Front Yard - Timber Deck

Project #5 - When we bought this house only half of the external walls were rendered. We had the rendering finished off and focused on this area to complete the front yard.   



The timber deck also needed some attention not only was it in desperate need of some decking oil, we removed a portion of the deck so it was no longer up against the garage wall and a single row of the boards along the front of the house to ensure that we had a visual inspection zone available for the termite / white ant inspections.

I am no "Jamie Durie" www.jamiedurie.com but this finished up looking pretty good.

The bamboo seat was left behind by the previous owners, it was all mouldy and horrible.  I gave it a good scrub and a coat of natural timber oil to bring it back to life. (I found the timber oil in the garden shed - bargin !)

We had to buy some plants, I chose Bergonia's for the planter boxes and the same greenery that was already existing in the other garden (Liriope - giganteum), solar garden lights and a delivery of white rocks from the local landscape supplier - job's done.

As for the external painting, what can I say other than that damn paint colour chart.  I have a few colours in mind but for now I am happy to wait until after we get through winter.

Pots - Tidy up

Project #4 - Sometimes the small things make me feel better particularly when the bigger jobs seem like they will never get done.

The pots at the front door had some nice colour growing but they have not survived the tormenting weather and my negligence over the last month or so. 

As we are facing the cooler months I have opted with rocks for the moment.

As you can see the condition and look of the front door is far from attractive, this will need replacing eventually.

Books - Cover Up

Project # 3 - I saw this idea on The Nate Berkus Show www.thenateshow.com

This idea was to cover books so they compliment each other.

Here's the before photo of the tall boy in our bedroom.

I went to the Scrapbooking Shop and after about 15 minutes of trying to decide which paper to buy I came up with the following:

I think is looks pretty good, the book on the top already had a black velvet finish hard cover and it seems to work with the paper covers that I made.

These scrapbook papers are reversible so there is an opportunity to try different combinations.

This was a really easy and cheap project which cost about $6-.