Voila... An Instant Terrace

This past week instead of concentrating on my Etsy shop (again!!!) I've been outside with Spike trying to knock our terrace into shape.  We thought that while the weather was good we would attempt to create a little sanctuary away from the ongoing building work in the house.

We started off with a genuinely blank slate and having painted the railings black and planted the beds on the top of the walls with lavender (in the hope of a kind of hedging effect) Spike laid some tiles at the end of the terrace.

We then erected a gazebo that was bought a while back from a local supermarket when it was on special offer.  It was a bit of a squeeze so we chopped down one of it's legs so that it could rest in the bed on the top of the wall (thank goodness it wasn't very expensive).

After a short break in order to recover from the inevitable tension caused by a married couple putting up a gazebo the next stage of the transformation was great fun.  If you've never had the unusual pleasure and instant gratification of unrolling a lawn I can highly recommend it.  I bought some astro-turf from a specialist when I was last in England and it came complete with little brown bits to give it a more authentic look (I can feel the wave of disapproval from proper gardeners from here... happily the dogs seem to love it so that's all that really matters).

We then edged our lawn with some gravel before adding a couple of dwarf apple trees, a bench and a few planters here and there (more to come).  We also put out a couple of new sun beds that will one day be relocated to much roomier courtyard (when it is eventually finished).

We are both thrilled with our new terrace and are finding it quite hard to get on with any work as the pull of such an inviting space is very strong.  The lawn is not only soft and bouncy but it is also hard wearing and toe tinglingly (not sure if that's a word) warm when the sun is on it. We have also already enjoyed a couple of unapologetically smug meals under the gazebo. 

The only problem with our new and improved terrace is that it makes the courtyard look even worse than it did before.  Unfortunately this part of the renovation will have to wait until the barn roof has been fixed and numerous trenches have been dug across the courtyard for drainage pipes and electric cables. So for the meantime I will just have to try my best not to look down!