Monday 28 July 2014

Me on Monday

The last few Monday's have been a tad stressful, but that's all over now, and the workmen have left the building!

So here I am ... Me on this Monday :) in my GORGEOUS kitchen in the little house, which I love to bits, so its been sooooo worth it.
This week is all about sorting and organising, and unpacking of boxes ... and I love it.  It's also our 26th wedding Anniversary. Can't believe our party was a year ago already.


I will share more photos soon. Have a great





Thursday 24 July 2014

Sew clever

That hubby of mine is too clever for his own good :)

I'm busy sewing curtains and blinds at the moment for the little house, and I know its crazy, but its that first cut that scares the life out of me. I mean, fabric isn't cheap, is it? And I'd hate to make a mistake. So I spend more time worrying than doing anything.

Anyway, he came up with a great idea. Now there is a reason I hoard anything and everything ... And Simon found his old t-square in the shed, and along with some tapes that I got from IKEA (I'll explain about those in a minute). He spray glued one tape to the t-square and voila ... I have a straight line and no faffing around worrying if my tape measure is straight.



Now the reason I have so many of these paper tapes is, while wandering around IKEA the other day, Simon picked up these tapes, (which are by the note pads and little pens you get to write down the aisles). And said, why don't you spray glue one of these to the edge of your craft desk and then you'll always have a measure there!  See, told you he was clever lol. So I took a few and once I've set myself up at the little house with a craft desk or cleared the one presently covered with yummy stash, I'll show you a picture.

As for the little house, lets just say, things took a whole lot longer than we expected but the last builder left this past Tuesday. Which was way over due, as our carpets and furniture came back the previous week. But that's a story for another day, and I will share some photos with you in the next few days. We're still unpacking boxes and I'm moving things around, but oh WE LOVE IT TO BITS, its even better than we thought.

OK, back to my blinds.

Saturday 12 July 2014

Watching Paint Dry

Watching paint dry has never been as exciting as it was yesterday at Gorgeous Gerties. I attend a chalk paint effects class, oh and loved every minute of it. The class was taken by Simon, who owns the shop next door called Shabby Chic Country Living, where you can buy the paint.

Back in the 80's I did every paint effect I could ... sponging, dragging, stippling, stenciling ... you name it, I did it. And I truly never thought it would be back in fashion. But chalk paint has taken off and in a big way, I think its because it doesn't need any primer or sanding and can paint virtually anything.

I have used Annie Sloan chalk paint, in the past, but never really got to grips with it, I found it really gloppy and thick, and I never really achieved a look I was happy with. So if I'm truly honest, I never really expected to be that impressed with the paint we were using at the class, I just really expected to learn maybe what I had been doing wrong. Instead we painted and stenciled a tray, used two different paint colours to get an effect, played with distressing techniques, used Copydex to get an effect, crackling, glass stenciling, oh and so much more.

All I can say is, I can't wait to start painting the furniture for the little house ....The paint we used was Grand Illusion Vintage Paint, and its brilliant! It almost has the same consistency of an emulsion but oh the uses are wonderful - with varnish, you could even use it outside.

So if you've got some old furniture you're thinking of throwing out, try giving this paint a go (and I believe you can by tester size paints.  Anyway, here are a few photos from the day.

These were our practice boards, where we learnt distressing techniques and varnishing

Started with a blank tray



It had a base colour and then copydex in areas that I wanted distressed
Voila, finished article with copydex removed ... next time I'd distress more along the edge, but I'm happy with the finished article that's for sure. 
oh and of course it was held at Gorgeous Gerties ... and they did what they do best .. Cake :) 

All in all, I had the most fabulous day, and I can't wait to start experimenting on furniture.


Wednesday 9 July 2014

Smashing update

The other evening I was putting a few more bits into my smash book, and realised I hadn't shared any of the more recent pages with you. Now I'm not saying these pages are complete ... its very much like an old fashioned scrapbook for me. And by that I mean not a whole lot of embellishment or design, just a place to keep my ideas fresh in my mind. So here are how a few of the pages are looking at the moment.



I cut apart this wallpaper that is going in our downstairs toilet; it just reminds me of project life cards 






I've been including fabric swatches and wallpaper samples too and cut up brochures ... all in all, I'm having fun with it.  It is still a work in progress, but I thought I'd share how its looking so far.

Monday 7 July 2014

Me on a Monday ...

Well actually on the Saturday to be truthful. I thought rather than take a selfie this morning, I'll use the one Simon took of me on Saturday ... and you'll see why soon.

It was a London bound one for us (where I picked up a few postcards as well). Simon has a building site which before its demolished we can park in and as its right near Bond Street, it would be silly not to take advantage off. Plus it has a security guard, so whatever we bought we just kept putting in the car rather than carry. Bliss.

So this weekend; I got to see my first Banksy

Had breakfast at an American Diner 

Was in here a while

And now you see why! (they are big carrier bags, but I'm not sure why, as one has a jug in it, and the other a soap dish?) lol

Stopped in Selfridges in their champagne bar ... well, it would have been rude not too. 

In the evening I worked on my little house smash book a bit. 

And then on Sunday spent a lovely few hours rummaging around this vintage centre ... bliss.  

So there you have it ... my weekend.  Hope you all have a great week. Oh and I almost forgot; Simon came home with this gorgeous magazine for me. And yes, I can fully recommend it, I'm still only half way through it at the moment. Only downside I'd say, and this is more for me; is that its mainly promoting the virtues of Wordpress, and if you're going to blog everyday (never in a million years lol).  But still a great read, with some very interesting ideas. 

Ok, that's it from me now, I'm off to meet Emma for coffee :)







Friday 4 July 2014

How does your garden grow

Well, not with silver bells and cockle shells, but its doing just fine.

The lovely Jacky had a fabulous post the other day showing us her garden, and honestly, I looked at the photos again and again, they were beautiful.

So I thought, while I was on a blogging roll, I'd share a few snaps from our garden.

Now I honestly never really thought I'd get into garden - and well even though I don't tend to do the weeding or heavy work (I leave that to hubby) I do love pottering around and growing plants from seeds. Our vegetable patch is still a work in progress, as is most of the garden, but then I think that's the beauty of gardening, its always changing.




We had a couple of trees cut down recently, which has allowed a few more plants to start growing; my hydrangea's certainly seem happier. As you can see its not a mature garden, but each year we plant another shrub with the hope that soon it will have all spaces filled.
I certainly love my view when sitting here with my morning coffee. 


I've just planted these Cosmos out ... the ones I did a month or so ago are certainly doing well; I just hope the slugs don't attack these. 
The sweetpea has been slow this year ... I've 3 of these dotted around the garden, as I just love cutting them for the house
Not sure what has happened to the silver anniversary rose that we got as a gift last year. Its flowered but very droopy. I may need to cut it down a bit.
 Mum had a few little gnomes and statues in her garden, so I've moved them into ours and they always bring a smile to my face.



The vegetable patch needs some TLC this weekend, but the potatoes and peas (which you can't see) are doing very well. 

And finally, I'd like to introduce you to George.  He has lived for as long as anyone can remember at The Little House; no one knows where Nan or Grandad got him, just that he was always there. He's been painted a great number of times over the years by Nan. So I suppose I need to give him a paint before he goes back.  We bought him here, as we were worried he might get damaged by the builders. 


So there you are, a little glimpse of our garden. Sorry it was picture heavy, but you know what it's like, once you start snapping, you just can't stop. 


Wednesday 2 July 2014

What a month

Wow June certainly was a fun month for me. I love looking back at my project 365 photos to see what happened. To be fair, most months are the usual day to day stuff with food shopping, coffee, etc., but this past month was a real bumper for me and that had a lot to do with my cousins arriving from Australia.

Now this past month we had gorgeous weather, so I did get out an about a lot and managed to spend a fair amount of time on the garden too.  The cat you can see is our latest visitor - he's so friendly and maybe just a little too friendly, as one night he came in through an open window and made my cousins jump lol.

Other highlights included the kitchen and new door going on at the little house; we counted our jar of change that we'd been saving for the past two years and spent it all at Cath Kidston; A night out at the greyhound racing ... oh and we booked a holiday! .... All in all a fabulous month.  Lets see what July brings.