Painted front fence & removal of old front carport

It has been a productive couple of weeks since I got home from Europe. 

Front fence

I have painted the first coat of the front fence and am now halfway through painting the back of the fence. I'm really enjoying the satisfaction that comes with watching your progress, and it has also been nice to receive comments from passers-by. 

Here's the first coat...

I love the refreshed black letterbox with its new criss-cross feature...

My plan is to plant a low dark green hedge along the front of the fence, probably during Springtime to give it a chance to establish a little before Summer. At this stage I'm thinking of Buxus Microphylla 'Faulkner' - hardy, with a low compact habit and a deeper green colour than others. I have always loved the look of white with greenery. 

New verandah battens finished

Dad has been busy finishing the decorative battens around the base of the new verandah and also removing the former front carport.. a big job!

The below photo shows the new verandah battens - along the front and northern side. I love the detail and the solidness of the post bases. I'm excited at the challenge of figuring out a planting scheme for along the base of the verandah. 

Here are the battens along the northern (driveway) side. 

Removal of former front carport

The former front carport has been removed in the last couple of days... it makes such a difference to the appearance of the house. 

Here is the carport 'pre-removal'...

During the removal process...

And here it is 'post-carport'...

The below photo shows the battens and detail which will sit below the new central front steps...

The removal of the carport has unearthed some great solid timber lengths which will be recycled/re-used as part of the new verandah :-)

Holidays, verandah battens & front fence action

Holiday inspiration

There has been a lull in my blog posts as I have just returned from a few weeks holiday in Europe and the UK. It was a fantastic trip and I have come back feeling very inspired by all the lovely gardens and designs I saw. Feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to experience these places. 

Thought I'd share a few photos from my trip...

Taken from the Montparnasse Tower at 11pm when the 'Lady' sparkles :)

The Musee d'Orsay clock - one of the most beautiful museums (in my opinion), nestled along the Seine in Paris. 

Bergen, Noway

Surprise progress

I had a wonderful holiday, and it was a great start to my long service leave.. but it's also so lovely to be home again. It was exciting to see Dad's reno progress when I arrived home. I am loving using the air-conditioner that was installed a couple of weeks ago, especially on these cold Winter nights. Dad has also installed a set of timber french doors in the hallway (to separate the front bedrooms and living room from the back kitchen, dining, bathroom etc). These doors were always part of the property at 108 - they previously separated the former front bathroom and laundry from the front living room. I have always loved them and am pleased that they will continue to be enjoyed in the house. 

You can see the doors are closed here to keep the heat in. There is also a glass panel installed above the doors for extra light. The timber will end up being painted white. 

Letterbox & Front Fence

Well, my jetlag seems to have gone and I'm keen to now get stuck into yard projects.  Dad and I have painted the letterbox and its surrounds in black and white (with a new criss cross for good measure). Lovely to retain the original letterbox which has always been here since the property was owned by Doug, the previous owner. We think the letterbox may have been made by Doug's Son-in-Law years ago. 

The bushes along the front fence have been trimmed in preparation for fence painting...

Verandah battens

Dad has made great progress with the timber battens around the base of the new verandah. I love the scalloped shape. 

You can see below that the former front carport and front (side) landing are still in place, although these will need to be removed soon as the verandah progresses. 

Looking forward to starting to paint the fence tomorrow :-)

Verandah posts and bearers

The verandah posts are going up and coming along nicely.

Here's the posts on the northern (driveway) side... (Note the existing front landing that you can see here with the wrought iron work will be removed at some point soon.)

We're starting to form up the garden bed outlines in front of the verandah. 

Sanding timber bearers before painting with primer...

Looking towards the driveway from behind one of the bearers...

We started assembling some of the bearers last weekend...

Just a final photo of the gorgeous afternoon light on Sunday. Love that warm yellow light at this time of year. 

Verandah post bases - concrete poured

An update from last week's progress...

The concrete truck came late last week and poured the verandah post bases. It is much easier now to see exactly how the verandah bases will look. 

It was a satisfying job over the long weekend to remove all the form-work and shift piles of soil back to prepare for new garden beds once the verandah is done.

Northern verandah showing corner post base

North western verandah

This is where I'd like to put the adirondack chairs once the verandah is built. 

Old tank stand brick bases

We have decided to re-use the beautiful old brick bases from the tank stand as a feature in the new garden bed which will be planted along the batons of the front verandah. Such a special little piece of history being retained (and also very practical, as they will protect the water pipe below the garden from being dug up!)

Looking straight on at the (existing) front of house

You can see here the bases of the new front steps which will be built in the centre of the house front.

... And here's a little sneak peek of how this front of the house will look when the renovation is complete. 

Southern side of house (looking towards the front)

You can see the extension footings here on the southern side of the house. The closest area here will end up being part of the living/lounge area, then the drying deck will be built further towards the front, followed by an ensuite and walk-in-robe. 

Verandah post bases - Framing

Dad has been busy preparing the verandah post bases which will support the new verandah on the northern and western sides of the house. It has been a fiddly and big job to get these prepared, but they will provide a really nice, solid looking base to tie in with the character of the newly styled house. 

(Another blog post will follow in the next few days, as the concrete truck came today to fill the formed-up post bases, so there has been more progress today!)

Northern side of the house which will house new verandah

The below photo shows how far the new verandah will extend. The current strip of lawn will become a new garden bed. 

Southern (front) side of house which will house new verandah

You can see the (former) front carport here which will end up being removed to make way for the new front verandah and central front steps. The existing steps you can see on the left of the photo will be removed to allow for the new verandah to extend around the northern side of the house. 

Southern side of house which will house extension

The beautiful established macadamia tree will remain on the front south western corner of the yard. It provides such a lovely shady spot in summer. You can just see some of the branches on the right of this photo. 

Close-up view of corner support for verandah base

Dad has custom-built these timber supports which will each sit above a formed-up concrete base (which was poured today).

Verandah & Extension Footings

There has been lots of progress outside in the yard since my last blog post. We have removed the excess concrete from the perimeter of the front (former) carport. This will allow the new front veranda to sit nicely over the top of the remaining concrete (once it is built), providing a really handy storage area underneath. 

You can see in the below image where the concrete has been removed. The existing carport roof will be removed at some stage soon once it starts getting in the way of the building. 

The post holes for the veranda and extension footings were also dug last weekend and Dad has been preparing the stumps and rods which will hopefully start going in this week. All of this digging makes you realize what beautiful rich soil we have! So excited to be planning the landscaping and gardens for these new areas. 

Removal of unwanted concrete into the trailer

Such great, rich soil!

Autumn colours... how beautiful!

We had Mothers Day lunch in my backyard last weekend and the weather was perfect. The trees are just starting to lose their beautiful leaves now. Wishing we could press 'pause' on the weather now until Spring. 

Marking out extensions & the old tank stand bites the dust...

MARKING OUT EXTENSIONS

Over the past week, Dad has now marked out where the new front verandah and extensions will sit. I think it's always so exciting at this stage to be able to visualise exactly where things will end up, especially relative to existing markers - like the existing macadamia nut tree, fences, driveway, gardens...  

BELOW IMAGE - Front north western corner of house 

This is the front north western corner of the house. The front carport that you can see here will end up being removed to make way for a verandah along the front and side. The white chalk line shows how far the verandah footprint will extend. The existing front steps (on the left of this photo) will end up being removed to allow for the new verandah. 

BELOW IMAGE - Front south western corner of house

This photo shows the front south western corner of the house (and the beautiful existing macadamia nut tree). You can see here the front verandah will continue out to the right hand side of the house, with an extension behind it. The extension will house the master bedroom, walk-in robe and ensuite. 

MOVING THE WATER TANK

You can see here the water tank which has sat on an old timber tank stand on the southern side of the house for many years. The two windows to the left of the tank belong to the new dining room, and these will eventually look out onto a new deck. The wall to the right of these windows (behind the tank) will end up being removed to allow for a living room extension. 

The below image shows the southern side of the house with the tank still in place. 

BELOW IMAGE - Empty tank stand

GARDEN UPDATE

Everything is thriving after the magnificent rain we had recently. I always love the Autumn flush of roses before they prepare for winter. Great to see them looking so healthy. 

... and the frangipani just seems to keep flowering! :)

KITCHEN WINDOW HOOD

My last post was about the new window hoods on the northern side of the house. Well, here's a photo of the latest hoods which Dad has installed over the northern kitchen windows.. and a new splash of white paint on the wall. 

What a great project to be involved in... I feel so lucky :)