Introduce yourself to the community

[Jason]

Welcome to your Workshop. It is great to have you as a member of the community. We encourage you to say hello and introduce yourself.

Please reply to this post and tell us a bit about yourself. Whatever information you feel comfortable sharing is fine.

You might like to tell us about your current D.I.Y. and garden projects, your work, your passions, your hobbies, your dreams, what you struggle with, what you hope to learn from this community, and/or your favourite ice cream flavour.

And for something truly revealing about yourself - tell us what you call a barbecued sausage served on a single piece of bread.

We look forward to your post and getting to know you. Thanks for joining the discussion.

Jason

Community Manager

[Nikkie_P]

Hi all,

My name is Nikkie and I live with my manboy (Kal) and alleged guard dog (more like roll over and pat me) pooch, Coco at Matcham on the Central Coast NSW. We recently brought here after fully renovating in Newtown, Sydney.

we have been power pass members at Bunnings for the past few years and are conneceirs of the weekend sausage sandwich with a standing order of two with no onions...

we have learnt a lot over throughout the Reno at Newtown and have now ventured into making copper lamps, gal and timber tables etc,

we are currently fitting out our retail shop in Erina with our own creations and will add posts to show our progress (failures and all).

i look forward to sharing with you all.

Nikkie P.

[Jason]

Many thanks for introducing yourself @Nikkie_P. It's fantastic to have you as a member of the Workshop community. I'm sure you have a lot of great experience and wisdom you can share from your renovation. Perhaps you'd like to start by posting on today's discussion about how to survive a reno? I hope you also learn a lot from other community members on the site.

Looking forward to seeing more of your posts soon.

Jason

[Nikkie_P]

Thanks Jas, I look forward to it... I am also an expert in bandaid placement, especially on the fingers and am usually sporting at least one at all times.

[Jason]

@Nikkie_P

I currently have a black thumbnail as I squashed it between two bits of timber. It hurt. Looking forward to reading your bandaid placement tips!

Jason

[ctaylor56]

Hi all,

my name is Catherine and I am struggling to deal with the gardening conditions in Canberra after having lived most of my life in Sydney and then Coffs Harbour.

I love the bulbs and fruit trees that grow here, but am taking a long time to learn the pattern of the seasons and the need for supplementary watering.

I am having great success with berries - rasberries, strawberries, thornless blackberries and blueberries are all growing well, and I have just introduced black and red currants and gooseberries to the garden to see how they go next season.

Vegetables I am not yet getting right, but have started building beds in a sunnier part of the yard and have high hopes for Spring 2016 as the beginning of something great.

[Jason]

Hi Catherine (@ctaylor56),

A very warm welcome to Workshop. Many thanks for joining the community and introducing yourself. I am sure you will find plenty of like-minded gardeners here in the community that you can learn from and share ideas with. You might like to start by adding to these popular discussions:

• Autumn vegetable updates please

• What will you be planting in autumn?

Thanks again for joining us. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your posts soon. 

Jason

[poodlefrenzy]

Hi Sue

I copied this pic from the website - not sure how to attach it as a picture so here is the link.  The website shows the different sizes and also lots of different applications.  The tree guard is flat pack and you just fold it around and hold it together with a wooden stake which gets stuck in the ground to hold the guard up. So the plant is in the ground, surrounded by the guard and when the plant is big and strong you can take the stake out and undo the tree guard.

http://www.globallandrepair.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Pioneerguard.jpg

[Andy_Mann]

@diyhack.

With 4 kids, 3 being teenagers, time is your enemy.

If you've got plenty of tools but haven't mastered them, pick a tool that you feel will be the most used, or important, & spend time doing repetition skill building on scrap materials.

It's better/cheaper to mess up on scrap pieces, that valuable material on the final product.

Something to pep you up, is that apprentices in each trade, generally take 4 to 5 years of training, before they become even a rookie tradesperson. ; )

Final thing, don't rush a job, take your time, & be positive. You'll be rewarded by having finished items that you, & others will be proud of.

Good luck mate

John

[Rob5125]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Rob and have been D.I.Y ideas, designing, building over the past 40 years. Not only do I like a challenge but I like to save money like a lot of other people and getting ideas from everybody then doing want I can myself within reason and safety. In other words I won't attempt any electrical when it's to do with the home.

I am a new team member at Bunnings Noosa starting early June.

I've got a lot of before and after photos taken over many years I would like to show over time on this site.

Everything from my new shoe rack from about 2 weeks ago to kitchen makeover, bathroom makeover, concreteing driveway the cheap way, rockpool with waterfalls, many other variety of projects.

My biggest project what I call is my Rollercopter, 12 years in the designing and building in my backyard. It is a cross between a Roller coaster and a helicopter simulator which you sit in on a suspended track controlled by a 24 electric motor and shoots lasers at targets.

I like to share information and ideas.

Jason, a sausage on bread equals protein and carbs for the next project. Every time I go to Bunnings I have one because I know I'll be there a while.

Any ice cream is a favorite.

Cheers

Rob

[Frances]

Hi everyone, my name is Frances.

I live in a unit which is about 25 years old in suburban Brisbane. I bought it about 18 months ago but have been a bit slow to get improvements underway. Here are some of my planned projects:

• interior decorating (nothing exotic, but nice fresh paint throughout)
• low key improvment to bathroom (not planning to attack the tiles with a sledge hammer but may paint them)
• kitchen facelift with new appliances (not diy) but need to decide on the best economical way to improve the bench tops (currently very worn and tired but otherwise undamaged laminex)
• paint garage floor
• remodel laundry (which is at the top of the garage)
• small backyard (currently a gravel and concrete wasteland) in which I want to creat 2 garden rooms. One where the water heater and clothes hang out in which I also want a raised garden bed for veggies; and the other which I want as a relaxation/entertainment area. ? decking, paving, lush plants, water feature.........

These are the main projects but I am finding that ideas generate other ideas. I have a note book and scrap book for each area of the unit and garden and am in the process of noting, pasting and sketching my ideas. The real challenge is to translate the ideas into action. Obviously I will need tradies to do some work but I really want to do as much as I can myself. Apart form saving money I would like the sense of achievement that comes from a job well done using my own resources. I do need some step by step advice for most of my self do-able projects!

That's enough for now.

Cheers,

Frances