Friday 30 September 2016

My Painted Pew

As you know I've been on a mission to update our home, and I'm happy to say I'm really pleased how its coming along.

I'm also slightly (ok, totally) obsessed with upcycling, and making over furniture.  More so when the vision I have in my mind, works out well in real life, which as we all know, isn't always the case.  So let me introduce to you my finished pew.
For a long time I had been searching for an old church pew, and a few years ago, I managed to get hold of one.  It was cut to the size I wanted, which meant, although each end matched, they weren't a pair.  In either words, they came from the same church, but had different handles and numbers on them.  None of this worried me, as it is against a wall, and I still loved it, but what I didn't like was that it was such dark wood.  Its just not me! I tend to like everything light and against my table it just looked even darker.

So ... what's a girl to do! Paint it of course.  I didn't want it to be white, so off I went to Farrow and Ball to see what paint they had. I had a colour in mind, of Skimming Stone, but the wall that it sits against, was going to be painted in Skylight (same colour as the dresser), and after talking to the assistant, he showed me that it would end up looking quite lilac.  So instead I went for Cornforth White.  I'm so pleased I did.

Here's the process I used.
Of course ... first it was primed with Zinsser. 
Next came 2 coats of the Farrow and Ball, Cornforth White. 
Here's a better look at it, against the blue. I think it works, I hope you do too.  All I now need to do is make a seat cushion for it, and of course, I'll show you when I'm done. 

Happy Friday friends, I hope your weekend is a good one. 
x

Monday 26 September 2016

Week 39 .... The Week that was

Glamorous .... well, not all of the time.

It started out with the normal everyday to day routines.  Coffee with my neighbour and friend Moira at the garden centre; I had a couple of very snuggly bears, both have had stomach upsets over the week, but feeling better now.  Its certainly easier to carry Molly as she's smaller, but Bertie still expects his cuddles and he's a tad bigger and heavier lol.

Strictly, also started again, and I'm LOVING it.  At the moment, I haven't got a favourite yet, but I do like that judge chap, and Louise.

Also this week, I got hold of a few christmassy bits, well it is (as of today) 90 days to go.

We then got to the glamorous bit.  Simon is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Paviors. Their annual banquet is held at Mansion House, in London, and the Lord Mayor attends.  Its such a magical and beautiful venue, and its wonderful to see everyone looking gorgeous.

Here are a few photos from the evening.

There you have it friends.  Now back to the reality, which is usually just cleaning and sainsburys, but that's ok.  I'm still in full decorating mode, and I'll be back with a little post later to show you how it's going.

Monday 19 September 2016

Catching up

Goodness, my poor little blog has really suffered with Simon being off.  So lets start with week 36, it was a Bank Holiday, and I caught up with lots of lovely friends.  So here's the run down;  The Bank Holiday itself, was super hot, and all the running around in the park that the bears did, meant that Bertie got very tied. This in turn meant that his daddy, had to carry him home. Much to the disgust of Molly, who likes to be carried at any chance she can grab. 

Something, I've been trying to get hold off, is one of the little drift wood houses, that are made by Shabby Daises.  Luckily for me, I was up early when it went on sale, and nabbed one. Oh I love it. 

I made a start on my christmas quilt. Not the one I had planned in the sew-a-long but one I'm happy with.  Also, this week, I managed to get some face time, in with my lovely friend Caroline and her gorgeous boy, Sergio.  Its funny, we're so similar and we often laugh and call each other our twin. I also met a lovely IG friend for coffee and cake.  I can honestly say, that I've met and made the nicest friends through blogging and IG.  Sarah was so sweet, as although I never said anything, she bought me a card and a box of violet creams for my birthday. How she remembered was amazing.  
As you can guess it was also my birthday, this week. Simon and I went out for a lovely meal on the Saturday night, just before my birthday.  On the Sunday, my actual birthday, we took the bears to a training class, and goodness, they were so good. After that, we went out to a little coffee shop in Dorking, and then home to an evening, where Colin and Maria came over to help me celebrate. 

Onto week 37 and the start of Simons two week holiday. The weather was absolutely gorgeous and we made use of it, by spending a lot of time at the little house.  On the Tuesday we went off to Margate. I really recommend it if you're looking for a little vintage shopping.  Such a lovely artistic place too.  Also on the Wednesday we watched the biggest demolition in UK so far. It was the fall of the Isle of Grain chimney.  It was amazing, and I've never seen, so many people in Queenborough to watch it.  Then home to Epsom, to start decorating our main living space.

We also had a lovely dinner at Colin and Maria's; I attended a crop and sat next to Jo, where I actually managed to get all my project life photos in my album and up to date. No pretty bits done, but its a start.  

So that brings us back to week 38 ... and Simon's last week off.  Again, the weather was amazing and actually, one of the hottest September days in over 100 years, and what where we doing? Decorating. We replaced the yellow walls with cool blues and soft whites, and I love it.  Sadly though, we lost our last fish this week, and we've decided to not getting any more just yet.  
My birthday present arrived too this week; Simon got me the boxed Carpe Diem planner, designed by The Reset Girl. Oh I love it.
We also took a quick trip to the little house, as one of Simon's Aunts wanted to visit it.  As you can see, the bears loved sitting on Simon's mum's lap lol.  Work on the Epsom house is going well, we've put a new worktop in the utility room and I got some new autumn cushions from Sainsburys.  The week ended with a friends 50th party, where she had a photo booth and I managed to get a photo of some crop friends, who were enjoying it.

There you have it, a little catch up. I apologise that I've not visited your blogs over the past few weeks. No excuse, I've been bad at blog reading, but I really hope to get my act together now.  I'm still trying to get the house back in order after the decorating, and have a few touch ups to do, but I promise to try and take the time to catch up with you all.  Thanks for sticking with me on this photo heavy post.