Our spaces came to the rescue during Covid19. I would never say “stuck” at home. Stuck only because of international rules, local restrictions, and new safety protocols. It’s been stressful on the work and school front because suddenly our lives have stopped, uncertainty is everywhere and close to us, and limbo is real. It’s been a terrible time everywhere, and worse in high density areas.

Coming back from overseas, we transitioned from a tightly locked down city and a 22nd floor apartment, to our home Sydney House. It was a discombobulating feeling, not least because we had this incredible nature to keep us sane, while juggling the state of the world in our minds.

This space has nurtured us, allowed the kids to adjust, taken care of our minds, helped us get sunshine and space, work out in the garden, and spend time together in between video calls, meetings and trying to juggle it all.

There’s a space and place for everything and everyone.

Visitors and Sydney House readers will notice we no longer have our gravel driveway exactly as it had been originally, and which I wrote about in my post about The Glasshouse “doorbell”.

So much ruminating on this finally led to a decision. After our renovation, our driveway had been hammered by the movement of trucks flattening it. It was not looking good.

Topping up itself would not have fixed it…the whole thing needed revitalisation and rethinking. As much as we loved it, for architectural reasons, it tracked dust into the house and scratches with gravel stuck in shoes… and at the same time, our Iron Bark and Eucalyptus trees need good water supply through the drainage offered by gravel.

We took to researching the options. Concrete or asphalt are out of the question, they would seal the drive but prevent water from reaching our trees. These options might even provide a runway of water into the house in heavy rain.. which is not a good idea!

We came across pavers which are made to be absorbent and allow water to pass through. Our arborist loved it. Adbri is a fantastic Australian product and we chose the Trihex for drainage as it is laid with gravel between the joins, to let water in and gently feed the trees while letting water drain neatly and safely.