GARDEN RETREAT – THRIFY ‘TEA’ SHED CHALLENGE

How was your weekend?! Mostly wet, windy and grey here, but the painting of the tea shed is all finished at last – so it’s time for a garden retreat update. We went for black on the outside of our Waltons summer house – a nod to the famous fishing huts of Hastings and white on the inside to keep it bright, fresh and bouncing light around for all my geraniums.For the exterior – we bought Bedec Barn Paint from our local supplier. We are rather exposed up here on the cliffs and it should last longer than regular garden paint plus it’s the more eco-friendly option. We also used the same brand of paint for inside but white – you need a couple of good thick coats to cover the protective orange stain but a little hard work is good for us no?I am so excited to take the film off the windows but I know I should wait until all the work inside is done for the big peel and reveal. Although I think it is tormenting Dean more than me, ha!   Mother nature is already trying to claim back her ground as your can see here. I loved the green against the black so much, that we decided to build a raised sleeper flower bed along the sunny side so even more flowers can wave about outside.We have filled the bed with cat-mint to keep the tiny tigers near by and all different flowers in purple, white and yellow (the pink geranium is a rogue). I do get excited when planning out a flower bed and have to stop myself from packing too many plants in – remembering that they won’t take long to fill out the gaps in the soil.Sheltering inside the summer house, listening to the rain and hail on the roof – we spent a day cladding one of the inner walls with salvaged wood. This project is also a ‘thrifty’ challenge so all the wood we used was rescued out of skips, broken up old pallets or what has been hoarded up in our garage for just this kind of rainy day project!I love the different colours and idea of the scenes these pieces of wood might have witnessed. One was found in a skip in London, another from an old house around the corner that got knocked down and others from who knows where!Above are a few of the folk-inspired treasures I got to go inside – all found over at Etsy.  Exciting times – have a wonderful new week, more garden love soon!This wilderness garden corner makeover is a happy collaboration between Waltons and Lobster and Swan. They very generously gave us the summer house and we are doing the rest! x