Cyclamen - Winter Colour...

The cold wet winter persists, except for a few brief dry interludes. It was during one such dry spell I managed to snap some pictures of the cyclamen we have potted up in urns along the terrace, balcony, and cocktail lawn. Even on a gray day we still have some colour...

The Portico and Loggia...

The more observant readers will have noticed that last weekend the artist's impression in the left side bar changed to an actual photo of the manor. It is so nice to have a photo of the whole project sans construction equipment and scaffolding!

Today we are going to look at the entrance and the loggia. As one pulls up at the foot of the steps they are greeted by this sight...

I think another pair of urns, planted up with a well manicured selection of flowers and ivy would look good between the door frame and the inner columns under the lights.

By night guests are greeted with this sight...

We are very happy with how the doors turned out. The execution of our design, the final colour of the stain, and the placement of the knockers we brought back from London all came together nicely. The wood is yellow cedar, which is a lot harder than the more common red cedar. They had to stain it repeatedly to get it to darken up (compared to the carriage house doors, which are red cedar, and only required the standard 3 coats of stain before they turned a warm dark brown).

The view of all the column capitals and the hanging lantern from the front doors...

By night the lantern shines leaving a wonderful pattern of light across the plaster...

whilst the carriage lights on either side of the door provide additional illumination...

The columns at night...

Around on the northern side of the manor, we have used the same components in the loggia...

We will have to take some more photos at night to show you how wonderful this looks from the cocktail lawn. I will do that next month when I am home again. Please stop by again tomorrow when we share photos of the lakeside folly which Peter and our friend Dirk built.

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 Grand Salon

Previously known as "The Informal Entertainment Area" (which doesn't roll of the tongue with any elegance) the room between the foyer and the loggia has been renamed The Salon. The name salon comes via the French from the Italian Salone, meaning a large hall or reception room, and was also used to describe a  gathering of fashionable, like-minded people for discussion and entertainment - "to please and to educate".

So I think it is only fitting that the largest reception room of our house which is to used for the gatherings of fashionable people should be named The Salon. Peter and I discussed the pronunciation for a while and decided it had to be Sa'lon as in felon, not as in Ceylon.

Peter, Willoughby and I had previously chosen the carpet for this area (after much searching) only to be told by the manufacturer that there were only 5 metres left in the country and that they had no plans to make any more. Thus, we decided then and there that we had had enough of searching and would continue the marble of the foyer through the salon as well as through all the upstairs common areas. 

This we are sure will prove a practical move, as the salon will be a high traffic area, and it will contain a bar so spills and scuffs will be inevitable. 

The hard flooring may push the ambience of the room away from the cosy entertainment area that we were trying to create towards a cooler, larger feeling, echoing space. We are going to try to keep the room as warm and personable as possible by grouping the furniture around rugs on the floor, leaving the marble exposed for 'foot traffic through routes'. We want it to be the sort of room where a couple could sink into the comfortable arm chairs and have an intimate little conversation in the corner over an evening night cap.

Below: The Classic club-look that we were hoping to achieve with a carpeted space.

We have found some pictures which illustrate how we might try to create a comfortable ambiance in a large marble-floored space. Breaking the room up with furniture and a clever use of inviting textures and colours seems to play an important part...

Above and below: Back to back sofas are a popular way to separate large rooms into separate spaces.

Above and below: Almost all of these rooms seem to have a fireplace in them, which our salon does not. But their stud heights are also much taller than ours (the standard stud height in NZ is 8 feet. Ours is 12 feet. Some of the rooms in these photos have about 16 feet studs).

Above photos from Tumblr and Pinterest