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.

The Brideshead Suite...

I have spoken a lot about the Brideshead Suite (our bridal suite with a terrace balcony overlooking the park on the northern side of the house) but I have never written a post about it....

It is the largest of the suites, and was designed somewhat from this photo we found of a long room with several well demarcated areas:

Above: The photo which inspired our design.

Below: A plan of the suite.

The decor that will typify this suite: light and classical...

There is a canopied bed against the wall to the left as you walk in, with a sitting area to the right, similar to these suites...

Below: The initial progress photo showing the wall against which the bed sits, with the north balcony on the right.

Below: That same view as the walls and doors went in...

Below: Recent views of that same wall now, showing the crown cornicing with canopy cornicing...

This will allow us to create this effect above the bed...

We shall also have wainscoting panels around the room, especially noticeable on the wall against which the bedhead sits, as we have sconce lighting in the middle of the side panels, and the bed in the centre panel...

Below: My roughly sketched plan of the wainscoting for our builders...

Views of the seating area through to the balcony...

Above: View from the suite door.

Below: View from end of bed towards sitting area and through wall into ensuite.

Below: The same view now the walls have been plastered.

They had to specially laminate the skirting to get it to wrap around the curved wall...

They took lengths of the skirting and split them into five layers, wet them, bent them, then glued them back together in order to create the curve...

Below: The end effect...

They had an even more difficult time wrapping the cornicing around the top of the curve, which was simply not possible. As it is triangular in cross section, it means that the larger top edge would have to expand whilst the smaller bottom edge would have to compress. Something which can not be done with a hard brittle medium.

The solution: Konstantinos to the rescue. He hand carved a curved section to match our cornicing especially for this wall...

Painted you would never know...

The door you can see on the left of the photo is the closet, the door of which will be a framed full length mirror, so that the bride can check she is looking just perfect!

I look forward to sharing more photos once the interior has been furnished, which should be in June/July.

Lake Overhaul (3rd Time Lucky) & Fountain...

At present we are having a major over haul of the lake.  The lake was one of the first attractions we created at Willowbrook, but has over the years caused us a number of problems, due to issues with the liner, trauma sustained to it, gas build up underneath it, and indeed, the difficultly of several times trying to set up the perfect micro-climate in the lake.

To start with our Indian Runner Ducks polluted the lake and ate the new shoots off the waterlilies before we could establish a nitrogen balance. Once we re-homed our ducks to the pond on the farm, they were no longer an issue, but then the wild Mallards found a new home and continued to graze on the flora in our lake, and added their own nitrogen to the water...

So at great expense we drained the lake, cleaned it out, replaced the lilies and other oxygen creating plants, and refilled the lake, but alas further accidents ensued, and the lake required draining again.
This time we are determined to get it right (especially with our opening this Spring!).

The lake liner has been completely removed, the edge of the lake reveled, the bridge started, and soon it will all be put back and planted straight away with approximately 25% surface area of plants (which will grow quickly to the required 33% which is generally considered to be the minimum amount of surface water coverage to keep a lake clean and clear and to deal with the nitrogen balance).

Warning to those considering clearing a green lake or pond by dropping bales of pea straw into it - it doesn't work!

At the same time as our great remediation we will install a proper water oxygenating fountain. There are several on the market, but for our little lake this 1/2 HP model with 5 different fountain heads seems to fit the bill, especially with 1 head specifically designed to oxygenate lakes of volumes up to 25000 cubic metres of water.

Above: The ornamental Tri-star head.

Below: The oxygenating / aerating head.

Oxygenation heads can look pretty...

Although the other heads could be used for special occasions, as they are more dramatic...

I have also found a series called "The Great British Garden Revival" (Following in the increasingly common trend of the Great British Bake Off, and The Great British Sewing Bee, etc.) But it does showcase some wonderful gardens and ideas. I think there are about 10 episodes in the seris. The episode on water gardens is posted below for your perusal. Enjoy...

I am currently back in NZ and should be able to share more progress photos soon. The project is getting a bit like the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel - "Things will be alright in the end, if they are not alright it is not the end".