The She Shed Diaries

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(the number of cuppas needed during the reading of this post)

Hi my lovelies, I hope you are well.

I'm at home catching up on all the post-cruise holiday stuff that needs to be done and pausing to enjoy some wonderful days last week with visiting family.  And then the rest of my time has been filled with general humdrum stuff around the house and garden.  And yup, not many outfits have managed to find of their way on to my back!

   Today I chanced upon a YouTube comment on my shed project video from 3 months ago that I'd not seen before and therefore not replied to ... Yes, that's pretty shocking eh?  I addressed that shabby behaviour immediately with an apologetic reply!

But once I'd sent my message to the lovely Texan lady commenter, I realised that it's about time I popped in here with an update on my She Shed Project. 

To catch up on the story so far, you may want to pop in to see these posts -

The Lost Garden of Poutland. *HERE*, 

SHOPPING FOR THE SHED IN shedding-dreams *HERE*

But it looks like my shopping for sheds waaay back to a post in 2016 *HERE* !!!

You could say that I don't exactly rush into things!

A pictorial recap of my little shed project:

First, some before and after collages.

Before, the barren wasteland.  After, The Sheds!

Before, the sheds.  After, the smart decked area. 

And that is the journey so far.

Now, a bit of detail. 

The original two sheds were listing badly and were unpleasant on the eye.

They were hidden from view behind a wall in a back section of the garden.  I only caught a glance of this area when going to the clothes line or picking peaches; its downfall was that it wasn't a socialising area (it IS now!).

And because of this, I tended to ignore the surrounding area and weeded it just a couple of times during summer.  And that was hard work!  And bloody too - many brambles lurked hidden in that undergrowth (believe me, this is a recently weeded photo - the weeds grew freely and VERY high!).

The nearby "flower" bed was an eyesore too: the magnolia tree survived there but just didn't thrive, probably due to the plants (and weeds 😳) that had grown up around it.

So it was a bit of the garden that I pretended didn't exist.  But the sheds were in danger of blowing down in a storm so I needed to snap out of my ostrich approach and get proactive - find a shed solution.

So I went on the hunt.

Then along came a shed that fitted the bill.

We ordered it in spring for delivery at the beginning of June  and arranged a date with a landscaping company to start near the end of June, sync-ing with our return from holiday in Sussex.  

All good so far.

Then a tragedy ocurred in the landscaper's company (very sad) and we were passed on to another company but of course we had to be fitted into their work schedule.

Meantime, we set about clearing the area as best we could.

Then at the beginning of August our saviours arrived and began the job.

The shed was built.

TP and I painted the inside of the she-shed a nice fresh white and the floor a charcoal grey.

We pinned layout designs on the wall and brought in an old rug.

TP settled in.

And then he set up shelves in the little He Shed he'd been alloted.

   

We then emptied the old sheds, decanted and transferred the keepers to the new sheds.

Along the way, other things happened.  

A summer storm blew down the pergola.

TP had a trip to A&E (ER) but he was much better by the time he got there and was soon on the road to recovery.

But back to the story ...

The landscapers returned the week before we went on our cruise holiday.

The old eyesores were gone in a trice and a blank canvas for the decking appeared as if by magic.

(We managed to paint the shed's outside window frames but the outside walls will have to wait a month or two - our holiday rather got in the way of the timetable!)

The flower bed was mini-diggered, leaving only the magnolia tree standing.

No time was wasted in building the framework.

Our lovely Dutch friend arrived to sit for Bertie and immediately stepped in to manage things - one cup of coffee then he was out there!

So we left for our cruise the next day, knowing our little project was in a safe pair of hands.

Our precious magnolia tree was incorporated into the decking - I'm hoping and praying it will now grow proudly, unencumbered by all the other roots it used to fight for space with.

Our lovely Dutch "project manager" sent us a photo of the finished decking whilst we were on holiday .

And we returned from our cruise to a tidied up decked area, albeit rather bare of furniture and devoid of planting.

But we've already used the area quite a bit.  

We've put a few bits of old garden furniture out there, which will be fine for the winter whilst we work out how we want to use the space and then how to furnish it accordingly.

We've spent quiet coffee break moments sitting there and thinking about the planting that needs to go around the decking to soften the area.  And that's the nice thing - we're in no rush to do anything fast or hurried.  We have all winter to sit and plan the finishing off of our practical, useful and very BIG new outside living area.   But if you have any ideas, please let me know, all suggestions are most welcome.

The exciting thing is that I've got a She Shed, his nibs has got a He Shed and together we've rediscovered 

The Lost Garden of Poutland.

A la perchoine,

Mary x.

I'll be back with another shed diary entry when the inside of my She Shed is ready  for inspection.  But now, I really must get into a few autumn outfits!