Before and after - family room

Still some things to add/change, but I thought I'd post a before and after, now that I've hung my mirror and frames.

I had to turn the lights on to get a decent shot, it's late in the afternoon and very overcast today....

And here's the rendered image again of how it's supposed to look:

Nearly there!

Family room progress

It's been a while, but I'm finally back to doing some decorating - hurrah! We had our new couch delivered yesterday, so (at last!) I'm getting on with the family room makeover.

Last year I had a design consultation with Kristine from Lemonbutter Furnishings & Interiors, and I've been working away at collecting bits and pieces for the room ever since.

This is what we started with:

Much as I love my colours, the old navy couches made the room look so, SO dark and gloomy. So I had in mind a warm white modular couch, to lighten things up. Kristine suggested a large silver-framed mirror as well, to reflect extra light and make the space appear a bit larger. Here's the computer mock-up of her suggested layout:

The colour palette revolves around the wall colours (dark teal and olive-beige), the warm white of the couch and the chocolate of the ottoman (which I don't have yet):

And she suggested accents of silver and olive drab:

The silver adds some glamour and is reflective too, so again, should lighten things up a bit.

Space savers

We love fresh produce, but not having a lot of yard, we've had to be a bit smart about it. Planting four feijoas along the back fence as a screen was a brilliant suggestion from someone whose opinion I value. Eventually, they'll provide privacy, plus a lovely lot of fruit. As a bonus, they look pretty, flowering in winter when most other plants in the garden are not at their best.

I also have my potted cumquat, which is now over twenty years old and is bearing a lovely crop. Then there's my herb garden and a few bird's eye chilli plants. Again, pretty and useful.

Our lack of space prompted me to try my hand at espalier, something I'd never done before. My lemon and kaffir lime are doing well, and I think I'm getting the hang of this pruning caper (with a little help from some experts I found online. God, I love the internet).

So, continuing my one year on theme, here's the lemon:

Just after planting in March 2010:



January this year:



January again, after pruning:



And this week. You can see that the leader is just about up to the third wire now. Hopefully, we'll get a bit more growth before the colder temperatures slow things down.



And the kaffir line is going great guns, now that I've overcome my scaredy-cat tendencies when it comes to pruning. Immediately after planting in March last year:



And now:



This one really hates Melbourne's winter, but at least now I know it bounces back nicely. The bonus of shaping it is that we get to use all the pruned leaves in delicious Thai curries.

Limited space is no excuse for not using your garden in a productive way. :)

One year on - part 3

One year on - part 2

March 2010:



Today:



And a closer view:



Yep, those tiny wisps of dichondra "silver falls" on the right of the first photo have gone crazy, as you can see. I'm going to have to get busy with the secateurs to stop it swamping the dwarf mondo grass...

One year on

March 2010:



March 2011:

Planting completed

I finally got the bamboo in the ground. It doesn't seem to have suffered too much from being left in black garbage bags for almost a week....




A few finishing touches are still required. I'm thinking a Balinese-style statue of some kind, plus some groundcovers or very small shrubs in between the clumps.

That just about completes the planting in our garden now. I can sit back and watch everything grow for a while. :)

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Remember the alien eye-stalk? Turns out to be a rather pretty flower spike. They've become so tall that some are having a lie down now. Anyway, they have these small but attractive orangey-pink flowers all along the stalks:



Succulents always amaze me with their flowers.