The Invisible Deadline

The fibreglassing of the new pond won't be done now till early September. The person who will be doing it has a backlog of other related jobs to do first before he gets to do ours. But at least we're in the queue now and that's not really that far away from now. And then of course there's still some more preparation to be done once the fibreglass has cured, before the pond can be filled with water. And that takes time as well.

Now the furniture that I wanted for the new area will take more than eight weeks before it gets delivered upon ordering. Now I didn't expect that at all. It is 'only' plastic furniture after all and I presumed that they have several already in stock, stashed somewhere, ready to be delivered virtually at any time. Apparently that wasn't the case, with pieces only made from scratch once every order is made, injection moulded abroad and then shipped directly from there. Doing the maths, it won't arrive to ours until mid October at the earliest and it'll be autumn by then. We can still use it of course, but I don't know yet what my line of thinking will be come that time, if I'd rather cover/store them somewhere before winter arrives.

From the inside, looking out...

On the plus side, we are definitely on the final stages of the project with all of the major construction already done! We finished cementing into place and rendering the pond window frame last night, as well as laying the floor of the filtration house earlier this week. 

and the outside, looking in.

It is during the final stages however where most of the smaller and fiddly jobs are, a collection of them, of which some will need more precision than others (like doing the pipework on a complicated filtration system, the electrics, etc). All in all, this section, although on the homestretch, still takes time to do and shouldn't be rushed.

Heck, even cleaning the drains take time!!

So with this in mind, I have lifted the invisible deadline and extended it to next year. A deadline that is only visible in my head, within my thoughts and possibly was unrealistic to begin with. 

And I've never felt better, like a big weight was taken off my shoulders!

The final phase is the part that I am looking forward to getting stuck in the most, finding it enjoyable doing these precision jobs, with some of them even therapeutic and relaxing to do. 

At the start of the year I had set a deadline of finishing everything by the middle of this summer. Okay, the weather earlier in the year didn't help but I have also underestimated the amount of time it takes to do some parts of the project. Keeping to this deadline, which is not crucial anyway, just made the project unnecessarily stressful and somehow dampened the enjoyment of doing it.

Concrete slabs in the filtration house have already been laid

And that shouldn't be the case. The journey and reaching the end point of it should be as enjoyable as possible. Hard work yes, but also fun. And rushing things in order to meet 'this' deadline is not a good idea either, it just makes you more prone to mistakes and quality may suffer as a result of this. And if it does, it's still us who will rectify it in the future anyway so might as well do it properly, even if that takes time.

Do it once, do it right!

So no grand reveal this year I'm afraid, it'll have to be next year but I feel that we just bought ourselves extra time, generous time even. To get on with everything else that we need to do to finish the project and attain the best finish that we possibly could ourselves.

Getting there....a glimpse of things to come

And now I feel more relaxed we can take our time now, just to get on at an easier pace. And we can squeeze in more day outs too in between them all. Now that sounds even better!

Mark :-)

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The Dating Game

I do like my play on words, so sorry if you're expecting to read something about 'dating' in reference to the activity you do when you're looking for a partner (that's certainly not needed here), but rather a different sort of 'dating' which is more related to gardens and gardening :-)

The garden sofa and chair set - I like this garden furniture a lot, it's like bringing out your lounge into your garden space. We've always toyed with the idea of acquiring a set but it's not the sort of furniture that would comfortably fit in with a rustic jungle setting, and seems more at home to a contemporary one. Most areas of our garden would not look right with such a furniture set, until recently that is, when we will soon have that space that would be appropriate for it.

We were looking in a garden centre the other day, checking out the different ranges, colours, and sizes of basically the same design. Not that we were going to purchase a set now but it's good to keep an eye on whatever particular set we fancy. There is usually a window of opportunity in the autumn wherein most garden furnitures are put on greatly reduced price, sometimes even more than 50% off, and that's the best time to purchase them. These things are rarely sold out of stock before the sales so then would be the best time to buy them. (And it is for this same principle that I very rarely buy any garden furniture at full price during the spring and summer, the only snag is you'll have to store them and wait till next year to use them but that's only a minor inconvenience.)

Going through the selections, and making a mental shortlist, I suddenly thought something. 'Hmmmm, I'm not so sure now about any of these', I said. And Gaz asked, 'How come?'. And then I replied, 'This design has been out for quite some time now, what if it soon becomes dated?'. And we both nodded in recognition. And so we went home shortly, back to square one.

So, will this furniture set likely to become dated soon? Now that is the question.

This sort of furniture is inherently expensive compared to other types of garden furniture, and you would expect that it would at least serve it's purpose (looking pretty and a comfy place to sit and relax) for many years to come, and for me that's ten years or more (Ok, that sounds a bit tight but hey, how often do you need to change your living room sofa?). So it's the sort of purchase you'd hopefully only do once and not do again for quite some time.

I like the design, the streamlined look and how comfortable it is to sit on and relax. And the material looks natural and easy to clean, durable enough to withstand outdoor conditions. But this 'look' has been out now for a few years and is steadily appearing in most people's gardens. Will it carry on remaining popular and in demand for many years to come? 

A bistro set, another one to consider and requires less space too. Difficult to sleep on it though, unless you have had too much red wine! (Photo from www.thegardencentre.co.uk)

I guess the answer to both questions is that only time will tell. Will it be a timeless classic as the quintessential black leather sofa or even the wooden garden bench (Ok, maybe not as mega timeless as that), or will it be a trendy signature piece definitive of a certain era, the nineties and the 21st century noughties?

Still widely available, is it timeless or simply 80's?

My prediction would be, it will remain fashionable for at least the next five years, if it goes further than that then again only time will tell. If you own one already then I think you'll be fine, however for the likes of us who is still considering purchasing a set, if we do would we end up buying something that's already halfway towards the end of a current trend?

'That' high back rattan furniture, very 70's!

Ultimately, whether a furniture will date or not it doesn't matter as long as you really like it and you'll enjoy using it. That's the important bit, not whether it is trendy or not :-)

As for me, I'm also starting to wonder whether this design is actually really 'me' or not (Oh yes, make that 'us'). I think that's also one of the (unspoken) reasons for our hesitation in the end. Certainly other designs and styles are also worth considering (maybe stick with the same material). There's plenty of time to browse, think things through and make a decision, I'm rather enjoying the process I must admit!



Blagdon Affinity Pond, a ready made pond to match your 'contemporary' rattan furniture. I'm a bit sceptical about this, I think it belongs up there with the '2 in 1 Pond and Table Set' i.e. a short lived fad.

Recently I spotted Gaz poring through the Habitat catalogue again, and I enjoy popping 'round the Conran Shop as there is one near where I work. Both avid admirers of the designs of their furniture (and occasionally acquire indoor furnishings from them) they sure do have lots of nice things, including outdoor furniture. And the range is more individual and unique too. Maybe I should just take the hint, after all they have autumn sales too... :-)

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