Back Garden - Phase 1 Completed Yahoooooooo!

After several weekends of hard graft, P and I have finally finished the basic design of our garden. I can't tell you how happy (and tired) we are. In between, we even managed to squeeze in a tw0-week holiday back to the Small Island to see my parents and Oz to visit P's family. Multi-taskers extraordinaires or wot. :-)

From our kitchen, this is how the garden looks now:

And a close up of the planted areas (click on the photo to enlarge it):

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that all the plants will take and that in a month's time, we'll have much lusher beds. We put in a combination of climbers, shrubs and bedding plants including jasmine, honeysuckle, a rose bush and a peony. We then covered the soil with bark as that minimises weeds and also adds nutrients as it breaks down over time.

To add interest, we also planted up a few pots which we put in front of the shed and on the patio. And for the rest of the summer, we can sit back, have a few BBQs and just enjoy the fruits of our hard work.

Here's Georgia Rose showing us how to chill out in the sun:

We haven't done any work close to the house as we may put on a conservatory next year. If we do that, the patio will extend further out into the garden and we will lose some lawn space. No point digging out beds only to have to move everything in 12 months again.

Have a lovely long Royal Wedding weekend!

Back Garden - Phase 1.3

P and I are both doggone bone weary...but it's all worth it because we finished painting the shed today!! I cannot tell you how happy I am that we have done the bulk of the work in the garden. In three weekends, we have completed three major projects. We first paved behind the shed, then last Saturday we dug out the planting beds. Now, look at the fruits of this afternoon's labour!

The shed is painted in Farrow and Ball's (some say it's paint for posh people :-)) Light Blue 22. The trim i.e. roof and windows are done in Wimborne White.


P also picked up the stepping stones for our garden path this morning. We haven't set them in the ground yet but we have laid them out to get an idea of what it will look like. We also want to weather them as they are still brand new and very shiny! Once they are set, we can then focus on the fun part of gardening i.e. planting!


I know that I am now officially middle-aged as I check the weather every single day to make sure I can work in the garden! So sad, but I guess it happens to the best of us.

Tomorrow, we are going with our friends to a special garden to get ideas. Apparently, their nursery also sells some very good quality plants so we may buy one or two. I can't wait to go on holiday soon to get away from all this hard work!

Back Garden - Phase 1.2

P and I have had another very busy day! I'm not sure if you guys remember, but this is what the garden looked like last year when we first moved in:


The trees and hydrangeas were in full bloom but the rest of it was just a large expanse of grass.

After talking to several colleagues and friends who have much more experience with gardening than we do, we decided to dig out two main planting areas. The sunny spot is by the left fence so that is where we will place our bench while the right side is much shadier. We dug out shapes that are both easy to maintain but that will add a bit of interest i.e. not just straight borders. P also nailed up two trellis on each side of the fence so that we can grow some climbers to add height to the garden. We will have a mixture of shrubs of varying heights and bedding plants with lots of flowers.


Digging up planting beds is surprisingly hard work. Just doing the two sides took us both six hours plus two trips to the dump to throw away grass, soil and garden waste. I added in compost to the earth and tossed it about to aerate it. We are also not supposed to plant in it for a few weeks as you have to give it time to settle and for the nutrients to seep in. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But we welcome the break, that's for sure!

You'll see from the more detailed pic that we also gave the shed its first coat of primer. I have tacked up a shabby chic rose fabric in the window. A friend of ours suggested making the shed a feature in the garden as it is so huge. After another coat of primer, we will paint it a light duck egg blue colour. I'll also arrange some potted plants around it but as we are going on holiday soon, we will only plant once we are back.


It will look much prettier in a few months once the plants are in and everything is in full bloom. We are still in early spring after all so the trees are just about starting to bud now. We are not planting close to the house as we may add on a conservatory next year. If we do, the patio will move outwards and eat into the garden. I don't want to bust our guts landscaping, then have to dig it all up later!

To complete Phase 1, we need to finish the painting and lay down the stepping stones which we have yet to buy.

It's 6.35pm local time and both P and I are knackered! I am yawning away. :-) We are still going to our friends' house for dinner. She is making laksa, yummy! Thank goodness they live close by and I don't have to cookzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Back Garden - Phase 1.1

Mini Recycling Centre

Since we moved into this house eight months ago, I have concentrated only on decorating the inside of our property. My passion is most definitely sourcing interesting furniture and second-hand accessories from the internet and at antique markets.

And while I love gardens, I don't have much knowledge about them. However, in the last few months, I have been reading a lot of gardening books and also speaking to people to get their advice on what we should do with ours.

It has been bugging me for ages that our six, yes six, recycling bins are also at the side of the patio where we normally set up our outdoor dining table and chairs for al fresco meals. I just wasn't sure what where else we could put the bins as that is the only paved area in our back yard.


Moving from left to right, the brown bin is for garden waste. The green is for general household rubbish and the black bin is for cardboard boxes and plastic bottles. The small green bin is for food waste, the green box is for glass and the blue box (which is stacked in the green one) is for white paper. I kid you not.

After getting the advice of one of my colleagues, we decided to put down paving slabs at the back of our shed and move the bins there. Although it is a longer walk down to the end of the garden, at least the patio will look less unsightly. And exercise is good for you, right?! So armed with a shovel, rubber mallet, spirit level and pure elbow grease, P and I spent most of today 'building' a mini recycling centre behind the shed.

Before the hard work started:

Soil removed and a layer of sand on top for stability:

Paved and bordered:

After:

What were the girls doing during this time? Being the spoilt ladies that they are, they sunbathed of course!

And a pretty little robin came down to admire our handywork:

I have also just ordered a really beautiful white wrought iron loveseat. The next two things I want to do are to 1. plant out a seating area in the sunny spot and 2. paint the shed a pale grey and decorate it in a vintage style with potted plants. I intend to make the garden as shabby chic as possible.

While I love the planning, sourcing and starting part of designing a garden, I am not so keen on the actual work of it. :-) It is hard graft and both P and I have really sore muscles now. Just laying that little paved area took us five hours. Our next piece of major work will be to get the seating area dug out (hopefully in the next two weeks) and when the weather is better, paint the shed.

I will then have to think about Phase 2 of the garden but will let inspiration come to me when she is ready. P and I were just saying the other day of how much our lives have changed since we got married and moved to Brrrringland. As I am sure most of you will remember, my blogs used to be about crazy and exciting things like piercings on d*cks and mountain biking adventures with my dad. Now, it's all about stereotypical middle-aged, middle-class Brrringlish activities like browsing at antique markets and gardening! But in spite of this, I hope that you guys still find my blog entertaining. And if not, never mind, it will just leave me more time to work on the garden!

Spring Time Signs!

In the last couple of weeks, I've noticed that the bulbs I planted in the fall have started to come up. It is still very cold but I'm sure nature knows what she is doing!

Here is a pic of our planter box with white heather in the front and the first shoots toward the back:


To be very honest, we were given two types of bulbs last year and I can't remember what they are now! Ha. But never mind, once they bloom, I'll get one of our neighbours to help me identify them.

In readiness for good weather, we also got this cute little wheelbarrow. Once I have it varnished, I will leave it in our back yard for the summer filled with a trio of small potted flowering plants. I am extending the shabby chic theme out into the garden as well:


While we were at the wheelbarrow shop, I saw this vintage clothes rack which I thought would be great for the guest room (click on the photo to enlarge it):


On it, I have hung a quilt from Texas that has exquisite hand stitching. You can get patchwork quilts here too but the designs are not as intricate and fine as those from the Southern states.

We are heading to the antique market again this Tuesday and with summer just around the corner, I am hoping to pick up some wooden deck chairs for garden barbeques. If any of you want to visit us during the warmer months, please do as we love having guests!

From Drab to Absolutely Fab

Well, I think so anyway!

A few days ago, I posted a photo of the varnished drop-leaf oak table that P and I had found at the antiques market. After much hard work i.e. sanding, priming, painting and distressing, we are almost finished with it. It just needs a coat of wax on the underside of the table top and we are good to go.

Some people might consider it sacrilege to paint over such great quality wood, but the fact is that so called 'brown furniture' is really out of fashion at the moment. While we paid about £22 for the table and materials, it can now sell for at least double that online and considerably more in a retail shop. There is a huge market for shabby chic in Brrrringland and beyond.

As we are not delivering the table to our friends for a few more weeks, here are some photos of it looking quite at home in our 'kopi' corner.

With the leaves closed:

With the leaves open:

I also found this fabulous set of vintage enamel scales online for our kitchen:

I just adore the whole quaint kitchenalia thingy!

A New Love of Old Things

Over the last few months, I have found a wonderful new way to fuel my passion for all things vintage: the Brrringlish antique market. There are so many decorating shows on telly now that show how good quality antiques can furnish a modern home for a fraction of buying new off the high street. There are lots of fairs all over the country and you can just about go to one every week.

By far the biggest and longest running is the antiques market near us at a racecourse a short drive away. Yesterday, we set off bright and early:


When we got to the venue at 7am, the parking lot was already full and we had to leave our car in a non-parking spot at the end of one of the rows of vehicles.

The sun was just coming up and the morning mist bathed the racecourse beautifully:

There are 350 stalls inside the building:

And another 350 stalls outside:

Dealers as far as the eye can see:

All in all, it took us four hours to do one circuit of the fair. The back of my knees really ached but it was a wonderful morning. We walked around with a hot cuppa in hand while browsing all the bits and bobs on offer. The weather was fantastic and my favourite sight was of this wee Jack Russell sitting on a vintage tub chair enjoying a spot of sunbathing:

We bought a few old photo frames:

As well as an easel frame which is very pretty all on its own:

The glass candlesticks on top of the cabinet were a bargain at £10:

And best of all, we got this heavy 1960's oak drop leaf coffee table for a song:

We actually bought it for our good friends. When we went to see them late last year, I promised to help them find one to fit their small but beautifully furnished lounge. She likes shabby chic like me and has a fantastic china cabinet that I wish was mine ha ha.

I am in the midst of re-painting the table for them. It is very heavy and solid but the dark varnish was old fashioned and in bad shape. P helped me to sand it down and I've already painted on two coats of primer. It still needs to another two coats of paint, which hopefully will be done by the weekend. P will then distress it as he has that all important quality when it comes to sandpapering i.e. brute strength.

We are bringing the table to them at the end of month, a two hour drive away. In exchange, she has agreed to make P one of his favourite dishes...cottage pie!

In my next blog, I will post a photo of the finished table in their living room. Hopefully I will remember to take one! :-)