A piece of history

Last night I was browsing through the real estate section of the local paper and came across a photo of a house that I knew immediately was by the same builder who constructed our first home. I can pick one of their houses from a mile away - they had a portfolio of about six or seven floorplans and would buy up blocks of land in a street and knock up a row of spec homes.

This one caught my eye and I had to have a squiz online at the photos, because I could see from the teeny pic in the paper, that they had the same kitchen colour scheme we originally had. The layout is different, but the colour, materials and quality are exactly what we endured for about 14 years before we ripped the whole thing out and had a new kitchen installed:



What do you think? Classy, eh? No overhead cupboards (I was so jealous of our neighbour who had the cupboard above the oven like this one; we had nothing but plaster....), no rangehood, and the colours! Those cheap plastic grip thingies on the cupboards (which were solid chipboard inside; nice!), the stylish brown plastic tap handles, and those TILES. I can't believe this house still has the original oven....

Oh, you should have seen the bathroom. Wait, I'll show you:



We didn't have anything as flash as this - no cupboard under our basin, just air, and no vanity top extending over the bath. (Again, I was jealous of the neighbour who had this house).

I'd somehow forgotten how bad it was, since we renovated kitchen and bathroom back in 2001. But looking at these photos, I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry....


The hilarious thing is, this house is advertised as "renovated". Apart from the floor tiles in the living rooms, which look to be c. 1990, and the addition of evaporative cooling, I can't see a single sign of renovation here. Unless that's now real estate speak for "had a paint job in the last five years".

Oh, my aching EVERYTHING!

I am completely exhausted, after yet another weekend of slogging away outdoors, and Bike Boy is feeling the same. I don't even want to imagine how we'd feel if we hadn't had the bulk of our landscaping professionally done. All we're doing is the planting, plus adding some finishing touches.

It's all come together beautifully, so here are a few photos of some of what we've been up to.

A screen to provide a support for some Chinese Star Jasmine to grow on and give us something more attractive to look at than the fence from the lounge windows:





The perfect planters for a herb garden. I'm going to add one more, but I'll wait till Spring when new plant stock is available in the nurseries:



Another screen. This one is just to provide a backdrop for the tall pot and give us a focal point at the end of the path. I think it makes you want to go down there to see what's around the corner:



The difference a few plants makes. Before:



After:



We've actually done a lot more over the past month than these few photos show, but it was mostly planting, painting and small but necessary bits and pieces that aren't very interesting.

We still have to add a pergola outside the sliding door to filter out the western sun in summer, build the water feature we want and eventually get a thatched hut-type shelter built to provide a peaceful and private seating area. But we're really happy with what we've achieved, especially the fact that there's a "view" from almost every window now.



And Mrs B, I haven't forgotten about your lovely blog award.... I'll get to it soon, I promise!

Seriously?

Here's a funny thing: numerous people have asked us whether we're going to enclose our alfresco room, with cafe blinds or windows or something. WTF? We have four (indoor) living rooms - why on earth would we want another?

The outdoors is exactly that - OUTDOORS. I know Melbourne's climate means that we won't get an enormous amount of use out of it throughout winter, but hey; that's life. And thinking about it, the covered deck at our old house got used probably nine months of the year. That was open on two sides; this has three sides enclosed, plus a fairly protected area immediately outside. And we have the gas patio heater....

I'm not one for hanging up blinds, putting down carpet (outdoor rugs? What is THAT about?) and sticking a bloody great plasma TV on the wall. I don't get it - why try to turn the outdoors into a clone of the indoors? Beats me.

I just want to sit out there with a drink in hand, maybe some music playing softly, and enjoy the sight of the garden, the sounds of birds and frogs, and comment, a la Darryl Kerrigan: "How's the serenity?"

At last

I feel like it's finished. Even though it isn't quite....

Long time coming!!


Ignore the neighbour's house poking over the fence there - I haven't finished planting yet. That's going to become invisible soon.

Loving it!

I think I've barely been indoors for the past five or six days. Barbecued something is on the menu every night, because who wants to spend time in the kitchen when you can be out here in these beautiful surroundings?

We're making the most of the good weather while it lasts. Winter will be here soon enough. Bleurgh. Although.... then I can turn my attention back to furnishing and decorating the inside of the house.

I'm steadily working at the planting, and it's all coming along nicely. After tossing up between tiled feature, urn, garden art and other options, we've finally decided on a water feature for our bare bit of wall in the middle of the planter. We've even found a design that Bike Boy can DIY a copy of....we just have to agree on the materials. It's an Asian-influenced trickling spout, and if we ever get it done, it's going to be perfect.

Break in the weather

I'm beginning to ache all over and I suspect I'll be spending some quality time with my ice pack tonight, but I got heaps of planting done today. I've been out there most of the day, in spite of the 60kmh winds and a few showers.

I'm nowhere near finished, but here are a few pics anyway.

That's better! A much nicer view as you walk through from the front door:



I tried to get a photo of the view from the dining room window, but the camera kept focusing on the blinds. Next time, switch to manual focus, dummy!



The table and chairs had a brief outing in the sunshine, but thanks to the foul weather, they're back under cover for now:



This section of the planter box is done. At least as far as plants go:



I love how this area at the side is shaping up:




The back is mostly done. A few more things to go in, but it's looking good:



Tiger grass, Lomandra, Acoris:



A couple of yuccas, an agave and some echeverias. I may plant out the cacti too. Might need tongs for that job...



A few close-ups. Tiger grass:



Cannas:



Nandina "Nana":



Scleranthus:



Cordyline "Sundance":



And I've adopted a bonsai, a gift from my Mum. A gorgeous Nandina and (I think) blue sedge:



I'm still figuring out exactly what to put in the back corner and how to arrange it all. That might be a job for next weekend.

All I want now is a fine and warm weekend so we can spend some time enjoying our new outdoor space. Please?

Tropical resort, anyone?

The vision is beginning to become reality:



Now I'm just impatient for the plants to grow!