Well its been a slowwwwwwww lead up to xmas, i first cut my left thumb with the chainsaw making room for the propagation area , then halloween i fractured my right wrist, then the car broke down and fixed it and broke again, and again, and again !!! seriously so its been ok as my right wrist hasn’t been able to hold a hammer.

Now all good and i am looking forward to the xmas break, i plan to spend MOST of my time on the succelento studio project, i am REALLY looking forward to it.

I’ll have helena up and running ASAP in her new exciting business

can’t wait to show you all the progression in a slide show

max is helping me with his drone video production

 

 

HI, well sorry no images yet, been FLAT OUT. but i have photographed everything.

Boringly nothing has changed, the plans are SOLID, Helena is sourcing lighting styles, we have done sample paint tests for the outside and redesigned minor parts………fine tuned.

With Xmas FAST approaching i am looking forward to taking a break from work and SINKING my teeth into this project, really getting most of it done very quickly before returning to work mode. should be a GREAT time and the kids are keen to help.

i  intend to spend MOST of my time on this and have helena and the kids fully involved in it .

 

 

SO, after weeksssssssssss of thought anf gathering recycled stuff i need i pretty much have EVERYTHING i need to complete the studio.

and i have been LUCKKKKKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYY

So i have broken the project down into many bite sized pieces.

the sky: yep…..light ! the shed has a HUGE overhanging tree from the top neighbour ( i say top as their land is above ours so we get all their water runoff ! )

i have got onto the roof  and cut the tree back majorly, we still want the tree for shade but we also need sunlight so now i’ve made it so it lets in @ 30% more light which should be fine, +++ i have cleaned the roof of foliage which has basically composted on the galvanised roof, thankfully NO rust and it looks almost NEW now !

top alley: this is the space between the top fence line and the shed, this is where i need to create the french drain, pavers and new roofed area to stop leaves building up as well as perhaps a storage area for pots?

french drain: ” huge job as it means connecting to UN connected shed water runoff to the main drains which is @ 15 meters

pavers: a lot of digging to get it all level, i have to take then under the height of the shed floor as in the past the run off from the houses up the hill all came down HIT the pavers and then just SKIPPED straight into the shed wall which isn’t waterproofed !!!

roof: this involves adding more semi transparent roof sheets and new guttering

inside: well this is broken down into more subsections as this is where its all happening.

powerpoints: the power was put in by ??? so it needs to be totally checked, i can find an “earth” so that worries me and i am NOOOOOOOO good with electricity but i know danger when i see it.

left wall: thats the pallet wood feature wall

back wall: this will be white and have a feature mirror LARGE to add the dimension of space

right wall: this will also be white and have shelving all the way along it, it also has a window out to the back yard

the window: this is being replaced and enlarged but in the same ISH location

the bench: the current work bench but raised up for ergonomics, also this will add a shelf low down underneath

the pink draws: these will go under the mirror, but will not be pink, helena will sand it backa nd do what she wants.

butchers block: i will be making a butchers board to be the new top of the pink draws

french doors: mammoth task !!!! , removing the existing large heavy metal doors and levelling of the concrete to then create a 2.6m door frame containing french doors and 2 side glass panels !!! and i have never done any of this before.

the concrete: once again a mammoth task, 10 sq meters of 30yr old concrete and i want to grid it down to concrete and aggregate to create a new look, then etch it and seal it, should be fun and a lot of concrete dust !!!

outside walls: well they will all need to be painted to get rid of the horrible ARMY GREEN, but still deciding on the grand plan and colour? mostly which with charcoal i think

growing: thats now downhill which you can see from the window, i’ve had to chainsaw some trees to get more light into the area and it looks great. i have sheets of metal that i need to build frames for to make the bench tops but last weekend i made 8 “saw horses” for the tops to sit on .

2nd shed: we need to buy a small bunnings shed so we can put the garden tools etc inside to free up room in the studio, $200 and lay a slab is well worth it and we have the perfect spot, the stuff going into the shed is the kinda stuff that “you have BUT hardly use” !

water: good opportunity for a water tank as a lot of water from the roof could be harvested as it is @ 3-4 meters ABOVE the growing area, i also have a spot that i could put a tank so it would just gravity feed when needed.

Well its a big project and so far i have taken heaps of photos so i’ll get a gallery ASAP, but breaking it down helps you focus on doing 1 thing at a time.

i have also created an excel doc that details everything and then i moved them all into priority so i can now easily see whats next and stay focused.

this is IMPORTANT, it will save you work, its pointless painting a wall and then grinding concrete and getting that dust IN the paint !!! is just 1 example.

 

Lets see how close i get when its finished to my thoughts right now.

there is an “alley” on the left ( topside) that has some pots and paver and NEEDS a french drain, so that needs a total rip up and leveling, i intend to create a growing area there for plants and cover it with corrigated transparent poly as it has a large tree above it so i need to get as much light in as possible and direct sun rarely hits the area.

i’ll do this without touching the fence so its independent and aslo the roof will be slopping so the leaves from teh tree , which it drops HEAPS, will be able to wash off when it rains.

the shed roof is mostly metal with just 2 transparent areas, so i’m going double the transparent as once again the shed is under the tree, i’ll do sections on the right and the left to get as much natural light into the shed but as it does get sun we need to think about heat in summer.

the shed has HUGE metal doors, they need to be removed and replaced with french doors and a new facade in total.

inside there is 1 window facing the back garden and thats where the work table will be so a nice view whilst working.

the concrete floor is of course after 30+ years stained with grease, paint etc so that will need to be cleaned and i think a little diamond grinding would be good as i intend to give it a protective coat, kinda a gloss concrete look.

 

the left inside wall is going to be a framed feature wall made on recycled pallet wood and distressed in a white wash.

the very back wall is currently think vertical paneling as is the right wall, still debating what to do but it seems its heading for solid white painted, this will make a present very dark shed into a very bright light area which will be great for flower design.

the inside roof we are currently go to leave alone as its a galvenised iron colour.

the roof cross metal tube beams are ugly so i think i’ll cover them with a white wood or maybe just paint them white.

the outside is currently green, so we are considering painting it white as well creating a barn yard look, but i think we’d need an accent colour to break it all up.

 

 

This first post will be long winded but i’ll break them down into smaller pieces in future.

what we have is a metal shed with a horizonal wood  ( 2×4 ) frame, its very simple and very well thought out.

its 4.2m long, 2.5 meters wide with just 3 metal tube frames, front , middle, back, these are then joined with bolts by 4.2m one piece wood, bottom, middle , top, the roof is metal tubing support on a 30degree angle, on top of them once again are 3 long beams on left and right creating a very strong structure.

the roof is covered with corrigated metal and the sides are square corrigated panelling.

all this is then bolted to a thick concrete slab which SLOPS from back left to front right, the reason for this is the land is on a hill and water comes through the neighbours YARDS downhill and then hits CONCRETE.

i’ll be putting in a significant “french drain” topside to prevent water coming in for the future.

the concrete may slop but the builders made the frame perfectly level from the bottom beam up, this slop wouldn’t be a problem but i intend to put french doors on the front so framing a sloping door jam should be fun for a novice.

next post : The Vision