If you've been following Matt & Kim to the Rescue you'll know about the fantastic work they have been doing. And if you haven't, you are going to find out.
Matt and Kim to the Rescue has one purpose: to uncover the problems plaguing a family and give them the most spectacular solution possible. Sometimes it's by creating fun spaces, and sometimes it's by finding money. This time, we give Ruth her independence back.
Ruth, a mother of 2, battled cancer for over a decade and later suffered a paralyzing stroke that put her into a wheelchair. Ruth and her husband Ray lost their savings and dreams, and their home fell apart. Ray never asked for help and he never left Ruth's side.
With other local companies and volunteers, we at Midland Brick got right behind Matt & Kim by supplying a huge amount of bricks, blocks, pavers and Cultured Stone to help transform Ruth's tired, dysfunctional house into the most stunning wheelchair accessible home in Australia. Their backyard in particular went through such an impressive transformation that we caught up with this amazing project's landscape designer, Nic Russell from Landscapes WA.
As one of the show's long-term contributors, Nic tells us more about the design and how he incorporated Midland Brick products.Nic, you've been in the game for 20 years now - tell us about how you got into the industry and started Landscapes WA.
While I was at Uni and part time at Waldecks, we'd always be asked if we knew of any landscapers. So I thought here's an opportunity and took on a couple of maintenance jobs, and it grew from there. I quit Uni, bought a Ute and have never looked back. We now have over 25 staff and work with most of the major builders within WA.
You've been working with Matt & Kim on the show since day dot - how did that come about?
Like many things, it was right time and right place: Louise - the shows producer - rang my office a week out from the first show and explained the concept. I said yes straight away. That first show was an amazing experience -being involved in such a community event. After that we were hooked.This project had quite a big backyard to work with - can you tell us about the design process?
After the first visit, we were gob-smacked by what was required just to tidy up! We knew the situation and really wanted to make a backyard that had functionality so Ruth could get around without relying on others - and to give her back some freedom. We also wanted to incorporate an area or two where Ray could get away from things. The driving range was designed with that in mind, somewhere where he could go and be by himself.How did you find working with the Midland Brick products? What drove your selection process?
We knew from the start that having Midland Brick on board gave us an amazing selection of products and colours. We especially loved the Ashlar Granite and Promenade Granite paving ranges and wanted to use this in the new alfresco area. We also decided to incorporate a few separate spaces that featured blade walls using Midland Brick Concrete Blocks. 
We then used Cultured Stone (Country Ledgestone in White Oak) as an alternative to natural stone cladding in order to create a beautiful fire pit area as an extension of the alfresco. For the pool, we used Promenade Bullnose Pavers for the border and edges, and Country Ledgestone in White Oak as the water feature so compliment that colours and textures of the entire backyard.
Click here to check out more amazing projects by Landscapes WA.