Nindooinbah On a clear day you can stand on the verandah at Nindooinbah and see about 110km (60 miles) over the water and across the valley. Nindooinbah is a local Aboriginal word meaning ‘the place of ashes’. In times gone by the Aborigines used to camp...
Modern Courtyard Landscape designer Ian Barker was given a simple brief by his clients for the courtyard of their modern townhouse: they wanted something easy and something different. Features of the design Corrugated galvanized roofing iron was used on the exterior...
Modern Mexican Villa Two years ago Colin Ashby and Ross Jenkins moved to Mission Beach, in far north Queensland. They purchased a unique 2 acre property, surrounded on all boundaries by rainforest. After major renovations the existing bland house has been transformed...
Colour in House Don visited Cairns to look at a stunning house and garden featuring a mixture of styles and themes. The owners, Rance and Julie Stafford, drew much of their inspiration from the work of Versace. Rance began collecting Mexican homewares, which led to an...
Cut and Fill Don visited a classic Australian housing estate to look at some very serious drainage problems caused by the cut and fill method of construction, which is commonly used these days to build houses on sloping land. What is cut and fill? Cut and fill is when...
Cutting Edge Bathroom Don looked at the very latest in bathroom furniture and accessories at the Taps Design showroom in Darlinghurst, Sydney. He found that modern bathrooms are just as functional as the bathrooms of yesteryear, but they look better and they’re...
Dante Design Ceramic artist Katrina Kenny’s new range of sculptured, decorative giftware was inspired by ancient European and South American ruins. The three-dimensional artworks are available in four different themes: Classic Fragments – Roman face tiles,...
Easy Lay Brick Key Burke’s Backyard viewers Veronica and Anthony Rowley sent us a picture of their new brick letterbox. They laid all the bricks themselves using a product called the Easy Lay Brick Key. This is a plastic device which is placed into the mortar to...
Garthowen – Castle Hill Garden Many young home buyers start off with project homes surrounded by newly landscaped gardens, so Karlene and Peter Dimbrowsky couldn’t believe their luck when they were able to purchase a classic Victorian house complete with...
Glenorie Garden Rolf and Elisabeth’s garden is filled with fun and romance. They lovingly created it over the past twenty-one years, with Rolf clearing the bush, shifting rocks by hand and doing all the planting. Many of the garden features are made by hand,...