Don't plant the giant bird of paradise in this small bed. Fantastic plants and have used them at our house. They will grow so big and destroy your paving. I have also used clumping bamboo and my wife hates it due to the mess it makes. Constantly dropping leave etc. Would not plant near a pool for this reason. Another negative comment. Bougainvillea should never be planted in the ground. Lovely flowers but get our of control, dangerous spines and almost impossible to kill. Keep in a pot and keep trimmed. We put Xanadus next to our pool at our holiday house. Perfect size and clean. Consider other ways to hid the fence. Perhaps some type of bamboo screening??

i wonder if there's something buried under all that soil that made it easier to build up the soil level than install the old fence at ground level (check with council and "dial before you dig" about any water pipes, underground cables, septic tanks etc but if the raised soil is only about 60cm above the general ground area it shouldn't cause any problems to remove except lots of hard work and then you have to find somewhere to take the leftover soil and rubbish...a backhoe with driver and skip would be well worth the expense to clear the whole area neatly and quickly but first discuss a new fence with the neighbours as you may need to have a survey done to ensure you know exactly where the boundaries are and the survey should be part of the shared costs of the new fences on their sides...also check the insides of the garage to see if there appear to be any difference between the internal walls on the high soil side and the low soil side...if the soil has just been piled up against the outside of the garage it shouldn't cause any problems to take it away...if in doubt call a structural engineer for advice about the garage

Thanks @siriuskey. We had the same thought, but our builder said the frame style moulding is for interior use only and would perish in 2-5 years in the full sun on the front of the house. Perhaps there is moulding that is suitable for outdoor use... I do like the look. One of our neighbours has done it (blue-grey paint, white window frames) and it looks good. We have done the kitchen window in the back as an experiment; it is undercover and out of the sun though. I like the grey idea, but our neighbour's house is shades of grey (not like the book ;) and we didn't want to be too matchy-matchy. We might have another think about the paint... thank you for your comments. :)

We have been building our house for over two years now. The supply chain downturn has made it a nightmare. We are camping on the mezzanine floor of our warehouse so it isn't costing us to wait, but if I had rented a property while building we would be in trouble now. I purchased most of our plumbing supplies early in the build so at least those items have not gone up in price, but many others have. We ordered and paid for a cantilever pool awning in February this year, and it was sent in three lots. The last delivery was two weeks ago. I suspect the company was having a hard time getting it out of China, so not their fault. We had quotes for fly screens/security screens that totalled over $25,000. We had to forgo the security screens in favour of fly screens for most of the house. We had a quote for a large aluminium mesh panel to place on the front left corner of the house which was over $25,000 also. The fencing company got an order wrong and we ended up with the wrong colour louvre panels on the front driveway sliding gates, plus the wrong colour for a fence. We have managed to turn it into a positive by keeping the wrong coloured louvre blades, and they will now be put up vertically on the front corner of the house, instead of the aluminium mesh. They are six metres long, but the house is two stories, so all good. We had to keep the gate panels the same, so the wrong colour will have to be exchanged for the right colour. People are still building houses here, and some of them are going up very fast, so I don't understand why ours has taken so long. We have purchased most of the goods locally, but I suppose the suppliers are having trouble getting them from overseas. I am at the point where I am losing interest in this house, which is a shame because it will be a beautiful house when finished.