The Outside of the House

When we moved into the house we had the most amazing Jacaranda tree’s that grew in our front garden.  They shielded the house from the road view and were just WOW.  BUT.  They were massive and they were a big part of the reason why our normally dark thatch house was SO bloody dark inside.  Our front garden also got hardly any sun at all and was mostly always in a shroud of shadows.

We also had a huge tree on the side of our house which again blocked any light and made the garden and house DARK.

So our first act of “renovation” was to trim the side tree substantially.  To trim the one Jacaranda tree on the far side of our drive way in half and to completely cut the massive Jacaranda in front of our house down.

The change was HUGE and made a huge impact to the level of light we got inside the house immediately.

With the extensions we planned the face of the house was also changed immensely.  Before it looked quite quaint, “cottagey” and slightly old fashioned.

When our architect initially told us about the plans for the extension I didn’t think it would look nice cos I didn’t really understand what he meant about having the thatch hang into the flat roof of the extension but I made a decision to just trust him and go with his recommendations.  He is the professional after all 😉

I love how the front of our house looks now.  I think it’s an awesome blend of modern and quaint and reflects us as a family.  Slightly traditional with a twist of modern mixed in!