the one with... a backyard makeover

Yippee!! Work has finally begun on the backyard.

Here is the plan:

• Hire jack hammer
• Hire a skip
• Remove extra driveway cement
• Remove rubbish from under the house
• Remove unwanted plants
• Remove excess green rubbish
• Remove grass up the centre of the driveway to the garage door
• Create a little garden in front of the garage
• Use sleepers for garden edge
• Use a narrow timber strip for walkway garden edge
• Tidy/sort the service side
• Assemble the 2 raised garden beds for the new vegetable garden
• Order soil to fill the holes left after removing the concrete
• New walkway from driveway to the stairs

The overall plan is to create privacy with a tropical inspired garden around the fence with a large grass area in the middle for Charlie.  I want to feel like I step into my backyard and feel completely at ease.

If you follow me over on Instagram then you would have seen these pictures of the work in progress.  Thanks to Mum for taking the photos of me - I didn't realise she'd taken them.

I haven't strayed away from my original plans for the backyard.

Dad and I were a good team with him on the jack hammer - that thing was too big for me and I picked up all the concrete into the wheelbarrow to take out to the skip.  We got it all done in a few hours.  Mum got the service side all sorted and started on building up the soil in the vegetable gardens.  She also got in and cut out the unwanted plants.

I can tell you that I was buggered by the end of the day.

I have to give a HUGE big shout out to my mum and dad for all of their hard work.  They have continued on with the backyard after I hurt my back.  Three days after moving the concrete the back let me know that it wasn't impress with all of the hard work and put my out of action (including work) for days.

I'll share more update photos with you soon.  It's looking great!

the one... where the bricks are gone

A quick one today to say WOOHOOO the piles of bricks are finally gone.  SOLD on gumtree!

I am soooo glad they are finally gone - they were becoming an ugly spot in the backyard that I wasn't happy about.

The question now, is what on earth am I going to do with this space?  It is the first area you see when you walk through the driveway gates.

Any ideas?

Lisa xo

the one... with some light

I don't have a street light near my house which I'm thankful for, particularly with my bedroom at the front of the house. The downside is that when I drive in the driveway and get out of the car, the path is very hard to see until I get through the gate where I have installed small solar lights along the edge of the veranda to light a path to the back stairs.

That was until now.

I like to tackle as much of the renovations myself as possible but there are a few things I just wont/can't do like electrical, plumbing, major building like the veranda or heights.  Yep this girl is afraid of heights.

It's not logical but when I climb a ladder the legs just buckle and refuse to move so when a job requires getting up a ladder I have to call in the help of mum and dad.

They very kindly gave up their time to help me out with a couple of height related projects and this is one of them.

The spot light is solar, you can see the solar panel on the left - this side of the house faces West so it will get plenty of sun to charge the batteries.  The sensor was directed to face the driveway and turn on when I drive up the driveway.  There are two lights, one is facing the frontyard and the other is facing the back.  Basically either side of the gate as I come through.

Now I just have to wait for it to charge up and wait until night.

Lisa xo

the one... about a tree

Well wasn't that storm a lot of fun!

Living near the bay you expect winds but I have never experienced winds like that before. The rain was horizontal and the wind was whistling through the house - that's what you get with a timber cottage.

There was a casualty, my beautiful tree. Honestly, I loved this tree. It provided the yard with shade in the morning.

Oh there was one other casualty and that was my clothes line.  Yep it's under there somewhere.

Now for the clean up.

This is the very large pile out the front waiting for the council to collect (update: I phoned the council today and was told there are just too many people who need green waste picked up that they wont be doing it. NICE WORK!).

I was pretty lucky though compared to so many other people.  I just had a tree to remove and some have lost their homes.

Lisa xo

the one... with plans for the backyard

I did another plan on the train ride into work recently.  I really need a book!

  

Now that the builders have finished it's a perfect time to start thinking about the backyard and to get started before the Queensland Summer is in full swing.

Just as I did with the front yard, this photo was taken with my iphone so I apologise for the poor quality but hopefully you can work out my scribble.

To help you understand:

• Remove grass from up the centre of the driveway and replace with pebbles, no more mowing!
• Plant shade trees down the left side of the drive to block the West sun - it's a killer in Summer.
• Extend the grass area for little Charlie.
• Take the garden bed on the far right down the entire side.
• Plant a small garden along the back of deck, just small grass like plants.
• Plant a small garden under the verandah stairs.
• Install solar sensor lights along the verandah.
• Create an intimate patio beside the garage with lots of plants.
• Remove the cement going from the driveway to the patio (basically the slab of concrete beside.

I've been collecting lots of images with ideas...

 

Now to make a list of the supplies I will need and work up the budget.

the one... with the clean up

I spent a Saturday recently cleaning out the garage.  Exciting I know!

This is what I started with...

See there was no way I was going to get my car in there...

I can't believe how much stuff one person can accumulate.  All I can say is thank goodness it's only a single garage.

It took a full day to pull most things out and organise into stuff to go back in the garage (like my brand new edger you can see lying on the floor), stuff to go in the rubbish bin (like the broken fan) and stuff to go to the local op-shop (books and clothes).

I'm happy to say this was the rubbish bin towards the end of the day and as you can see the bin was overflowing which is always a good sign.

Oh there was another pile I forgot to mention, the freebie pile.  I placed a few things like some old window fly screens which were in the house when I bought it and they have had them sitting in the garage ever since.  I placed these out by the front fence for people to take and I'm happy to say they have gone to a new home.

It is looking much better as you can see here but there is still a bit of sorting to do and I need to visit Bunnings (yippee) for some more shelving units to get things up off the floor but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

The goal is to get the car back inside AND IT WILL HAPPEN!

the one... with the bricks

Why?

Have you bought something on a whim and then afterwards wondered what on earth you were going to do with it?

Well that's where I am at.

I bought these builder bricks from a neighbour without giving any real thought as to what I would actually do with them.  Seriously, Lisa!

Have you got any suggestions what I could do with them?  Pleeeease.

the one... with the other side

The work in the backyard continues... I'll admit it has been a big job for this girl but I have enjoyed it!

Particularly when you look back at the before photos:

And then to look at the progress photo:

I'm happy to say the pile of bricks have been moved

But there is another side to the backyard that I haven't shown you.... and there is a reason for that - it's where the mulch was delivered and where I have putting all the green waste when the garbage bin is full.

I happy to say that I have finally moved all the mulch and cleaned up the driveway.

This side of the backyard is in need of a lot of work and will need lots of planting to block out the horrible West sun come Summer but I still want the sun during Winter.  I have noticed a significant difference in house temperature since all those trees were removed from that side.  It's much warmer.

The plan is to visit the Caboolture markets soon and pick up some fruit trees.  This part of the garden gets the sun for majority of the day so the fruit trees should love it.  At this stage I'm thinking avocado, lemon and a lime for the Summer cocktails.  Have you got any suggestions for fruit trees?

Lisa xo

the one... where I wait

I visited Bunnings on Saturday to pick up the paver paint for the patio.

I have been wanting to do this project since I started the backyard makeover.

I want it to look like this when I'm finished.

  

I found this picture (again this photo was saved in my folder and I can't remember where I found it).

I've chosen the colour Smoke Storm from the White Knight Paints range specially for painting on concrete surfaces and a packet of paving tape to get those lines.  I love the randomness of the lines rather than the traditional square look - I'm a girl who does like clean straight lines.

The plan is to clean the concrete with a high pressure hose and allow it to dry before I can start painting.  I may need to use a concrete degreaser but I'll wait to see how it comes up after the first clean.

Now if only the clouds would clear and the sun would show itself I could make a start.

Lisa xo

the one... with the garage makeover

The garage is right in the middle of a full makeover - no mini here!

In my research with the council I found the garage to have been built in the 50's when a previous owner submitted plans to build the garage and the outside laundry all with power.  So it is waaaaay overdue for a makeover.

Warning, the next photo isn't pretty.

This is what the garaged looked life before.

old garage

I am very happy to say the old tilt door has been replaced with a brand new roller door from B&D.  I didn't know what to do with the old door so I left it out the front against the fence with a FREE sign and it was snapped up within a couple of weeks.  I love that!

For the new door I chose this grey colour called Gull Grey.  I wanted to keep it simple with a colour I could work with once I'd chosen the main house colour.

photo: http://www.bnd.com.au/

The old entry door on the right hand side of the garage was also removed to allow for a wider garage door to be installed.  I could get the car in with the old width but new width just feels much more comfortable.

When I chose the new cladding I went with a smooth classic style.

Here are some photos of the work in progress.  As you can see we put the new cladding directly over the top of the old rather than removing it.  The builder put new frames around the windows as well but I still need to fix up the window sills.

The scattering of things (bodies) around the old door are actually Charlie's toys

The job isn't finished just yet.  It still needs a new roof and guttering, the glass needs replacing in the 3 windows and a coat of paint but I think it's looking better all ready.

the one... with the backyard makeover

About 12 months ago I had a huge working bee with my family to clear out the yard - both front and back.  It took us 2 whole days to remove the many old trees, plants and weeds that had taken over my yard.  Actually it was embarrassing to see just how far I had let it go. 

I took progress photos over the working bee weekend to show the huge amount of work we did.

\

  

This is how it looked at the end of a big weekend after 10 trailer load trips to tip, no I'm not kidding, 10!

Look at all that sunlight - I honestly couldn't get over just how much sunlight was blocked by all the trees.

Later that week I had booked some local tradies to remove the larger trees and to grind them down to the ground.  All of this work was to clear the way for a brand new timber fence down the East side (over 30metres) with a single gate across to the house and a double gate for the driveway.

I was lucky that the neighbours on the East side agreed to pay half on their side - by law they don't have to which would have seen me paying an additional $1,200.

You can see the new fence here - a lot more privacy than the 1metre high wire fence.  The fence became a priority after I bought my first puppy earlier that year and I really wanted him to be able to play in the yard.  I'll introduce you to little Charlie soon.

Look I have greeen grass!

I promise to take a new photo (when the sun shows its face again) this time without the shade of the garage and the West side fence.

First Sunday brunch on the patio

There is still lots to be done but I feel I have made a good start.

Lisa xo