The best laid plans...

I had the most productive weekend planned... I was going to paint my newly rendered courtyard walls and plant the garden, buy some pots and funky plants and start painting my outdoor furniture.

So what did I actually get done? Well my walls are painted:

I ended up going with a taulbmans colour called "Hamstead" (but due to some major tinting issues when getting sample pots, I ended up using British paints and getting it colour matched). For reference, it was the upper right colour from my previous post.

As for the rest of my "to do" list... what can I say? I got a better offer. A friend took some of us over to Rottnest Island on his boat to watch the AFL grand final (version 2.0). I have to say I was personally much more interested in enjoying a day out in the sun as opposed to the footy.

Photos taken on my iPhone and made to look pretty using the "Polarize" app.

Rendering - the after shots

As promised yesterday, here are some after shots of my DIY rendering skills. Take that silly renderer who promised he could do the job on Saturday and then conveniently ignored all my calls and messages to confirm what time he was coming!

I still need to sand back some patches to even things up, but I think she will look beautiful once she's had a lick of paint.

Operation ugly courtyard - stage one

Step one of (trying to) make some improvements on my front courtyard was the tackle the problem of the ugly cream paving.

I was going to borrow a high-pressure cleaner from a neighbour. Unfortunately I was pipped at the post as they had recently lent it to another friend.

Down but not out, I ventured off to good ol' Bunnings to see what advice they could give me. The gentleman working there recommended that I give "30 seconds" a try.

Here are the essential ingredients if you're thinking of trying this for yourself:
(a) A broom (this is important if you have a lot of moss - you'll be scrubbing more than Cinderella);
(b) A sprayer (I picked up a cheapie which is meant for spraying plants, you could just use a watering can); and
(c) The product.

The whole process was exhausting! But I'm pleased with the results. To give you a brief summary of what's involved I first diluted the product with water and sprayed it over the affected areas. I then did a bit of initial scrubbing to start the cleaning process and then left the product for about 20 minutes. When I came back I made another small bucket of the diluted product which I dipped my broom into. This allowed me the chance to add more product on those tougher areas. A lot of scrubbing later, I rinsed the product off my paving.

Here's a before shot (you can see the difference in the bricks from the areas which are sheltered and those that aren't).

Here's the after shot - as you can see, it isn't perfect but it has come leaps and bounds from where it was.

A final note - for anyone who's planning on DIY-ing, 30 seconds is a bleach-based product. This means you have to be careful - wear some old / ugly clothes and if you have plants nearby, it would be best to wet the garden bed before applying the product. This should help to ensure that any product run-off is diluted and doesn't kill your plants.

Operation ugly courtyard - colour choices

Now that I've put myself into hardcore "must make my courtyard look pretty" mode, I've got myself into some what of a dilemma. I'm pretty much set on the idea of having the two walls in question rendered (whether it's a DIY job or paying someone to do it). Obviously the next tough choice is what colour to paint the rendered walls!

Here are a few colours I've taken screen shots of from the Dulux website. I'm tossing up between using a neutral beige / brown / taupe / grey and something purple. Well maybe not purple purple... possibly something in the aubergine colour family. I know the colours on the website aren't necessarily the most accurate representation, so I will check them out in store before making a final decision... but I'm quite liking purple empire and sinful.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions? Have you done something similar? Do you have a favourite paint colour you thing would work with my "gorgeous" cream paving? Let me know.

Operation ugly courtyard - the action plan

If you haven't already noticed, I've become somewhat garden obsessed lately. Maybe it's the gen y in me - I want it all done and I want it done now. For better or for worse, that's how I feel at the moment.

On the upside, it also means I've been really motivated to get some things done.

Here's the courtyard. It leads off my kitchen, so it would be nice to have a prettier outlook.

As you can see, at the moment it's really really boring, bland, ugh. Cream brick walls, cream brick paving, cream paint on the woodwork. This courtyard has an L-shaped garden bed. Ideally I would like to have the two walls behind the garden bed rendered so that I can paint them and inject some personality into this space. At the moment I'm considering using Dulux's full cover texture paint which supposedly acts like render and will cover brick mortar joints. Stay tuned to this space to see what I decide.

There is this random panel of picket fencing in the courtyard which is painted cream and looking worse for wear. It's the same colour as the entry gate and the pergola. Ideally I want to paint it all (even if it is just in a similar colour to freshen it up). I'm unsure of the colour choice, it will come down to whether I render / paint the walls.

Paving... ideally I would love to rip it all up and replace the lot. However in reality I do not have an unlimited budget. The easy solution is to clean up the pavers and try to get rid of some of that mould / moss.

Here is a view of the rest of the courtyard. You know how people house-sit? Well I'm pot-plant and BBQ sitting at the moment. Long story short, these lovely babies won't be mine much longer.

Here is my starting collection of plants, can't wait to get these babies planted.

Next issue - the ugly shade cloth. Why oh why someone would put this in in the first place is beyond me. In any case, I need to rip it down stat.

Pwoa, I'm feeling tired just reading over this post and everything I want to do. I better get cracking!

Before and Afters - the Kitchen

Ahh yes the kitchen. I'm sure I've posted a few progress shots along the way, but I don't recall if I ever provided full on gory before shots. Looking at them now I have to admit I don't remember it being that bad.

Before:

Here it is in all it's cream and brown glory.

You'll see in the after shots I chose to lose the pantry to open up the space.



During:


Carcass of the kitchen cupboards being installed.






After:

Is it my ideal kitchen, no... if I had the opportunity to do things again, would I change anything... maybe, but hindsight is a bitch. At the end of the day, I do love it. Even if I still dream about having extra money in my budget to install stone bench tops in as opposed to laminate. I think I made the right decision for my house and the market when (if ever) I sell.

I love my Mum

I love my Mum... we had one of those typical mother / daughter moments over the weekend as I'm sure every single person experiences from time to time.

She popped over to visit me with a bunch of gorgeous flowers and take-away coffee from my favourite local coffee shop in hand. I'm not sure if it was a peace offering or just because she's wonderful.

In any case, I think she's the best Mum ever.

Front courtyard - plans and ideas

OK so despite my (rather whiny) previous post, I do have some ideas... at least about one of the spaces I'm working with.

I was walking around my parents' neighbourhood recently and fell in love with the garden of a house around the block. It's gorgeous, modern and has that whole architectural feel. I got chatting to the neighbour and (as it turns out) the house is architect designed and the garden was landscaped by a well-renowned landscaper (just my luck right?). I took a couple of sneaky photos with my iphone, so you'll have to excuse the quality:

I think the massive row of mother in law's tongue looks amazing... with the gorgeous giant mondo grass in front *sigh*. I'm not sure what the tress are, but I adore the row of moses in the cradle around it.

Acting on inspiration, after calling about a zillion nurseries I managed to track down some mother in law's tongue (although only about 1/3 of what I need). (On that note, if anyone in Perth has some in their garden which is getting overgrown, I'd be happy to take it off your hands).

This is the gorgeous plant I'm talking about if anyone is unsure:


With this in mind, I've somewhat devised a plan for my front courtyard and would love it if anyone has any input. Here is a little sketch I've drawn up myself (using paint - it's totally not to scale, but I'm sure it will provide a general idea until I upload some photos):

Here's a picture of the courtyard to give you a better idea of things:

Basically I have an L-shaped garden bed. I plan on running a couple of rows of mother in law's tongue along the back of each wall (green dots). Then I was thinking of having a row of mondo grass, or possibly moses in the cradle in front.

Where I'm running into problems is where the stars are depicted in the corners of the flower bed. I think I need to do something different there to break up the space. I was considering having 3 identical pots with a feature plant in each (and possibly cover the soil with stones).

The courtyard itself is particularly shady, so any plants that require full sun won't be suitable. Does anyone have suggestions?

Flowers

Ahh flowers. I don't think there's anything that makes me happier than having fresh flowers in my house. I wish I could have a new bunch (or two) every single week. Note to future potential boyfriends - flowers are always a good idea.

But alas, it's not something I can quite fit into my budget, so I tend to rely on what I can manage to steal from my Mum's garden.



Gorgeous roses.

More roses in my bathroom.

Lovely lilies (I think) - housewarming present from a wonderful friend.



More roses from Mum's garden.

Looking at all these flowers really makes me think I should do something about my garden!

Before and Afters - Living room

I'm not sure if I have any readers left, after being on a blog hiatus for so long! If anyone is left out there - hello and please accept my apologies.

Before I entered into my hiatus, I know I promised that I would post some official before and after shots. I'm not one to re neg on my promises, so here is a little taste to wet your appetite... my living room, then and now!

Before:

Here is a photo looking from my kitchen to my dining and living rooms.

You can see at the end of the picture, there is an area separated from the living area by a half-height wall. I'm not sure what the intended purpose of this space was, but the half-wall rendered it pretty useless. I had considered opening it up into the living room, but this would have made for an unusual space. Instead, I converted the space into a third bedroom.

Here is another picture of the living room, with a view of what is now the third bedroom and into my hallway.

You can see in the third bedroom, there was once a large space with a desk (far left of the photo). This ended up being the perfect size to install a built in wardrobe.


During:

Here is a picture from a similar position as the first image. As you can see, at this point in time the area has been separated off to create the third bedroom and the flooring has been laid.


Here is a picture of the wardrobe in the third bedroom.

And just another shot of the newly created room. I don't have any "official" afters as the room is now occupied by by housemate. (I can only guess that it's probably messy!)

Afters:

Ta-da - the finished room!


The Barcelona chairs are a new addition to my home, as of this weekend! I manged to pick the pair up for a bargain price.

PS - do you spy my target mirror in the back? I only just got around to hanging it.


My vintage sideboard and collection of amber glassware.


Here's a close up of my display. Don't you just love the ram's head? We won't talk about the issues I went through in hanging that baby!


I hope you guys enjoy the photos. I'll be sure to include some pics of my kitchen soon (it needs a bit of a clean!)