Off to Melbourne I go ........

Hi Vintage Lovers, 

I had a quick trip to Melbourne over the weekend to go to the Melbourne Garden show ....... a bit of a whirlwind trip but I loved every minute of it. 

It was perfect weather for wondering around the gardens and I have come home with so many new ideas  and plans to incorporate into our old lady's garden. There were so many inpressive and gorgeous show gardens, here is just a few pics from the weekend ........

My one problem is that I now have to wait until April to start planting and putting my ideas into place !!!!!!!!
Hope you are having a great week, Friends. 

Mel xx

A Exciting Suprise …

Hi Vintages Lovers,

We have a bit of a discovery  ....... A few weeks ago we had a bit of spare time ( a real rarity for us) one weekend and we decided to have a look and dig around in the store house. We have always wondered if the store house at one time had a cellar, as the cement that the previous owners had laid had cracked and caved in. 

So we broke up the cerment and crowbar sunk in about half way without even trying. That's when we started thinking it may defentaly be a cellar and started digging. 

We have dug about three foot down and the stone wall looks like it goes further, we are now thinking maybe to six foot !!!!!!!!

We also think this is a little window for ventaaliatin in the cellar as we are thinking the floor level may be at the old woodern beam nailed on to the door frame in the next photo.

We are very excited about the find and are looking forward to doing more investigating. 

Have a fantastic week. 

Mel xx

A Front Room Update ...........

I realised that it has been quite a while since I have updated you on the front room so this post will be a big one .... make your self a cuppa and get comfy ...... you will be here awhile. 

Ok ....... to start, it took quite a while to demolish the fireplace in the front room, a good five to six months !!!

Which sounds like a long time but it was a huge job ....... a good 4 tonne of stone came out one by one.  The stone fireplace had been attached to the wall by taking out the orginal stone from the wall and slotting in the new stone they brought in to do the fireplace. So that all needed to be painstakingly removed.

We did have three quaters of the wall collapse at one stage, that we worked out was due to the wood heater flue only going a metre up the fireplace. The smoke seeped between the two stone wall cavities and made all the stones loose. That meant that our plasterers had to come and brick the wall back up and then allow it to dry for a couple of months before they could continue with the plastering.

The plasterers were here for a month all up, most of the plaster had to be removed. It is the biggest room our old lady has and also is the room that needs the most work. Then the pine floorboards were removed, new joists were put in where the old fireplace was (all the other floor joists were fine) and then we have had the old baltic floor boards put back in, so that it the baltic floorboards flow from the kitchen to the front room (you would have no idea that the floorboards were different in the front room now).

We then had our brickie in to brick a section from the ceiling ( the bricks are resting on the re-plastered wall ) to the roof so that he can re-do the chimney, that has collapsed. He will be back at some stage soon to re-build that chimney and re-point the other three.

Then we have had the carpenter in to fix up the ceiling and also build two imitation fireplaces  ( one for each end of the room ).  The original fireplaces were removed at some stage with just the chimneys remaining from the ceiling up. Our idea was to put the fireplaces back to make the room look like it was originally. So, we had the chippie make them out of gyprock. 

The painting and re-wiring is next on the list, follwed by architraves and skirtings over Easter. 
Then it is moving in time ...... Four weeks to go !!!! 
Not long now !!!!!!

Mel xx

The Last Days of Summer ......

Hi Vintage Lovers,

Summer has almost disappeared ....... while I am looking forward to autumn, I will miss the long summer days and spending the evenings pottering in the garden and planning time for what I will plant and do come autumn in the garden.

My garden has done well over the summer period ........ I have not lost any plants (touch wood) and I have had growth on most of them. I think the new rainwater tank has some thing to do with it !!??!!

 I have even planted a few bits and pieces over the summer, which normally I would never do. Apart from the two wisterias and the bearded irises I planted in the dry stone walled area, which are growing fantastically.  I also took cuttings from our neighbours glory vine and popped them in on either end of the carport, to grow up and along to have a nicer view from the kitchen and the girls bedroom which look out onto the carport.  I wasn't expecting them to do much as I didn't have any growth hormone at the time, so I was half expecting I was wasting my time. But ........ they took off and haven't looked back.

We have also bought another window box for the girls room (the same as the one we bought for the kitchen window) so that they have a nicer view from their window rather than looking at the cars and carport. I have planted some french lavender in all the pots, that will smell devine.

The best thing about autumn, apart from the cooler weather and being able to spend more time in the garden is planting and putting in place the changes and plans I dreamed up over summer.

Bring on autumn.

Mel xx

Less lawn, more garden ........

Hi Vintage Lovers, 

As part of the "dry stone wall around the outdoor entertaining area project" we also decided to remove all the lawn in between the tanks and the outdoor area.

Now, I am not a great lawn lover at all and my plan is to eventually replace all the lawn with garden. We have already removed half of the area between the tanks and the outdoor area about a year ago to plant a veggie patch and now the rest has been removed to make the veggie patch bigger.  We also have placed stepping stones from the paved area to the outdoor area that the veggies will grow around.

The area has now been turned over, fertilized and mulched with pea straw ready for planting later this year.

I just have to be patient now, and gardening is all about being patient, isn't it???

Mel xx

Our dry stone wall………

Hi Vintage Lovers,

Wow, February already and half way though too !!!!!!!
Where is this year disappearing !!??!!

Lots to catch you up on with our old lady, so I will start with the dry stone wall and then I will catch you up on the front room progress.

Ok ......... We have just finished the dry stone wall around the outdoor entaining area .... it looks fantastic. We are really happy with how the whole area is turning out. It centainly was a big job and took a while to complete, but was well worth the work and wait. 

So, just to jog your memory, as it was a little while since I blogged about it ...... we have widened the garden bed next to the outdoor entaining area, moved the steps up to the lawn area and created a circular bed area incorporated into the dry stone wall area. It now is  joined to the dry stone wall around the lawn area so it is now one continuous wall the whole area. 

Only one one problem now ........
I have to wait until April to start planting !!!!!!!!!

Although ( I couldn't resist ) ....... I have already planted a few bits, a pink and white wisteria to grow up the posts and around the edge of the outdoor area, as well as transplanting some bearded irises from other parts of the garden. 

I already have an idea of what I want to plant ....... a weeping maple in the circular area, bordered with box hedging and bearded irises around the edge of the bed.
Bring on April !!!!!!!!

Mel xx

The first of the garden paths .........

Hi Vintage Lovers, 

Over the last few weeks we have re -paved the front garden path that leads to the front door. We already had a path but we decided to plant weeping birch ( you know how I love my weeping trees ) half way along the path, then create a circular path around the birch with the path leading off the circular area to the front door and gate.

We reused all the old pavers on the old path as well as some others that had been left here ........ we are thinking from the old fireplaces.

I found these old teracotta garden edging tiles ( I couldn't believe my luck ) in an antique shop a while ago to edge around the birch.

The gorgeous hand forged stakes that are on either side of the path are made by the blacksmith at Sovereign Hill. I am planning to plant standard iceberg roses ( to match the burgundy iceberg standards on the front verandah ), five each side of the path with box hedging bordering the roses. This will be next years project.

This years spring garden projects are coming to end apart from normal garden maintenance (time to start planning next years garden projects) and watering has now started as the garden is already showing signs of drying out.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Mel xx