Balcony Garden - Ballsbridge Dublin 4

Background
The client has a busy lifestyle and works long hours. She felt that she needed breathing space in her apartment and was not utilising her balcony space to it's full potential. When we met we discussed options and as always i was curious to see how i could develop this unique space. 

Brief
She requested to have an area to read her book and relax, outside her bedroom door. While she would also like entertain her friends at the weekends and enjoy some food and drinks. She did not want the balcony to be too colourful and wild but she wanted to keep it similar to the interior of the apartment, which had been design with contemporary grey tones.

Garden Plan
I decided to split the design into two parts to create interest and this would also allow me to introduce different materials. The relaxing area would have artificial grass to create the illusion of a real garden with a built in bench, with outdoor cushions, to relax on. There would be two long hardwood planters to fill this space with adequate planting to ensure it was alive with foliage and flowers. Outdoor art on the charcoal grey wall would have a zig zag print with a custom made steel frame, a touch of interior style design built with industrial materials.
The second half would have upright seating for visitors. A storage box was introduced which doubles as a bench seat and also furnishes the balcony. An outdoor rug with a zig zag pattern would blend perfectly with the newly stained grey decking, keeping with our theme of grey to match the interior. We had decided to introduce lime green as a splash of colour which i used on stylish rail planters. A planting rack would be on the wall to create a vertical planted wall. We made custom hardwood plant boxes and hung multiple steel pots for smaller herbs and trailing plants.
Plants for the balcony had to be chosen for this specific site. Most balconies will vary with different conditions that effect the planting such as wind, shade and scorching sun. The balcony is west facing which meant it should have sunshine from mid day yet a neighboring building overshadows it leaving only pockets of sunshine throughout the day.