Saturday 25 February 2012

If I Could Turn Back Time!

.....we'd go back to the work we did last summer, I'd write the appropriate post immediately (yeah, like that is SO going to happen!) and I wouldn't have to spend hours trawling through badly labelled photos to find the ones I want....but anyway, I digress!

Posts on progress on the tea house have been sadly lacking this year as I've got sidetracked onto other things again lately just for a change! But Bilbo Waggins at The View From Bag End has recently reminded me of my promise to do a post about the finishing off of last summer's pond extension, so I thought I'd better get on with it otherwise she'll have finished building her megapond before I've finished telling you about ours!(Go and have a read of her blog - it's great...she cracks me up!)

If you want to remind yourself what we got up to and how Himself did the edges of the pond extension, you can read about it here. I really do want to show you the finished pond, but I thought I ought to show you how Himself and the Wonderful Pete completed the tea house veranda first or it'll all be out of sorts and in the wrong order!

Himself carefully measured and cut all the supporting rails.

then he concreted in the two hand rail newel posts

before biscuit-jointing all the 45* angled joints and putting metal hangers on all the ordinary joints.

The first corner support in place

I insisted on a bit of arty-fartiness and decreed that the pebbles had to go under the veranda in front of the door so that if anyone looked down it would appear that the courtyard continued on under the veranda. Himself thought I'd lost the plot with that one, but I was right! :)

The decking was put in place for testing the spacings between the boards and then marked up for cutting - a precision job

...with magnificent results!

Fixing the supports on the side over the pond proved 'interesting'

but do-able

The long lengths were then spaced, marked, cut and fastened down

The end result was superb - as I think you'll agree!

The Wonderful Pete cleared and levelled the courtyard, then laid the step

and we all celebrated a quite momentous occasion with a glass or several of champagne on the veranda in the light of the setting sun - a happy day!

Finishing the veranda decking felt like a huge achievement and a great leap forward......it really did feel like we would actually get the tea house finished - a bit like some of my posts really then?!

32 comments:

BilboWaggins said...

Hi Liz, thank you for sharing more pictures of the amazing Tea House. Am more than a little embarrassed at your enthusiasm over my blog :} It's not really very funny, actually, it's not funny at all. It's mud, hard work and more mud. Pretty boring really :}

What is far more interesting is the breathtaking precision with which the Reincarnated Inventor works and I am Deeply Envious. When you come to visit do you think anyone would notice if I kidnapped him for a couple of years?

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

Himself did a very nice job as usual! I bet it was exciting to see it all finished, it looks great!

becky3086 said...

I am not sure what a tea house is but I think it is lovely!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Jayne - don't be embarrassed about your blog, it is a great, interesting read and it is funny! The way you write is just how I imagine you speak, so it's the unintentional humour in how you describe what you do (and the mud and hard work!) that makes me laugh!.....that and the fact that I do things in a very similar way and I recognise me in so much of what you get up to :D

Nutty Gnome said...

Ooops, pressed the wrong button again! Meant to add that Precision and Over-Engineering are Himself's middle names! You can't have him for a couple of years, but you can borrow him for an afternoon in,say, May!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Catherine, the tea house really is a thing of beauty - just wait until you see the next bits!
Getting the veranda floor down was a huge milestone (and the champagne was a lovely celebration of that!), but making the rails and finishing off the insides and the courtyard pulled everything together.
The next post will be about finishing off the pond, then I'll be doing one on the final, final finishing off work...so watch this space! :)

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Becky,and thank you - I'm glad you like it. Have a look at this link - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_house
it'll tell you a little bit about tea houses. There's lots of stuff online as well but, basically, it's a small room where a tea ceremony takes place.Mine is 3mx4m in total and is actually used as my treatment room to give reiki and reflexology treatments and do individual tai chi lessons...although we have drunk some tea in there as well! @)

Sue Garrett said...

We are adding a summer house next to our pond this year but hopefully life will be easier for us as we are buying one complete with installation - lazy of what?

Gordon Mason said...

It looks just as good in the snow as it did in real life!

Jean Campbell said...

What a marvelous building, the tea house. Your progress is encouraging. Spring is coming.

Britta said...

Dear Nutty Gnome,
what a marvellous tea house it has become - congratulations! To have someone who is able to create such things is a big blessing - so you can get it really as you want it. I see you sitting in or in front of your tea-house, and enjoy it!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Sue. Given how long it's taken us to complete this one I can well see the attraction of buying one and having someone else install it! :)

Nutty Gnome said...

Ey up Woody - you're always welcome to do a revisit! :)

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi NellJean and welcome to the blog. Thank you for your lovely comments too. Spring is really nearly here and I can't wait to get out and do more work on the Japanese garden now!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Britta - the marvel is that Himself was able to understand the idea and vision that was in my head and (eventually) got scribbled down on a bit of paper and translate it into this wonderful structure - I do so wish you could see it in real life...you'd love it even more!

I'm hoping to have lots of opportunities to sit on the veranda and enjoy it! :)

Monica the Garden Faerie said...

Hi Liz, It's nice to see this come together, and I'm glad you've been having clients int he tea house. (Wait, does that sound odd?!) Hugs!

Nutty Gnome said...

...hahaha, I know you really meant 'treating' clients in the tea house, but it made me laugh anyway! :)
Are you booking your session soon?! :P
Hugs!

Pondside said...

The Tea House is beautiful. You've really accomplished something there and you will have so much pleasure from it in the warm weather.

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Pondside, I'm so glad you like it. It really is a beautiful building and it's settling into its surroundings so well now that everything is starting to mature a bit.

It was built with love and I think it shows - the tea house has such a lovely, warm feel about it and sort of envelops you as you walk in...I know I'm waxing lyrical here, but it really is a wonderful place to spend some time!

It can get quite warm up there even now because the sun is on it for quite a long time during the day. It didn't take us long last year to get into the habit of sandwiches on the veranda at dinner time and a beer up there when we'd finished working in the garden for the day, but before we went to get showered - a spot of relaxation after a heavy days's work - glorious!

The Idiot said...

I shall be using your posts as a reference because Mrs IG wants a sun deck - nothing as grand a tea house, but I might surprise her and do something a little off the wall!

Or I might surprise her and do something!!! I promised her a deck when I first started tearing the lawn up.

Shady Gardener said...

Thank you Liz for creating this post... and your work was TRULY worth the effort (and - WHEW! - the effort!). ;-)

I'll so look forward to the rest of the story (!) as you live it this coming season!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi IG - nice to see you back safe and sound from your travels! Glad my posts are going to be useful at last :P
Being from a rather wet 'up north' I'd be loath to have naked decking without anything overhead to protect it and stop it getting slippery and manky, but you might be okay down south...might be drier down there!

Nutty Gnome said...

Hi Shady - thank you! It has indeed been a lot of effort, but it is a thing of beauty! More to come soon on the final finishing off (as it were!), but next up will be the finishing off of the pond edges...as promised to Bilbo Waggins about 3 posts ago!!!

BilboWaggins said...

Liz, Can I chip in and say I've had wooden decking both 'darn sarf' and 'oop norf' and if it's not kept clean it gets green and slippery regardless of latitude!


PS: as you are modding comments and nothing 'nasty' can get through, any chance of persuading you to drop this blasted WV that Blogger have introduced :{

Nutty Gnome said...

Ey up Bilbo...have I got WV then?!
It doesn't show up in my comments box, so I didn't know I'd got it ..bit like many a nasty infection really! :P
More than happy to get shut, but how do I get rid of it if I can't see it?..and, indeed, how do I know if I've succeeded?!

BilboWaggins said...

Liz,
Blog Owners never get asked to confirm comments on their own blogs which is why you will not see it here but the rest of us do.

It's late and I ought to be heading for my duvet (early start tomorrow) so if I could direct you to my blog post about WV (dated 25th Feb), there are instructions how to remove it. Phone me tomorrow if you get stuck. nite nite.

(PS: have deliberately replied publicly in case anyone else wants to know how to remove the verification nuisance)

Nutty Gnome said...

Dhur! I'm not very clever sometimes....can I blame a head full of snot?!
I'll get onto it now - might be phoning you later then?! :P

Nutty Gnome said...

Done! I should now be word verification free...but would someone tell me if I'm not please! :)

BilboWaggins said...

Looks like you've beaten the Google Goblins into submission - WV free!

Nutty Gnome said...

Excellent! Ta Bilbo, much appreciated!

Carolynn Anctil said...

So much work and it seems to have paid off. The photo above with the teahouse in the snow is absolutely gorgeous.

Nutty Gnome said...

Thanks Carolynn_ I'm so pleased with the tea house, I just love being in there! There are more posts to come on other works in the Japanese garden and on the tea house finishing off bits...but life seems to keep getting the way of me writing them at the moment!!

The snow didn't last very long this year - only about 3 days,but I did get some lovely pictures at the time :)