It's been a little over two years since we moved into our new apartment in Campbell, so I thought it was time for a bit of a blog update. Over the last 12 months we've spent a lot more of our time in Canberra - and I think our apartment is looking a lot more "lived in" as a result. The winter garden is one of our favourite day time spots in the cooler weather........
And in the last two years I've worked out what plants will survive out here too (they have to be hardy)!
We've finally found a Persian rug for the living room in the colour tones we wanted (and the right size).
A few months back we partnered MinniePwerle with a drawing of Alice in the Outback on the dining room wall - we think we did the right thing!
We have only just got around to finishing off this little room in the last few weeks: Rob's study nook. We started with a beautiful chair - genuine Eames!, cleaned up his clutter of paper and files and added some favourite pics...........
The Coogee sofabed is now doing duty in the third bedroom - its Rob's favourite space for guitar practice.
The second bedroom has even had a spruce up with the addition of Claire's work on the wall...........
I don't think our bedroom is finished yet. But this beautiful old chest of drawers with its original brass handles is a recent addition.
Our bedroom is a nice calm space and our new floor rug has made it more cosy … but I think it needs more art work and ........ a beautiful chair would be nice!
We couldn't be happier living here in Campbell. It's been a good move!
This is what greeted us on our return from Brisbane in mid May (the 18th to be exact).... magnificent Autumn foliage in our front garden!
There's a "grove" of Acer Rubrum "October Glory (maple)" planted in our apartment's north facing parkland (right in front of our unit). We think they were planted about 3 -4 years ago when Hassett Park was being established. They are really looking good this Autumn!
Our apartment's volunteer garden group finally got approval, after a lengthy bureaucratic process involving both local govt. and federal govt. bureaucrats, to establish garden beds in the 2 metre wide piece of parkland that abuts our building. Our small group got cracking this week and got the job finished..... it already looks so much better than the scrappy grass borders established after the builders had finished. It is a huge advantage living in an apartment block with no gardens of its own to look after - but it does make it more complicated when we want to "take over" some of the "public" parkland for our own purposes.
As well as being a great month for Autumn foliage May is the month for some important birthdays too. We helped Wayne celebrate his (delayed) birthday today, at Grazing (in Gundaroo). The restaurant is in the old Royal Hotel (established 1865) so the atmosphere is very cosy, with fireplaces and lovely old timber floors in every room. The menu was very refined and layered with seasonal flavours. However, the very discerning people in our group decided that the wine list did not quite match expectations..
Happy birthday Wayne!
We moved into Saint Germain a year ago on the 3rd June 2017. It means we've lived here long enough to see the progress of all the seasons through our north facing glass walls looking towards Mt Ainslie. This past Autumn would rate as our favourite season so far …..
I took this pic from our window at the beginning of April when the first dusting of Autumn colours on the parkland trees started to emerge.
3 weeks later it looked like this …….
A month ago it looked like this - Autumn colour at its absolute exhilarating peak.
A week ago sunrise was looking like this ……. winter has arrived!
We had friends over this week and used it as an excuse to celebrate Wayne's birthday. Judy made one of her spectacular cakes for him ……...
Reminding us that a year ago Judy made us another spectacular cake to celebrate our move into the apartment ….. Hopefully this can become an annual tradition Judy ??
We've made more progress over the past 6 months making our apartment "home". David has just about completed this beautiful and unique timber storage unit in the living room, which we are really thrilled with ……
And we have made a bit more progress with the winter garden, after spending a year experimenting with the kinds of plants that will tolerate our regular absences OS and in Sydney, and the "glasshouse" conditions (succulents and semi-tropicals are good).
It's a great place to sit in the sun on a Winter's day admiring the views and the birdlife enjoying those parkland trees ……..
We've had the Coogee flat rented for a month now and we're just starting to ease into a more Canberra based life after an intense month of packing cleaning sorting and unpacking (again). We've never regretted any aspect of this move to apartment life despite minor regrets mostly to do with not having our own garden any more. Lucky there is such a beautiful natural environment surrounding us to fulfill our attachment to plants and earth.
We moved into Saint Germain on the 3rd June - which means we've been living here 6 months as of the 3rd December - time for a bit of a recap and reflect!
Our all time favourite feature of our apartment would have to be the view from the wall of glass windows facing north towards Mt Ainslie. In late winter - early Spring it looked like this......
but now in very early summer it looks like this..........
We both like opening the door to our apartment and seeing this view too .................. it feels like home.
We are also happy with the way our old bits and pieces seem to work for us here in their new space .............
And we LOVE our bedroom - still a work in progress and very minimal, but calm and spacious - and this is a great view to wake up to (and always lots of bird sounds).
Still need to hang that beautiful John Forrester-Clack work too!
Our TV set up in the living room was always a work in progress from day 1......
And this is where we are up to so far (see below)... a new "The Frame" TV but still unfinished. We have a friend (furniture maker) working on a cupboard that will go below that shelf to house all the video & audio. Then it will need a rug and..................
But then there is always that view!!! We had a super moon last night on our 6 month anniversary (just for us)........
...... and a military fly past over the War Memorial at the base of Mt Ainslie this morning - never a dull moment!
It's taken our builders a full 6 months to rectify all our building defects (all superficial but a lot of them). We still have one thing left to do on our list but that is booked in for completion with a carpet laying company next week. That was one of the big surprises when we moved in - that there were so many little things still left unfinished. However the builders have been very diligent (if a bit slow) about doing the right thing and we're all looking forward to the end of this phase and we can start to call the building our own.
We'll have to do another recap again in June next year!
The pic below of our apartment block under construction in Campbell was taken on the 16th July
..and here we are today, 4 weeks later, and ... we think it is making beautiful progress!!
It's not hard to convince the girls to come and check progress at C5 with us.
However Abi remains quite resistant to having her photo taken - unlike her big sister who has always been comfortable with having my camera pointed at her........
The girls were trying on their wedding guest outfits during the week but even then despite all the excitement, Abi did not want to co-operate with picture taking!
But I had more luck this afternoon...no sugar was involved...just a few well spaced fart jokes (always guaranteed to get a laugh from a 4 year old!)
It's not hard at all to take a great shot of Ella......
....who is making beautiful progress with her toe touches on the trampoline.
And in the last two years I've worked out what plants will survive out here too (they have to be hardy)!
We've finally found a Persian rug for the living room in the colour tones we wanted (and the right size).
A few months back we partnered MinniePwerle with a drawing of Alice in the Outback on the dining room wall - we think we did the right thing! 
We have only just got around to finishing off this little room in the last few weeks: Rob's study nook. We started with a beautiful chair - genuine Eames!, cleaned up his clutter of paper and files and added some favourite pics...........
The Coogee sofabed is now doing duty in the third bedroom - its Rob's favourite space for guitar practice.
The second bedroom has even had a spruce up with the addition of Claire's work on the wall...........
I don't think our bedroom is finished yet. But this beautiful old chest of drawers with its original brass handles is a recent addition. 
Our bedroom is a nice calm space and our new floor rug has made it more cosy … but I think it needs more art work and ........ a beautiful chair would be nice!
We couldn't be happier living here in Campbell. It's been a good move!
