28th February 2016

We are now so close to finishing our front yard, which is nice.

Over the last month or so we have finishing putting in all our plants. We ended up going with Murraya, Cuphea White, Dentata and Liriope. All we need to do now is install a garden edge. Currently the grass meets the edge. Still not sure whether to put a paver-like edge or a metal edge so it looks very similar to how it is now. A few minor touch ups are needed with painting on the retaining wall and the timber on our facade has faded a bit and has started peeling. Not bad for having been in the house for 2.5 years and facing west with direct sun on it every afternoon. The deck also needs another coat of paint too.

We recently bought some Acapulco chairs and a side table from Bunnings for the front balcony. We now spend most afternoons sitting out the front on the balcony and enjoy the sunsets and afternoon breezes. We never really used the balcony before we bought the chairs.

Next on our to do list is the back yard, which is still a blank canvas. We want to build a deck under our alfresco which will extend out to the fence and half way across the backyard, something very similar to the display home at Kellyville Ridge. We will probably use similar plants to what we have used out the front too. We are tossing up whether to go with a Lilly Pilly or Murraya for a hedge screen. We originally wanted bamboo, but we would probably need a second mortgage. Bamboo is soooooo expensive.

We are also thinking about installing a pool, but before we do that we need to find out whether its doable as we have a sewer line running across the backyard. The pool would have to sit directly above it, so some piering may have to happen. Fingers crossed it can go ahead.

We can't wait to start so we can start enjoying our weekends outside, entertaining with family and friends and relaxing.

Exciting times ahead!

Some pics of our front yard...

   

 

 

 

2nd January 2016

Happy New Year!

So the last few days has been spent slaving away in the front yard and we are now feeling sorry for ourselves as we are burn't to a crisp and very sore. It has all been worth it though. We are looking forward to finishing off the front yard so we can get started out the back. So much to do still! If only we had some money trees to plant :)

We finally finished bagging and painting our retaining wall. It's not perfect, but its the first time we have built a wall together. We decided to paint it the same colour as the front facade which is Colorbond Dune.

We created a garden bed on the left side of the driveway (looking at the house from the road). So far it has Murraya in it. We still need to add some Cuphea White and Mondo Grass. We may have to add more to it as it's a wider garden bed than the opposite side of the driveway.

We also created a garden bed on the right side of the driveway along the retaining wall (neighbours boundary). It also has Murraya in it for the time being. We still need to add some Cuphea White and Mondo Grass too. We only have one more garden bed to create, which will be along the front boundary. It will eventually have Cuphea White and Mondo Grass.

Something else we added was another tree to the nature strip on the right side of the driveway, so we now have 3 x Pyrus Calleryana 'Capital' on the nature strip.

We have tried to stick with a 'white flower' theme. We might add some more colour down the track.

Some pics below.

19th October 2015

We have a front deck...and we did it all ourselves!

For the last 3 weekends, we have spent hours working outside in the heat building our first deck together. We originally had quotes to get someone to build it for us, but we decided in the end to have a go at it ourselves and save some money. We didn't have a lot of height to work with (only 90mm in fact) which made the job a little tricky. It also didn't help that the verandah wasn't square. It's not perfect and there are a couple of things we wish we had done, but we think it looks great and we are super happy with the result. Everything we used was bought from Bunnings. Only 1 x coat of stain has been put on so far. I will be putting the 2nd coat on this weekend. The deck colour will eventually match our front door, the timber on the facade and the garage door.

Our next job will be to finish off the retaining walls, then we can finally get some plants in :)

Digging up the grass was so much fun in 40 degree heat...NOT!

This isn't stained...just wet from hosing away all the dust.

Finishing off with the framing!

First coat of stain going on!

This is the finished result with 1 x coat of stain!