Category Archives: House

Plant update

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My Queen Anthurium has pushed out a new leaf and it’s beautiful!

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In love with my Watermelon Peperomia. Not only because the leaves look like watermelons, but they sparkle in the sun!

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Japanese Rice Fish Patio Pond

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75mm wide x 40mm deep fibreglass pot from Bunnings (holds 176L which is massive!). Came with a drainage hole unfortunately so I had to make it watertight with some 2 part epoxy.

I often think about setting up another aquarium, but then I think about the maintenance (cleaning algae off the glass daily and weekly water changes) and all the livestock I’ve killed over the years. These thoughts have usually been enough to keep my want for another aquarium at bay, but I’m super into growing plants right now and I’ve spent some time looking into terrariums, which then led to looking at paludariums as well as ponds.

Since I’m starting to work on setting up my rooftop I started looking into ponds a little more. Whilst I’m still put off by having to do weekly water changes I stumbled upon Japanese Rice Fish (Medaka) and how many Japanese keep them outdoors in small ceramic pots without filters or heaters all year round (with no water changes!).

The more research I did the more I’ve found that these little fish are perhaps the hardiest fish out there (and I think they’re beautiful!). They’re found in rice fields, and have been kept by the Japanese since the 17th century. They can tolerate temperatures form as low as 3 °C to as high as 42 °C (nuts!) and pH levels from 6.5 through to 8.0 (basically they can live in fresh or salt water, again… nuts!).

A low-tech pond sounds like a really fun project so I dropped in to Bunnings this morning and picked up a huge plant pot and some epoxy to fill up the drainage hole. I’ve made an online order for some pond plants and some rice fish too. I’m excited!

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Made Of Tomorrow FOLD Arch Planter Box

made-of-tomorrow-FOLD-Arch-Planter-Box
Love at first sight!

When I was looking for planter boxes I came across this one designed and made by New Zealand based company Made Of Tomorrow. I had to have it! They make and sell a whole lot of other stuff I’d absolutely love to buy too. Visit: https://www.madeoftomorrow.com

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Sunset

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Amazing sunset last night in Rosebery.

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Framed

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Dropped in to IKEA to grab some Ribba picture frames (they were on sale!). I swear, they’re so good for the money. $10?! You literally couldn’t make a frame any cheaper!

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Welcome to the jungle

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hope

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Plants I got from AJ at Growing Grounds: Peperomia Hope, Peperomia Parallel, Peperomia Xiang Cao, Pilea Peperomioides, Calathea Sanderiana.

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IKEA Rudsta Greenhouse Project

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Just an update shot!

Everything is growing bonkers in there. Every single plant has been pushing out new leaves. It’s getting hard to try and stop them from touching each other!

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Translucent Roller Blinds

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I had Wonderful BFS over again today to install translucent roller blinds for all rooms of the apartment.

The apartment faces west, so I get the harsh afternoon sun full blast. It gets so hot in here that I can’t walk on the floorboards. I’ve legit had to use the air conditioning daily (I’m currently looking for some fans as I’d prefer not to use air conditioning), closing the blockout blinds was an option, but I’d prefer to still let natural light in so these translucent blinds were a no brainer.

I had them in Maroubra, but never used them (I always just had the full block-out blinds down at all times and only rolled them up for shoots). Funny how now that I’m in a better place (mentally). I MUCH prefer the blinds to be up!

It’s 5.30PM now. Damien (the installer) has been at it since 2PM. What was meant to be a pretty straight forward job has been a nightmare for him as he’s had to drill through steel beams as well as concrete to get the blinds installed (poor guy has been huffing and puffing all day!). I’m really happy with the blinds though, they look amazing and they block out so much heat (yet still let a decent amount of light through!). I doubt I’ll be using the full block-out blinds much anymore, but it’s good that I still have the option as they’re still installed (IE: double blinds on all sliding doors).

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Thoughts on Apartment vs House living

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All black erythang!

It’s been over a month since I’ve moved in to the new apartment. Thought I’d jot down some thoughts in relation to Maroubra vs. Rosebery, House vs Apartment.

Things about Maroubra that I miss:
– Being able to play music and my guitar VERY loud!
– The MUCH cooler and fresher air (it’s really hot and dry in Rosebery!).
– Heated towel rails (they’re just SO good!).
– Zip tap (well it wasn’t working anymore in Maroubra, but I still miss having instant boiling water to make my morning coffee).
– A kitchen island that I can eat at (even though I ate on the floor at the coffee table). The new apartment’s kitchen bench doesn’t have room for my knees).
– Safe and easy mail deliveries (getting parcels to an apartment feels sketchy, especially if they leave the parcel next to the lift on floor 1).

Things I don’t miss about Maroubra:
– Being in the middle of nowhere and having to Uber Eats a lot (I just walk out and eat now, so many cafes and supermarket is a block away).
– The damp (lots of mould) and the salty air rusting everything I own.
– House was just way too big to keep clean.
– Having to remember garbage days (new apartment has a garbage chute on my floor, and a massive garbage area in the carpark where I can throw away oversized items (all year round council clean-up basically!).

All in all I’m loving the apartment. It’s much smaller, thus a lot easier to keep clean. Having lots of smaller rooms means I’m using each of the rooms fo different things (whereas I had everything in the main room at Maroubra and never walked in to the other spare rooms). There’s heaps of awesome food in the area and the woolies is a block away (no more delivery needed!). Rosebery is so central too (I’ve been doing weekly trips to the Bunnings in Alexandria and IKEA at Tempe!).

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Better Beer

betterbeer
Love this beer.

Love the Yamazaki silcone coasters just as much!

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