Creating Some Street Appeal

Hi.  Today I want to share our front of house with you.  Last week marked our 12 year anniversary of moving into this house.  We've slowly been making this brick suburban home of ours look a little bit more appealing from the front.  It was never ugly as such, just a bit plain, and we always prioritised spending money inside and out the back where we could enjoy it rather than making the front look pretty.

We have a no-frills suburban Henley builder's home.  It's big, but there's not a lot of architectural pretties.  Our house is so suburban, in fact, that Brisbane band Powderfinger had their photo taken in front of our house in 2000 to promote one of their albums as 'Rocking the Suburbs'.  Back then the house was only 2 years old and had no garden whatsoever.  I've still got a copy of the photo as it appeared in The Courier Mail.

The house always looked kind of flat from the front.  Two years ago we asked a builder if he could build us a portico at the front door with architectural columns to give it some character.  Here's a photo of the house in 2007.

and now with the portico

It certainly adds some dimension to the facade, and provides some shelter and protection for people when they come to the door.  The front faces north so it's a lovely spot to sit in winter and catch some sunlight. 

As nothing really happens very quickly at this little place, the garden beds have looked like this until very recently.  Nice huh?

We looked at various options to edge the garden beds and settled on these large granite blocks.  They are from JH Wagner & Sons in Toowoomba.  They come in one metre blocks and you just lay them side by side in a shallow trench.  No mortar required, but you do have to cut a few blocks so you need the right equipment which we hired for the day.

My not so handy hubby, was very handy in this project completing most of it on his own, with a little help from his dad.  Drainage connected.  Blocks cut and laid in place, and bags of horse poo and compost dug in to prepare the garden for planting.

The Planting Scheme

Each side has a border of gardenia radicans which will hopefully grow to form a nice low hedge.  Inside there is a mix of white and purple agapanthus as they are drought hardy, and in the centre is a beautiful standard rose called Perfume Perfection.

 I love the mixed colours and sparkle in the granite.

Here are the roses in full bloom.  All that horse poo did the job.

We planted the circular garden several years ago and the tree (can't remember what it is) has really started to grow.  The hedge is murraya paniculata with Autumn crocus around the edges.

So this is where I live.  When I drive in the driveway after a long day, it welcomes me home.  I'm grateful for my little slice of suburbia.