Our limestone wall

I never posted pictures of our Our beautiful limestone wall when it was finished. Now long finished and its time to sell the house moving on to the next exciting project...

We are really Really going to miss the lovely texture and warm colour in the cold winter days.
heres a peek...

The Smokehouse

Being a fan of Rohan Anderson's Whole Larder Love blog i'd love to share this clip of him and the smokehouse.
Is it just me or is this sort of lifestyle the one we are working so desperatly hard to get back to- that makes no sense...

Bobby the dog

Well we finally have a dog. The beautiful cheeky and very fluffy Bobby joined our family four weeks ago. I'm totally in love with him (so is our whole family for that matter, except for coco the cat who is disgusted). 

Anyway to the point, My amazing friend Jo who is a super talented photographer,
has started a new business called 'Ruff and Co' yep that's beautiful dog photography. If you have a precious canine friend best to get him/her immortalised by Jo. These pics make amazing contemporary artworks for your home... here's our shots (how cute is that suspicious eye sizing her up)

Before and After

Well we've been out on our own now for two years now and some of our gardens are starting to look established so finally we can bring you some before and afters. Here's one from just around the corner. Our Clients had done a really gorgeously stylish renovation to their house, but had run out of steam for the entrance. So after plenty of talking and inspiration from ourselves and the client, we came up with this, it's modern, suits the house, fun, practical and colourful.

Wildflowers and not so wildflowers

Its that dark damp wintery time of the year again just 5 days to the shortest day (plant your garlic next wednesday folks), and all I can think about is the lovely summery meadow that we had out the front instead of lawn last summer. We planted the whole area in a low grow wildflower mix from Kings seeds it worked a treat. 250gm packet for $43. Aside from being the cheapest and lowest maintenance way of caring for a lawn area, it was an endless supply of cute arrangements by the bed, posies for the teacher, pleasure for the neighbours and a stopover for all the butterflies and bees in the hood. So next weekend I'll be out there clearing the site and preparing the dirt for this summer. Hopefully there will be plenty of self sown seed from last year but I've also ordered the 'poppy fields of colour' hoping for more reds and pinks to add to it. Ive thrown in a couple of packets of cornflowers and statice too, so you can all expect dried flowers on your christmas prezis this year!

If random wildness is not your thing, take a note from one of my favorite designers Piet Oudolf who's plantings look wild but are beautifully arranged drifts of these type of plants.

Heres Miss 'M' in our flowers last year and a Piet Oudorf  masterpiece.

Pensthorpe Garden

Garden buildings

Ok so its been a long while hopefully we have a bit of time now, to get back to some posts for you to salivate over.
I have a problem at my house and that is... the Babylon Boys keep finding my gardening tools and taking them to work. So I'm thinking my next project might be my own garden shed and secret tool storage.
Here are some really lovely garden sheds by Kekkila (from Finland). The front is a greenhouse (or in the case of the bottom picture a bedroom), and the back section opens up for beautiful tool storage. Of course we can't get them here but we can make anything don't forget, so here's a good inspiration point...

via remodilista

Just a chunk of wood

Posted today on Designboom this stunning wild reindeer centre by Snøhetta
The pavillion, a finalist in the World Architecture Festival is within the Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park (that would be Norway), Its the home of wild reindeer herds.
I love the comment by someone that sums its up:

'An exciting synthesis of miesian simplicity and contemporary blobbyism and zigzaggery'

Images by  Klaas van Ommeren

 

Living huts

This would be fab in the back yard, by Alexis Tricoire

Terrariums

Making your own terrarium is fun, pretty easy and very satisfying but don't be taken in by those online tutorials including gnomes and fake river beds (unless you're 6).
Here are some super styley ones from Jose Agatep (Jojo) simple, japanesey and slightly scientific versions check out his website and blog slugandsquirrel . Using unusual combinations of vessels, he raises the bar on the art.

Sloping site inviting pool

A sloping site has instant interest but beautiful landscape design is what brings it to life.
Integrating the built structure with its natural environment, simply, yet with character and function.
On the same property is the quiet minimal courtyard which is harmonised by the hand hewn texture of the concrete and dark colour of the pool. Love it!
by Rees Roberts

Summer garden accessories

My pick for the summer landscaping project is the 'large in-ground trampoline', the most fun and danger you can get on a few square meters!
Here's the one we spent our holiday on, in the wild west coast

Apparently its a climbing wall

Our beautiful limestone wall is mostly finished - just the outside bit to do. Cedes and Jared cant help themselves but climb it! but then they'll climb anything. The sandstone comes from a quarry near Otorohanga hand picked by Jared.

Resort Obsession

Well back from the holiday that turned into a bit of a nightmare, with a serious family illness, but thankfully all is looking hopeful and now the worst is over I find myself obsessing at resort pics (pools mainly) and wishing I was there. Handy however that we have a few jobs coming up that are along those lines of sanctuary, tropical and earthy maybe a trip to the Soneva Kiri  would be allowed for research??

above three images Six Senses Soneva Kiri

 

Hanging Gardens Ubud

Its coming along

Our gorgeous sandstone wall is finally making progress. Babylon is so busy poor Jared has hardly had a chance to work at home lately, so here it comes...

Dine, read, relax outside

Personally I like a seating area to feel snug and cosy so you feel a bit cocooned especially at night. Lighting plays a big part too, and can be as simple as candles or fairy lights strung through your hedge, or even a chandelier suspended overhead.
Heres my pick of some lovely seating areas for socialising with friends or kicking back with a book or a mag. Roll on summer!

amazing use of rock, photo Mikkel Vang

yes we can do this in your deck wouldn't that be nice

photo Michael Wee, Inside Out Mag

The Sala Phuket has these amazing dining booths within a reflection pond

the perfect Italian terrace