The Story of Stormy's Castle. *Loooooong overdue update*

Cheers, Shonzilla!



I had a landscaper designer friend draw it up for me, and he put them in! We don't own 2 BMW's! I joked he should have put in a black Ferrari!



thanks Donuts! It was originally drawn with a walkway to the front door, but I decided that it cut the garden up too much, and also there is a large tree smack bang in the middle of the nature strip infront of the front doors, which kinda defeats the purpose of the walkway!

We did get a quote for the fence, and I almost had heart failure at the price. Almost $14K not including Council permits, asset protection or steel infills! I have to look elsewhere as I was expecting about $8K!

There won't be a gate across the driveway (no electricity!), and that just adds to the cost. It will look fine without.

The garden will be all white flowers (standard iceburg roses, sasanqua camelias) and green foliage (blue arrow junipers lining the driveway and a low clipped hedge of 'something') and the feature tree will be a white or slightly pink weeping cherry. I had one out the back before demo, but the cut went through it's roots and it didn't survive...

Could you possibly PM me your brick fence builders?

I ummed and aahed about the walkway too, but agree with you, it cuts up the garden too much. It isn't a problem the way we have it set up, ppl just buzz on the doorbell and I open the gate from inside to let them walk up the driveway instead.

No electricity though, that would be a problem. We originally didn't have any either, but we got an electrician to lay a cable from the meter box to the gate just before it was built - cost an extra $700 to do this (we were lucky we had an excavator onsite at the time who dug the 700mm trench for us!) and connect it up with the inside buzzer.


that is a lot! ours was almost $15k, but that included the council argy bargy and the steel infills, including the steel for the gate! I can't remember about asset protection in any case we didn't need it. We did have to pay for the motorisation of the gate ourselves (which we got for nix cause my dad is in the industry - normally costs about $1000 I believe) and for laying the electricity cable (the $700 mentioned above).

I will PM you their details in a minute. I wonder if your frontage is wider than ours (15m)? Also yours looks to be on a slight hill, I wonder if this costs more, I would have thought not that much more though. Our fence is 1.5m high, with the bricks making up 1/3 of this height, and the steel the other 2/3.

Oh I love olive trees We've had ours in a pot for 7 years now... last year it produced it's first lot of fruit A whopping 12 olives or thereabouts Haven't decided the perfect place to plant it into the ground yet...

Oh, and I love your nest, gorgeous idea

OOOOOO your fence is going to look GREAT, Stormy

Martha eat your heart out!! Stormy, love love love your style....

Wow! Everything is looking gorgeous Stormy

I was going to say that your front fence plans reminded me of Donuts' fence too!

Love all the decor bits - where did you get the frame for your daughters butterfly pic - it looks a great size

Thanks Donuts! The frontage is approx 15.9m, the proposed fence height will be 1.5m high and 5 pillars across at 2 different widths (larger on either side of the drive and to accommodate the letter box.). Not sure if the slope makes a difference, or not! Is it possible to post a pic of your fence? Fell free to PM it to me if you prefer!



2 of mine came with olives on them! But I had to trim them to encourage thicker branches.



Thanks Southies...if Council will approve it



Thanks!



and when I first saw Donuts, I thought it was similar to what I had in mind for mine!

The frame is the 50x50 Ribba IKEA frame. $49. I could have taken out the matt and spread out the butterflies and added more, but I liked the look with it in.

FABULOUS as always. Totally....thanks for the pics. Gorgeous.

Hmm so only 1 metre more than ours. All our pillars are the same size, and the one next to the driveway incorporates the letterbox. Our fence is double brick too. There are pics on this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=18195&hilit=the+story+of+a+front+fence

I love seeing Stormy pics!

Hi All,

Still waiting to hear back to organise another quote for the front fence, so absolutely no progress there, but we have done a few odd jobs around the house this weekend.

A while ago I wanted people's opinions on whether to have 2 or 3 pics on the loungeroom wall. I decided to wait until I had the plantations installed to see what would look best. I decided to go with 2...and here is the result!



I still need to think about the wall next to the window, and I have the pics in mind...just need to find the right sized frame. I'll also eventually have 'something' furniture wise in this corner with possibly a lamp on it too...it's a bit bland at the moment!

Job number 2 for the weekend was put up my Daughters chandelier in her bedroom...which had been sitting in a box under the stairs for months and months...next to mine for the dining room One day mine will get put up too...



Job number 3 was re-organise the 'study nook' in the family room. My very old desk and chair have been sitting there since we moved in, and the piles and piles just kept on getting bigger on top of it. So it was a bit of an unorganised mess. I cleaned it up a few days ago and then went shopping!!

BEFORE:



AFTER:





It's still not finished, and as soon as the weather warms up a little I will paint the desk white to match the shelves and add on some nice black draw pulls and that should spruce it up even more. Certainly saves on buying another one. I still need to add a few more 'bits' to the shelves too.

Looking lovely Stormy! I especially love the shelves!

Oh soooooo nice Stormy! Typo edited.....

Lovely Stormy

agreed Stormy, looks lovley!

Thank you all lovely Ladies! Still a long way to go, but getting there slowly!

I had a call from Henley today to organise a time for our 1 year maintenance inspection. Wow...can't believe it's almost been a year!!!! I have a few little things on the list, but certainly nothing major at all. Mostly just a few cracks in the skirtings and a few popped nails here and there. I would like to get the eaves replaced in a few sections, because they were water damaged where it rained and the tiles were removed for scaff. The stain has come through on the paint, so re-painting won't fix it. I'm also not entirely happy with the front doors. The panels move under the paint, so the paint has cracked and exposed the blue undercoat underneath.

I'll go through my list in detail closer to the time, and hope they fix it all.

Looks fantastic Stormy - what a difference a few things can make. We have started the gradual change of crap furniture to new/refurbished. We are about to do the study over next and I love those white floating shelves you have - may I ask where you got them?

Thanks Bel!! IKEA Lack shelves, 110cm long $49. They also come in different colours and lengths! http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/20186182 Our study desperately needs doing (custom built double desk with shelves at the top and 3 drawers underneath - similar to Suh's setup), but we make do with the old desk in there and this set up in the family room for the Lappy. I just keep telling myself that all good things take time!

Oh great thanks

I was thinking of going the custom desk way, but wasn't sure of the money factor.We have found a gorgeous white gloss desk and thought with the shelves we can achieve a similar look for hopefully around $500

Oh stormy, very very nice . Amazing how a few things can transform an area -love what you've done with the floating shelves & your desk lamp ........very schmick