Green Thumb needed!!

One thing I have inherited with the purchase of Beechgrove is this incredibly whimsical garden.
There is a citrus grove, Custard apple trees, Bananas, Mango trees, Avacado and Macadamia nut trees.
A whole herb garden and a seasonal vegetable garden.
Beautiful flower beds with Hydrangeas, Camellias, Magnolias and Frangipanis....and many more sweet little flower beds and beautiful trees and bushes.
I am in Garden Heaven but I am also a tad overwhelmed.

I have always been in awe of people who have the know how, the natural inclination and knack of 

gardening.  The gorgeous flower and plant life that these incredibly patient, green thumbs are able to coax from the soil always makes me a green with envy...sorry bad pun :)

It has always been a goal of mine to spend time in a garden and make it thrive. 

The best part for me and my ADHD is that all the hard work is done so it's upkeep, maintenance and deciding what to plant next!! 

I want to get the veggie patch ready for planting (as it's in hybernation mode at the moment) with a lot of nasturtiums planted as ground cover to replenish the nutrients in the ground....I know that because the Gardener who actually KNOWS what he is talking about talked me through all the plants and flowers. Everything is being companion planted and NO pesticides are being used!! Yes so excited!

He is going to tutor me in Organic gardening and permaculture and it's my long term goal to have the estate self sufficient with vegetables and fruit soon.

With our weddings my brother is excited at the prospect of offering all organic produce as part of the menus for the Wedding banquets. 

Exciting times....Oh and I am decorating the guest cottage to be so pretty for my married couples and it will also be available for weekend accommodation and some holiday letting.

Here are some little visuals of the gardens.....

Dwarf Banana tree...who knew they even existed?

Lemons

A lovely Frangipani amongst the herbs....I wonder what colour she is?

The Fruit Grove

Anyone got a Ride on Mower?

Herbs

Will be so pretty in Spring!!

The Guest House is the building to the back

I'm loving the blue as the exterior colour think that will definitely stay

Tree house and stone dog?

More mowing......ummmmm

Can see pretty weddings here ;)

Succulents are so pretty 

Ticked off!!

So I had my first home Tick experience today!! It freaked me out a bit I must say. I have always been a bit paranoid about ticks and hate the thought of these things just moving in and feeding off my body like the little toxic vampires that they are!!

Count Dracula Vermin 

So I felt an itch on my leg just above my knee, scratched away and felt a tiny thing that wasn't coming away. I looked closely and it was a tiny tick. I quickly googled tick removal options and pulled that sucker out with my best tweezers!! He promptly got squashed and then I did what I always do and did the google over kill on ticks, tick removal, tick life cycle, tick defence and tick deaths!!

It was only tiny but that scared me more. I now am paranoid I have an infestation crawling around in my hair just waiting for me to sleep so they can feed and poison my bloodstream with their nasty toxins.

Besides the gross factor, paralyses ticks can be very dangerous to animals and humans. 

In 1989 20 people died of paralyses ticks in Australia!! (This I found out after the tick was removed and now has me hyper paranoid)....anyone know where I can get a bee keepers outfit?!?

Before Feeding and After!! YUCKKKKK!!
These guys must wear elastic waist pants! That's a big weight gain!

Aside from the Tick drama I managed to unpack another dozen or so boxes and ruthlessly culled anything I unpacked that I couldn't remember even owning let alone ever packing.

I have to confess I might have a little hoarder bone in me but I'm determined to kill it and simplify everything.

I walked around my gardens again today, neck to ankle tick protection clothing on now.

It is so beautiful in this part of the world and I feel incredibly lucky to have come here to live, I wont let a little bug bug me too much. 

The boys come back from holidays next week. I can see one over protective mummy driving them nuts about protective clothing and shaving of their hair!!

Feeling itchy??

Town & Country Life

What a week!!!

So my life was packed up last weekend and stowed onto two big containers and one medium size truck!!!  Four very big men then drove all my chattels down The Pacific Highway, across the QLD/NSW boarder and up into the Byron Bay Hinterland to my new home in Federal 'Beechgrove'.

I have long loved The Byron Bay Hinterland and usually find any excuse to stay here. So after some changes in my life I decided once my home in the city sold I would look outside the normal options of Brisbane and follow my dream of living in the country.

Once I decided on the destination I opened my lap top and looked on Realestate.com.au and there it was!! The most lovely, genteel cottage with beautiful gardens.

I fell in love with the house as soon as I saw it and decided that going forward in my life I needed to make a lot of changes to my over scheduled, stressed and time poor existence. I also wanted my boys to have a life style change and learn how to play OUTSIDE and build forts and cubbies and just run amok!!

So once I found her .....
I then moved heaven, lawyers, bankers, realestate agents and earth so as to have my dream home!!
There were some hairy moments with settlement and deeds and all things legal and out of the realm of where my attention span resides.

But now I am safely ensconced in my cottage and she is beautiful and I am discovering all her nooks and crannies and little "idiosyncrasies"!! Her name is Beechgrove and I am going to entertain you with all the misadventures I will encounter as I adapt to a slower life pace in the country and then having to do a huge shift when I go into Brisbane or Sydney to work,
As I am still venturing into the city twice a week for clients meetings and product sourcing and my shop is still there, being manned by my very competent staff;  Casey & Dee

I am also going to start decorating in the Byron Bay/Lismore region (also Sydney if you want me) so if you need some help in your home let us know at Lily G.

My view this morning!!

 ON THE HORIZON My brother and his business partner and I are also starting a Wedding destination business here.
He is an amazing chef/caterer and he along with Beck will be doing all the food and logistics and I will style the events.
Go here to see my pinterest page and what I am looking at for Lily G Weddings at Beechgrove Estate.
Our website and whole packages will be available soon....

House of Turquoise

Very lovely to have my home featured today on a blog that I have long admired.

Thank You Erin from House of Turquoise for featuring my Home (and my work)!! So thrilled!

I love my home but it is actually mine now for only one week more!!
I'm on the move and it is an exciting time ahead.
I am moving to a beautiful little town right near Bangalow (in the Byron Shire) called Federal.

I will keep you posted on my new home and all my decorating plans for it.....
It will be a bit more 'Free style' in its decor.


Here are some pictures of my new adventure:-

Ascot Renovation Under Way

Well here I am again happily getting back into my blogging.

I must confess to getting sucked right into the instant gratification of Instagramming and Facebooking.
But I still love Blogging and am going to do more from now on.

We have been very busy the last months and can't believe it is nearly May already. The years seem to be going too fast for me now, I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels that they can't catch their breath.

We have had a lot of changes at Lily G and still many to come.
I believe in evolving as a business and as a Designer and sometimes that means making hard decisions. I also try and go where my heart takes me...sometimes that is half the adventure.
Life is (as we all know) too short for doing something for too long that doesn't feed the soul but
I have been (and am) very fortunate to be in an industry I love and deal with beautiful clients and products daily.
In the next coming months I will be transforming the business to something more family friendly for myself and my two amazing boys.
So stay tuned...

We have had many varied jobs lately and I will be showcasing each one in the coming weeks.
There is so much to fill everyone in on.

At present I am so excited about a Renovation we are doing for a client in Ascot.
It is a beautiful traditional Ascot home on a lovely big block and we are in the selection process stage at the moment.

My client initially came and saw me nearly 2 years ago and retained Lily G to do the Design work back then. It has been a lovely journey so far with her and she is so full of enthusiasm and joy. The home will be absolutlely stunning when it is finished and I am so far she chose me to help make her house a home.

Will be posting plenty of pictures as we progress.

House has been lifted and will be amazing when finished

I think I want a bigger sign!! ha ha

It's all go! go! go! on the house 

The Bathrooms will be amazing!!

Can't wait to bring this home back to life.