Summerhouse Love

So, my dreams of having a little garden haven were turned into a reality last month, when we acquired a beautiful Chelsea Summerhouse. I made a little mood board for the garden in a previous post (You can see this here)

These summerhouses are beautifully handmade in England, with incredible attention to detail. They are made from Red Cedar, known for it's long-lasting properties. The roof alone has a 40-year guarantee! However, Steve wasn't happy for a couple of days. It took a full day for him and his dad to dismantle, then another full day to get it from it's old home, to ours. But I'm so glad he persevered as it's now in situ and absolutely gorgeous!

It was painted in Farrow & Ball - French Grey, but needed a freshen up. We were undecided on the colour. We thought about painting it the same colour as the shed (White and grey) but I felt it suited the French Grey. Plus it looked so handsome sat up in the top corner, and gives the garden some character. So we stuck with the French Grey.

     

Loads of the hip-ridge tiles broke whilst dismantling the roof sections, so we needed to order 3 packs of these...not cheap. They are from Canada - it turns out not many places in the UK stock red cedar shingles. Anyway, they arrived last week, so they are ready to go on. The replacement ones will go at the back so we don't need to look at the new replacement tiles and there are plenty of trees round the back, so should weather fairly quickly.

This really has been a labour of love for us. It seems a bit backwards working on the garden first, but for us it's important to have somewhere nice to chill during the building work. Since moving into the Bungalow last August we haven't been able to put our stamp on any part of the house as there just isn't any point. So this has been lovely, and we've enjoyed sitting in here a few times now the weather is picking up.

We have disposed of the old shed, and gave away two greenhouses to make way for a new Indian stone patio which we are in the middle of doing at the moment. It has meant that evenings and weekends are spent in the garden, and praying the girls want to play outside where I can keep an eye on them. I feel like certain things are being sacrificed for the sake of getting this done though, lunches are picnic style in the back garden, and dinners are mostly BBQ's and not much effort put into them as we just want to get cracking. I have piles of clean washing waiting to be put away, but lack of wardrobes means they stay as piles. The bathroom is always in use, as there are 4 people using it constantly. None of us have any space away from it all...until now!

We are planning on getting a coffee table for in here, and store all our board games here and turn it into a bit of a family room. We are getting power installed in it soon too, Festoon lights are on my wish list next, for around the outside.

Image credit - Pinterest

I have filled the summerhouse with lovely girly things, but still deciding on prints for the walls. The Jute rug is really soft, but hides muck from shoes really well. The tray table adds a modern flare, and will hold a glass of Gin & Tonic or two. Both are from Very.co.uk

Most of the accessories and soft furnishings are from Matalan (Floral cushion, throw, candle holder, glass trinkets and faux lavender flowers).

The patio will echo the octagonal shape of the summerhouse, and come out in three main sections at the front. Steve has made some lovely decking steps which wrap around nicely, and will hide the ugly bits underneath. It's seated really high up as it's on a large wheel. It spins right round which is nice as you can chase the sun. However, the garden is North West facing, so we will only get sun in front of the summerhouse until around 4-5pm at the moment, but we are hoping by summer, the sun will be higher in the sky for longer and we'll have a little sun trap!

Last week I went to the Harrogate Flower show for some garden inspo, and came home with a few plants to fill up the space either side of the summerhouse, and loads of other ideas for further down the line (when the house is done, as I need to stop spending money now!)

One of the plants I picked up was a lovely Hydrengea called "Love me Kiss".

Once we have the patio down and power to it, we'll be having a BBQ. Looking forward to a few card games and drinking a nice cold Gin & Tonic in there.


We were about half way through laying the patio, when we decided it would be better a bit bigger. The original idea was to do it 4 rows deep, but I think now it'll be 6 rows in total. Plus a border of the stone setts around the edge.

I'd like two deep raised beds made from old sleepers which we  found under the greenhouses and shed. These will be to the left and right of where the path will be leading down to the house.

I'd also like some lights in the borders and raised beds, pointed towards the summerhouse, but we really can't spend anymore money, as the money we spend here is either coming out of the house budget, or from the money we should be saving...

I'll update with pictures of the finished article soon.