The Garden: Completed

The journey of the house renovation has almost come to a full circle.


A process which started some time in March 2010, last year, is now completed. I think. There are things which I could still find to renovate but as of now, it will do.


I had probably put my life on hold for almost one year, just to build a home for our small family. Trying to make sure every minute detail is according to dream and budget. I assure you, that is no easy feat :-). Because. Dream AND budget don't really mix. Both of them should be allocated a box on its own. Dream. Budget.


Anyways.


To celebrate the completion of the renovation, we had a house warming cum Chinese New Year party. Had some good friends over. It was wonderful to be able to "mark the moment" with friends.

Completed Privacy fence, Pergola and cute little things hanging down.
There is a transparent roof to keep away the rain.

The Privacy fence which was a family project, has blocked most of the mess from the backyard and dog house. It also created a woody look, which is what I really like. It enhances the Pergola. To make it look like one-of-a-kind, I got 30 sticks of bamboo from Sg. Buloh. Its about 8-9 feet long. Presently, its still green and needs to dry out a little before it turns yellow.


The bamboo idea was not originally mine... I saw it in Thailand and just needed to have that look. Its a common look in the village due to the easy accessibility of bamboos.


According to my brother, I could have chopped down some bamboos near Pulau Indah. But. I had to pay a hefty price for it, instead. Oh well. Have to get the economy going, right?

Mini garden with a small pond, miniatures and plants.

The idea to create the mini garden started with the small pond. It was actually a water fountain which was damaged. So, I converted it into a pond with water lilies. Surrounded it with plants and all the miniatures I collected over the years from Thailand.


The stones makes the area easy to maintain (keeping away the weeds) and also gives it a clean look. Inspired by the gardens in Thailand.


These days, I can just sit there and relax. Infact, I had an evening sitting under the Pergola with my Mum and Brother, sipping some wine, munching on peanuts and cracking a whole load of lame jokes. How a few pieces of wood and bamboos can bring family bonding together.

Overview of the garden

A masterpiece of colored stones and plants.

It took me some time to figure out what I wanted to do at the small piece of empty land in front of the porch. I sketched it out in a piece of paper, researched in the internet... And I figure that some thing which is simple to maintain and yet brings joy.


So, while shopping at Sg Buloh, I passed a large shop selling stones. I looked through every corner of that huge area and found some 'out-of-stock' stones. Left with 2 bags each, I took home the purple and orange stones. I have not seen it anywhere but its exactly what I am looking for.


To bring bright white color into the masterpiece, I added the shells which I collected at the beach while holidaying in Thailand, last December. Yes, I am pleased.

My next aim is to get my organic vegetables and fruits garden going. The french beans are great but the passion fruit and four edged beans are yet to produce. I saw some flowers on the chili plant. I might be able to enjoy some chili soon. I will try to get some photos and update on my organic gardening later.


To view more photos of The Garden, go here.

Water Lily

Are there more glorious color and beauty?


My favorite flower, ever!


.... and I can admire it everyday!

The Garden: The New Look

My camera is down and these are much better photos taken by the Official Photographer.

Did I mention that I had obsession of Aloe Vera?

Front view of the Pergola

Hilly landscape in front of the house. Keep it simple!

On the left: Pebble blocks as a driveway for the car

There are some stuff to do in The Garden, but I have hurt my back due to too much of gardening. Need to rest it before I continue.

The Garden: Driveway and Pathway

There are more cement blocks made. Some for the driveway and pathway leading to the pergola.


In teory, this is how a pebble block is made.... Mix the base material with cement and rough sand. Make the cement block. After its dried overnight, then, mix pebbles with cement and lay a coat on top of the cement block which has been dried overnight. These pebbles can be purchased from the nursery. It ranges from RM12 - RM22 per bag. I bought a total of 10 bags. Which was more than enough.

Cement blocks for the driveway. Good for one car. The other one can be parked
outside the house. Everyone in the neighborhood does it too.

The cement block had pebbles with papaya leaves printed on it. Some
turned out nice but others were not as good as expected.

This is how it looks after the leaves were taken away

Decided to just use pebbles without the Papaya leaves. This pathway starts from
the front door and leads to the Pergola in The Garden

After this, the pebbles need to be 'washed' with acid then polished with shellac. The real beauty of the stone will be seen. So much of work, huh?

The Garden: Cement Block - Walking Path

There is a 10 feet walking path from the roadside in front of our house to the small gate. It was basically sand and red topsoil.


As ideas was evolving, we decided to make cement slabs. The ones being sold at nurseries were quite small and costly. So, since the Indonesian worker was around, he made it. It was 1.5 feet by 3 feet.


To color it, we could buy colored cement but I could not decide on the shade. Too dark and it will appear dirty. Too light and it looks awful. So, I decided that we use Papaya leaves to leave a creative imprint on the wet cement.


I love the effect!


Undecided if will paint it eventually.


Any suggestions?

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The Garden: Privacy Fence

Few weeks ago, I posted about The Garden.


There was this and that plan.


A privacy fence was one of the idea. The reason is to block and separate the back portion of the house from the front.


The Resak Wood was purchased from the local hardware store. The sizes of wood was 2 x 4", 4 x 4" and 1 x 4"

4 x 4" pillars as foundation

4 holes of about 1 feet wide and 1.5 inch deep was dugged. Instead of digging up the hole in a day, bit by bit was dug up over a period of few days. Just as I was ready to mix the cement to put the foundational pillars, the Indonesian worker was available to assist for the next few days. Hooray! So, he helped to fix the foundational pillars.

2 x 4" was fixed on by Joel and I, when he was off from
school during the recent Public Holiday

The foundation was allowed to dry for about 2-3 days. Then, I solicited Joel's help. Both of us took the late morning and most of the afternoon to cut the 1 x 4" plants to exactly 5 feet length with the circular saw. Then we measured and cut to appropriate lengths, the 2 x 4". That was hard work. Galvanized bolt of 3" was used to fasten the 2 x 4 " to the 4 x 4". We used the drill to make the holes.


Apparently (after everything was done), according to Hubby (who is the actual Engineer and Expert), we used the wrong drill bit size. It should have been smaller hole. Never mind, a learning process. That day, I used the drill for the 1st time in my life. Not bad.

The privacy fence and there is a plan to make a Pergola
using the same pillars

The next day, Joel had to go to school. So, I was left alone to do up the fence. All geared up and gung ho, I proceeded to fix the fence. How hard can it be? After all, I have researched in youtube and internet.


After taking 1 hour to fix 2 planks and realised that the bolts were not aligned and the drill holes were too big... As a result, the bolts was not strong and the plank begins to fall when knocked. The Engineer and Expert stumbled upon me, the Gung Ho, youtube educated Fence Installer.


A quick lesson ensued.


Oh.. I see. That's how its done.


Eventually when Joel came back from school, all of us fixed the fence together and I must say, it turned out beautifully!


It was great fun for me... I am a Handy-Woman... by accident.

The Garden

Eventhough I titled this post as "The Garden"... actually it should be "What Garden?".


It was basically a disgraceful heap of mess. A real eye-sore to the inhabitant of the home-dwellers.


Therefore, no one was invited over to our new house, unless they insisted to invite themselves (No one will be named here).

In April 2010, it was a heap of mess. About 4 cars of dump was needed to
get rid of all this mess

View of the rubbish from another view

In May 2010, it was getting better but works were still going on here and there.

So, it was impossible to totally get rid of the mess. Please note that
by then, we had moved in (For info, the One Big Mess in white shirt and
black shorts, above, is still around. Don't think I will be able to rid of him for the next 30 years or so ;-))

Then "The Garden" was just there.


Yes.


Just there.


Mess and all.


The initial plan was to plant grass for the whole 2000 sq ft. Then, it was stalled.


Did I want to spend RM5,000.00 to plant, just grass? The guy was charging RM2.50 per sq ft. Its probably reasonable. It would have been more worth it (according to me) if it was lettuces or pak choy or kai lan. But then again, no one actually ask a grass planter to plant vegetables instead of grass on their lawn. Also, the kids might have difficulty walking on it.


So, I sat on the idea.


And sat.


And sat.


Then suddenly.... Yes. Suddenly.


... I was finished "sitting on the idea"!


(I can hear the family members screaming from the background, "Its about time!!!")


So.


1 week ago, I got 2 workers to clear all the mess and filled a whole load of dump truck with all kinds of rubbish from The Garden.



... The Garden is *drum roll*



Cleared!!!


No more Rubbish!!!

See, I told you... clean... desert...

Full... of rubbish

I will let you know what we are going to do with "The Garden". Its going to be a family project. Its a DIY thing. I am so excited! Just thinking about it (makes me tired), er, I mean adrenaline rush.


Stay tuned.