Well, miracles happen thanks to Steve Gurr, our blinds were installed today and they look so cool.
We are absolutely thrilled with them, you can notice the drop in temperature already, they are so neat and tidy and easy to use, excellent work, thanks Steve!
Find Steve at 0424766626 or http://blindsrus.com.au/ or hipages.
Thrilled with the deck progress and final photos below, we were very pleased with Mark's work. The decking is Spotted Gum with concealed fixings.
We have removed a total of 7, yes SEVEN, 4 cubic metre skips from the garden.
Bricks have been laid, a lot of cleaning up to be done still.
Spa plans have now been approved by the council. So the decking, timber screening and bench seats in Spotted Gum from Mortlock Timber (Brent has been extremely helpful and patient with me whilst I made up my mind!) is scheduled to begin by Mark Purvis from Perth Decking Solutions on Sep 8th.
Meantime we have had a new bore lid installed by The Boreman, excellent service!
Now I have to finish off an extra garden bed, the water feature and the fire pit myself. Also render the outside of the walls and seal the inside of the walls with Bitkote from Bunnings.
Above is my first ever brick laying !!!! Just the front little bit for now...(the "v" shape is for the waterfall).
And last but not least we have two new guardians - Chinese Guardian Lions or Foo Dogs, hand sculptured by Muniandy Ragappen of Kwinana, they are fabulous - the female on the left protects those dwelling inside, while the male on the right guards the structure.
Also I have eventually made up my mind on the pavers, they will be from Australis Pavestone Company, I have chosen the smooth texture paver in Sandstone with a Quadre border in charcoal, brochure here. They are a very reasonable price, and the staff have been extremely helpful, both at Joondalup and Naval Base.
I just need a good paver to lay approx 48 sq metres pavers, 20 linear metres border, 24 linear metres of bullnosing and 14 sq metres artificial lawn - HIPAGES!!!!
Well, you learn something new everyday, needs must in this case, we only had the jack hammer hired for 24 hours (Classic Hire Jandakot $110 for the extra large) and I ended up with half the work and a great sense of accomplishment, apart from the fact that I couldn't walk the next day, probably from the weight of the thing in it's case when I had to try and get it into my car boot.
Meanwhile the dogs just love their new playground and a nice sunny spot - yes, it's a dog's life..
On Saturday Mike the fencer was around again to put up some more retaining which I need after having to dig down 200mm to allow for the decking, and to put up a new panel down the side of the house for pool regulations, here's hoping the council pass my spa plans.
Mike ( M J Colorbond Fencing 040 9835 723) is local, does any size job, gives a great price and I can recommend him.
Today more digging, but there was more tree stumps in the way. The palm we had removed needed another 10cm off, and then the old pine tree reared its ugly head - a massive 80-12cm across :( there was no doing this by hand - rock solid.
Luckily Derek from WA Stump Grinders had a job next door and was on hand to rescue us.
He does a great job, fair price, honest, knowledgeable, and very helpful.
Happy to recommend him, contact Derek on 0408 920 682.
We also still have to remove the old footings from the brickwall - 20cm - argh!!
Some was weakened from our attempt at jack hammering on the weekend, before we broke the jack hammer, so we hammered the thing with the mallet, breaking into chunks. We (me and Luke) were exhausted by the end of the day.
At least the rain is coming, an excuse for a break ;)
Spent the weekend digging out soil ready for the decking, we need a clearance of 200mm for air circulation underneath the boards.
We managed to break Jesse's jack hammer :( but he was very kind and came in and surveyed some stakes in the ground so that we know how far to dig! Luke helped too, whilst the footy was on - least said the better ;)
Submitted the spa building permit to the council, fingers crossed that I covered everything.
Waiting for quotes to come back for the electrical work and the decking, we have decided to go with wide Spotted Gum boards as they will match the doors and slats the best.
Just a bit MORE digging...
A long time ago in a galaxy far away......
there was google street map
About the same time (2001)
2009 Google Street Map
Then in November 2013, the first step - trees gorn..
March 2014 before the mess, a few more trees gone through Gumtree
Step 2, sell garden kerbing, and paint garage doors and rafters ready for the car port - early May 2014
HomeImprovementPages to get:
1) Fence builder
2) Asbestos remover
3) Car Port builder - DRK Patios - Denis was brilliant, the best workman we have come across so far
4) Jim's Skips - Terry brought us 3 in all - excellent
Plus we both spent the week removing bricks, trees, stumps, reticulation, you name it - keep fit without going to gym.
We re-used our old philodendrons and gardenia and brightened up the driveway where the old cracked asbestos fence had been.
The following week it was a new front door, and replace the old windows with French doors.
The car port was also finished
A jack hammer hired to dig up the old 10cm thick concrete pathway
Next was get rid of that tree! A quick visit to HomeImprovementPages had it gone the same day thanks to Derek from WA Stump Grinders.
Now for the exciting part - the wall went up - Modularwalls.com.au
Then there was lots of painting to do, undercover on the walls with Dulux Acratex Sand, then top coat. So many dramas at Masters Hardware trying to get a colour match for my existing house paint, I ended up at Inspirations Canning Vale who matched it in 5 minutes, instead of 3 hours at Masters Bibra Lake and unuseable paint! We also painted more of the house walls and gutters and rafters ready for the pergola.
Oh, and I nearly forgot, just one more tree to move - the Ponytail palm was suprising, the big mat of roots which went down about 45cm slowly dropped off as it loosened, and we just ended up with a few roots sticking out of the base which went about 3cm under the soil, though it was massively heavy to move - we dragged it on a tarp, it seems to be going strong in its new spot.
Painted walls and tree moved.
We got Denis back and he put up the pergola, the shade covering is being custom made.
Ta-da! The slats were put up supplied again by ModularWalls, made by Alitimber.
We've had quite a bit of rain, so mot much done, however I've started a little Succulent garden, complete with stakes to deter the dogs from digging...
I think that gets us up to date, so what's next?
Get masses of soil removed by a Dingo from the garden to make way for the decking, paving and lawn.
Decking quotes and decisions on what and how much to have.
Get plans approved from the council for the spa.
Get garden beds built for rendering.
Every time I cross something off the list two more seem to jump on.
