News – Monica Groop

Get Yourself a Pebble-Bottom Finish Pool

Have you come across a movie scene or photos of landscaping work that had a tropical pool at the back-drop that caught your attention and you wished you could install one? Yes, it happens! The pastoral look perfectly harmonized with the natural surroundings can be quite captivating. But then the thought of the entire affair being an expensive one or the slim chances of your backyard space might lead in delaying your plans. Think again! Rather than making presumptions, you can read the details and figure out the cost.

Pebble Pool Finishes

Pebble finishes are exposed aggregate finishes that give the pools a perfect pastoral or blue lagoon design. There is a huge assortment of textures and color combinations to choose from. Many people are unaware that skilled professionals or pool builders apply pebble finishes by hand, unlike other finishes where machines are used. After the pebble bottom application is completed on the pool, a water and muriatic acid concoction is used to powder wash the finish. The powder wash does the magic by removing all the unwanted concrete from the top layer to expose the beautiful colored pebbles, leaving the pool ravishing.

(more…)

4 Ways To Ensure Your Landscaped Garden’s Pavers Look Good For Longer

One of the most common requests landscaping companies receive when discussing a landscape design with their residential clients is for paving. Whilst the local climate is such that the risks of continuous rain making lawns unsuitable for walking on are minimal, there is still a huge demand for paving stones and slabs to be included in landscaped gardens.

The two main reasons for the demand for paving are the practical use of them for walking safely and comfortably through a garden, and the aesthetic value the paving brings to a landscape design. One important point we must alert you to from the outset is that no matter what type, size, quantity, and design of the paving you have in your garden, there is a need to maintain them so that they retain their appearance for longer.

If this is not done, then the risk is that a combination of them being walked on frequently, plus the heat and sunshine can cause pavers to diminish in terms of their appearance. Thankfully, there are ways you can prevent this from happening such as the four we have outlined below.

Ensure Paving Is Laid Correctly

One of the main causes of pavers losing their appearance, or worse, becoming unsafe, is that they were not laid properly in the first place. The issues created by paving stones not being laid properly include them sinking, loosening, or cracking, all of which have the potential to make them unsafe for those walking on them and to make your paving look less than appealing.

(more…)

Maintenance Guidelines for Colorbond Roofs

All homes need maintenance of some kind to keep their value throughout the years. If you don’t maintain your property you will find that when you want to sell it, the price you had hoped for may not be there. Meanwhile, your home is going to pieces around your ears and a big storm could well bring it crashing down.

The roof is one of the most important parts of the home, but unfortunately it is also one of the most neglected, mainly because getting up on it is beyond many people. They either don’t have the agility any more, or they don’t have the time, or the right equipment. This need not be a problem; there are many professionals out there who can do the job.

The cost of having your roof inspected for damage is much smaller than the cost of replacing the ceilings or the frame that has rotted due to leaks that were not found in time. It is also cheaper than having to replace a roof that suddenly blew off in a storm because the screws holding it on were rusted and no one knew.

Maintenance for Colorbond roofing is not difficult. You simply have to keep sticks and debris such as leaf litter off it and check the screws to make sure they are not rusted. If there is a build up of mould or moss on it, this should be cleaned off after wetting, with a soft bristle brush such as a household broom – not a straw broom, though.

(more…)

Landscaping Trends of 2022

As each year passes, new landscaping trends start popping up across the country. Many homeowners are looking for something unique and aesthetically pleasing that makes them stand out in their neighbourhood.

If the new year on the horizon has you looking at your landscaping options, here are a few of the most exciting ones, picked by Complete Projects WA, to start your 2022 with a bang.

A Wildlife Haven

While landscaping for your own needs will always be a popular trend, 2022 will mark the beginning of a new movement: landscaping for wildlife.

Whether you want to hear birds singing in your trees or enjoy knowing you’re giving wildlife a home, it can be a worthwhile consideration to make.

Ask your local landscaping experts about specific plants to attract wildlife, native trees and bushes for shelter, and shrubs for nectar and seeds. A few minor additions can be all it takes to create a wildlife-friendly backyard.

A Mental Health Retreat

Many studies have looked at nature as something that benefits our mind, body, and spirit. In recent years, there has been more focus on our mental health than ever before.

So, it makes complete sense that 2022 will be the year homeowners start looking at ways to make their gardens and yards more mental health-friendly. Fortunately, there are so many options that can tie in with your current house design.

(more…)

10 Landscaping Tips For Those Who Live In Dry Climates

One thing that anyone who loves gardening, and landscaping, in particular, knows is that the climate they live in, and the prevailing weather can have a huge impact, both positive and negative, upon your activities. Too cold, and your plants are at risk of being attacked by frost. Too wet and they can literally drown. Too hot and dry and they can wither through lack of the life-giving water and moisture they need.

If you’re a expert on landscaping in Australia, it is likely the latter of those three scenarios that you are facing most often. Whilst we Aussies like to boast to those from overseas about our sunny weather and how we love spending much of our life on the beach, having the baking sun and intense heat for most of the year-round, which some states have, is not something that most landscapers will be thankful for.

It means the work and the maintenance you need to do to ensure your flowers, shrubs and grasses remain healthy, is increased enormously. No doubt you have often wondered if there is an easier way to look after the plants which grow within your landscaping designed garden. Whilst we cannot do much about the hot sun and dry days, we do have 10 great tips that should help.

Tip #1 – Do Some Research: If you want to do landscaping in a part of the country where rainfall is minimal then research the sort of plants that are well known to thrive or at least survive well in those hot and dry conditions. You can ask Adelaide Building Supplies on advice for what materials suit dry climates.

(more…)

10 Key Questions You Must Answer When Choosing Glass Balustrading Fences

The use of glass balustrading fences inside and outside properties has increased significantly in recent years. Their appeal is their modern appearance, as well as their practical use, given that they are durable, lasting for many years and can be easily installed by glass company. Glass balustrading fences are also important safety features in certain locations such as around pools and balconies.

If thinking of glass balustrading fences for your home, we hope you have asked yourself and answered some important questions. These questions ensure you make the right choice relating to your glass balustrading fences including who is going to install them. Here are ten of those key questions you must be able to answer before proceeding.

What Locations Around Your Property Do You Want Glass Balustrading Fences?

It should be obvious that before you make any other decision, you must first decide which locations around your property are suitable for glass balustrading fences. If you need some ideas do some research online or call a local glass balustrading company for advice.

(more…)

5 Great Outdoor Lighting Ideas For Your Concrete Swimming Pool

One of the great things about having a concrete pool on your property is that you have an almost unlimited choice of how to design it and the surrounding area. Not only does it add value to your property but the way in which the aesthetics of your property can be enhanced by a concrete pool is incredible.

Landscape Designers tell us an option for enhancing it further is with the use of outdoor lighting, which can turn what might look like a pleasant and attractive pool area during the day, into a stunningly beautiful location at night. To get the wheels turning in your mind in terms of ideas, here are 5 of our favourite options for outdoor lighting for pools.

Underwater Lights

This is one of our favourites as nothing makes a pool more appealing for a swim at night than the lights that are underwater. Not only can they make a pool look stunning, especially if they are coloured lights, but they perform a more practical function in terms of making the pool safer. With the water lit from underneath it is easier to see that someone is in the pool especially if the surrounding light is not particularly bright.

Spotlights

These are great when you want specific features in and around the outside of your property to be highlighted at night. You may have a tree, certain flowers, or it could be some items of the gardening and landscape design or poolside furniture that you want to shine a light on. If you install some adjustable spotlights they can be positioned to shine on the pool when it is being used, and again the use of coloured lighting will enhance the atmosphere.

(more…)

4 Ways You Can Save with a Colorbond Roof

Most people have a budget when it comes to building a home, so are interested in finding out all the ways they can save. Of course, you can save on the materials you build with, but it is not wise to use inferior materials. You want your home to last in good condition for as long as possible, not fall down in the first storm.

If you are looking to save, think about what you can do to your home that will save you money over the long term – the life of the building. This is where a Colorbond roof comes into its own. When you use Colorbond steel sheets for your roof you not only get a sturdy roof that will last for at least 50 years; you get a roof that will cut down on the running costs of the home for that length of time. How?

A Colorbond roof has thermal properties baked into it along with the colours – most of them anyway. This means that it will cost much less to heat and cool in the coming years. You won’t have to endure a home that is freezing or boiling hot, or pay a fortune to have it cooled or heated, no matter what the weather’s doing outside.

Colorbond roofing is also low maintenance so it is not likely to spring a leak like tiles roofs often do once a single tile gets a bit loose. You won’t have to pay for a tiler to come and repair your roof, or find water damage to the ceiling after a storm, that costs an arm and a leg to repair. You won’t have to repaint it – or if you do it will not be for a long time.
(more…)

Does Your Landscape Architecture Firm’s Website Design Have These 7 Essential Features?

Whether you are building a car, a house, or a website, they each have core elements or features which they must have regardless of what they look like or how they function when completed. In the case of building a website for your landscaping architecture firm, the expert web designers will advise you that whether it is the most complex of websites, or the simplest, it must have certain essential features.

The question now is if you feel that your website is not performing in a manner that you believe to be beneficial to your landscaping architecture firm, then is it the case that it is missing one or more of the core features necessary for it to do so? To help you identify what these core features are, and confirm if they are present or not, here is a brief explanation of each of them

All Onsite SEO In Place: If your website is not appearing on the first page of the search engines and there is no sign of its rankings improving then there is something wrong with your SEO. Check that the onsite SEO of a quality website is all in place, 100% accurate, and optimised for all of the keywords that you want to rank for.

Simple Navigation Throughout: A great website will never have a confused visitor, wondering what page they are on, and unsure how they can navigate, either to another page or back to the home page. This is achieved using simple navigation, with the most common being a menu appearing at the top or the side of each page of the website.

(more…)

5 Myths About Composite Decking Debunked

There are many products, including different types of decking, that for some reason seem to attract more than their fair share of myths. In other words, there are misconceptions, some of which are completely ridiculous, as well as misinformation.

To be frank, there are also outright lies, which lead to people being confused about a product, and even deciding against purchasing it, simply because they believed one or more of the myths.

(more…)