rebuilding the garden

So back in September last year we started renovating our house, adding a room and deck on the back and enlarging our kitchen and dining rooms. We are still finishing the downstairs room but the bigger kitchen, the lovely open deck among the trees and the longer dining area have all been fantastic changes to our little house.

The one casualty as predicted from all this change was our garden. The extensions began with a great big hole in the ground made by a big yellow excavator which then trampled that clay soil up and down the side, over the top of my pretty little side garden.

We managed to protect all our trees, and we saved some plants by digging them up and putting them in pots. But everything else suffered through the digging and building, had piles of sand and gravel and clay plonked on top of them, bricks and lime and cement mixers emptied on to them and were compacted by machinery and a portaloo.

The garden was a battleground by the end of our renovation.

But then we had a landscaper friend come in earlier this year and restore order and install our new layout. Crushed granite steps, pavers and garden beds were put in and last of all turf was laid. This was most exciting as we'd been away and returned to instant lawn!

Here are the bones of our new garden. So neat! I can't wait to mess it up a bit!

A few weeks ago I went online and ordered some perennial plants mail order. They arrived last week and all have been tucked into the garden beds. They came bare root, which means they were winter dormant, but little shoots are coming up every day.

I've designated the side garden as the vegie patch and I have little seedlings growing in makeshift beds and pots. Its such a relief to have plants already in as spring arrives.

I'm going to write another post about the planting but wanted to share the landscaping with you and the dramatic before and after pics first.

decked - reno part 1

I've been promising renovation pics for a while now. I was waiting for those perfectly styled 'after' shots, but who am I kidding! Heaven knows when that will ever happen, we actually have quite a lot of stuff still to do, so I'm giving you a progress post instead.

I love seeing other people's before and after renovations, so I hope you enjoy them too.

This montage of progress shots show how the back view of the house has changed, dramatically, over the course of the renovation from our initial daggy cement porch and metal stairs through to the new wooden deck and lovely blue gum stairs.

Most of the building happened last year, which explains why I've been less active as a blogger and maker than usual. Having builders in the house when you work at home is a big thing. Luckily our builders were lovely and they managed to partition off our kitchen and leave our dishwasher working for the whole time. So we were pretty lucky.

Below stairs is the part that still needs most work. Those downstairs doors were a fortuitous Ebay find for less than $200! And while they aren't actually installed yet - just propped in place so we can dream about how they will look when its finished - it won't be long.

Upstairs the deck is painted and oiled. That took us about four weekends of 8 hour days but its very satisfying to see the final product. I've bought some inexpensive furniture for the deck and we are spending lots of time out there now. Its great for catching a cool breeze on these hot muggy days and lovely to eat dinner in the outdoors.

During the day the birds and butterflies float around this space as I hoped they would and if you follow my instagram you will see that a baby dove even slept there for a day!

We are loving the extra space in our tiny kitchen too, which was doubled in size. It was tiny and its a luxury to have more room. We also have more dining room too and now it opens through bifolds to the deck.

More photos to come as more gets finished!