden.
We wanted to create a family space, for the kids and the grown ups! I’m a designer at heart, so naturally I was keen to get stuck into the design process.
The blueprint
I complete creative projects every day in my role as Director of Brand Nest. It’s critical that I follow a process to ensure I set expectations, nail the brief and delight my clients.
This project was very important to my family, so I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly – especially after all the delays in securing our home!
So, I put my design hat on and set to work.
First, I sketched out a plan for the garden, including all the key areas we had in mind. This allowed us to visualise how feasible all the components would be, in relation to each other.
Bringing in the experts
I’m a designer, with decades of experience. But I am by no means a gardener!
So, my next step was to find an experienced, credible Garden Design team to bring our vision to life.
This is no different to how I work with experts within my role at Brand Nest.
At Brand Nest, I work with a trusted group of freelancers to fulfill the technical aspects of each project. Developers, video producers and content creators help me bring projects to life.
When I found the brilliant Garden team at JDR Gardens, I explained to them that I was keen to work closely with them to bring the blueprint to life.
Creative direction
Just as I do in my role as Creative Director at Brand Nest, I collaborated with the team at JDR Gardens to make sure we had full transparency throughout the project.
I liked the fact that they are a family run business who, like me, have a trusted team of highly skilled tradesmen they call on when they need to plug any specific skills gaps in their team.
To get the best end result, I was particularly keen to take an agile approach to the project. We used the blueprint as a guide for the goals we wanted to achieve, but we were flexible in the delivery, often tweaking the plans or changing direction on certain elements once the garden started to take shape.
This was critical to our success, as it’s only once you implement a design that you can truly test its feasibility. I’ve no doubt that this contributed to the success of the project.
Staying in my lane
I’ve worked with so many experienced and talented people at Brand Nest, and it’s taught me this important lesson;
“Stay in your lane!”
As a Creative Director, I oversee the design, but I do not micromanage the implementation. It would be unproductive and disrespectful for me to try and get involved in every minor detail of this Garden Design Project. But I was keen to stay in the loop on progress and make sure everyone’s expectations were aligned.
Communication was key to this.
I stayed in touch with the JDR Gardens team and reinforced that they could double check anything with me at any time. But, I also made it clear that I trusted them to deliver on the design, and I wouldn’t interfere or question their judgement. This meant we built a mutually respectful relationship that led to a better outcome in the end.
Once again, this is similar to how I work with providers, clients and partners at Brand Nest.
In my experience, communication, respect and trust are all key ingredients to running a successful agency. And, it turns out, they help with Garden Design Projects too!
The end result
My family is thrilled with our stunning new garden. And we all agree that the end result is even better than we’d expected!
I feel a great sense of achievement that I was able to lend my design expertise to this project. It also adds a personal touch to the garden.
Whether I’m overseeing the design of a project for Brand Nest, or getting involved in a design project at home, I always stay true to my core values of quality, trust, professionalism and communication.
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