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The Scrap Heap, Whangarei (2026)

10/10/2026

Garden Update #5
Operation Chicken-Proof Veggie Garden!

So, as you probably know by now, I'm on a mission to create beautiful, thriving vegetable gardens where I can grow loads of lovely fresh produce.

There's just one small problem…

CHICKENS!

Don't get me wrong, I love my girls, but they seem to think that everything I plant is actually an all-you-can-eat buffet, put there especially for them!

So I did a bit of research into ways to keep chickens away from vegetable gardens, and apparently there are a few plants that chickens aren't particularly fond of.

This got me thinking…

What if I planted a little barrier garden around my veggie plots, filled with plants that might discourage the girls from venturing any further?

Worth a try, right?!

First, I needed something to create the garden borders. Remember that old wooden bench seat that was falling apart? Well, out came the mallet, and I pulled the whole thing apart!

Nothing like a bit of recycling and repurposing!

I used the salvaged timber to map out a narrow garden bed around the outside of my vegetable plot, then it was time for the planting.

My chosen chicken deterrents? Lavender and marigolds!

B helped me bring a wheelbarrow of mulch around from my pile out the front, and I got busy planting and mulching my new little border garden.

Unfortunately, I hadn't bought quite enough plants to do both vegetable gardens, so only Garden #1 got the full treatment.

But actually, that might be a good thing because now we have ourselves a little experiment!

Will the chickens leave the lavender and marigolds alone?

Will they resist the temptation to scratch through all that lovely fresh mulch?

Or will they completely ignore my carefully researched plan and destroy the whole lot?!

Only time will tell!

For now, Garden #1 is looking rather lovely, and I'm feeling pretty pleased with my little creation.

Whether the chickens appreciate my efforts quite as much remains to be seen!

Stay tuned for the results of Operation Chicken-Proof Veggie Garden!

08/10/2026

Bedroom Reno, Part 3!

Well, first things first… I took some before photos! Better late than never, right?

Then came the moment of truth… checking whether that gorgeous green feature wall needed another coat.

IT DIDN'T! YAY!

With that little victory out of the way, I was itching to get started on the rest of the walls!

For the main colour, I've chosen another paint from the Dulux Colours of New Zealand range called Kauri Cliffs Half. It's a lovely subtle, creamy neutral that I've already used in the living room.

My plan is to carry the same neutral colour throughout the house to create a bit of flow, then add pops of colour in different rooms to give each space its own personality.

There was just one small problem…

Apparently, the green feature wall needs 48 hours to cure before I can put masking tape on it.

48 HOURS?! Who has time for that when they're on a renovating roll?!

So, being the patient person that I clearly am NOT, I decided I could at least get started on the bits that didn't need masking.

Out came the roller again, and I managed to get most of the first coat done, leaving a rather interesting half-painted section of wall next to the green.

The first coat hasn't made a particularly dramatic difference, and I'm starting to wonder whether this colour might need 3 coats to get the finish I'm after.

I'm really hoping two will do the trick, but I guess we'll have to wait and see!

In the meantime, I'll just have to practise this thing called patience while I wait to finish those edges.

To be continued…

07/10/2026

Bedroom Reno Part 2

After all that patching, sanding, masking, ceiling painting and my slightly embarrassing “Ohhh… the primer dries clear!” moment, it was finally time for the exciting bit, COLOUR!

I got super brave, masked everything up and nervously started the first coat on the feature wall.

And I really do mean nervously! There’s something slightly terrifying about putting that first roller of a bold colour onto a perfectly blank wall and thinking, Well… I really hope I like this!

First coat went on at about 1pm and, after waiting very impatiently for it to dry, the second coat finally went on at around 7pm.

Then it was a case of staring at it from every possible angle and REALLY hoping two coats were going to be enough because I did not want to get up and do another one in the morning!

But… I LOVE IT!

The colour, if you're curious, is Te Puke from the Dulux Colours of New Zealand range, and it's exactly the warm, earthy green I was hoping for.

This is going to be our spare room, but whenever Abbey is home it'll become her room, so thankfully she gave the colour her seal of approval too!

Now that the feature wall is done, I can finally start seeing the room I had pictured in my head coming together.

And there is still LOTS more to come…

06/10/2026

Meanwhile… there’s been a bedroom reno happening!

I haven't actually told you anything about this project yet, so here’s a little backstory…

This room hasn't been a bedroom for quite a while. It became my craft room/office which, if I'm being completely truthful, was pretty much always a mess!

As you already know, all the craft stuff eventually got boxed up and moved out while I wait for my new craft space, which meant I was left with an empty room and thought… well, I might as well do something with it!

I didn't take too many photos of this first stage because it wasn't particularly exciting, just lots and LOTS of prep work.

First up was filling what felt like a million drawing pin, nail and screw holes in the walls. B removed the old wired-in smoke alarm that hasn't worked the entire time I've lived here, and he also helped me patch up an area of water-damaged ceiling from an old leak that was fixed quite some time ago.

Then came my least favourite job in the entire renovating world… SANDING.

Sand. Patch a bit more. Sand again. Find another hole. Patch that. Sand AGAIN… until eventually everything looked and felt lovely and smooth.

Then came the masking. Tape everywhere, getting all the edges ready and trying to convince myself that all this prep work really would be worth it in the end!

With that finally done, I could actually start painting. First up was the ceiling, which got two fresh coats of paint already making the room feel so much cleaner and brighter.

Then it was time to prime the walls!

Two coats later I was standing there wondering if I was losing the plot because NOTHING LOOKED ANY DIFFERENT.

Then I read the bucket…

“Dries clear.”

Doh!

And that brings you right up to Saturday!

I did give you a sneaky little peek at the feature wall colour in my story… but I'll save that part of the reno for the next post.

Let's just say, things are finally starting to get a LOT more interesting!

06/10/2026

Spring motivation levels are HIGH!

It’s only Tuesday and I’ve already been working hard in the garden after work, not to mention the whole weekend of getting stuff done! 😂

There’s loads to catch you up on, so I’m going to break it into a few posts rather than subject you to one enormous novel!

So… let’s pick up where I left you.

On Saturday I’d pulled out three wheelbarrows full of grass, dumped it all into the chicken coop and let the girls loose on it to scratch around looking for bugs and worms. The plan was to get the cardboard down the next day.

Sunday morning started with a bit of painting in the spare room. It was raining outside, but apparently spring motivation Tracy was NOT going to let a little rain stop her.

So on went the raincoat and gumboots and out I went!

I finally pulled out the last of the grass! There was far too much to fit into the chicken coop this time, so the compost bins got a good feed as well.

I laid cardboard over the section I’d previously cleared, then released my little feathered garden assistants onto the freshly turned soil. They were VERY happy to take over from there, scratching through it and searching for anything tasty I'd uncovered.

And just like that… the grass is GONE!

After talking about getting rid of it for so long, it feels ridiculously satisfying to finally be able to say that.

Of course, there was still plenty more to do… and apparently I wasn't finished with Sunday yet!

To be continued…

04/10/2026

Garden Update… the lawn removal continues!

Yesterday the weather decided to play nicely for a change, so after breakfast I let the chickens out and got stuck into the next stage of my backyard transformation.

Three wheelbarrow loads of grass later, I decided I’d done a pretty decent morning’s work!

As with the last lot, all the grass went straight into the chicken coop. The girls were VERY happy about this arrangement and immediately got to work scratching through it, looking for bugs and worms.

I had a family engagement in the afternoon, so I left them to it with the plan of getting back out there today to lay cardboard over the newly cleared area.

Well… Mother Nature had other ideas.

It has rained pretty much all day and, rather than brave the wet, the garden could wait.

So instead I moved indoors and did some painting…

But that's another day's story!

And if you're wondering about the photo of the chickens lounging around in the dirt… they've created their very own dust-bath area! I've now put a border around it and, naturally, I've been doing some research into what I can add to turn it into a premium chicken day spa.

But that's a whole other post!

The lawn is slowly disappearing, the chickens are thoroughly enjoying the renovations, and my little suburban farm is getting another step closer.

30/09/2026

From the Archives....

25th August 2008
Weekend Of Challenges
I spend the weekend doing online challenges, one for Scrapbookers Challenge - buttons and bows
and one for Fiskateer Legend Stephenies Blog Challenge

Today - 2026
I have picked up scrapbooking again recently, not 12x12 layouts anymore but still scrapbooking! Keep an eye out for the new stuff soon!
Boy has my style changed since 2008!

29/09/2026

A couple of weekends ago, I finally started saying goodbye to the lawn!

I’d collected a huge pile of cardboard from Scouts, so I decided I’d pull up as much grass as I had cardboard to cover.

Turns out I also had a very enthusiastic little clean-up crew following along behind me… the chickens! They thought this whole lawn-removal idea was fantastic. As I disturbed all the bugs and worms, they happily followed along behind me picking through everything.

And because I’m trying to make use of what I already have and waste as little as possible, all the grass I pulled up went straight into the chicken coop.

Since then, things have slowly been taking shape.

I’ve rather badly fashioned two vegetable plots using some old railway sleepers left over from one of B’s jobs. They may not be perfectly straight or Pinterest-worthy, but they exist, so I’m calling that a win!

Mum and my Aunt came over and helped me tackle the banana plants, so all the banana leaves we cut off have gone into the bottom of the new vegetable beds. They also got roped into pulling up some grass while they were here because apparently nobody visits my house anymore without being given a job!

Once that section was cleared, down went more cardboard.

Meanwhile, B has become my official cardboard supplier, arriving home with more every other day. I've been out there a couple more times since, pulling up another section of lawn and covering it as I go.

Yesterday, another cardboard delivery arrived, and I’m pretty sure I finally have enough to tackle the rest of the lawn!

So that's the next mission, get the last of the grass up, cover the whole lot with cardboard and then...

MULCH! Lots and lots of mulch!

It’s still very much in the “trust the process because it currently looks like a construction site” stage, but I can finally start to see my little suburban farm taking shape.

And I am absolutely loving ii!

Next update: hopefully, a lawn-free backyard!

28/09/2026

The Before… Backyard Edition!

In the 15 years I’ve lived in this house, my backyard has changed a lot! I’ve moved things, planted things, pulled things out, changed my mind and probably gone around in circles more than once.

But one thing has always stayed the same, I’ve wanted my backyard to be useful as well as beautiful, with as much of what I grow as possible being edible.

After years of messing around, researching, watching many, many reels, following lots of like-minded people and saving far too many ideas on Pinterest… I think I finally know what I want to do!

And I’ve come to one very important conclusion…

Lawn is annoying to maintain. Gardens are fun!

So the lawn is going. ALL of it!

My plan is to turn the whole backyard into a productive little suburban farm, working around the edible plants and fruit trees that are already well established.

At the moment I have limes, blackberries, boysenberries, raspberries, mint, tamarillo, apple, mandarin, banana, parsley, grapes, guava, kawakawa and feijoa growing out there — so I’ve been researching companion plants that will work alongside what I already have.

I also really want to encourage more bees and other pollinators into the garden, so there will be lots of flowers mixed amongst all the edible plants.

The plan includes two big vegetable gardens, pathways winding through the planting, and the big outdoor table is definitely staying. I love the idea of eventually sitting out there having dinner surrounded by a garden we've grown ourselves.

Then there’s the rather messy concrete pad… That’s eventually going to become a proper BBQ area, so that’s another project on the list!

I have a pretty clear picture in my head of what I want it all to become now. Whether it turns out exactly like that remains to be seen! But I’m looking forward to sharing the process, the successes, the mistakes and all the "why did I start this?!” moments in between.

So here it is… the BEFORE.

Now I suppose I’d better get back to ripping up that lawn!

08/05/2026

9th November 2008

My Achievements!!
Here is what I have completed over the last two days ...

Two cards ... A Thankyou and a Baby Shower card and an Exploding Box, I have made the pages months up to 12mths plus some extra things like First Tooth, Lock of Hair etc, I'm quite stoked with how it turned out! I'm hoping that these couple of projects have given me enough inspiration to get out of my Scrappers Block, we shall see tomorrow when I attemp some more!!!

The Scrap Heap

10/10/2026

08/10/2026

07/10/2026

06/10/2026

06/10/2026

04/10/2026

30/09/2026

29/09/2026

28/09/2026

08/05/2026

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