Brickwork Projects for Patio & Garden. Alan Bridgewater

      BRICKWORK INSPIRATION

      Bricks are wonderfully easy to handle and make building a pleasure. Any patio or garden structure made out of brick looks solid and imposing, and with their ability to fit into a wide variety of patterns and designs, nothing beats bricks for versatility in creative structure design. What’s more, bricks seem to blend into their surroundings.

      Rugged, natural and soft-textured, bricks possess an inherent beauty. Moreover, they come in a wide spectrum of colors, from slate blue and black to red and even creamy white, encompassing a rainbow of oranges, yellows and umbers along the way. When you add your own patterns, you can make any structure endlessly interesting to look at.

      Three easy-to-follow approaches will allow you to enhance the visual interest of most brickwork projects: setting bricks in different patterns and formations, incorporating bricks of different colors, and harmonizing bricks with wood, stone or tile.

      Traditional bond patterns like herringbone, basket weave and diaper formations offer ways to easily create exciting visual texture (see here). To extend their design flexibility even further, bricks can be set with the frog face or the bottom face upwards, on their end (header), or on their side (stretcher—see here.) They can also be cut or angled.

      Aside from patterning and using bricks of varying colors, a third way to add visual interest to brickwork is to develop the natural harmonies that bricks share with other natural materials, notably stone, tile and wood. The thoughtful incorporation of these other materials will complement the sturdy earthiness of bricks.

      This urban haven echoes the brickwork of the surrounding edifices. The two-by-two basketweave pattern forms a sturdy and attractive patio, while the flower border edging cleanly separates the patio and the flower border.

      Everything about this rustic but formal staircase is in harmony, from the symmetry created by the arrangement of flowerpots to the interesting contrast between the worn red bricks and the green lines of moss just beginning to overtake the bricks. These wide steps, formed by bricks bedded on their stretcher sides in a running bond, rise gracefully to the entrance of a stately home. The wide landing could double as a patio.

      A huge brick patio that encircles a low dwarf hedge (not shown) and looks rather like a very wide path. The patio is built to accommodate a sloping site—the outer edge is raised and the inner edge is flush with the turf by the hedge.

      This solidly well-built flight of steps connects a path to a beautiful brick courtyard. The design appears effortless, but in fact great care has gone into planning the overall brickwork scheme and incorporating steps that are subtly curved.

      A number of brickwork projects—path, columns, walls and flower border edging—comes together in an imposing “tied-in” structure. The path draws you through the gateway and turns to follow the wall; softening the picture, formal flowerbeds edged with bricks laid on their header faces divide path and wall. The foundation under these weighty structures must be extensive, but the bricks protruding at the corners of the columns add a delicate touch, as do the blossoms peeping through the gaps in the honeycomb bond.

      A traditional English Sussex farmyard wall with the bricks set in a heading bond (the courses run at a diagonal angle to the ground).

      A decorative, low-rise set of two steps in a country garden. Notice how the shape and sweeping arrangement of the steps leads the eye across the patio to the other steps and the lawn beyond. The framed herringbone pattern and recessed detailing must have been a challenge to build.

      The contrast between the even, square shapes of the brickwork and the curvy and rounded shapes of the landscaping adds visual interest to this cozy planted patio. Further heightening the complexity of the design is the variety of plants and the intersecting brickwork patterns. The rustic wood bench and the bright wall lend a softening, harmonizing touch.

      The perfect circular shape of this raised garden pond, which must have required many bricks to build, would have been challenging to achieve, but it creates an ideal centerpiece to this formal garden. The aged look of the bricks makes for an appealing invitation to reflect on the scenic beauty. Note how the header splays used to form the rim of the pond create a seating area.

      PART 1: TECHNIQUES

      DESIGN AND PLANNING

      The art of working with bricks relies on the coordination between mind, hand and eye: the key words are planning, rhythm, repetition and timing. The trick is to fit the components together with the minimum of measuring and as few cuts as possible. If you do have to make a cut, the challenge is to get it right the first time! If you can use the bricks as you find them—new, salvaged, seconds or left over from another job—so much the better.

      Choosing a suitable project

      Sometimes it is easy to get carried away and build something massive that dominates the space and frankly looks out of place, because the scale is wrong and the style is not suitable. So before you decide what to build, take stock of your garden or yard and consider how to improve it. If it is cluttered, you may want to rebuild an existing feature to make it smaller, stronger or more decorative. If the area is a bombsite or a blank canvas, design the whole garden first; when you are ready to build brickwork projects, make sure they fit into the overall scheme.

      Garden features are more than basic structures that are constructed out of necessity—they are also decorative. You may need to change the appearance or style of a project to suit your garden. For example, a simple, well-proportioned brick planter would suit a modern scheme, but for a Victorian garden, it would be more appropriate to incorporate detailing and decoration. From a safety point of view, avoid building ponds and some water features if you have young children.

      FIRST CONSIDERATIONS

      • What do you want to achieve? Write down the aspects that are important to you, and look at magazines, books and other people’s gardens to assess the possibilities. If necessary, change our project designs to suit your needs.

      • Bricks are made in many colors and textures. Do some research into what is available, and see what you like.

      • To make a project fit better into your space, you may have to consider changing its size, shape and proportions. Would it,