Deck and Gardening

We've hit a bit of a speed bump with the renovations. Our builder has an urgent job that needs to get done with his guys which means that we lost two days this week and likely three from the next, putting a halt to what was supposed to be the last big push to finish. Shame, but at the same time we've embraced this opportunity to have a break from building mess and banished the sea of drop sheets that we've had to put up with for the past three weeks.

Even so, three solid days of building have produced results from the last update. We now have a new deck/landing from the dining room and laundry to feed onto the out door area, and the BBQ section is half finished with just the sink and the storage gate to go in.


The storage area behind has taken shape as well which has already proven to be a nice screen for the toilet and bathroom. I'd imagine that this will eventually house a table tennis table along with handy tools and perhaps sporting stuff.



The last new hole in the house has been cut out, opening up the entrance way to the old garage. Three concrete steps were poured though the sliding door has not been fitted on as yet. It's a hole for bugs to flutter through though we haven't seen too many in the house thankfully.



They even managed to finish sheeting the new room up which certainly brightens the look. Plastering will be the next job I suppose before lights get installed. Apologies for the angle but I had to lean over partially cured concrete to take the photos.


Not content to have work on the house stall on account of others, we decided to take matters into our own hands (once again with the help of John and Sheena) and get stuck into the garden. The mission on Saturday was to clear a bunch of rubbish from the renovation by taking a couple of loads to the dump, as well as sorting out the eastern bank of our front yard.

Alison and John made short work of an assortment of wood cut offs, doors and concrete blocks and carted off close to a metric tonne (!) worth of rubbish to the Willawong tip. In the mean time Sheena and I strapped on the gardening gloves and removed the sad line of lilly pillies to make room for some Xylosma saplings. We've been told that these should handle the clay better and grow to give us a bit of shade and privacy.



To retain the bank and keep weeds from growing, John and I popped out to the local landscaping suppliers to get a few trailer loads of Hoop Pine bark to spread over our newly sculpted and planted area. I absolutely love this stuff as it's got a funky fresh scent and gives you a neat forest floor look.



It was a hard day of work in the sun but I think the results were worth it. Alison and I also finished up by planting a few more Agapanthus further up the bank. We'll have to get more Hoop Pine and plants to fill up the area but by the time we're finished I think it's going to be a nice looking area that I don't need to mow (Yay!).



To celebrate we thought we'd invite Kath and Andrew over to have a look at the place and break in the BBQ. I needed a hand to figure out what to do with the whole meat on hot plate cooking stuff (and John kindly offered to show me the ropes), but I was very happy with the result. The Beefeater puts out a lot more heat than the old one we had in Annerley and I finally got a chance to use the tongs I got for Christmas. All up a very fun and productive weekend.