Bantams

OK, so there was no point in hanging around - we got 3 little Pekin bantams. :-) They are snuggled up in bed as I type and are so so cute. I love Pekin bantams, they are so friendly and intelligent. They don't lay as much, but we're not fussed about that. My friend had one that was so clever it responded to its name. We chose a white one that looks like a mini light Sussex, only not horrid (not a fan of the light Sussex as you can tell!) - this colouring is Columbian. We also chose one with the 'partridge' colouring (the classic Pekin bantam colouring) and a speckled black one. Here they are settled into their new home. We haven't quite decided on names yet, I love the classic names like Mavis, Ethel and Enid though. :-)

R.I.P Margo

I have been exceptionally busy this past week, 2.5 days in the US for work and then all the preparation before that. It's all been worth it because I have made friends with the client (she is so nice and invited me round her house while I was waiting for my flight), got an exceptional score for my performance management at work, have had so much support from fellow colleagues singing my praises. :-) It's all been a bit of a whirlwind. Unfortunately, I have come home early today to find my beloved chook Margo has ventured into the large chicken house in the sky. Poor little thing.

R.I.P Margo, we had some good times. You were my best friend when I had some treats for you, came and sat next to me when I had a cup of tea in the garden (only so you could have some no doubt), were an all round cheeky chicken and we shall miss you! :-( Still, life goes on and poor old Jerry will need some company so we'll be popping round to see the bantam man up the road and asking if he has 2 or 3 bantam hens going.

TTFN,

Sian x

What do you do when you have 8 eggs to use up?...

...you make the most delicious homemade vanilla ice cream of course, and then go and eat too much of it and feel sick!

I bought a new camera this week! I'm so excited and can't want to get out and about and use it. I'm planning on taking it everywhere I go so hopefully it will encourage me to keep a record of more things and take some more creative shots rather than "quick, where's the camera" point and then click. I bought it thinking that I will have design projects to work on and I imagine I will be using friend's home's to practice my interior design skills on so it will be good to be able to use a tripod and take proper shots. I already have a few people who are keen to let me use their homes to practice. If you fancy letting me loose on your home and you live in Sussex or Kent let me know! :-)

A lot of front...

I painted the door in this delicious Dulux Victorian colour last year, but it had cracked where the door was a bit damp when I painted it so I had to fill it again, sand and then repaint it this week. I love to make the front look nice and I adore wreathes all year round. I think they look so pretty (much like the eternal bunting I have around the house!). I bought this heart twig wreath and the doormat from docomgiftshop for a very reasonable price. The house sign also arrived today so it's all coming together now! :-)

Thanks for the nice comments on my new site, it's wonderful to have the support of fellow bloggers. I'm setting up a 'magazine' as I call it where I hope to be able to put together a collection of pretty things that I have seen on the web, in the shops and through other very talented bloggers. If you would like to be featured on my blog then do let me know.

Here's one I made earlier...

[MDF blanks available here.]

What do you do when you have 2 MDF blank tissue boxes, some old postcards, a bag full of ribbon and trim, and some potpourri flowers?...

You decorate the boxes of course and make a garland! :-)

First of all I painted the tissue boxes in a Laura Ashley French Grey sample pot. I bought a cheap scanner and printer recently (HP PSC 1350) and had a brain wave that I could scan in all the lovely old postcards I have collected and use them to cover the boxes. One tissue box I have covered with all the old postcards of our village, and pictures of our house (printed out in sepia) and a photograph of Tim's grandfather. I also printed out some words in "Lucida handwriting" font and stained the paper with a tea bag to give it that aged look. I think I might add some old coins, notes and stamps to this at some stage, but I'm pleased with how it looks.



[Tim's box with his grandfather's picture on and a note saying "Tom ___ - beloved grandfather".]

[Girly tissue box, ironically in "mansize".]

The other box is a bit more girly, I used gathered broderie Anglaise around the rim, and all the Victorian flower postcards to decorate it. The faded blue velvet ribbon (I love it when it goes like that) is a ribbon my grandmother gave me - I remember having a dress with some of this ribbon on and my mum using it to tie my hair! :-)

I've decided I'm going to make a few more of these and also some trinket boxes, it's a great way of show casing collections of things without having them tucked away where no one can see. You could also cover these with old knitting/sewing patterns, maps, stamps, ration books, train tickets - the list goes on! It's great fun anyway so go on, have a go!

When I ordered the runner I also decided to order these scented flowers (below), which were in the sale. I've been looking at these for a while now because I thought I could have a go at making my own garland. At £7.83 I thought why not, especially as the garlands you see in the shops are usually between £15 and £20. So here's the first one I made around the mirror. I have also made another one with lace (glue drying so no photo yet). Not bad really for £4 each and they smell lovely!
[£7.83 in the Laura Ashley sale.]

[Tie them onto to cheap 5mm white ribbon and you have yourself a nice garland.]

Interior rearranging - edit

I've been doing a bit more rearranging in my own house. I popped into my local antiques shop this afternoon and found some lovely things. I got a box for Tim to elevate his screen (looks better than having books propping it up!) and 2 very old wooden tennis rackets to go up in Tim's office. I also bought this lovely corner cabinet to house my blue and white china tea set that Tim's mum gave me. In total I spent only £45 (much cheaper than anything I saw on ebay)!

I decided to rearrange the landing to make the best use of the space and to make it look really pretty and welcoming. I already had the enamel jug and the child's chair was Tim's when he was little. I also had my specially made DVD storage cabinet so it was just a case of relocating the mirror and putting down the new runner from Laura Ashley (cost £45) and the new corner cabinet (£27).

Before



After


Oops, almost forgot to show you the lovely house sign I had made by this lovely lady. Please do go and visit her store on ebay. I bought a secret garden sign from her to go onto the gate into our veg plot and she has kindly made a new house sign (our current one is looking a bit shabby) for us for £14. It looks wonderful and I can't wait to put it up! :-)

Old and tanned or young and fair - which is it?

This is a topic that I am really passionate about and I find it hard not to get involved when people say things like "I don't use sun tan lotion" because to me it's utter lunacy! I was shopping in Waitrose recently and I was making conversation with the lady at the checkout about the extortionate price of the sunscreen (hardly encourages people to use it does it?), when she replied 'I don't use it, I tan so I just use moisturiser' so I said 'well you really should use something, it's not good for you' - well that went down like a tonne of bricks! I mean, has she been living in a cave for the past 15 years - does she not know that we all should be using some level of sunscreen? This is the common misconception you see, you think that just because you have dark hair and tan you are somehow invincible, but of course you are not. Aside from the obvious health risks, 5 years of tanning when you're young and care free well surely you'll be paying for if with 40 years of looking like an old shrivelled up prune? Half of these body beautiful types wouldn't need botox or face lifts if they only used a bit of sun block.

If you really must go in the sun then I would recommend a sun block of at least factor 20 for all skin types and also a good tip is to take vitamins A and E because these vitamins can help destroy the free radicals formed from UV exposure.

For me, I prefer to loosely model myself on Liv Tyler! ;-) She proves that fair can be beautiful.

Nursery and interior rearraging

[Rosie on her new chair.]

Hi everyone, I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I know I have! I've been doing some of my favourite things - interior design and shopping. :-)

I went to Bristol to see the OH's parents and pick up the lovely chair and chest of drawers they got for us. We went to Ikea because my little sister is pregnant and they don't have much money so I thought it would be nice if I went and got them some things to kit out their nursery. They don't live in a period cottage and pretty, girly and beige are not her thing, so I thought the brighter the better! It's so much fun working with colour. I bought a multi-coloured rug, I did pick a similar one up in the children's department, but it was 4 times the price. As soon as you add 'children/baby' to the description of an item it's like a license to print money! In total I got a big rug, a cute bright green bug light, some bibs, a few round bright round rugs, a big pack of face clothes, 2 x shelves and brackets, a clock, a toy store, a rat toy, a set of bunting print single bed clothes, a really pretty hot air balloon mobile, a blanket and 2 rolls of fabric (plus some tea towels for me, paint brushes, and 2 rugs) for £77! I also found a few things in my stash that I can give her, including some baskets to sit on top of the shelves for storage of wipes, nappies etc, 2 white hand towels, a pair of blue and white curtains, a cream lampshade and my brightly coloured quilt that I made a while ago (perfect size!).

[Ikea booty.]
[Lampshade from my stash jazzed up a bit.]

[2x bright picures to jazz up the cream walls.]

[Felt picture - I spotted this big canvas in my craft room this afternoon and had a brain wave that I could use some felt to make a children's picture. That's rosie there :-).]

I made the above pictures for her nursery very quickly and simply just to brighten up the cream walls and to match in with all the lovely bright colours. As I was taking this picture I noticed the quilt I made earlier in the year behind it, which would be the perfect size for a cot quilt and will look lovely wih all the other colours.

On Saturday I helped the OH's mum with a little project of hers, this lovely grey 1950s unit (already painted in this pretty colour) looks lovely from the front, but there was no proper side to it so we use some old white melamine and glued it on. I also helped rearrange the end of the room to make it look relaxing and welcoming, and to try and make the most of the views of the garden.

In the sitting room, OH's mum originally had brown on the walls and rather muted colours, which aren't really her style and also are a little bit dated now. She had already painted it pink but it needed just that something extra to bring it all together. I had seen this multi-coloured rug on Hen's blog and it reminded me of her lounge so when she said she had been looking at it for a while too she decided to bite the bullet and get it. I think it all looks wonderful now. We also painted the wooden frames of some of her pictures in the bright green.

[Sitting room: Before]
[Sitting room: After]

[Dining room]

See, it just goes to how that you don't need to spend a lot of money to improve the look and feel of a room. A simple bit of rearranging and repurposing things you already have can have the same effect.

Old and new

[New fairy lights.]

Hi everyone, I'm settling in nicely to being off now for 10 days! :-) So far I have played a round of golf and actually did surprisingly well, been to visit a lovely golf club in Ditchling, sanded and painted the front door, organised for loads of things to be delivered, and got a gardener to come round. No, I'm not posh, but I just do not have the time to look after the garden as well as it deserves so I'm going to see how much it costs and what advice they can give me.

Anyway, I have been accumulating magazines over the last few years and last night I fancied reading a magazine in bed rather than looking on the internet. I gathered together some summer magazines and came across this issue of "Country Homes and Interiors" magazine. I remember admiring this lovely house in particular and nearly fell out of bed when I realised it was Kate Forman's house (at the time I had no idea who she was). Isn't it lovely? I mean, I wouldn't want ALL my furniture painted white like hers, but it really suits her style. You can see that she has done it on a shoe string also which makes it that much more achievable for us mere mortals.

I have bought lots of things lately, but not had the time to open the packets (terrible isn't it?) let alone share them with all of you so here goes:

I ordered these pretty flower fairy lights from Dotcomegiftshop, which is great for little bits and pieces. I also ordered this door mat and pretty twine heart to go on the door. Thought it would jazz it up a bit. I've also ordered some of this fab frosted film from PurlFrost, you can choose from a range of period of contemporary designs. I've decided to have the name of the house and a border in the glass window above the door. I thought that way people won't be able to see in when you walk down the stairs! We had one made for our old house and I was so pleased with it I thought I'd order from them again.

[New plant pots.]

[New picture from Debbie's English Treasures.]

[New door mat and twine heart.]

[Wonderful window film from Purlfrost.]

I also bought this pretty picture for the guest room, which is rapidly turning into the flower room! I guess it's where I can have an experiment with that Kate Forman shabby chic style, I don't think that look goes as well with the copious amounts of original wood panneling (I can't bring myself to paint over 150+ year old wood!) and exposed bricks throughout the rest of the house.

[Guest room - too girly and shabby chic? I'm undecided.]

I've found some great companies over the last few days, 1 of them is this great carpet company: Crucial Trading, they do some great jute carpets for £11 a metre. I'm thinking of getting the whole of the downstairs done with this because it's natural, hard wearing and looks really nice. We lifted up the carpets and we do have sanded and waxed really lovely floor boards (they look like cherry wood or something like that), but having lived in a house with floorboards and knowing how cold and noisy they are I have decided against them. Besides, we don't have gas here and the house gets very cold indeed in the winter so having carpets is far more energy efficient.

Now onto some more goodies - Tim's mum went to a house sale and picked up these beauties for me, aren't they lovely? For very cheap too! A lovely solid oak chest of drawers and a nice chair. :-) It's great too because it means that my sister can have my old blue chest of drawers for her nursery, the tp can then double up as a baby changing area.

[My blue chest of drawers will now sit in my sister's nursery]

Ooh, before I head off - I've got a place at college to study a city and guilds in Interior Design, I was a bit down hearted because it was touch and go whether they were going to run the evening course, but they are now and I'm so pleased! :-)

Anyway, I'm just about to settle down for lunch. Enjoy the rest of your week! :-)