Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 30, 2010 3:14 pm Current status: Busy making the house our home Built PD Francis 29 on our 576m2 block at Reflections in Tarneit Reflections Estate Thread Our Build Thread Re: We really need some help with the landscaping of our blo 3Apr 09, 2010 12:00 pm Current status: Busy making the house our home Built PD Francis 29 on our 576m2 block at Reflections in Tarneit Reflections Estate Thread Our Build Thread Re: We really need some help with the landscaping of our blo 6Apr 10, 2010 8:17 am Current status: Busy making the house our home Built PD Francis 29 on our 576m2 block at Reflections in Tarneit Reflections Estate Thread Our Build Thread Re: We really need some help with the landscaping of our blo 7Apr 16, 2010 10:36 pm Landscaping is a really interesting DIY opportunity to extend the feel of the house, and as you've pointed out it's incredibly overwhelming - especially when you have the kind of space your plan seems to indicate. Faced with the same dilemma, I've found it useful to do a couple of things as part of the process: 1. Take a stack of landscaping books out of the library for ideas, as well as picking the brains from nursery staff over time. 2. Get graph paper from the newsagent, and sketch out your ideas to scale like your houseplan - it can be a bit of a reality check what will fit and what won't - what works and what doesn't becomes obvious very quickly. 3. Keep a scrapbook of images you like from gardening magazines - you'll find you tend to be drawn to the same style of plants over and over (i.e. clipped and manicured versus relaxed and bushy), and that gives you the clue as to what look/feel you'll enjoy the most. 4. Think about planning from a seasonal perspective (what will things look like throughout the year), including colour, texture, layers, form. 5. Think about what you will be looking out on from each window. This last point made me realise I want 'rooms' to the garden - I also thought about what I wanted to get out of the garden and the simple things I liked growing up, so I pulled together a wish list and incorporated them into the 'rooms' - so as an example of that exercise: 1. In one corner, a pre-fab pond with waterlilly and a couple of goldfish, weeping cherry ('Snowy fountain'), weeping camelia ('Tsai'), iris, spider lilly, golden japanese grass ('Aureola') - check THAT out - looks amazing next to lawn + garden bench. 2. Orange gravel surrounding stepping stones right next to deep green lawn - am avoiding bland greys and white pebbles and anything that feels crunchy underfoot or cemetary-like. 3. Am also avoiding anything spiky. 4. In another corner, shady shrubs/small trees - layered high medium small then lawn, including native frangipani. 5. Along the side, small lemon tree arbour (over an archway) leading through and past a couple of roses (Munstead Wood and Mr. Lincoln - catch a whiff of those - and only two bushes - just enough) - to a raised galvanised iron veggie bed for what I can be bothered experimenting with - tomatoes, strawberries and watermelon and a couple of things that don't taste the same from the supermarket.... etc. ,etc. - you got the idea.. I mean, you guys could go crazy with your layout - it's great (and north-facing I think you mentioned)... I guess the point I'm making is that planning can be more enjoyable than it first seems - try to plan it fully if you can - to me, the wow factor you're after will only come with thorough research on what truly appeals to you in look and feel and sketching it out first (versus stream-of-consciousness moments in a nursery). Enjoy the research! Looking forward to seeing how it all evolves.... Building with the Big M, Sandarra Settlement July 16 Site Scrape Sep 22 Slab Oct 12 Framing commenced Oct 13 Build thread: viewtopic.php?f=31&t=39517 do not pay until you are satisfied with workmanship windows require flashing over the head archithrave and up under weatherboards 3 28277 Hi VK, I am now retired however I have stood beside over 300 owner builders in the past 18 years that have successfully built their own homes. First of all a building… 10 22663 Thank you so much for the effort. We will use it to talk with builder. We also had idea of building duplex instead and seeking suggest ions. viewtopic.php?f=31&t=106744 11 13830 |