A garden design without lawn can make for a lower-maintenance space.

Doing away with the monoculture also creates paths that function as all-weather entertaining spaces while leading you to hidden seating destinations.

Before, this garden had a square-ish central lawn with a thin strip of planting around the fenceline.

After, the planting is through the garden, with generous paths leading to a hidden sunlounger and embracing a dining area and a second seating area for morning coffee.

Two paving materials were chosen in a pared-back dark palette.