Showing posts with label Back yard. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Back yard. Show all posts

Monday, June 11, 2012

Long weekend and a winner

We have a long weekend here in NSW for the Queen's Birthday so we are taking advantage of the extra day and we have been playing with concrete.

If you have been around for a while you will remember that just over two years ago we ripped up our back deck that used to look like this


Bit by bit we cleared and levelled other areas in our backyard and used the extra dirt and old pavers, etc to fill in the void below the old deck.


We worked and worked with lots of dirt and rubbish everywhere for weeks


We spent some time researching paving options and in the end decided to make our own using this plastic paving template and concrete. 

It was a much cheaper option and the result was just what we wanted.... rustic. 

We decided early on to go with a rustic and aged style that way any mistakes could be passed off as part of 'the look'



Finally it was all done, you can read more about it here

Over the the last two years some of the pavers sunk. We knew this would happen as the dirt underneath compacted further and we knew that the paving would need to be redone.




Fortunately not all of the paving has to be replaced just the area under the pergola where the deck used to be. 

So that is what we have been up to and what we are doing today. It isn't pleasant because it is so cold out there and really, I have no enthusiasm for this project considering we've already done it once before :-(

But it will be nice when it's finished.



Before I head out to brave the weather a big 'thanks'  for all of your lovely comments on my art work. 

It was a bit of fun and very easy to do. 

Tamarah from Shabby Vintage Junk is the lucky recipient of the set. 

Thanks Tamarah for your lovely encouragement I hope you enjoy the art.

I hope you all enjoy your Monday and I do hope you are doing something more pleasant than I am.

xx

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Backyard - Part 2

This week has been a hectic week, I guess that happens when you have Monday off. I admit, I have fallen behind on the laundry and ironing so our mornings have been busier then usual.
I know I promised an update on the backyard and I do have one but it isn't as comprehensive as I would like it to be. I haven't got any nice photos of the backyard to share and it is too messy (lawns unmowed, etc) to go and get some now!
So I will give you snippets of what we have done so far! We have aimed for a hardy, drought tolerant garden and have planted a lot of English Box, Pittosporum, Lavender and Seaside daisy. We have used convolvulus along the edge of the garden bed to creep down over the wall.
Plants are very expensive and we are currently on really strict water restrictions. We are only allowed to water our gardens for 1/2 hour on Sundays between 6 - 6.30pm by bucket. It is really hard to keep our plants alive!!! We are recycling grey water and doing the best we can for now. In order to save money we have bought very young plants that are fast growing (except for the English Box).
No more blue fences.
These big pots will be water features (we bought them for our wedding and had large flower arrangements in them at the ceremony), using solar powered pumps.
A new dog house and the drainage is in place.
When we get outside to clean and tidy I will take some pretty photos that I won't be embarrassed to share.
Photo Source: McCarthy Designs