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?

Gardening...

I know, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. I am officially a bad blogger. But if I still have any readers left out there I would love some assistance with my garden.

Gardening... where do I start?

I hate gardening. I hate my garden. I shouldn't really say things like this, but it's how I'm feeling about the damn thing at the moment.

But for some minor tweaks, my house is all but finished internally. I have furniture which sits perfectly in each room, I have pictures on the walls, I have a coffee table complete with coffee table books... what more can a girl ask for? I'll tell you what - a nice garden!

I know these things don't happen overnight, but why does gardening have to be so dirty? I know I'm sounding like a big wuss of a girl here... but come on... You literally get dirt underneath your finger nails!

My "garden" is currently non-existent but comprises of 3 separate courtyard spaces which are all essentially empty garden beds. I previously had a bougainvillea which was spiralling out of control and some natives which weren't doing too well - so I've gotten as far as ripping them out. But now I face the unfortunately dilemma of trying to establish a whole new garden from scratch. I'll be sure to post some pictures later of what I'm dealing with.

Does anyone out there have some links/ sites/ blogs I can go for garden inspiration?

I know what types of plants I like, but picking out what goes together is a whole other story. The whole outside of my house is a (gross) creamy coloured brick, there is brick paving throughout the courtyards in the same colour. I can't do much about the walls (being a strata property) and I can't really afford to change the pavers at this stage. So for the time being, it's all about the plants.

I was chatting to a friend and according to him I like "architectural plants which serve no purpose other than looking good". I'm not sure I'll argue with him there... I like strappy grasses, whether they be red or green, variegated or not:

I like mondo grass, especially as a border plant:

Image source.

I love yuccas, agave, succulents and other architectural looking plants:

As far as trees go, I don't mind the odd "old-fashioned" plant like little gem magnolias, flowering plums/pears and camellias.

So how does a girl bring all these ideas together?

Succulents

I have such a soft spot for succulents... I really think I need to pop out to a nursery immediately and buy a few to have as indoor plants. They are just go gorgeous! I love the architectural feel that they have about them.

Succulent wedding favours via Martha Stewart Weddings.

I think a set of three in some gorgeous neutral pot plants like the above image would be gorgeous in my kitchen window (although maybe minus the bow).

Image via inklore's photostream.

Image via sacredlotus' photostream.

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!

Welcome and not so welcome

I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who commented on my last post. It's so lovely to have such a warm welcome back to the world of blogging.

On not so welcome news, I just received the first unpleasant comment on my blog to date. I chose to reject the comment, as I was taken aback at first, but decided to bring the issue to the forefront. It was posted by an anonymous poster (no surprises there) in relation to my cow hide rug and stated:

"Next time I need to induce vomiting, I will look at this page."

Charming, right?

Now I don't expect that every single person in the world is going to love cow hide rugs or want one in their home. But honestly, what kind of a troll goes through blogs to post comments like that?

It's a plain and simple fact that cow hide rugs are a natural by-product of the meat industry. Now I'm not sure what issue the person takes with the rug because their comment wasn't particularly expansive. At the end of the day - the cows are not killed for their skin, a cow hide rug is not a fur coat.

Now I'm not here to enter into a big ethical debate, but I think ultimately there are far bigger issues in the world to deal with than the beef industry.

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!)