When I bought this run-down house a couple of years ago for its magnificent patio everybody thought I was mad. Magnificent patio? A dirty strip of cobblestones between a dilapidated veranda and a couple of downtrodden sheds: it wasn’t pretty. Its metamorphosis was all the more impressive. This mini blot on the city landscape was transformed into a tropical lounge area that literally and figuratively forms the centre of the house. The fact it faces south and has walls creates a sheltered microclimate where exotic plants provide colour and fragrance all the year round. A magnificent patio? Check!