The Bridal Suite...

Welcome to day three of the tour, when we get to view the bridal suite, aka The Brideshead suite. The theme for this suite is restrained elegance. It has an element of French influence, hinted at through the gilt furniture, the waterlily oil painting after Monet, and the slightly Rococo bed...

Above: The French windows on either side of the Davenport exit outside to the balcony above the Loggia. For the moment the matching mahogany cabinet houses the minbar, with the TV and Nespresso on top. The curtains have Dutch pleats (double pleats) in order to be economical with the fabric. In time we may fit pelmets over the rails, but at present the high brass curtain rods and long lengths of fabric puddling on the carpet are nice without being OTT. We are looking at finding some additional tassels / tiebacks, for the pelmet drapes on either side of the head board (below), as well as waiting for a matching counterpane and pillowcase set to be made.

Below: A longer view of the room.

Down the short passageway (next to a full length mirror and robe where the bride can check the final touches) is the marble bathroom...

Above and below: The champagne bath (a bath with tiny holes around the inside though which bubbles effervesce and massage), and the Perrin and Rowe Telephone set.

Above: The vanity with a large mirror and scones.

Below: Vanity detail with some of the Molton Brown products.

Thank you for visiting again. Tomorrow we will view a bedroom decorated in the English Baroque style, The Chatsworth suite. We look forward to seeing you then.

Building Progress...

Well, things are slowly progressing. We are trying to stay positive despite torrential hiccups. But then, as the saying goes "if it's not OK it's not the end". 

The bulk of the marble has arrived, although for some reason the curved edges for the upstairs areas were not in the shipment with the other tiles, so they are currently being air freighted from Greece (I've no idea what it costs to airfreight several cubic metres of marble from the other side of the world but it is going to cost someone for their mistake). Below is one of the crates of marble that did arrive...

Above: You can see the Parnon Gray marble on the left for the Blenheim Ensuite and the Rosso Levanto on the right for the Chatsworth Ensuite...

 Above: Parnon Gray

Below: Rosso Levanto

The external window frames, sills, architraves, corbels, Juliet balconies and column capitals stacked up in courtyard ready to be fixed to the building envelope...

Below: They have made a start on laying the black and beige marble for the upstairs landing and long gallery...

 

And the solid marble risers, etched for tread, on the staircase...

Above: View from landing across the atrium.

Below: Adrian holding one of the baluster molds on the edge of the gallery so we can get an idea of whether the baluster design was OK (it has to be 1m high for compliance, which means the proportions can get a little stretched). We think this will look OK.

The Blenheim Suite, plastered and ready for painting...

Left to right: Wardrobe, Espresso bar cupboard and Ensuite...

Below: The Wainscoting going on the Brideshead Walls...

and the Master Suite...

Meanwhile, outside they are starting to pour the mid floor frieze and erect the columns of the loggia...

Above and Below: Frieze band and Loggia columns awaiting capitals.

 Above and Below: The concrete poured into the frieze band (above) and the finished effect (below)

Below: The dentils and top frieze band (the green cabling is for the external security cameras).

While the builders have been hard at work with the manor house, Peter has been busy building the folly for the hill behind the lake, which we should be able to share some photos of next month. Later this week I will post some progress photos of the inside of the carriage house. TTFN.

Come On Baby Light My Fire...

We have just received our marble fireplaces from overseas. Other than a few minor chips (mendable) they arrived in good order and we are pleased with them.

Like the furniture, we had sent photos of fireplaces we liked and asked for facsimiles to be created (for wonderfully recherche marble surrounds are not easily to be had in the antipodes, and the ones which come up for auction in Europe do fetch a pretty penny).

After looking at a large selection online we settled on the following designs. They arrived three weeks ago in crates, and I was able to help unload them and check the workmanship.

Above: The six crates as they were delivered.

Below: The inside of the crates. Everything was well packaged with polystyrene.

Below: The Travertine fireplace for the Chatsworth Suite (from the box above, unpacked below).

Below: A photo of the fireplaces assembled, for approval, before it was disassembled and packed up.

We will use these fireplaces in the Chatsworth Suite and the Billiard Room. 

Below: An example of a simple travertine fireplace similar to ours.

The Dining Room fireplace...

Strewn in bits above, the fireplace looks like this when it is put together:

Here are some close ups of individual parts...

It is a caryatid styled fireplace. Here are some more examples...

They can also be supported by male figures - Telamons (Thank you Architect Design for educating us about this in one of your blogs). 

Then we have two white marble fireplaces, one for my study and one for the master suite. They are based on an acanthus and scroll design...

Above and Below: The disassembled parts.

Below: Close ups of the carving...

Below: The assembled whole.

The final fireplace is for the gold drawing room...

It fits with the general ornate style of design popular in the 18th and 19th centuries. I like the way the upright supports are flared at 45 degrees. Here are some examples...

The last fireplace for the manor is actually plaster, not marble - however in retrospect it should have been. Never make assumptions. We had stupidly thought that a hand carved marble fireplace imported from another country would be more expensive than a plaster one cracked out of a mold just down the road. Well you would, wouldn't you? We also thought that given this fireplace was for the China Room and was going to be painted with wedgewood blue paint it would be silly to buy a marble fireplace to do that to. 

Well, now left time pressured we are forced to go with the plaster fireplace from Waikato Plaster Supplies, which is costing us 50% more than the same fireplace carved out of marble! Something stinks in the state of Denmark. Any ho, this is the fireplace we have chosen, and below it are some examples of how we are going to transform it into a coloured period piece...

Finally, because many of our guests may find our rooms comfortably warm most of the year round and not want a fire lit in their rooms; we will make up some log bundles with scented tea lights that they can light in the fireplace instead. They should have some of the romance without the heat...

Bundles bound with leather belts are quite attractive too...