Shabby Roses at the Castle Shed

The shabby roses are the arrangement from last Friday evening's dinner party out on the patio in front of the garden shed.

Time flew by so quickly I didn't get a chance to photograph the table before everyone arrived. This was taken on Monday after the party.

Little Mr. Gargoyle has a home, though it may be temporary, I think he needs a partner so each can guard one side.

The chalk board still has the welcome, soon to be erased when I plan another get together.

The Happy Gargoyle Protects Garden Castle Shed

The little gargoyle is happy on a perch though it is just a test. He won't be pleased until he has a permanent perch high atop the garden castle shed.

 Our neighbor, Chris, gave me two very nice metal decorative sconce shelves. They were a light brown metal which I dry brushed with some paint for a different effect. 

It is so nice having a painting station in the shed!

 

First thing in the morning Jan got on the roof to see how the latest card stock finial looks. It is better but still not sure. What do you think? Hmmm, maybe the scallops should come down just a little lower and the flag just a tiny bit larger.

By early afternoon we went out to work on the shed. I've got my painting clothes on to get as sloppy as I want. The weather warmed up nicely till the sun set.

Another step is done, the outside window frames are up, still need to make the actual windows and then the door.

The sconce shelves are up and I slipped a solar light into each for now, still have to find lights with a warm glow.

Four Steps Forward on the Garden Castle Shed

Success, we have a turret! It's Veteran's Day and we were able to work about 7 hours today. Finally we felt we had success on a very difficult part of building the garden castle shed. Sometimes sleeping on a problem solves the problem. I woke up thinking about the core and rafters and realized it is just a triangle from the center point and they should have a perpendicular cut.

Here are the first two rafters that fit fine on the core when it was laid it out.

They fit with no gap!

 And then there were 4 roof beams connected.

By then we had taken a lunch break and needed an afternoon cup of tea. I brought out a tray with tea pot covered with a tea cozy.

We celebrated the roof beams. Don't we look like the American Gothic painting? Almost.

As we started work on the turret we labeled things.

We kept going. 

The turret is taking shape.

Finally by 5 p.m. we had the turret beams up but it was too dark to get the roof up, this photo self corrected to look lighter than it really was, we had to stop for the day.

It is definitely looking like our plan and gargoyle will soon be doing his job.

Maybe a Dragon for the Garden Castle Shed

It's been a few days since we've had time to get back to building the shed. We had rain last Friday and a busy weekend. Now that the weather is going to be in the high 70s for the next five days we want to get as far as we can.

This is becoming like a giant puzzle. The transition from the slant roof in the center to the turrets will be interesting to figure out. Jan finished cutting the rafters, they are not attached till the back wall goes up.

When Jan finished he said, "I would rather build than watch sports."

Love my man!

Our little gargoyle's evil eye is contemplating the garden castle shed that he will guard against evil spirits.

As I walked through the framework today I remembered the paper mache dragons I made for family gifts in 2012. They were made the Dan the Monster Man way, see his incredible videos on Youtube.

   

Hmmm, I think I want a flying dragon for the garden castle shed. Should he be flying in a turret or over the roof?

Visit Dan Reeder's website at gourmetpapermache.com

Duelling Drills on the walls of the Garden Castle Shed

What a great day! Not bad for two people with no construction experience, just some woodworking.

It was a real test for the Bosch drill Jan purchased last December. It just couldn't handle driving in the long screws through the 2x4s and into the studs. Now we realize a hammer drill would be better. So, he pulled out my old Makita that I purchased in 1984 for my drapery business. It has been used for 30 years and in low speed got the job done. The Bosch was fine drilling holes and the Makita managed to do the rest, duelling drills.



Here is the back wall framed up.

 The front wall frame also went up! The center of the shed will have a slant roof, higher in front and 6 feet tall in back.

Tired and happy in the 4 foot wide doorway.

Guess who will be doing his job? The little gargoyle says, "It's about time."

Gargoyle Protecting Garden Castle Shed Building Site

This little roughian is ready to pounce on any evil villain disturbing the building site. He needs a little smoothing out, may be like bathing a tomcat but I'm ready to smooth his rough spots.

Not too much happened today except moving the turret bases into position to check for leveling. We also discussed and researched ways to build the steep turret roofs.

I couldn't resist laying out a few stones that may be imbedded in the DC, not sure yet. I told Jan since we are going this far we might as well make it look like there is a moat around the castle shed, he said it already crossed his mind. So nice that we are on the same track!

Step by step it is coming together.

Rockery, Decomposed Granite and a Gargoyle for the Castle Shed

It was early afternoon today before we had a chance to get back to the Castle Shed project. We realized we need more than a few bags of rock base from Home Depot.

Off we went to Rosenbalm Rockery about 15 minutes away. A helpful young man helped us and explained the different base choices and flagstones and rocks. I asked him if he would pose for a photo while he weighed the slate stones we picked.

We chose a gray decomposed granite for our base since it packs so well, two tons will be delivered tomorrow.

Here are a few slate pieces we picked out for the front stepping stone detailing.

And then! 

We walked around to see all the garden items. 

Here is a peek at the claws of.......

.....a gargoyle that stole my heart. 

Isn't he adorable? He's just the right size for our garden castle shed. In medieval times gargoyles were placed atop cathedrals and other important buildings to ward off evil. Our little guy will ward off anything that will put our garden fairies in danger.

Do you have an idea for his name?