tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80207449803865172542012-01-26T09:25:03.573ZCandy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.comBlogger141100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-45976610083139567282007-04-16T16:29:00.002Z2009-04-27T18:43:31.745Z

Ours is (probably, arguably) the most popular house in the neighbourhood. Amongst children, that is. Kids from near and far are drawn to us. Apart from our astonishingly charming personalities, the full size basketball goal and 12 foot trampoline in our tiny back patio probably has something to do with this.As a result our lovely house sometimes feels a little bit like a Californian phone booth

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-22253631748010364722007-04-15T12:38:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:44:29.510Z

Deciding to get a shed was far easier than actually choosing one.Once you start looking, the choices are mind-boggling.Fancy something with rich cultural origins? Then go for a garden yurt.Or even a Native American-style tepee.Do you value gardening and design over conventional office features? Then you might enjoy Dig Garden Design’s small office garden.Alas, when it came to the crunch, I could

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-35217449408538528162007-04-14T12:43:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:45:35.780Z

That quote from Virginia Woolf is not just a wanton connection. Virginia really did a lot of her best work in a shed.Virginia Woolf's writing shed at Monk's House, East Sussex was situated on the edge of a churchyard – it provided an escape from the world, for a writer whose main focus in creation was to have her own space as described in the famous series of lectures she gave, later turned into

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-6755533635065339312007-04-14T03:00:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:48:28.946Z

In a conservation area like ours, Planning Permission is a spectre that deters many from making any changes to their homes, even when the need for refurbishment is glaringly obvious.We live on a pretty, cherry-tree-lined London terrace. The houses are not designed for the activities the kids get up to.But it’s a brilliant community. We’re always in and out of each other’s houses, chatting,

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-72548954840086113282007-04-13T17:38:00.002Z2009-05-11T11:55:32.590Z

It's my birthday today!Amazon kindly emailed me a complete list of all my birthday presents a few days ago. This is because my beloved other half inadvertently used my account to order from my Amazon Wish List.Ah, men.It was however a most fabulous bunch of presents for which I am very grateful, darling, lots of love etc, etc.There was only one suspicious item and no, it wasn't a power drill.It

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-41353979850507820192007-04-12T12:14:00.002Z2009-05-11T11:56:43.222Z

You can identify our house on Google Earth by the large green circle at the bottom of the garden.That's our trampoline doing an impression of the Great Wall of China. You know, being visible from outer space.The trampoline is the Great Community Bringer-Together. The thing that allows big kids and small kids to play together.The thing that liberates the children from the shackles of

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-27118774777396895602007-04-11T20:30:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:53:36.659Z

So we cleared the garden. Everyone was happy and excited. The trampoline was tidied away. We were ready to go from this ...To this:First they laid out the red carpet ... well, it looked like a carpet, it was actually some kind of protective sheeting. Then, they brought in the deceptively small, innocuous stuff through the window - like CEMENT.Then a great big truck came.It was our shed, no

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-11773523512272355082007-04-10T16:14:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:54:55.609Z

Rome may not have been built in a day, but this shed sure was!Next: Day Three - Last Minute Panic and Sugar Overdoses

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-73587069340351046762007-04-09T09:50:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:57:46.380Z

Now that it’s up, the first impression you get is it seems awfully BIG.And then you realise that it probably ISN’T big enough for all the things you planned to do with it.And then you notice that they have built the deck frame while you weren’t looking and they are already putting in the wiring.That’s when you suddenly realise that you wanted an outside socket on the front for the lawn mower, and

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-60662415003270459082007-04-08T09:05:00.001Z2009-04-27T18:58:48.545Z

Well, I say Day Four but actually it's the first day of the second week. After those amazing three days in the first week when a five man team practically magicked a shed structure into my garden, they went away for the weekend.But now they are back and unstoppable as ever!Here's what they did:They bring in the planks of balu decking, named after the bear.They sling the window unites in through

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-50103180360164169472007-04-07T10:01:00.003Z2009-04-27T19:01:45.025Z

I’ve been watching the plaster dry.It takes three days, apparently.Big patches of the deep salmon are lightening to a sort of coral ochre.The plastering guy came on Day 5 (which, if you counted all the days since the build began, was really Day 9, but I didn’t want to count weekends and days when the guys were somewhere else probably gathering Snickers bars, so for the purposes of our blog, we’ll

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-76824741449887561862007-04-06T16:18:00.001Z2009-04-27T19:01:02.737Z

The birds were just getting used to the roof when stuff began to happen.The electrician came and more stuff happened. Outdoor sockets.An interesting lightning-rod-like thingy that electrics man Rob hammered into the ground to earth the shed.Mains smoke alarm. Lights. The uplighters in the deck came as a nice surprise (I hadn't noticed it in the spec!)In went the underfloor heating.But the oak

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-81791293185848072252007-04-04T09:41:00.001Z2009-04-27T19:02:53.810Z

All two readers of this blog have been bombarding me with demanding questions.What happened? Why aren't you posting? How's the shed?Well, the answer is, it's finished.Here we are celebrating.Here we are four bottles of champagne later.But I'm getting ahead of myself.The shed was finished on Day Eight (that's day 14 if you include weekends, holidays and non-working days).Some of us were still in

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8020744980386517254.post-54285085057947810022007-04-03T11:49:00.000Z2009-04-27T16:30:47.361Z

My dear builders have left me for the Chelsea Flower Show. Here they be, trundling their specially designed Darmuid shed into the grounds for construction.I miss 'em but I cheer them on. Go, guys. Show those gardeners a thing or two about shed building!It took the Rooms Outdoor guys eight working days to build the shed. The whole process was a bit like Genesis (the bible chapter not the band)But

Candy Gourlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08007409312955086752noreply@blogger.com3