The big reveal- my Tuinhuis!

Last spring, as with each spring, I brim with hope and plans, and the deep desire to get outside- in a less miserable capacity. I long to wear gloves to protect my hands from thorns instead of frostbite, and to tend to a growing green bit.  The garden catalogs have filled my mailbox, and imagination, and I have this inflated sense of available time. That, by the way, is not just a spring affectation.
So, spring of 2015,  I gave the family a choice, took a vote, and we elected to build a garden house. Upon deciding on this semi-ambitious project, I immediately started lobbying for Middlest to recruit her friend, Matt (who is, approximately 19 feet tall) to assist.
The next, and crucial step was to engage my Dad. I wanted to share a project together, and his mind is a brilliant combination of engineer and painter. Plus, my general approach to building something begins with me scribbling on a pad of paper, making a lumber list, and then starting to build. His approach includes actual planning. My mom chimed in too, she of the visionary design. Her main wish? Put a trellis on the roof for a climbing New Dawn Rose.
Over the next month or two, while the sun tenuously began to thread it's way to the Ohio earth, Dad sent me plans and ideas and we hashed out a design. Then, I sprung for a big request. "Hey, Dad, when are you coming to help me put this thing up?" I think I said it just like that. Kinda jokey. To my surprise and thrill he replied "I figured that was coming, how about June?" WHOOP!



 This is how the kitchen garden usually looks in July.

 By the time Dad arrived, we had moved the compost pile and done a few tasks in prep- sometimes in the dark. June is a busy, busy, month.
He arrived in time to help celebrate Middlest's birthday....

This made us happy. Happy enough to jump for joy! 

 

And, right away, we started to work. Matt arrived, most every day to help- we had, I believe,  only 5 days to complete construction.  Middlest kept a steady stream of drinks and food going to keep us on the job.

 Dad, or Poppie, and Youngest worked hard, with Matt, and often without me- actual "work" called me away- to get the structure up and sound.

 Although it was my least favorite spot for him to be, Youngest liked the "up top" work the best.

 The foreman and his crew. 

 By Poppie's last night with us, the little garden house was built.

 There were a few details yet to complete, but I did bits and pieces of it over the next few months. Huz dug in with me in his spare moments, helping move gravel for the floor, lending a long arm to Youngest and I with the trim and painting the very peaks of  the house. Middlest and Matt marched back and forth bringing me bricks while I laid the floor.
And, now, the little garden house, or in Dutch "Tuinhuis" is ready and in use.

  

Welcome! C'mon in. 

 The windows are ones collected along the way. I'm a magpie. The door is from ReStore, scraped and painted to echo the blue tuteur in the Anniversary Garden.  I painted the  $10 desk mint green, like the windows, boiled the layers of paint off the hardware, and it is a cutie now, plus a work table for keeping the garden records and storage  and display piece. 

 I put a french drain in the front, and a copper planter from a local antique store. I made the
"Tuinhuis" sign from a scrap piece of trim board, and added a jaunty brass kick plate.

 Huz collected the butternut and acorn squashes last week.

 As you can see, it is an autumn garden now. The corn in the back of the Tuinhuis is grown and harvested. The tomatoes are too heavy for the tomato cages, and the sun is setting before the chores are done.

 I adore the little house. I love that my tools are right next to the garden, instead way out in the tractor shed or barn. And, although there is jobs yet to be done before the Tuinhuis will be to final planned stage- electric still isn't in, I haven't landscaped around it yet and, no, the roof still does not have the trellis for the New Dawn Rose. Still, our summer, spare on time, yielded this wonderful addition. Thank you, Dad, family and Matt!