Outdoor Fireplace

You may remember that the first thing I bought for this project was the outdoor-heater, well it has now been framed and tiled and is fully functional. It rocks.

the flames



the mantle (left over wharf decking)





the grouting

 


the grout




the tiling



the bluboard



the frame







the tiles



The Structure continues

Another piece of the structure puzzle has been fixed into place

 

Paint the Eaves

Whilst there is still room to move around I paint under the eaves, I had some ceiling paint laying around so used that

before



before



after




after



Frangipani's

As for the 2 feature trees I picked the Frangipani. I hunted high and low for 2 that were taller than 40-60cm which seems to be the standard size they come in.
They take forever to grow and as my pots are a decent size I wanted BIG ones with leaves and flowers but I wasn't willing to pay $250 in freight to get them from QLD down to here.
Eventually I found these 2 lovelies in a local nursey that are just under a metre tall. I hope they will flower this summer, actually I just hope they will stay alive.

Waterproofing beams

Yet another painting job... the exposed side of the structure beams where they were slit in half need to be protected from the sun and to stop rain pooling and rotting the timber, for this I use bitumen rubber. Probably would have been a good idea to do this before some of them were put up. 

Big square pots

Snapped these up for $50 each from a pop up pot sale nearby, which is a quarter of the price I have seen elsewhere and they are big 55cm x 55cm and made from lightweight aerated concrete.

Decisions decisons... what to put in them? Bamboo or birds of paradise or yukkas or draecenas or elephant ears.... it takes me 5 months before I decide - stay tuned

spot the cats new scratching post?

Wharf deck 2nd coating

The Wharfdeck needed it's 2nd coat, the 1st had well and truly sunken in and, after re-reading the Cutek label it says to re-coat within 3mths ooops it's been a bit longer than that. I finally managed to string a few forecasted rain free days together, cleared the deck and brushed on the 2nd coat.

after



during



before with 1 coat



Lighting - Stage 1 cont.

The last of the LED deck lights under the posts get connected and the final board can be screwed down

Industrial Lustre - The New Door

The old door has had it's facelift!

Some of the leftover spotted gum decking has been used for the door trim and varnished with some clear marine varish that I already had, not that it gets wet but I'm trying use up what I already have laying around.

I like trying new paint finishes and I wanted this door to look as metal as a wooden door can look and today I found Porters Paint "Industrial Lustre" it's a metal effect paint and is only available in a handful of dark colours, I chose Base Metal. It's my new favourite paint...self priming, touch dry 20mins, washes up in water and recoat in 2 hours!!



Door filled and sanded, under the old mushroom colour was a blue and then a white. As much as I do like a distressed door this just wasn't working with the rest of the room.





This paint is really thick and has metal filaments in it which sparkle in the light



1st coat



2nd coat



Alien possum visitor

Paint the gutters..again & a new antenna

Now that I can sit on the deck I really dislike the brown gutters, the ones I painted only a year ago. I have some left over Weathershield from eons ago and get to work. I love doing the same job twice (not) but now I am happy as they blend in better with the whole space.

I also hate the antenna, it's old and huge and looms over the space...

And casts weird shadows...

The Antenna Man installed a bright shiny much smaller new one, away on the other side of the roof. Still have to remove the old hockey stick bracket.

Daybed


Now we need something to sit on, on this new deck. I come across this wicker daybed with a matching table but it is gold. I grab a tin of silver paint and go over it, then with some black paint I "age" it and voila now it is silver. The table is too big really for the space so I do away with the glass top and it becomes a planter.  The plant is a Carex Goldy Locks



before

 


before




during



during



after




after