Global Gardening

It is often said that Sydney landscapers have a bag of tricks when creating landscape designs for smaller gardens, and whilst we accept that what they can achieve is wonderous, it is more down to their skills and experience than any hocus pocus or magic wands.

The skills and experience we talk of come from not just their early days’ training but often through years of designing landscaping for gardens and public areas of all sizes and shapes, as well as fulfilling the wishes of their clients. As a result, they will have followed several core landscape design principles on each garden’s design, and if you carry on reading, we will highlight seven of these used when landscaping smaller areas into a functional and stylish garden.

Larger Plant Beds

When amateurs try to design a garden, if it is a small one, they will try to make the plant beds as small as possible. However, although it might seem counter-intuitive, it follows proven landscape design principles if you make the plant beds larger. This can be done by extending fully to the outer walls and other boundaries, making the garden seem bigger.

Upscaling

This is the first of two opposite approaches; however, the great news is that both work in smaller garden designs. Upscaling means increasing the scale of as many features within the garden as possible, giving the sense that the garden is larger than it is. Examples include using wide decking boards instead of thin ones, large concrete pavers instead of bricks for patios and walkways, and wide fencing panels.

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After spending time and money renovating the inside of your property, you might have reached the stage of making sure your home’s exterior matches the beauty of the interior. But rather than dig some dirt and add a few random plants, why not go for something entirely out of the box in landscape design?

If you need a few ideas, you may see the value in looking at some of the most astounding landscaping trends, such as these below.

Social Designs

Homeowners often want to spend less time gardening and more time with their loved ones. You may not think you can do both, but it’s achievable with a few clever landscape design elements.

Essentially, people are starting to extend their indoors into the outdoors, with pergolas, gazebos, and other covered areas that allow people to be outside but with inside comforts. Some people are even going the extra mile with outdoor kitchens, outdoor heating, and even soft furnishings like rugs and throw pillows.

You may be surprised at how easy it is to plan a social landscape design, as well. You could rely on landscaping experts for help, or you could start with one element and build from it. For example, a fire pit, barbecue, or even a spa pool might be your focal point, and you can create your outdoor social space around those things.

Eco-Conscious Yards

Hardscapes are a preference for many people due to how low maintenance they are. However, an eco-conscious garden can be just as easy-care, but in a different way. These gardens tend to look slightly wild, with a wide variety of native plants, bushes, shrubs, and trees with no sense of order or organization. The wilder, the better.

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If you have decided to hire a custom cabinet maker to handle some home renovations, there’s a lot to think about.

You not only have to choose the one you think will satisfy your requirements, but you also have to work with them to come up with the perfect cabinetry for your home. If you are struggling with this process, it may help to ask them some of the following questions.

1. What materials will you be using to make my cabinetry?

This is probably one of the most important questions to ask a kitchen cabinets maker or professional specialist who will be crafting your kitchen, bathroom, or laundry cabinetry. You want the best materials money can buy so that you can ensure its longevity.

Their answer should be solid wood core plywood for any boxes being made for the cabinetry and solid hardwood for face frames. If they use particleboard or recommend it, you may find that this material does not last as long – even if it works out cheaper.

2. How do you assemble the cabinetry?

If you’ve ever purchased a cheap set of drawers, then you will be familiar with the frustrations of sagging bottoms and broken edges. Surprisingly, alongside the material quality, the construction of those materials plays a part in whether or not this happens.

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Due to our hot climate and long summers, swimming pools are popular throughout Australia. However, there are a few rules and regulations that you have to be aware of when it comes to pools, especially with respect to pool fencing. Australian pools must be enclosed by a fence that meets a range of technical specifications.

When it comes to securing your pool in accordance with your local laws, glass pool fencing is a great choice. It looks good, is strong and durable and is easy to maintain. Glass fencing comes in a few different styles, which we will look at towards the end of this article.

But first, let’s have a closer look at the regulations you have to follow when securing a swimming pool in Australia:

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When considering which type of floor system you wish to use for garages, retail outlets, warehouses, offices, or industrial facilities, an epoxy floor coating is often the choice which is made. Its advantages include durability, resistance to damage, ease of cleaning, and increasingly, the ever-increasing options in terms of its visual appeal, mean it ticks lots of boxes for those choosing a new floor.

Obviously, the choice of epoxy floor coating will be for its benefits, but what many people do not realise is that there actually several types of epoxy floor coating. Rather than ‘one type suits all’, depending on what environment or location it is going to be laid, there are epoxy floor types that are more suitable than others.

Epoxy floor is. It is made from mixing two chemicals, one of which is a resin and the other is a hardener. When they are combined and applied to the floor, the coating which forms is strongly bonded, which enhances its durability. Its ability to adhere to the concrete floor underneath is also an important trait of epoxy floor coatings.

Although some brands might have their own names for specific epoxy floor coatings, we will stick with their generic names, and explain briefly where they are most suitable for use.

Quartz-Filled Epoxy Floors

As the name suggests this type of epoxy flooring sees the epoxy resin combined with quartz grains which are usually stained. When laid, this produces an extremely decorative floor as well as one which is non-slip. For these reasons, you will find quartz-filled epoxy floors in showrooms, hotel lobbies, reception areas, restaurants, and schools.

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There can come a point that despite your caring for your carpets, and even using a professional carpet cleaning company, such as www.brilliancecarpetcleaningperth.com.au, that a carpet develops a worn area which is visible. There are several ways you could deal with this, with the most extreme of them being to buy a completely new carpet for the whole room.

Rather than go to that extent, a more budget friendly option, is to use a small patch to cover and repair the damaged area. Here is our guide to how that can be done.

The first step is to establish exactly what the nature of the damage is with regards to its size. and whether a patch is going to be suitable for making the repair.

We must mention that this method of patching a carpet only really works for smaller areas. This means if the area is greater than one square foot, then unfortunately it might not be possible to fix it using a patch and might need to consider a completely new carpet.

If the damaged area is small enough, you now need to source a piece of carpet that can provide you with a patch that is going to match the carpet being repaired. It is here that you keeping remnants and off-cuts of the carpet, back when it was fitted will prove to be extremely wise.

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If you have been living with your parents, family, or been a lodger in a friend’s apartment, but are now in a position to move into a new home or apartment of your own, there are plenty of items you are going to need for it. You may have a lot of belongings and even some furniture where you are now, and if you want that moved safely to your new home, we suggest you hire professional removalists to help you do so.

Even if you already have belongings you wish to take, you still want to make sure that you have all the essentials for your new home. For this reason, we have created a list of  7 must haves for you to work through to ensure you have each one.

#1: Bedding

We say bedding rather than a bed, as we presume you have already arranged for a bed to be delivered, but if not, here is your reminder. Otherwise, your basic bedding will include a mattress, a duvet or blankets, bed sheets, pillows, and pillowcases.

#2: Cups, Plates, Bowls, and Cutlery

Another essential will be the dishes that you eat your meals from and the cups and mugs for hot drinks such as teas and coffee, and glasses for cold drinks, and your favourite alcoholic beverages. Other items in this category will include mixing jugs, casserole dishes and fruit bowls.

Obviously, if you are going to eat you will need cutlery too with the basics being knives, spoons, and forks,. You will want other utensils as well with everything from potato peelers to carving knives depending on what you plan to use and how likely you are to use them.

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Spending a bit of time and money designing your backyard before you start creating it is the key to effective landscaping. Although landscape design can be difficult for people without a design background, it’s certainly possible. However, if you’re including things like pool fencing in your landscape design then you should probably speak to an expert who knows what sort of legal requirements exist when it comes to pool fences.

Glass pool fencing has become increasingly popular over the past decade or so, as it has developed a reputation as a modern, stylish building material. Through the rest of this article we’re going to look at a few of the things that make glass fencing such an attractive option. These include:

Glass Is Simple

Minimalism and simplicity have become popular through recent times, and glass pool fencing is certainly minimalistic. Semi-frameless glass fencing can be built  with some sort of styled or ornate posts and fittings, but fully frameless glass fences are made of simple glass panels that are fixed to the ground.

The simplicity of glass makes it an attractive option for people who don’t want their pool fence to detract from other, more attractive elements of their landscape design. It also increases visibility through your yard, allowing key design elements to be more obvious and to stand out more to the average person.

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We are fortunate here in most parts of Australia, excluding the Australian Alps, to miss out on severe wintry weather. As a result, most people’s lawns and gardens don’t need too much of a spruce up once spring knocks on the door.

However, with enough rainfall and cold weather, lawn care should still be at the forefront of your mind. There is work to be done to ensure your gardens and grass will be in tip-top shape for the impending summery conditions ahead. But, do you know what that “work” is? Read on to learn the few things you need to do, or get someone else to do this spring.

1. Test Your Soil

Spring offers the opportunity for homeowners to get on top of their lawn care, and soil testing is an excellent place to start. You can buy an affordable pH testing kit, or hire someone to test it, then know what your lawn needs to keep it at its best.

If your soil results come in with a pH level of 6.5, then you’re in luck – that’s the best you can hope to get. If, however, it’s higher, then you might need sulphate of ammonia to bring it back a little. If it’s too low, then lime and dolomite lime in an equal ratio, plus magnesium and calcium, could prove beneficial.

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When the holiday season approaches, there are many things to organise. You have to put your pets into care, divert your mail or get someone to collect it, and make your house as secure as possible. With all that to think about, you’ll be unlikely to consider your garden pots until the last minute. In reality, they should be up there in terms of importance with your pets!

Many plants require frequent, ongoing care. If you’re away for a week or two at a time, there’s every chance you can come home to garden pots with no signs of life. To avoid this from happening – or to at least reduce the risk – read on.

Soil

The first thing to consider is the soil. Before you leave, add potting mix to your garden pot that contains moisture-retaining polymers. Otherwise, add those polymers to the soil already in your garden pots. These polymers will give your plants additional water when they need it.

Weather Conditions

If you want to give your plants the best chance of survival, change their living setup. Move your garden pots out of direct sunlight and keep the house cool. It may also help if you put your garden pots close to each other so they can share shade and moisture.

Shelter

If you know you’ve got some sensitive plants that may not make it, then do everything in your power to keep them alive. Put them inside makeshift shelters you can make from plastic rubbish bags. Put them over each plant with holes in them for oxygen, and use stakes in the soil to stop the bags from touching your plants.

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