Empire building

I redesigned our garden over three years ago now.  I always knew it was bigger than other people thought, mostly because I spent a long time pacing and measuring and marking things mysteriously with bamboo canes, but also because I could see "beyond" the overgrown laurel and mounds of ivy.

I knew we would have room for a garden office or studio or summer house, and nothing would grow in that bit of the garden (apart from laurel and ivy) so after difficult negotiations (mostly because Mr G hates shopping and refused to go and see lots of summer houses) we eventually had our summer house, complete with green roof (now a bit beige, due to the drought....) built.  And then a few summers ago (was it really that long?  I finished and decorated it so it could be used.

Since when, it hasn't been.  Mr G never wanted to "work down a hole in the garden" and so the office stayed in spare bedroom, and I decided it was impossible to use it as a studio as it wasn't the size of a small warehouse and I would never get all my stuff in it, let alone be able to work in it because of all the multitasking - cooking dinner, feeding dogs, cleaning, faffing, procrastinating etc.  And much as we would like to, we never just "sit", so having a place just to "sit" wasn't working for us.

But then the FOIL arrived, and has been sitting in lots of crates in the dining room.  Something had to be done.  Unfortunately, the something probably involves a trip to Ikea, so Mr G thought he'd delay things awhile by insisting that we get rid of the sofa in the summerhouse first. 

So I did.  Less than 24 hours, thank you Freegle.

And this is what we have now!

The crates of foil are now installed, but I reckon they can fit under tables.  Three tables to be precise.  And then I will have SPACE!!!  Space to think, space to paint, space to draw, space to felt, space to measure and cut up foil for the shop, space to MAKE A MESS AND NOT HAVE TO CLEAR IT ALL UP AGAIN!!!

I'm quite giddy with the prospect.

(Less giddy with the prospect of a visit to Ikea next week to get the three tables, but that's only because I know someone will probably be ratty and grumpy and unpleasant about it...)

In other news, my class with the local adult ed pepes was cancelled, so I have gone solo and booked a village hall.  I'm now very scared!  I hope it works!  I've got a free "gig" at the summer fair to promote my classes so I need to get my thinking hat well and truly on...

And finally, we played with paint again and I experimented with sticking stuff onto acrylic.  Not sure about the result, all ended up a bit "straight", but it's a first go: