I knew the endless discussions were more to do with a reluctance to get started in case it all went "horribly wrong" (- as Himself the pessimist is prone to saying!), but eventually my albeit limited patience ran out, I had a hissy fit, stamped my metaphorical foot and told 'em just to flippin' well get on with it!!! *ahem, coughs in a slightly embarrassed way*
The upshot of my temper tantrum was that Himself suddenly found the ideal solution to the door dilema! He decided to do one trial door first though ......just in case it did all go horribly wrong!
For some reason known only to Himself and Pete, they couldn't have a solid piece of wood and pop a realtively simple tenon joint into it. The frame is one piece of wood, split into two down its length, with complicated joints that I don't even know the names of at relevant places down its length! The two long pieces are then glued back together again.
Very neat!
Happy with the style and fit of the door, Himself went into mass production mode in the garage and I didn't see him for three weeks!
He assured me it was all in the design detail:
Checking for fit.
Very neat!
Himself got to use some of his clamps - happy days!
The basic frame at the end of stage one.
Trying it for fit ...can't be too carefull :)
The basic frame at the end of stage one.
Next came the 'simple' cross pieces.....
Door stage two!
Trying it for fit ...can't be too carefull :)
Happy with the style and fit of the door, Himself went into mass production mode in the garage and I didn't see him for three weeks!
A total of eight doors meant an awful lot of pieces - most of them with complicated joints in.
Seven door kits ready for assembly!
And in the next episode of 'How to build a Tea House in the most complicated way possible', we'll see what Himself can do with polycarbonate panels!
Suggestions on a postcard please! :)
201.10 Addendum.
Himself has finally read one of my blog posts!!! He's asked me to point out that the reason he split the door frames is not because he wanted to make more work for himself (!), but because the frames are very thin for the height of the doors. Wood bends, so by splitting the wood and turning one piece round ( a part of the process I didn't know about as he was locked in the garage at the time!), the tendency of the 2 pieces to bend cancel each other out and the door stays straight ...so there you go! :)
24 comments:
Hi Liz,
Classic! Such a man way, like my parents... Dad takes months if not years to decide which door handles or even which bricks to use on the house!!! Weekend after weekend he dragged mum off to builders merchants to look at bricks. Can you believe it??!!
I would have the same hissy fit, I know what I want and go straight for it. I guess I'm confident enough in my own taste (ha ha), none of this uhming and ahing.
Polycarbonate panels... Let me see... He probably made a life-siz version, perhaps two or three?
I'd love it if he also made a scaled model too.
Liz,
you asked for it and you got it. lol Now that is one skilled man and no doubt he aims to please but only with perfection. Simply amazing. Can't wait to see the finished masterpiece.
Good heavens! The Great Dane is building me a summer house but he's been collecting old French Doors and odd windows, so no one knows what it will look like in the end. I'm thinking about the unifying quality of a coat of paint!
Your Tea House is looking wonderful.
Hi Liz,
that will be a wonderful teahouse! And you are very lucky to have a husband who is able to make such beautiful doors and other things - my father could do that too. My husband writes books, that's fine, too - but now when we are moving we have to pay for a lot of help (though I can do a lot myself - but painting the walls in our new flat in Berlin that are more than 4m high I let do the painters - would faint towering above). So: you are very lucky!!
He knows his onions.
Spot on those joints and I bet everything fits perfectly.
Looks like himself has some nice bits of kit in the garage, De Walt equipment etc. D'you know, I'm tempted to suggest he's built stuff before.
Yep, the kit looks pretty serious. He's taking it seriously. Any man will tell you there's a lot to be said for managed procrastination. When it's ready to be built he'll know that it feels good and is ready to be built - it's the Zen approach to it, which seems very appropriate given that it's a teahouse!!
So gi'oer hissy-fittin', thee; job's reet.
If that's one of the doors then I'm really impressed.
Sure will have great records for Hubby to remember all his hard work.
What a wonderful journal you're creating!! Himself is absolutely amazing in that he is going to do the best job possible (aren't you so fortunate??) Give him a hug and thank him for getting... with it! ;-)
Himself is a gem and should be cloned :)
Could do with some cupboard doors - do you lend him out!
Wow. That does look like a very complicated (but beautiful) design. AM looking forward to the next installment.
You see, for men, it's important to get it right. The planning is the hardest part. On a weekend, I am often found laid on the sofa, beer in hand, football on the telly, whilst I indulge in a spot of planning.
Mrs IG doesn't understand either, but why would she? After all, it's not easy being a man.
Or making doors.
Or making plans.
Hi Liz - I think Himself and your dad would get only really well.....we spent many weekends at builders merchants looking for bricks, then had to have 1000 specially made 'cos our bricks are a funny size and modern bricks wouldn't match or look right!!! :)
I'm more like you, but with a tendency to dive in headlong then go " Ooops"!
Hi Di - Himself does indeed aim for perfection and this has definitely turned into a labour of love! :)
It looks finished from the house - I'll be into real time on the blog soon so you'll be able to see how gorgeous it is!
Hi Pondside - your missmash summer house will look lovely once it's painted and it'll have a character all of its own!:D
Hi Britta -Himself is very practical and thorough. I'm also practical, but more slapdash in my approach - except for the preparation for decorating :)
I know what you mean about working in high places...I help my brother replasterboard a ceiling and we had to work on a scaffold tower as his ceilings were over 4m too!
Hi Rob - you're right, it does all fit perfectly!
Himself hasn't done a major project like this before - he bought all the kit specifically for it, but we are on our second big house renovation project...does that count?!
Ey up Woody. Aye, job's dead reight burra bit ont' slow side fer me .... but am dun wi't hissy fittin!
Hi Patsi - I'm pleased with my blog posts, but Himself never reads them ...he says he doesn't like seeing himself in print and photo!
Hi Shady - I give Himself the hug and told him what you'd said ...he went all red and bashful on me and mumbled about" if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well"!
Hi Joey - Himself is indeed a gem, but i'm not sure about cloning him ...I might lend him out now and again though! :)
Hi GLA - you'll have to wait your turn on cupboard doors. I've been waiting for some for the cupboard in the spare room en suite for a year now! When he's done them I'll send him down to you! ;)
Hi Liz
Indeed it counts, and after the second renovation project, may as well turn professional. Bet your house has been renovated to a high spec!
Hi Monica - thank you! I'll tell Himself what you said :) You're right, it is very complicated -wouldn't be an Andybuild if it wasn't! but it's a real thing of beauty too:)
Hi IG - not easy being a man eh?!!! All that planning - takes ages, I know ...even though I'm with Mrs IG on this one! :)
Hi Rob - I suspect we'd get bored as professional house renovators given the speed we work at! We're a good team - we both do ideas (Andy practical, me creative), I do the demolition, he does the technical and precision middle bits then I do the arty-farty finishing off! Works well and, yep, it's all to a very high spec :D ......but it's taken 8+ years so far on this house and it's not finished yet....!
Love the new picture! Great wellies!!
Ta Woody. I love my wellies!These are my 3 season ones and I've got some fleece lined winter wellies too - warm but plain!
He sure is detail oriented! The door looks so nice. I can't wait to see how they all look on.
Hi Catherine - glad to see you up and about in blogland again. Hope you're feeling better now.
Himself is a stickler for detail, but it's worth it! The tea house is looking fantastic now :)
Wow, that's beautiful. Must be nice to have skills like that to make garden furniture and art.
I love the picture with the Dalek in the sidebar.
What a beautiful tea house you're going to have! I think it will be worth the wait even with all the procrastination. At least when your hubby gets in gear, he really gets in gear! Those are a lot of door panels he churned out and they look first rate too.
I enjoyed reading thru some of your older posts too. Very interested in the "orangery" (which I did not know were called that ~ I would have just thought "greenhouse.") ~ the arched windows in there are fabulous. I hope they get it completely restored ~ it looks like an amazing estate.
Thanks for stopping by my blog too so I could find you as well. I appreciated your kind comment.
Hi MrBT and nice to see you.Thank you - Himself is a skilled perfectionist! :)
The photo with the dalek was from when Last-Born was the Amy Pond look-alike at a 'Dalek Invasion' fundraiser weekend at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovil in Somerset in August. As we were 'dalek minders' for the weekend we got to go in the staff room - strange how quickly you can get used to walking into a room full of daleks...and cybermen (shudder!)
Hi Kathleen and welcome to my blog - I'm so glad you like it! :) The door panels are finished and on the tea house - and look fantastic, just like the rest of the building!
An orangery is different to a greenhouse in that it is MUCH bigger and has much more stone or brickwork holding it up. They were designed for the big houses as somewhere to keep the citrus trees because it's nowhere near warm enough in the UK to grow them outside! Tytesfield's orangery had heating and water supplied into it so that the plants could be cossetted! On nice warm days or when the ladies of the house were around, the citrus trees were taken outside by the gardeners - and several orange trees were outside on the day we visited a different stately home ...very nice they looked too!
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