the backyard and the pool

i have been meaning to post about our backyard and our beautiful new pool for a while now - and what a better time than when one is procrastinating over uni assignments i say!

our house is placed on one side of the block - and most of our yard is in fact a side yard (all on the north side - to get that all important sun) - with a small section at the back. 

here's the almost finished pool (photo taken in january 2011) -

just need to add the glass safety fence which will sit between the grass and the pavers - and around the edge of the pergola. (it's the law here to have a safety fence surrounding your pool)

now let's go back in time........
here's what the yard has looked like over the last 8 years -

2002 real estate photo.

2005.

 i can't find any photos of the progress to here - but there were loads of messy bushes against the fence - we pulled them out and added birch trees, and laid some new turf. we also hired a builder to put in the pergola (with mr w. helping out with the labour). mr w. also built the huge cubby house up the back from scratch for the kids. (he's very clever my mr w.!!)

2005.

i also added some ikea tea-light lanterns to the fence to light up at night time. it's a little bare on that fence - but looking forward to the birch trees growing big and strong.

2006.

garden is starting to grow up. the big drought started to hit and we lost about 5 birches - so that is why 3 are much bigger than the rest. (heavy water restrictions started to be imposed)

2008.

 winter again - lawn starting to struggle with the water restrictions - but the birches and other plants are slowly coming along (with the help of using recycled water when we can).
the slide on the cubby house actually sits out from that top window (doors) - however mr w. placed it up to mow the lawn - and didn't put it down for the photo!!!

enough of the past - here's what's gone on in the last 12 months - our journey to having a pool!!

2010 - lawn full of weeds (it was a dust bowl - until the rain finally came)

2010 - fence down / digger starts removing the 'lawn'.

2010 - the pool man (Joseph) and his son - marking out the pool area.

2010 - hole dug/storm water pipes rerouted (they weren't on our land plans - doh!/blue metal base in/all ready for the pool

2010 - very big fibreglass pool arrives on large truck - concern that we've picked a pool too big?????

2010 - large crane to lift very big pool over house and into the back yard!!

2010 - careful placement of pool into hole!

2010 - pool is in and filled (wooden braces to hold pool shape while concrete edges dry.)

2010 - concrete all set/new front fence in/pergola area and backyard cleanup begin

2010 - capping stones concreted in place (by the pool man)

2010 - sand over existing pebblecrete concrete/pavers going down (by the paving guy with help from mr w.).

2010 - paving complete/some new outdoor furniture and lanterns (more on that another day)

2011 - soil and new turf going down (by mr w. and mrs c. - with help from the kids now and then) - Molly loves her new grass!!

2011 - pool just about done - yay!!

so the christmas and new year of 2010/2011 was a hoot in our back yard!
(needless to say - we had the coldest summer in many a long year - but thank goodness we put in solar heating to help keep the chills away!!!)

2011 - our pool.

we love love love our new pool - and the backyard looks way prettier too. (and not so much lawn to die when another drought comes along - although we are going to try to fit in some slim line water tanks on the other side of the house to collect the precious rain water to help keep the garden green)

here's what we look out on from our kitchen window, loungeroom and study -

2011 - our lovely pool view.

love love love our new pool!

there is always more to do - a box to cover the filters / an upgrade on the cubby to turn it into the nefotlak arty studio / some cleaning up of the garden around the back where our outdoor table and bbq now sit........but that will have to wait for more time and more money.
those things never change!!!

hope you enjoyed this picture heavy post.
hugz
mrs c. xox