Abracadabra!

My pet hate? Rubbish bins permanently stored at the front of the house. Ugh. Add a burnt-out car to the front lawn and it'd be picture perfect.

Since we're a bit tight on space, our bins have been living at the side of our house, just in front of the gate. Handy, but not ideal from an aesthetic point of view.


So over the weekend, Bike Boy collected together the leftover bits of decking from the front porch, picked up a few other odds and ends and made the bins disappear. Voila:


As a bonus, it hides the gas and electricity meters and the Telstra box. It also just screens the top of our shed from view. Very nice. :)

Getting impatient now

The start of the big landscaping project is now four weeks away and I'm just wanting it done NOW. Patience....not a lot of that around here. Anyway...

This is the basic plan for the back yard:



Bottom left is the gate leading to the front yard. The back of the house is to the right - there's a sliding door from my studio that leads out there. And the main part of the yard, with a nice big covered alfresco room is at the side, with our main living area and the formal lounge both opening onto it.

Preparations are underway though - we've had a plumber install a couple of extra taps to make watering easier. A drip system will be going in down the track, but for now we'll just make future provision by running conduit under the paving and stick with hand watering for this summer. The budget isn't infinite...

I spent some time yesterday attacking the weeds with Roundup - for the last time, hurrah! And Bike Boy did a proper repair job on our timber bench, after my makeshift effort lasted only about a month.

I also made use of some pots and some plants that I already had and created a couple of nice features for the shady alfresco room:



I just need a bowl or squat pot for my cacti, probably something in earthy tones to complement these two.

Next weekend we'll probably do a clean up and arrange a hard rubbish collection to get rid of the final bits of crap that have accumulated outside. We also need to pick up a few large pavers and create a nice even surface behind the new screen. Then we're about done... no point shopping for plants at this stage; it'll drive me nuts trying to keep them alive in pots through the hot weather.

Now to try to exercise some patience. I'm filling in the time researching plants and changing my mind about every five minutes about what to plant. It's worse than choosing colours for the house!

Landscaping work: Step 1

Bike Boy has toiled away this weekend, building us this screen, which sits just outside the al fresco room:



In keeping with our tropical theme with Balinese influences, it's made of merbau. Apart from making a lovely backdrop for a potted plant, yet to be bought - the Giant Bird of Paradise is just a prop for the photo - it hides an ugly but necessary utility area from view:



Once the pros do their bit, there'll be a raised planter in front of the fence (which is to the left and out of shot in these photos), and with the help of some judicious planting, this messy spot should be pretty much invisible.

Tah-dah!

As promised....the Christmas tree:




Yes, it's a bit of a tinsel overload, but that's because I don't have enough baubles for such a giant tree and I'm not going out spending the $$ just now.

At least it helps fill up the furnitureless empty space in the lounge. :D

How does your garden grow?

With sunshine, rain, some Seasol ....and about nine months since planting:





The Little Gems I planted as a border were a bit straggly and skinny after spending way too long in their pots. So I hacked at them mercilessly and they were sprouting new leaves all over ....which the freak hailstorm a couple of weeks ago shredded. :(

But they're bouncing back. They should make a nice bushy hedge given a little time.



I get impatient at times and think there hasn't been much growth. So it's good to take photos and do a comparison now and then and see that things really are taking off nicely.

Now I can't wait to turn this into a tranquil oasis:

One year on....

We had handover on the 28th November last year, so even though we didn't move in till the 13th December, we've officially been in possession of the place for a year now. Sometimes I look around and think we've done hardly anything and feel all blah about how much there still is to do. Then I remember all the stuff we have done so far, and tell myself to get over it.

Really, apart from the landscaping, we have one feature light fitting that we haven't yet installed, the wardrobes need to be properly fitted out, we still need blinds on the bifolds, and that's about it. Everything else is optional - extra cabinets in the laundry, maybe a roof ladder installed in the garage, furniture, decorator stuff.... I'm sure I'll think of lots more things we "need" though. ;o)

Since it's that time, we had one of the builder's maintenance guys out a couple of weeks ago to do our 12-month inspection of all the "structural" defects that have appeared since the three-month inspection. They're mostly sticking doors, nail pops in ceilings (and one spectacular one in the hallway!) and so on. But there's also some sub-standard work that was done as part of the three-month maintenance that we're unhappy with, and a leak in the roof that developed about three weeks ago. Luckily the leak is in our ensuite, so only tiles were getting wet....

There was no problem about fixing any of it, and I even got them to agree to sort out the study downlights that take a good 10-15 seconds to come on when you press the switch. Various other people told us that that was normal. Hmmph.

Now I'm expecting a plumber to contact me about the leak and an electrician about the lights and a dodgy exhaust fan in the bathroom soonish. The rest is unlikely to be started till the New Year, but there's nothing pressing amongst it, so no biggie.

I'm keen to get this stuff out of the way and get the landscaping done, and then I think I'll start to feel like the house is complete.

More Christmas decorations

I borrowed this idea from someone else, after deciding that Buddha needed to join in the Christmas spirit:



Bike Boy thinks he looks a bit disgusted.

Hey, it was either the Santa hat or a tinsel necklace and a pair of bauble earrings.