Thursday, April 26, 2012

Front garden progress



We have now moved out to begin the front garden, so far we have purchased the pavers that will be our garden bed borders and Raymond & Aaron have been busy digging the trenches ready for footings.



















Misty checking things out

 

In the meantime our back lawn has grown heaps and had its first haircut last Sunday.

  
 
You could literally watch the grass grow!!

   

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Its so easy seeing green

The day that I have waited for for 3 months arrived yesterday.   I never thought I could get so excited about seeing a lawn, but after so long staring out the windows at dirt, I am one happy lady.


Here's the progress pictures:

Village Green turf delivered

Even Raymond is doing a happy dance for us

Installation in progresss


The finished result complete with sprinklers


The weather was just perfect today for laying the turf, now to get it established for 6 weeks or so, then mulch, paving and my modular vegetable garden can be installed.

Next weekend we begin on the front - too exciting!!

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Cupcakes & Morning Shade


Very happy with these - and they taste good too
Big day here at Charlbury Manor, so many people coming and going!!   Firstly its Megan's birthday on Monday so we decided to celebrate it today, as I have to work tomorrow afternoon and we all work on Monday.   So I have made beautiful Vanilla Cupcakes courtesy of the famous Magnolia Bakery recipe book (famous cake shop in New York).   

Our trusty ex-neighbour Keith returned to install the awning for the master bedroom window, two reasons for this, it just adds to the whole character of the house and also will help keep out the heat from the morning sun and will protect the drapes from fading.   I am so 
 rapt with the end result.   I have spent the last two weekends priming and painting it in preparation.

 
The birthday girl
Raymond and Aaron were also back today installing all the irrigation in preparation for the turf which should be ready to go down in a couple of weeks.

Deb and John breezed in to have a quick look and collect some aggi pipes that we had no use for, and they have use for, so its great to pay it forward.

Best friend Deb came for afternoon tea with Keith's wife Jan and then Ryan and Kris for dinner, so I have felt like I have cooked all day.






Roll on turf day!!!!!



Sunday, March 11, 2012

What a difference a day makes

Melbourne, beautiful weather this weekend, hence Raymond got heaps done in the back yard yesterday.

Here's the end result - I am so excited to at long last see a backyard, not just mud, weeds, & piles of dirt.
View from the back of the yard down the garage side

From the deck looking out

Looking across the backyard to where the vegie boxes will go

That means that we have irrigation to go in and in a couple of weeks (hopefully) we will actually see some turf go down - cannot wait.

In the meantime all the rubbish from the back is going out the front till Raymond is ready to start on the front garden and we get a skip, so we will at the moment have the worst looking front garden in the street :(

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Home!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but we really have not stopped since we moved in here in December.

We have had ongoing tradespeople coming in on a weekly basis to fix bits and pieces and now we are both back at work, time is very precious.

Master Bedroom
Our deck out the back is now finished and we are very happy with the end result.   We will be sealing it in a couple of weeks then we can erect our brand new BBQ and put out our new outdoor furniture and start actually having people over.

We have had Raymond here almost every week chugging along with the landscaping and he has now finished all the garden bed walls, Ryan spent a whole day here starting to lay irrigation pipes ready for the turf which hopefully should be laid in the back in around 3 weeks.   Its been a dusty time since moving in, and I have become somewhat of a cleaning fanatic with Enjo duster constantly in hand.

New alfresco furniture ready to go
It very much feels like home here now and I say every day how much I love living here.   The neighbourhood is fantastic and we have met so many great people already.     Here's some picture updates, I will put up more as we progress along.


Miss Megan's purple bedroom
Decking completed


Lounge Room, with my lovely gas fireplace

Garden bed walls now completed

Dining room

Loving the pantry

Study with his & hers desks


Sunday, January 15, 2012

Landscaping begins

At long last our landscaping and deck have begun!!

This is why we can't get into the garage!
Our carpenter, who happens to be our ex next-door neighbour has been given the job of contstruction of the deck, and worked 3 days this week and we now have the foundation stumps in the ground ready for the bearers and joists.   After getting everything unpacked so we could both fit into the garage, our garage is now full of timber, so we have to park outside for a while longer.

Our picket fence at the side of house
Luckily our daughter-in-law's brother is a landscape gardener, so he has been busy on his holidays this week starting our garden retaining walls using the Austral bricks Coolum Bluestone range of blocks, very happy with progress so far.

As the old saying goes, it won't happen overnight, but it will happen!!!

Here's some pics:
Austral bricks delivery

Progress so far
Foundations dug

Posts in


Hoping for steady progress from now on!!