Garden Mojo

As the title suggests, we got our gardening mojo on recently and were finally able to put some plants in the backyard!!

Let me remind you of the blandness BP (before plants)

We were given some free Clivias from 'B's' Mum recently to provide a bit of ground cover which you can see below.  They've not overly liked being dug out of their previous home and transported to ours but hopefully they'll come good.  This pic also shows the 'frame' for a screen we have since put in...

Here are the Dracaena's we planted back in October.  Only difference in this before pic is a bit of mulch.

And here's the garden bed in front of the Family Room BP

Which in itself was a major improvement on what it had been for quite a while....

After visiting our favourite plant nursery as well as Engall's Nursery (which was equally fantastic if you're specifically looking for citrus plants), we came home and positioned the plants how we thought they'd look best

The fantastic guy at Engall's helped us choose 2 mandarin varieties and an orange tree which all bare fruit at different times, one after another.  They grow between 2 - 4 metres which is perfect.  We already have a Dwarf Lemon, Dwarf Lime and Kaffir Lime Tree in pots which is why we've chosen how we have.

Along the back fence we chose 5 Little Gem Magnolia's as our feature trees.  We love the look of them and growing between 2 - 4 metres suits us perfectly.

For the ground cover we chose Lilirope Muscari. I think it contrasts perfectly.

Along the Family Room we chose Daphne's.  These will grow 1m high & 1m wide which will be perfect for this spot.  Daphne's love pots with good drainage and potting mix *apparently* so underneath the weed mat are 6 plastic tubs with lots of drainage holes drilled in and they're filled with nutrient rich soil.

And here's everything planted...

Cannot wait to smell the Daphne once it flowers! D.I.V.I.N.E.

Okay, so still a little on the bland side but it's so much better with a bit of extra greenery.  We can't wait till it all looks more established and also when we get some garden lighting.

'B' has also finished the screen behind the sculpture.  We did a screen here for 2 reasons. 1) To help create a separate space between Alfresco and back garden and 2) To make the sculpture stand out a little more.  Later we'll get some nice lighting to shine onto the sculpture and also another to shine onto the BBQ.

You can also see we've put some bamboo screening up.  Couple of things... we need more to cover the top of the colorbond fence and we also need to secure it a little better.  It's looking a little wonky after the recent weather.  We plan to continue the screening down the side of the house but not on other fences.

We added some of our favourite Rhoeo's as a border in the Alfresco too...

Lastly, we bought a few pots of Jasmine to put outside our Lounge Room window to have something nice to look at instead of a fence.  Yet to be planted.

So, between the Magnolia's, Daphne's, Jasmine and future herb wall we should have a really fragrant garden :)

We are in the middle of working on some more projects too so I'll share those soon.

Happy gardening / building / decorating etc etc!

Bit by bit it's getting there

Haven't had much to update lately - boo - (not for lack of wanting) however there's been a bit of activity over the last week or so!

I last left off showing the finished deck out the back.  'B' has now given it a sand, a wash down and oiled it - and wasn't that a job and a half!  Would have been easier & quicker to hire a floor sander but 'B' was happy to do it to save a few $$$.

Here it is in it's pre-oiled glory

"What's taking you so long?" I'd shout through the glass intermittently when walking past...

(kidding haha)

But I'm jumping ahead of myself.  First he built up the BBQ area and hooked up our barbie to natural gas.

 Here's the deck all sanded and freshly scrubbed.

And here it is after 3 coats of oil!

All the rain we've had lately has really helped to establish our lawn.  So nice seeing something green outside!

Turn away now if you're a BBQ snob because this little beauty only cost $148 on sale from $380 at Bunnings!!

Cannot wait to get some plants in!!!

Bring on the warm weather!

The backyard is nearly finished!! 

My Dad and 'B' have been madly building a deck.  All the joists and framework has been completed and the merbau boards will go on next. The retaining walls are all done, just waiting for some soil and turf to go down now (we've been letting the new ground level settle and settle it has with the recent lot of rain).

In celebration *cough* call it what you will, I just "won" the following outdoor table & chair set on ebay for $898.88!  'B' is stoked when I win on ebay, no truly. He loves nothing more than driving all over Sydney picking up my winnings!

Here's a better idea of the colour, it's showing up a bit dark in above pics!

It's verrrry similar to another set I saw at BBQ's Galore over the weekend which sells for $1999! Happy with my $1100 discount, thanks very much!  And this is where I should add that 'B' truly is happy!  He loves a dollar saved, that guy. Bless.

What I love about this outdoor setting is that the chairs all sit flush under the table (with the exception of the end 2 which will sit on a separate section of deck when not in use).  Sitting flush is quite important to us because when our lovely bi-fold doors are open, they take up quite a bit of room - which has meant our ginormous, wide 10 seater setting is about to get an ebay listing all of it's own!

See what I mean?!  And I know!  How shameful I don't have a current pic of our doors!

Anyway, the budget has all but been spent now (and then some) so it will be a while before any new purchases I imagine.

** I wonder if anyone who builds a house comes in on or under budget?? **

Promise to be back soon with a backyard piccy update.

Lick-o-paint! Part 1

I took the step ladder today to assist in my sneaky entrance this afternoon only to find the joint wide open.  Lucky too because the window I'd left open a crack was now locked!

We were very happy to see our painting has started!!  One coat on and 2 to go.  You might notice no cutting in has happened yet.

Quite liking the colour and of course it should be way nicer once all 3 coats of Taubmans Living Silk are on.  At least it should be Living Silk - didn't see any evidence of it being anything other than the standard paint....

An upgrade of course for 3 coats and the Living Silk - the standard is one base coat and 1 top coat of trade paint.  We chose the 3 coats for a nicer finish and because the Living Silk is easier to clean with little people around.

The kitchen is looking very....ummmm.....white now that the paint is going on.  Shouldn't be so stand-outy by the time our white stools go in as well as some other white bits-n-pieces.  That's the plan anyway!

Unfortunately they seemed to have missed the note about all bathroom walls being painted in Taubmans Crisp White... Also appears the feature walls we have going in the boy's rooms has been overlooked.

The tiler's been back and tiled up behind the rangehood - yay!  BUT 'B' requested for the rangehood to be removed and not have tiles just cut in around it which is what we were led to believe would happen but the tiles have just been tiled around.  Looks great and I'm inclined to leave it but 'B' has a really good point in that if we ever need to replace the rangehood and can't get the same profile, then we have to replace the splashback too. 

All our external doors have been stained now in Taubmans Walnut Stain

Wonky bricks have been knocked out!

And I'll leave you with a pic of tonight's gorgeous sunset :)

It's getting close now!!

26/05/11 ~ ETA: Our SS responded really early this morning to my email from last night and mentioned he was ticked off with the tiler who he had specifically asked to remove rangehood first.  Will be fixed soon.  And he's going to check out the paint situation shortly.  Gotta love a prompt response!