A work in progress - backyard

I hope you can bear with me through this post, I think I had to include so many photos just to emphasize how big this project has been and how long it has taken!

Our backyard has been a work in progress, we started in January 2010 and my last update was the chook house in November 2010.

You can read about it here at the Chook House

It all started here you can read about it all at

"The beginning part 1, part 2 & part 3"

Then in November 2010 we started working on this area again.

We levelled it and we built retaining walls and we moved an awful lot of rock!

During the work we also installed the new sheds

read about it  

 here  and here 

you can see them in the background.

We worked hard and just in time for our Christmas Party on the 23rd December 2010 we left it at this.

 

In April 2011 my wonderful hubby started work on it again

We also decided it was time to finish the other unsightly areas that we had left around the place.

We had uneven surfaces around the new sheds, we had dirt around the side of the house, drain that still needed to be installed and messy areas that were just hard to mow and looked unattractive.

After much deliberation it was decided that the best way to fix this and avoid lots of back breaking digging was to use crushed limestone.

Is it really sad to get so excited about a finished path and an installed drain?

Hubby worked hard yesterday in the freezing cold and today just before it snowed to add some finishing touches

and were done....

except for all of the plants that need to get planted in spring and the lattice that needs to go in the veggie garden to support my climbing plants.......

 and I am sure there is still more......

but I was just too excited about our progress that I just had to share it with you.

What do you think?

I think that if you made it this far you deserve a big hug for being a great friend and sharing my excitement!

I may follow up with some more detailed explanations in the future including some really interesting stats like how many tonnes of rock, dirt and sand we have moved. LOL!!!

How much money above mentioned stuff has cost us and how much I have saved on gym fees by working hard in the yard! : )

xx

Courtyard

I hope you have all had a lovely weekend!

We had a somewhat relaxed weekend and worked on a few things in the yard

That is after we slept on until 9.30am on Saturday morning

and only managed to get out of bed in time to get to church on Sunday morning!

After our late rise on Saturday

we further indulged by having breakfast outside and reading the paper until 11am!!!!!

That's ok, what is the point of working hard if you don't get to enjoy it!

When we bought our house (2 years ago)

we decided that we would have french doors one day

from our bedroom into a little courtyard outside

So when we started work on the yard we planned for our little courtyard

We dug

and we built retaining walls

and we rendered them

and we levelled and

we barrowed in crushed limestone

then with my birthday money we bought a table setting

just for the two of us!

now all we need is to get the french doors!!!!!

I wish you all a wonderful week!

xx

Retaining Walls

I will warn you now that this entry will not have any finished photos (I still haven't been out to take some) but I thought I could do some progress shots. Just to prove and remind us that we have been busy and we have made progress. This is the side of our house, this side faces North and when we moved in it was a mess. We don't understand why someone would build half a wall and then stop. Where the wall stops they placed rocks in an attempt to finish it off???? It was not nice, wood chips and little terracotta rocks, weeds, blue fence and blue gate. So we started the long process of cleaning this area. Given that this mess was at the side of the house and out of the way it was a job that kept getting put aside for other jobs. On the other side of the gate at the front half of the house we had this mess. More rocks, more blue fence and the neighbours driveway. First we cleared the rocks from the back half and moved them to the front half. We decided to work with what we had and create a rockery on the front side of the fence. We used all of the good sized rocks to create our edges and our wonderful Nan and Pop provided us with cuttings and plants from their garden to get us started. We bought some Pittosporum that we planted as a hedge along the neighbours driveway in order to create some privacy as it grows. Pittosporum is a fast growing hedge (about 1 metre a year from memory) that will grow 4-5 metres high. We will keep it trimmed at about 2 metres high. With some help from our brother Tom we began to finish of the brick wall. Tom dug and poured our concrete base then started us on the brick work. The brick wall that we began working on at the side of the house runs right to the back of the house and looks like this. This part of the brick wall is right outside our bedroom window. One day we will replace our bedroom window with french doors that will open up onto a little courtyard just for us, only big enough for a three piece table and chairs. Picture morning coffee and paper reading. In order to have a courtyard we need to make space so we started digging and knocking out bricks.

This photo gives you an idea of the layout. My WH is pouring the concrete footing for the new wall in the courtyard.

After a few Saturdays of work we finally have a brick wall all the way to the fence. Yes it is a bit wobbly but it was the first go and it isn't in a highly visible spot and we have rendered (photos of that another time) and I will be planting creepers over the wall to disguise the crookedness.

We also have a courtyard.

Proof that we finished this a while ago, there is only one old shed in the background.

At this stage of the backyard we left the walls as they were and then worked on replacing the rotting deck. I have already blogged about our weekend with the Dingo Digger and then our shed erecting.

So we have been working hard on bits and pieces, sometimes it feels like it will never end but slowly , slowly it is starting to come together.

Courtyard

We managed to go and have a look at a shop in Bathurst on the weekend that we had been wanting to check out for quite a while. Both Nick and I found lots of stuff that we liked, unfortunately none of it came home with us. The shop is called 'Courtyard' and it stocks outdoor furniture, pots and ornaments along with indoor decor as well as custom made architectural pieces like cornices and mouldings etc. We really had a lovely time looking through the shop, trying to take photos on the phone and getting lots of ideas. I love shops like this one, not only do they stock great stuff but the arrangements along with the building itself provide a great source of decorating inspiration.

Photo source: McCarthy Designs