Artificial hedges - Final touches to our backyard revamp

As you know we started to give the exterior of our house and backyard some love and a bit of a revamp last year. The pool area was the last thing we needed to complete. 

We knew that we wanted to paint the fences, pool pavers and cabana white to tie in with the rest of the outdoor space but the planting around the pool had us stumped. We definitely wanted some greenery in the area but over the last 15 years we had tried so many plants - palms, succulents and climbing jasmine just to name a few but nothing could survive the harsh sun and the fact that the planter box was so shallow.  It would get so hot the roots of the plants would fry no matter how much we watered them.

When we came across the artificial hedges from Garden Wonderland we decided to give them a go after hearing some great reviews. We decided on the Expandable Photinia Green Leaf Trellis 1m x 2m as we liked the size of the leaves and the colour. It was easy to install on our fence. 

  Simon used Nylon Irrigation Hose Saddles from Bunnings to mount each panel on the fence. He used 6 saddles per panel. It is easy to hide the saddles amongst the leaves.

We installed our panels vertically due to the dimensions of our fence but you can choose to install it vertically or horizontally depending on the space you have. We slightly overlapped each panel so the joins weren't as obvious.  I also "faffed" about with some of the leaves to ensure that there were no gaps and the hedge looked even. The hedges are high quality and UV protected. They have been tested to withstand thousands of hours under UV light. 

Some technical data from our job......our 2 fences are different lengths and heights.

Our right wall is 12m long x 1.42 high. 9 trellises cover 10m of the 12m wall. I wanted to still have some of the white fence visible so the greenery wasn't overwhelming.

The left wall is 11.4m long and 1.74m high. 9 trellises covers 9.45m of the 11.4m wall. 

The reason why 9 trellises cover a smaller distance on the left wall is because that wall is higher, meaning those trellises stretch further to reach the height but become narrower as a result.

It was a quick and easy job but it really made a huge difference! All up it probably took Simon 2 hours to install 18 panels.

We are so happy with the difference to the pool area and overall feel of our outdoor space. It just feels fresh, clean and adds to the whole low maintenance, simple vibe we were going for in the backyard. 

Here are some photos of the end result.....

It's always fun to include some Before and After photos to really appreciate the difference..... 

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I hope that helps you with any questions you have regarding the artificial hedges we used. 

I'm so happy that this was the last of our jobs to be completed around the house.

It really was the finishing touch for the pool area.

DISCOUNT CODE FOR HONEY AND FIZZ READERS!

If you are interested in ordering some of Green Photinia Trellis for yourself, I have a DISCOUNT CODE for all of my readers. To receive 15% off your order use the discount code honeyandfizz15 on the check out page of Garden Wonderland Australia's website. The discount code is valid until the end 31st of March 2018. There is also FREE SHIPPING on orders over $250.

It's the perfect short project for a weekend. Let me know if you need any other information! 

Garden Vibes - update on our front yard makeover.

We are in the midst of giving our front yard a makeover. After years of overgrown trees and jasmine we have pared it all back and are ready to put in something pretty, practical but most of all low maintenance. It has taken quite a while to get it to this bare bones stage. Lots of skip bins, excavators and sawing of tree stumps. It's been a project! But we are on the home straight and I'm so glad we are taking our time with it all and doing things properly this time round. 

Here are some of my inspo garden pics......

Our main priorities with our front yard are trees along the fence to give us privacy from our neighbours. It was a huge shock after we pulled the trees down to see how exposed we felt! We've chosen Tuckeroos (which we have in our backyard) and we feel we can control the height and volume easily if we maintain them every 6 months. We also want to block out road noise and give our house privacy from the street. Plus make an inviting entry way into our home.

We are planting snake plants along the garage wall and filling all the garden beds with a crushed white gravel. The fence is going to be painted white and this will all mesh well with our future plans for our house when we get around to painting it white and cladding it with a natural eco stone in some areas. It's a marathon not a sprint with these plans! After 15 years everything needed a little face lift and after all these years we feel like we know what will work well in this space.

Here is where we are at right now.....

And here is where we started from....

It's been a huge project and Simon has done most of the work himself. I'm sure he will be happy when it's all done! Have you been doing any work in the garden? Any future plans?

Around here lately......

Things have been busy at home lately, I seem to be in a frenzy of cleaning, sorting out cupboards and culling unwanted items. Every couple of days I am uploading things to Instagram and selling off my old books, linen, homewares you name it! I can't seem to stop! It's exhausting but very satisfying to see empty cupboards, things organised and it also gives me a chance to move things around and freshen up the rooms and house. I always seem to do this for each new season......

Here are a few photos from my week - 

Noah's room

The colours are very calming, most toys are packed away in his cupboards and the space under his bed is used to store train tracks and his huge container of Thomas trains (a collection passed down from his older brothers)

My brother and sister in law are moving overseas for a short stint (we'll really miss them!) so they passed their plants onto me.  Yay! I'm very happy with this new greenery in the house!

Jasper had his first school camp, sleeping away overnight and started back at soccer. 

The Saturday morning shuffle between soccer and rugby begins!

 Browsing through H&M Home the other day, I  couldn't resist picking up a few new cushion covers.

I love these colours for Autumn. 

This is the look Dash gives me when I ask him to move so I can take a photo ;)

We're planning on giving our bathrooms a little spruce up in the next month or so. After 15 years they're looking a little tired. We'll be keeping the white wall tiles (just having them freshly grouted) but will be replacing the floor tiles, tapware, shower head and vanity and refreshing the bath area.

We wanted to find a floor tile that would blend well with our white concrete floors and tie in with the rest of the bathroom. I originally had my heart set on a greyish carrara hex tile but after a bit of research decided that they weren't for us due to practicality but the ones pictured below are similar.

We had brunch at Flower Child at our local Westfield's the other day. I loved the interiors with the mix of floral fabric, cane chairs and patterned tiles. The food was ok too ;)

Finn is currently away on a week long camp with his school, hiking and camping in the Kangaroo Valley. We're looking forward to seeing him on Friday afternoon!

Another big job we have on our hands at the moment is landscaping our front yard. When we first built our house 15 years ago we didn't have the budget for landscaping so we planted some trees along the fence to block out the neighbours and road noise and laid some jasmine as ground cover.

For the first few years everything grew nicely but over time due to a lack of maintenance things got a little out of control! Some of the trees along the garage started to die and the jasmine started to take over the trees along the fence. We kept putting off doing anything major as we knew it was going to be a huge job but in the last few weeks we bit the bullet and the clear out process has begun.

Simon got the chainsaw out and began the process of cutting down the trees. We got someone to come and take away over 3.9 tonne of trees, trunks and vegetation! The next step is to get an excavator in to smooth out everything so we can replant. 

It's all looking very ugly in the meantime! 

We're also feeling very exposed as the trees gave us a lot of privacy. Anyway I will update you with our progress as we go along. 

How has your week been? Any work going on around your place?

Our Outdoor Space - Plants, Festoon Lighting + Outdoor Furniture

As summer comes to an end I thought I would show you the space where we spent most of our days and entertained when family and friends came over.

Just before summer started we decided to put a bit of effort into our indoor space and give it a bit of a spruce up for the warmer months ahead.  We were influenced by restaurants The Grounds and Coogee Pavilion with their cool and inviting outdoor spaces. To get the same feel we knew we needed plants (lots of them) and festoon lighting.

We have had our outdoor furniture for about 5 years now (maybe more!) and although it was an investment at the time it has really paid for itself with it's comfort and durability. It is the Bubble Club range from Kartell and is made from a molded plastic and is easily cleaned and can handle being out in all the elements. The only thing missing from the range was a large coffee table so Simon made our one himself. We love the size of the table as there is plenty of room for platters and drinks when entertaining.

We've loved the look of festoon lighting for years but had never found the right set at the right price. We decided to create our own festoon lighting and bought the bulbs, festoon lamp holders and black heavy duty garden lighting cable from Bunnings. This was great as we could space it out to our own specifications and get the correct length needed for the space.  It was attached to the roof by stainless steel hooks at either end, which allowed the cable to drape as we zig zagged it across the under side of the roof. We terminated it to a switch inside the house which was a little technical so best to get an electrician in to do this. The number of bulbs makes the light output very bright so we installed a commercial grade dimmer to control the lighting depending on the time of night and occasion.

Next step was to fill the space with plants but still keep it practical. We wanted to still be able to move around the area easily and there still be free space for the boys to play and the dog to roam.

For the roof we decided on a mixture of hanging plants which we purchased from a local nursery. We knew we wanted different greens, a variety of textures and plants that would spill over their pots and create a lush feel. We made sure we spoke to someone at the nursery and described their position and how much sun each plant would get as we wanted to make sure we got the right ones. All hanging pots and chains were from Bunnings. We made sure they had an enclosed drainage system so they wouldn't spill over once they were watered. The pots were hung from the roof using stainless steel eyelets, making sure they went directly into the timber batons in the roof to ensure they could hold the weight of the pots. They can get quite heavy once the soil and the plants are in. We also wanted them sturdy so they wouldn't get blown down in heavy wind. 6 months on and we haven't had any problems with them.

On the ground we grouped different pots of palms and succulents and placed a pot of ivy on the bench as we wanted it to drape down to the ground. We rotated the ivy weekly to get an even growth.

All the black pots were a Bunnings find. So great to be able to get everything in one place!

The outdoor mat is marine carpet also from Bunnings. We chose this material as it is hardy, can handle the rain or a quick hose down and we also could choose the size we needed.

We water the plants every second day in summer and will stretch it out to once a week once it cools down. All of the plants are flourishing and looking so healthy. It is our own tropical oasis!

I purchased the outdoor cushions from Target. The material is great and handles the weather well.

The whole outdoor area is hosed down weekly and everything is built to handle the water and be wiped down. It's very low maintenance which is what we were after. Also as our grass is artificial we really have no other garden that has to be taken care of!

We have really loved having this space as an extra room and it was great to give it a refresh and make it an inviting place to relax and hang out with family and friends.

Do you have an outdoor space at home you love? Or are you ready to do a bit of a refresh?

I'd love to hear your plans!