Here's what we did to cover a metal fence that surrounded us. We had an ugly (but brand new) Stratco metal fence that borders the rear house, plus down two sides of the house. Everyday that I looked out onto this metal fence from the kitchen window (with the view of the neighbours over the top of this fence) it became more unappealing, the more we dreamt of a vertical garden instead, but we knew that would take time or a lot of expense, and I couldn't wait that long for that fence view to disappear from view. The solution was some wicker fence cladding, we bought it in 1.8m high by 3 metre rolls from Bunnings (big hardware chain in Australia for those OS) for $30 per roll, it came in a variety of sizes, but we needed that to cover our metal fences. You can do this with a brushwood fence, or to create a barrier from the heat of fence to your plants, you can even clad your fence in what my husband calls "blue-board", it's a thin fibreboard, cheap to buy, in almost any size, it can handle any harsh outdoors, & you can render over it in, paint over or colour the render in any colour you like - a light sand or cream colour will look nicer against any green living vertical garden you choose to put in. My husband made a wooden treated-pine frame around each metal fence panel, and screwed the wicker fence covering to it, with a washer so it held on the uneven twigs that formed the wicker cladding. My husband did such a good job of this, we had a small tornado come through our suburb, winds up to 200km/hr -4 of our closest neighbours lost significant parts of their tiled rooves, but all we lost was one of the stratco metal fence panels, but not the twig fence screwed to the frame my husband made! It helped we were nestled with neighbours in rear & front strata subdivided blocks, houses beside & behind us.. but that wicker twig fence covering & the frame did survive our tornado. Here's what we did on the ground - You can see it a little in the photo's above; as ground cover (with some stone you can get delivered or they often loan you a trailer when you buy a load or 2) we had a couple of cubic metres of ord river stone delivered (mixed sizes) brought it out the back by wheelbarrow, laid it over some weed mat on the ground, creating like a dry river bed effect beside the decked paths down the sides that connect the front and back decks. On the far wall behind the cubby and the slow growing variety of bamboo, we planted several cutting of a friends Ivy that was like a green waterfall over her boundry fence. Within a year, with mains watering (on a timer with misted sprinklers for 5mins once a day that does all our potplants and the side & rear gardens too) we had our own green waterfall, we cut it back when it's long green tendrils start growing along the gound towards the house. A fantastic effect that is very hardy, and cost us nothing! We don't have the wicker fence surround down that side of the house as we don't see the ugly metal fence at all now. In the hottest parts of our summer (up to 46-47C degrees), a few of the ivy's leaves get burnt around the edges, but it's easy just to cut these off. We planted a smaller leaf, much slower growing ivy (on the right in the photos) in the ground on the back fence beside the wicker fence surround, and put up some wire horizontal lines for the ivy to grow along. The 2 bottom photo's are taken 1 year apart so you can see how much it's grown. If you put vines in pots, you will limit (or control) their ability to cover your fence. We cut holes in the weed mat, and planted about 4 native violet ground cover plants. The effect is quite beautiful now, in the heat of summer, the native violet wilts when it's thirsty, but always comes back when it's watered and after summer. We've also put several plants in pots along the fence line to create our garden "oasis" out beside the back deck and down the side (creating garden view from each of the bedroom windows as well as from the kitchen window out the back). We cut some lattice & this blocks out the view of the rear neighbours completely, plus with shadecloth backing on the lattice, it also protects the cafe blinds that surround our back patio from sun damage in summer when they are rolled up in summer. So whatever you plant along the fence, you'll need to create a narrow garden bed in the ground for it to grow well from (we bordered our garden beds along the side fence with narrow 25mm wide limestone blocks or perhaps with railway sleepers or you can buy coated tin garden bed border), most plants or creepers will thrive if they room to spread their roots, even if the fence is hot. There is a small leafed creeper (planted in ground), that sticks to the vertical surface, It has completely covered our stone pillars out the front garden, next to our front gate that looks fantastic - Can't recall what it's called though?? It's taken about 5 years to cover the pillar, but we only planted one (wish we'd bought more now, I've looked but can't find any more of it). We put 3 mid sized chinese jasmin's down the side (behind where the first photo was taken), in narrow in-ground garden beds down the other side of the house. It took a couple of years for these to take off and spread out along the fence line (length of our house), but in the beginning of spring this year they were all in bloom and it created a very fragrant as well as visually appealling cover over and through the wicker fence. The horizontal wire helped so we could wind the jasmin along it as it grew for the best coverage. I wouldn't use those barrels as planters for any vines or creepers, just create a narrow garden bed along the fence line (& beef up the soil quality with sheep or other organic fertilizer,) and even some soil wetter or water crytsals thar will hold the water amongst the roots for up to 3 months, helping any young plants make it out of their infancy so they live and thrive. The water crystals do expand into a gel once they absorb water, so make sure they are well mixed into the soil and buried below the surface around the plants roots for their best effect. The barrels would look better painted, with as mldesign0401 suggested, those strappy leafed plants like the Strelizia's (or birds of paradise), or a tree fern in a shady spot. My hubby also put a variety of herb seedlings into one of those half barrels, put some castors on the bottom of the barrel, as a gift for his Mum, and this way she can move her herb garden about, into the sun as it moves from season to season, in & out of the rain, etc, and she loves it!! Don't forget that a good part of the enjoyment of a garden is watching it grow over time, so beware of mass planting and consider what you plant and how much water and sunlight it gets from season to season. Some of the best advice we had, was have a look at what is thriving around your neighbourhood, ask your friends or neighbours for cuttings, don't be afraid to move plants around if they don't like the first spot you put them in, or if they don't look quite right in that spot. We were also quite ruthless with the plants we bought, chopped several into halves and quarters through the potbound roots (the native violet ground cover, the water-plants, several others), before putting them in the ground, so we spent far less that way. Cutting or chopping through the roots with a knife or shovel, cleanly instead of tearing them apart seems to traumatise the plants far less from my experience. We have an Orange Trumpet vine that does very well here in Perth in WA, but as it can handle WA's heat and still thrive, it might be good idea for someone else out there in Houzz reader land.. ,,although, it does take up a lot of real estate when it's completely covered a fence, it needs room or regular haircuts once established. Looks very impressive in bloom though! We have Wisteria along our front wall, we have trained it along the front boundary fences, it's tendrils of new growth need regular haircuts, but even though it prefers horizontal trellis's or an arbour, over a few years, we have succeeded in taming it onto vertical green fencelines. In spring, when the flowers drape like grapes on a vines, it's just gorgeous, even when it's just the green living walls, it's so much nicer to have living walls and to be surrounded in vertical garden (& that's why for me the fences that usually contain us, transform the space to make us feel different about the spaces that surround or contain us). Using lighting will create a different mood & effect after dark, spot lights or those bollard lights at ground level, and if you lay the wiring (or solar if it gets enough sun) when you're making the garden beds, putting in the plants at the same time, you'll be glad you did later on once everything has started to take off. Or you buy enough fairy lights to do the length of the fence line if you have outside power close by or can hide an extension cord somwhere. I love the sharing ideas and the stories side of this site, I need some help with a structure for shading our front deck by the pool; our West Oz summer sun is scorching- I'm sure the houzz community will have some ideas & photo's that will help us...

Dear all, I am seeking input on what to do about the roof line of our planned extension, which I have posted about before. We are replacing an old 80s extension on our Federation villa, the house is in a historic part of our suburb and we are on a corner block so we need it to look good from the side street (the South). The local council likes to see a clear differentiation between the “old” and the “new” , but have advised that the use of different exterior materials and window styles for example would likely suffice, for example if the roof style is similar. Our building designer ‘s initial drawings connect the two sections of the building per the diagrams using a wide and deep 40 cm boxed gutter only 2m long each side of the joining roof - the joining roof is there to show the building as a long single structure, however it's not required for any structural purpose. We are not sure if we are happy with this look. ( I find rooflines etc hard to picture). An alternative might be having a flattish roofed section of say 1-2 m width connecting the two pitched sections , with parapet walls at either end, giving a clearer distinction between old and new. The areas under the flattish section in the room layout lend themselves to this approach perhaps. A simple extension of the front section roof backwards was rejected because the old villa roof is of the old style “box gutter in a large depression” type and we wouldn’t want to exacerbate that problem. Any thoughts appreciated, thankyou

Hi Bec, I said it was coming, My idea is to open up the kitchen against the back wall with large Island and access to the verandah. This would need a full height wall or one the same height as the cabinets which could allow light in to the hallway and not interfere with the ceiling, I think there's already a wall included with the existing kitchen. Meme suggested using the family room which would save on adding more rooms, this would work really well with full height pocket doors between it and the kitchen, great for theater snaks. If you were to use this space you would have to go to the ceiling on the walkway end of the room as well as between the kitchen and new media room cheers

Those photos are lovely Jeddah and shows just how much work you have already done. The laundry isn't the problem as it will work else where within the house, it's the WC with easy pool access, my thoughts for this would be to built a separate mini pool house (WC, shower change room) at ground level in the area that the rubbish bins are now in, ie: between the house and pool and boundary limit. having a plumber will make this oh so achievable . Can you take further pictures from the side of the house looking at and away from the pool visually showing the space. Or wild card adding the "Mini Pool House" at the other end of the pool, as after leaving this space towels can be hung on the clothes line, just a thought. The Mudroom laundry (old study) I think is a good idea even without changing the door, your cabinetry could be moved as you suggested, across into the new study office, a WC within this space would also be a plus for any client visits, keeping the family bathroom private, keep repeating , I have a plumber in the house!!