New life, old style

Our old house was a contemporary style.  We had a set of three prints like the one below, which I liked in the old house.  Our new house is quite the opposite in style, so I decided these prints needed a makeover to fit in here better.  One of my favourite hobbies is to give new life to old things.

 

I like fabrics, colours and decor that is quirky and ecclectic, with a contemporary twist on country style.  I pulled the prints apart (oops, no turning back now as I partly destroyed them in the process!), then covered parts with fabric and glued them all back together.  I am really happy with the result.

 From OK and mass-produced to something unique and just my style.

I had extra fabric left so I made new patchwork covers for old cushions.  I can't wait to get painting the new house- as you can see in the photo below we have an abundance of timber cladding that I'm keen to paint white.  I love the new cushions as much as the new artworks.

This house feels a little more like home :)

Growing

There has been so much happening here the last few weeks! New arrivals, renovations, gardening, homeschool...

Here's a little of what's been growing and developing in the vege patch... 

After being neglected during very hot, dry summer weather (before we moved in) and then receiving lots of rain, many of the plants set fruit very late in the season. The passionfruit vine is absolutely covered in big passionfruit, but alas I think it is getting too cold for them to ripen now.

 The chooks have been in the dome getting our new vege beds ready...

 

 We used old bricks we found here as edging.

 I ended up digging up the whole berry patch in order to remove all the grass and weeds. I replanted the cane berries and strawberry plants. Here is is before and after weeding.

 One of the many barrow loads of weeds I pulled out. Better than a gym membership!

 I've planted garlic for the first time ever: three varieties- Glen Large, Red Rocambole and Italian White.  A few weeks ago only the Italian White had sprouted.

Now all three varieties are up and growing nicely. The red rocambole was the slowest to get going by far.

 We built a compost bay and filled it with horse manure, straw and lawn clippings.  It has composted down already to half the size it was.  We've never really had much success with composting so hopefully we are set for better compost now.

 

 We have the best soil here- far better than anything I've attempted to grow in before so it's quite exciting to see the veges thriving.

 I built a potting bench from timber we had around the place. I'm very proud to say that I did 90% of the sawing and construction myself! Some of the timber is now serving it's third purpose having already been turned from old shipping containers into shelving and now a potting bench.

 I attended a seed raising workshop at Purple Pear Organics last year, so, following their directions (or at least as much as I remember them!) I've been sowing seed and planting out tiny seedlings, and making newspaper pots.  I haven't ever tried raising seeds on this scale before and so mistakes are inevitable- namely a gazzilion pakchoy seedlings and about fifty wong bok cabbages. Hmmm...sow less next time!

 Pak Choy anyone?

 

 Newspaper pots...

 

 Brilliant helper...

 

It has been so much work, but the garden is flourishing and it's so worth the effort.  I just need more vege garden beds now...