Landscaping - Part Two. The backyard

Here is a photo roundup of the rear yard landscaping.

Mop Top Robinia's

Deck not quite finished in these photos, more recent photos to be posted soon.

Deck has since been stained also.

Looking back at these it felt so finished at the time but now it feels so much more established, after only 3 months!

Eventually those stairs will be capped with the same tiles as the front portico will be tiled with.

Along the rear fence we have Eleocarpus (Blueberry Ash), with Chinese Star Jasmine in front that I will keep clipped into a groundcover. (The right in the above photo). Dircetly infront in the above photo are Gardenias. Along the boundary fence in the rear of the photo are Camelias & Gardenias in front of those

These Raphis Palms are outside out kitchen feature splashback window, with Murraya to the left and Camelias to the right.

Also on the same side of the house as the kitchen window, we chose to have small pebbles as it is rarely used or walked on.


So, there it is! After lots of mud, sweat and tears we have a garden, we are now a lot poorer but our lives are richer for it. Mr 3 is out there ALL the time and we absolutely love our garden. It finally felt like we were no longer living on a construction site once it was done!

I'll be back soon with updated photos I took today :)

Landscaping pics - FINALLY!

Well, after a very busy series of months since we moved in I am finally getting around to posting photos from our garden!

Our landscaping was completed - for now - way back in mid-October and has already grown SO much, but for now, here are the pics from the day of completion.

In these pics the deck wasn't 100% finished but was sorted by the end of that weekend.

Front yard first:

Magnolia Little Gem , it has since filled out a lot and has flowered over and over again!

Raised bed to one side of the portico - Standard Ficus with Photinias to form a hedge between our place and next doors driveway. There were tiny in this pic - they are about 4 times the size now.

Eventually I want to add a water feature where that green pot is ;)

Gate/fence panel on the right of garage still to be painted. Those who were around for my Colorbond vs timber post will see we went with timber, which is what I really wanted in the first place! Now I need to fill and sand the nail holes and choose a paint colour, I'm getting really sick of it being so close but so far to being complete!

The driveway needs another coat of sealer and when money permits the front steps and portico will be tiles with granite tiles. Front portico also will be rendered at some stage.

Really need to replace that original letterbox! I have plans however to have a front fence built, with brick piers and timber sections inbetween and the letterbox will be bricked into the fence.

Thankfully that reddish mulch has since settled to a darker colour, I'm not a fan of its original colour ;)

As these posts will be very pic heavy, I'll split the garden tour into two - back yard to follow!

37,700!

Wow!

I was catching up on all the blogs I read tonight and happened to notice my stats.

We've had exactly 37,700 views on our little blog!

Thanks everyone who has been following and reading :)

I PROMISE I haven't forgotten you all. Just been SUPER busy working on the house, and keeping up with the day to day. There are just NOT enough days in the week or hours in the day..

Our landscaping is done and dusted for the moment so I will do a proper post on that soon - but for now heres a sneaky peek..

Just when I thought all the hard decisions were behind me...

I need to decide on a fence/gate to go between our boundary fence and our garage. Its a decent area to span - maybe 4 metres across, so its a big decision aesthetically.

My choices are - a paling fence/gate, hopefully lap and cap style, painted, probably to match the gutters and raintank (Dune) OR a Colorbond fence.

If I went with Colorbond I would try to match in with the gutters etc OR perhaps go dark to tie in with the driveway.. The dark would blend with the landscape/plants etc better but the lighter colour would be a nice contrast to all the brick I think.

Our garage door is dark Timberlook, and our front door is stained Merbau.

Currently around the perimeter of our block we have 8 foot lap and cap paling fences..

Any bloggy pearls of wisdom out there??? Anyone??

There are benefits to Colorbond over timber in the maintenance stakes (with Colorbond there is little to none - maybe a hose down periodically!) - but really, when it comes down to it I just want what will LOOK the best :)

I'll be sure to keep you updated on this all important decision ;)

Driveway excitement..

As promised here is a follow up post to the last one on the landscaping progress - better late than never right?

Almost three weeks ago our driveway and front path were poured - and not a moment too soon in regard to the weather!! The driveway was poured Thursday, and the layback and new gutter on Friday - and from Friday night onwards Sydney had torrential rain for a solid week!

We decided to go with a coloured concrete driveway, in Charcoal, after weighing up a few options. At one point we were going to stamp a slate type pattern on it but a combination of not being able to get the stamps when we needed them and deciding it would be too slippery on a sloped driveway like ours saw us sticking with the original plan.

The day arrived and our son was super excited that the "cement mixers" would be there that day so we set up camp on the front porch - his cars and trucks in tow and watched for hours!

All formed up - pump truck preparing for the cement truck to arrive

The view from our porch - delightful huh?

Our son has developed a keen interest in photography of late :)

Pouring!

Its all happening :)

Finshing off the smoothing process - before the colour is added. Aerial shot from upstairs balcony.

Thats a whole lotta concrete!

Almost done - now with colour added. The colour is added by literally throwing a powder over the wet concrete and smoothing it in. Hence the boys ending up filthy!

After much deliberation over colour I'm glad I went with a dark one. I wanted it to blend rather than stand out and once the plants and grass etc are sorted out I think it will all compliment nicely.

Very happy with the finished product!

The next day saw the final touches with the new gutter and layback being poured. The landscapers ripped out the old ones and we repositioned it all to suit the new house and driveway better. Its wider now too which is great, as our street is narrow and curved so its always been difficult to get in and out of the driveway.

Exciting stuff huh?

So there we are - one big step closer to the finished picture!

And remember - Better View Landscapes - call Shane on 0412 157 117 if you need a quote :)

Will update again soon and the inside happenings, what's gone wrong, what's been fixed and what we are STILL waiting for 8 weeks later!