the wall

* I wrote this AGES ago, to go with The Hole, but my photos were stuck on the computer!

The slab and the retaining wall were a much simpler process. Especially since we ended up getting a bricklayer to do it for us.

Originally we had planned to lay the slab with the help of a friend, and build a pine retaining wall ourselves. But after researching it we realised a pine wall would only last about 10 years and would then probably need replacing, but a brick wall could last forever. So it was more expensive up front, but it was done right, and wouldn't rot away in the future and need redoing. Also, we were so over that area at the time, and had both gone back to work so it would have taken us multiple weekends. It took the bricklayers 2 mornings over about a week.

They came one day, and laid the slab, let it set for a few days and then came back and built the wall.

We did lay the drainage ourselves between the wall and the soil (side note-there was no drainage laid around our house slab, so when it would rain heavily, or the rain would come the right way, it would lie up against the slab and seep through into the garage. All sorted now, but what were they thinking??).

We lay some agi pipe between the soil and the wall. We made sure it had a slight fall so the water would drain away where we wanted it to go, and then covered it with drainage rock.

So now we are researching tanks at the moment. We are tossing up between a few-maybe 1 big tank, maybe 2 smaller ones that hold more than the 1 big one, not sure. We will put it in before next summer, but after we paint. Eventually we will put a new slab under the hot water system, but we will wait until it needs doing.

It already looks so much better, and tidier. As this is at the front of our house (but below street level-check out the first photo) we think we will plant something to hide the tanks. It will probably be in pots so we can cover up the clay and drainage, and finish the area off.

our vegie patch

One of our goals for this year (and last year, but shhhh) was to do 'something with the side garden'. Last year we pulled out the lamandra (leaving us with a big expanse of white rocks) and built a wooden fence and gate, which I just love.

But now....

L had some time off over the holidays and built 3 raised beds for us. We live on the side of the hill with lots of retaining walls, and have come to realise our soil is terrible. It's thick clay, has little drainage and no goodness. So for us raised beds are the way to go so we can add in some goodness and drainage.

Before: Lots of white rocks, a few big rocks that needed busting up, and lots of pots. 

Compare the size of the rocks to the jack hammer and wheel barrow. Yep

First up was a garden bed made out of treated pine. We just used a few plans we already had that were in pots. The pots in front are lily pillys, waiting to be planted on the other side of the fence. 

Then two big, deep vegie gardens. These were made out of hardwood (treated pine not being a great idea for vegie gardens with the leeching of the chemicals). They aren't quite finished yet, there is a narrower plank to sit along the top of the walls so we can place pots, rest vegies, sit down.

This one has a cover to protect things like lettuce and herbs from the sun, especially when they are young. It's just too hot here for most of the year for them. We will also plant some seedlings into pots to establish them, and then replant into the garden. We lots a few zucchini seedlings early on that way-just too hot!

We have planted herbs, lettuce, kale, tomatoes, capsicum, cucumbers, zucchini to start off with. The stuff we eat a lot of, or the stuff that we buy and doesn't last in the fridge more than a few days (herbs and bags of salad I'm looking at you!).

The trellises on this one will be for zucchinis and cucumbers to grow up, rather than out.

We used used lots of good stuff in our soil to retain water and add in goodies-rock minerals, compost, manure, coconut coir, worm castings, lucern, with some seasol, worm tea and molasses mixed in for good measure. 

Now we just need rain! :) It's a big improvement on my pot vegie patch, but it did teach us a lot about what we should and shouldn't do before we went for the more permanent and expensive beds.

How have your vegie patches been going?

what's on for this year?

I wrote about how our list went last year a few days ago, so thought I would fill you in on what we have in the works for this year.

We spent a bit of time on New Years Eve reflecting, and planning our year, and we have dubbed it "The Year of Outside". This year is shaping up to be a bit less hectic than last year with no wedding, but we will be going on our  honeymoon to Sri Lanka for 3-4 weeks. Again, things will probably change as we go along-priorities change, things pop up that need doing, other things happen that mean some stuff isn't viable at the moment for whatever reason. Plus everything always takes more time and more money than you expect! This is a pretty flexible list, and writing it down looks quite optimistic...

-Build raised vegie beds in the side garden

-Built a small retaining wall under the front of the house, (and dig out a whole heap of dirt!) to put in at least 1 water tank for our gardens

-Build another 'feature fence' on the other side of the house near the garage

-Fence the northern side of the block (currently unfenced)

-Built some retaining walls in the back yard

-Turf the back yard

-Paint the rest of the railings

-Refinish the other french doors

-Fix up some of the windows (peeling paint and putty needing replacing)

-Look at painting the exterior

I'd also like to paint the purple lounge and dining rooms, but this may or may not happen this year.

I also hope to spend some more time doing some DIYs, including some more sewing, and hang some more art on the walls. A bit less renovating, and a bit more decorating!

We had planned to renovate the laundry this year, but we have decided to put it off. We can live with the laundry we have for the time being, even though it isn't ideal, but we want to get outside sorted, plants and trees growing, and the outside looking good. We will save the plans for another time.

Have you got a bit of a plan for what you would like to achieve in the year ahead? I'd love to hear about it!

laundry inspiration

Now that our laundry update planning is definitely underway I've been looking at lots of lovely laundries, so I thought I would share some with you. There are a few kitchens-but just turn them into laundries in your mind. Here's a refresh of our current plans:

This first one is one of my favourites, and a similar layout to ours, but ours won't have windows. It feels so nice and bright and clean!

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Another favourite, again with a similar layout. This one also has no natural light like ours. We wouldn't have a potting station at the end. Look at that amazing storage!!

Not sure of the link-it's a fake one from pinterest

I like the green flashback and the dark handles on the cupboards. All three of these so far have had similar cupboard doors. I like the mix of cupboards and shelves, but don't think I would want clear glass in the laundry.

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Similar again, but silver pulls.

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I'm seeing a theme here.... 

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Another kitchen-so simple-very clean and fuss free. All just stainless steel, white and wood. It's a bit more modern.

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Maybe an expedit on the opposite wall for some extra storage.

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Have you seen any nice laundries? Which is your favourite? What would you incorporate if you could? 

terranium

Hi guys,
I took a bit of a social media break. I was tired and run down after the wedding, and the crazy lead up, and just needed to simplify everything for a few weeks. I've literally not been sick for over 2 and a half years (one of the benefits of working in special ed-super strong immunity!) but I entirely lost my voice for a week! So lots of sleep, yoga, beach, walks, reading, outside time, Homeland and greens has hopefully put me back on track!

Now the wedding is over, we have a heap of house plans that are ready to go! The paintbrushes and the drill have been going overtime! You might have seen over on instagram that I've started the mammoth job of painting our verandah railings.  So time consuming and fiddly! I'll keep going when the wind dies down.

I've been a little in love with terrariums at the moments, so made one yesterday afternoon. It was super easy and quick.
I bought a glass container from a cheap-shop. This one actually had a lid originally.


I added rocks for drainage-I just used the white rocks we have on hand (we have trailer loads of them in all of our garden beds!), and potting mix. I visited a local market and picked up some cheap succulents. I tried to pick a few different colours, and leaf shapes, and heights. Some of the little pots I bought had some rocks on top, so I scattered them around the top of the terrarium too.

I'm not entirely happy with it, and may actually re-do it. I think I needed smaller rocks on the base, as the layers between the rock and the soil isn't as defined as I would like, but I might not too.

I ticked something off my pinterest to do list-yay!

christmas planning

Did you know that yesterday marked 3 months until Christmas?

We will be hosting our first Christmas this year, which is exciting and a bit nerve-wracking! L is a shift worker in the health field, and in addition to some early morning starts (4 o'clock wake up this morning), late night finishes (one shift finishes at 11pm), middle of the night call outs to work, and regular weekend work, they have to cover public holidays. He has last Christmas off, so he'll have to work at some stage over Christmas this year.

For Christmas 2011 I left him alone up here, and I felt awful, despite cooking him a ham and shortbread, and driving back early on Boxing Day, and the knowledge that I would have been alone on Christmas while he was at work.

We've had a tree the last few Christmases, but it's only been small. Our ornaments have been mostly glass, white, silver and a little gold, and I think I'll stick with that kind of theme again this year-I'm not massive on lots of red and green, and with our purple lounge room, kitchen and dining room, and blue exterior it will keep it from being a colour explosion!
Here are some of my inspiration ideas, mostly to DIY (which is the ONLY reason I'm already thinking of Christmas!!!)

Wall bunting:

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link- a fun Sydney blog-this is her DIY take on tassel streamers

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The next two are from the same etsy shop, but look easy enough to DIY

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Table decorations:

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The Happy Home Blog 

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DIY lace bunting

Remember how I posted about about facing my sewing fears, and sewing lengths of lace bunting for reception decorations?
Here is a visual reminder:

The more I looked at it, the more I realised I wasn't entirely happy with how the ribbon was hanging-it kind of puckered a bit, and just didn't hang quite as well as I had hoped. What to do, what to do?

I unpicked it all, and started again! This time I researched it a bit more, and discovered biased binding was more appropriate. 18 meters of unpicking.... 

But.... it looked fantastic on the night, and I was much happier with it! You may even catch a back view of the bride... (excude the blurring of the faces...)