Monday, December 30, 2013
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Summer fun in the sun
Two small boys and a hose during a 40 degree day.
The garden held up quite well in the heat.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
DIY Landscaping - my Mount Everest.
Recently while walking down my street I met a lovely hard working backpacker named Henning from Germany. He needed work / money and I needed a back garden.
Together this is what we achieved!
Moving dirt from one side to the other side
constructing a retaining wall
Dad and Henning
Retaining wall in place
Turf arrives
First roll goes down
Work In Progress
Thankyou Henning! You did a fantastic job for us and it was lovely meeting you and your friends. I hope you have a wonderful time travelling Australia and if you ever find yourself back in Melbourne we will always have a bed and a cold beer for you here.
Saturday, November 2, 2013
So what about Open Plan Living?
It's been almost a year since we began our renovation. For at least 6 months we have been living and enjoying the new space.
Prior to embarking on the renovation, at planning stage, I spent alot of time trawling the internet for information / opinions on Open Plan Living (OPL). Was our space going to be big enough? Is bigger even better? How about mess and OPL? You get my point.
We were lucky, a couple of friends and family had recently undergone renovations themselves and done the the whole OPL thing so I was able to draw on their experience. My cousin Lou in the west had an architect who refused to create an OPL space over 70sqm. She eventually got one at 72 sqm.
"So!" I quipped "Are you loving it? You've got to be loving it, right?"
"Ummm....yeah, it's great" (I sensed hesitation) "It's just, the cleaning is a bitch, it's so damn big." she sighed "The architect was right."
6 months on and I too can attest to a few OPL drawbacks.
Now don't get me wrong, we are very happy with our new/old house and wouldn't change a thing. OPL is wonderful when you are relaxing at home with just the family. It's great having your kids playing on the floor in front of you while you prepare dinner or load the dishwasher.
It's also great when you have a few friends over for coffee or a casual dinner / lunch and you all huddle around the island topping up wine glasses and swooning over nibbles while chatting happily. The drawback, which in my opinion is a rather large one, occurs when you attempt to entertain more than a few.
In my old kitchen come xmas day lunch I could slip away from the crowd and get down to the serious business of food prep. The door served as a gate keeper which kept the guests from viewing my manic rush to get everything finished and out on the serving table. Actually, provided I had a glass of wine I enjoyed being tucked away from everyone. I could concentrate on the job at hand.
With OPL you had better be 100% ready when guests arrive because if your playing a game of catch up your going to be caught out BIGTIME! It's difficult chatting to guests while creating a meal you hope people remember (for the right reasons). Following a recipe while making small talk, with the clock ticking, requires some super human multi tasking skills that I clearly don't possess.
Fortunately entertaining large numbers isn't a goal I aspire to achieve often. Give me a small casual lunch any day.
We were lucky, a couple of friends and family had recently undergone renovations themselves and done the the whole OPL thing so I was able to draw on their experience. My cousin Lou in the west had an architect who refused to create an OPL space over 70sqm. She eventually got one at 72 sqm.
"So!" I quipped "Are you loving it? You've got to be loving it, right?"
"Ummm....yeah, it's great" (I sensed hesitation) "It's just, the cleaning is a bitch, it's so damn big." she sighed "The architect was right."
6 months on and I too can attest to a few OPL drawbacks.
Now don't get me wrong, we are very happy with our new/old house and wouldn't change a thing. OPL is wonderful when you are relaxing at home with just the family. It's great having your kids playing on the floor in front of you while you prepare dinner or load the dishwasher.
It's also great when you have a few friends over for coffee or a casual dinner / lunch and you all huddle around the island topping up wine glasses and swooning over nibbles while chatting happily. The drawback, which in my opinion is a rather large one, occurs when you attempt to entertain more than a few.
In my old kitchen come xmas day lunch I could slip away from the crowd and get down to the serious business of food prep. The door served as a gate keeper which kept the guests from viewing my manic rush to get everything finished and out on the serving table. Actually, provided I had a glass of wine I enjoyed being tucked away from everyone. I could concentrate on the job at hand.
With OPL you had better be 100% ready when guests arrive because if your playing a game of catch up your going to be caught out BIGTIME! It's difficult chatting to guests while creating a meal you hope people remember (for the right reasons). Following a recipe while making small talk, with the clock ticking, requires some super human multi tasking skills that I clearly don't possess.
Fortunately entertaining large numbers isn't a goal I aspire to achieve often. Give me a small casual lunch any day.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Callistemon 'Eureka' - Spring 2013
My Callistemon hedge is slowly growing. Actually after only 3 short years it has come a long way, reaching almost 3m in height. This spring the floral display has been outstanding. I will need to give it a hard prune after flowering to thicken it up and encourage hedging, but so far planting this hedge from tiny little seedlings has been extremely rewarding. What will it look like in 3 years from now!
Below is a photo from when it was first planted. Clearly it likes this position!
A few other photos from Spring 2013. We are yet to do any landscaping, it's on a very long list of things still left to do. We will get there eventually.
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