My Pride & Joy

The Orchard

Barren ground in September 2006, now my orchard growing more than 50 fruit trees, from plums, grapes, peaches & nectarines, cherries, mango, lycee, longan & guava.


Trees are netted nearer harvest to deter birds from damaging the fruits.



My 2 rectangle vegetable patches - asparagus & tomatoes; silverbeet & rhubarb.

Canopy over mango protects from frost or extreme sun while it's still under 2 yrs.



3 huge Bushmans tanks (22000 litre ea) fill up very quickly when rain comes, thanks to the large roof area of house & shed.

We mainly prefer to use rainwater for house needs. When tanks are really full we use them for the orchard as well.

The Open-air Courtyard

This is where we do most of our entertaining.

The base of the fountain doubles up as a table.





Pebbled tiles all round the courtyard is very useful for tired feet, after a day in the orchard.

The fridge/freezer is handy for functions.

Double garage, with automatic roller door, is used to set up the band for guitarist Graham.

We especially love the courtyard as even when we partied way past midnight, neighbours are not disturbed.

Outdoor Kitchen in Open-air Courtyard

This outdoor kitchen is ideal for a bbq (electric), especially when the boys are watching cricket.

42" TV is wall mounted between the 2 windows.

There's small bar fridge, hot/cold tap as well as tap for filtered rainwater.

3rd Bathroom/Toilet

This bathroom is ideally located at the end of the passage.

Makes easy access for guests when we hold a function in the courtyard.

Music Room

With acoustic bats inserted into the walls and this somewhat soundproof.
Has built-in robes to store guitars.

3rd & 4th Bedrooms

These bedrooms are identical in size and are furnished with leather-bound queen size beds with 2 side tables.

En suite VIP Guest Room

Wheelchair friendly, with wide doorways, it is furnished with 2 king single beds & wall mounted TV. It has a built-in robe, ceiling speakers for piped-in music and an intercom system as well.

Passageway to Office/Bedrooms

To left of this passageway are the office, bedroom 3, small storage room, bedroom 4, and music room (bedroom 5)
Bathroom (longbath)/toilet, at the end of passageway, has built-in linen press.

2 double glazed windows and doorway to the right, overlooking the open-air centre courtyard

Doorway (with built-in venetian blinds) on right at the end of passageway leads out into the double garage. Another linen press/cupboard adjacent to doorway.





This is the office with frosted glass cavity door. Room for 2 filing cabinets (not shown)

Laundry

To the right of the master bedroom is the laundry.

Doorway leads out to the back, onto the orchard.

In addition to bench space seen on right is a floor-to-ceiling cupboard.

LG 10/6 kg washer/dryer (WD 1256RD)

Master Bedroom

Carpeted, this master bedroom is fitted with a king sized bed. Window overlooks the orchard.

Bedroom has ceiling speakers fitted for piped in music as well as downlights for reading.






Walk-in robe with chest of wire drawers to the left and space for luggage bags on bottom right.

32" TV is wall mounted.



Ceiling speakers for piped-in music as well as downlights above spa and toilet

Living/Home Entertainment Area

Living area extends into home entertainment area (see pic below)
False wall/storage space behind TV.

The interior

This is the kitchen/dining area.




Kitchen has:
4 pantry cupboards space (flr to ceiling)
Ample cupboards & chest of drawers
Westinghouse electric double oven (PDN794S)
Westinghouse ceramic cooktop (PHM798U)
Westinghouse rangehood (WRH908IS)
Westinghouse pigeon pair freezer/fridge (WFM3600sa-L/WRM4300SA-R)
Fisher & Paykel twin dishwasherdrawer (DS603(SS))
Dining tables/chairs for 8

At last!!

In May 2008, the building finally completed and we were issued with a Certificate of Occupancy.

More pictures

Home entertainment area, with false wall, being constructed.










View of kitchen, dining and living areas. There will be large double glazed doors on left leading to the open-air courtyard.

Building Continues

Views of centre open-air courtyard.

Building Starts

We spent $15k carting Mallee loam (foundation material) for house and shed. This raised our foundations well above natural surface.

Between 12 and 14 tons of Italian (external) and Brazilian tiling materials arrived.

Construction began in mid-winter 2007. Because we used Zego, Insulated Concrete Forms (for its strength (6 x brick), sound reduction, insulating (10x more than double brick wall) & fire retardant properties), the house was up in no time.

The Chook Penthouse

We decided that we need more than fruits to sustain us. Chicken and eggs would make nice supplement.

Graham designed and build this penthouse for the chooks. Bays make easy egg collection.

The Orchard

Graham build a pergola for the 2 Thompson seedless grapes.

Stonefruits were selected for their best flavours and ripening periods (early/mid/late) to ensure prolonged harvest.
20 peaches/nectarines/plums
3 red/1 white cherries

10 citrus include mandarins, oranges, grapefruit etc.

Nashis (4 multi grafted onto 1) as well as pears and apples

Exortics include mango, longan, guava, lychee, loquat

The Shed

Front view of Shed

The 1st bay is also accessible through a door on the left side of the shed. The toilet/bathroom is also in that enclosure.

The middle (with maintenance pit) and 3rd bay are joined and have workshop benches built.

Planning the move

We put up our house and boat in Fremantle WA for sale.

Graham & Kelvin set about thinking about the kind of shed we needed.

The end result, a huge shed - playground for the boys!



12 m x 7 m colourbond shed with 3 bays plus storage shelves, benches,
maintenance pit with lights, toilet/shower/electric hot water system and even phone & TV jacks.

This later became our temporary accommodation when we worked on our orchard while the house was being built.

The Drawing Board

Having bought the land, Graham & I and our good mates Kelvin & Edie set off on a caravanning holiday.

As I've lived most of my life in high rise apartments, my dream was to live in a huge house with a lovely orchard to provide us fruits and vegetables as well. At last, this dream will become reality soon. We started planning and designing our new environmentally/wheelchair friendly home that would have low maintenance & running costs. This will be a one-off designed house.

We were fortunate to get Graham Keath, a dedicated and knowledgeable local builder, who had experience using insulated concrete forms - Zego (http://www.zego.com.au/). Why Zego? They are known for their strength, sound reduction and thermal insulating qualities (10 x standard double brick house) and also flame retardant qualities.

The house, we decided, would be shaped like a donut, only square.