The garden room

I love gardening and as I started this blog in winter I've mostly posted about ungardened moments.  However, spring is upon us in the southern hemisphere so it's time to start thinking about what awaits outside.  We live on a block of land that is roughly 1/4 of an acre in size which gives me lots of room to play with plants and garden decoration.

For some time I have yearned for a garden room.  Not a closed in room with brick walls and windows but an illusion of a room in the garden.  When hubby asked me last year what I would like for my birthday, I said a garden room, so he made me one.  It is still evolving into what I would like it to be, but I'm enjoying the process.

Here are some images of what took place in the process of making this lovely space just for me.  First we had to sand down the garage wall and repaint.  Facia and guttering have since been replaced.  As the land is slightly sloping, hubby had to dig out soil and level the ground.  This was a lot of hard work for him.  A layer of sand went down and then pavers arranged and cut to size.

I put some chairs and a table on the unfinished paved area so I could imagine what it would be like.

Next holes were dug for posts.

Poles are now in the ground and the top beams in place.  Between the stages of the photo above and below, hubby had a trip to the local hospital emergency room with a cut to the top of his head after something rather sharp and heavy fell on his head.  There was a lot of blood as with all head wounds and three stitches were required.  I'm pleased to report no lasting damage occurred .

Top bracing beams on, facia and guttering replaced.

At this stage I'm starting to get very excited and can't stop myself from putting plants and decorations in already.

I've planted Australian native climbers near the posts and hubby has installed a bamboo screen roof sun shelter.

Lattice added to one side of the room to give the illusion of privacy.  :-)

Voila. Structure complete.  Decorations and plantings ongoing.

Since the above photo was taken last year, the climbers have climbed, more decorations have been added and the bamboo roof shelter needs replacing thanks to a brutal hail storm earlier this year.  Have a look at these hail stones.

We had some damage with a broken bedroom window, smashed laserlite roofing over the pergola and hubby's car was unfortunately written off it was dented so badly.  The broken window was fixed the same night as the storm and the car has since been replaced.  We are just waiting for some fine weather to replace the bamboo roof on the garden room and laserlite on the pergola.  However the pergola is going to be totally remodeled to provide more shelter in winter so we would have needed more laserlite roofing for the new plan.  Thank goodness for insurance!  I'll post an updated photo of the garden room when it's looking it's best. 

Thank you to my lovely hubby for making me such a wonderful space to sit in summer to have a cuppa, read or just enjoy the sunshine and garden.

Anne  xx