Home Tour - Part I

Now that the Style At Home magazine that we were featured in has hit the stands I can post the pics that the photographer Brett let me have and do a little home tour of my own.

The house is a semi and was built in 1970, so perhaps not the most attractive of houses. This pic is actually one of my own as the picture used in the magazine was taken before we added the wisteria and baskets - the house looks much better with those simple additions.

I've wanted a wisteria for years, and finally got one this year. It seems very happy in its pot and has grown like mad. Fingers-crossed for flowers next year. We have large flower beds either side of the path and we tend to favour the "wildlife" look!!

We had a "new" front door this year - when I say new I mean it was out of the skip from the house across the road!! They had all new doors and windows and so we asked to have their old door.

One of our favourite changes to the front of the house this year have been these vintage 1930's garage doors:

Our garage door was a sad, broken, up and over and we looked for a set of secondhand doors like these for a while. They were going for silly money on eBay but I found a two sets being sold together on Gumtree so we bought both. We kept this set and sold the others on eBay for almost as much as the two sets together had cost.

Mr G and his Dad had to cut them down a bit to fit and then was under strict instructions to paint them in Farrow & Ball's Green Blue - I really am just addicted to all shades of duck egg blue, I didn't really realise how much until I saw all the photos together and I think some shade of duck egg/aqua/eau de nil makes an appearance in every room!!

As you come into the house you enter the little porch:

You've seen my patchwork wall before, all made from wallpaper "samples" (ahem) I procured from a DIY shop and so (other than the paste) the wall was free.

Previous to this we had a nasty, dark 1970's door - this one was from the tip (it's one of my favourite places to shop!!) and is painted in my own mix of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP).

The blanket is a lap blanket (didn't have the stamina or money for any bigger!!) in Jane Brocket's starburst flower pattern. I'd love to do a huge blanket but I have very little patience.

The standard lamp was given to me by my Stepdad - I was meant to do it up and sell it - and painted in Old White ASCP, the shade I recovered. Same goes for the hexagonal mirror but that found its home here as well. It looks a lot tidier in these pics than it ever does IRL!!

You can see my duck egg fetish continues indoors!!

The sofas don't really go with the decor but they are comfy and practical - they were a cast off from my Mum (who is obsessed with changing her suite every five minutes!!) I'd love a velvet chesterfield one day.

The pressed flower picture is actually my wedding bouquet and it hangs among floral pictures found at car boot sales and some embroideries done by myself and my Mum.

The sideboard (or "Mouse Organ" as we call it due to its resemblance of the same from Bagpuss!!) houses all the the TV and media gubbins and is painted own Duck Egg ASCP and gilded with a bit of gold Rub And Buff.

The footstool/coffee table was a plain orange pine coffee table from the tip. Mr G sawed down the legs and I added foam and fabric to upholster it (since this pic was taken I decided the fabric was too wishy-washy and I've redone it in pink tartan wool).

The stool under the window was kind of found on eBay - I was looking for a stool to paint and crochet a cover for and found what looked like the perfect one on eBay. As I looked at the picture I thought "I recognise that kitchen" - it was my Mum selling it!! So she of course gave it to me....

This sideboard is a 1930's one which we got from the tip for £8 and is painted in Old White and Duck Egg ASCP. The lamp base was £1 from a boot sale and I covered the shade in vintage fabric. The clock belonged to my beloved Granddad (who you can see with my Nanna in the photo next to it). The portrait is of my horse TC - Mr G had it done one year for Christmas.

The other end of the lounge is a bit of a non-room now. Before we had the conservatory across the back of the house it was the dining room. It's now a bit of a walk-through but does house the computer (to the other side of this pic) in a hideaway cupboard where our eldest H spends most of his time.

The radiator cover was from eBay and the chairs from the tip. The book wreath I made out of a copy of "Gone With The Wind" following a tutorial I found on Pinterest. Mr G made the shelves from MDF and moulding and I had to wait 9 months for them!! I added the little "shades" to the fairy lights by covering plastic shot glasses with scrap booking paper.

This is the other side of the room. The sideboard and computer hideaway were both from eBay and are painted in Paris Grey ASCP. This chair was also from eBay and I reupholstered it (badly) in patchwork - it actually lives in the conservatory and was just popped here for a picture.

In the background you can see a gramophone that belonged to my Dad, he had always wanted one and when he bought a pub he finally got one.

In this photo you catch a glimpse of my vintage tea trolley which was from Freegle and I sprayed in cream.

I was going to continue with the rest of the downstairs but this post is already rather long so I'll leave it there for now!!

Thanks (as always) for reading

Hugs,

S x

All photos (except first two) courtesy of Brett Charles Photography....

 

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Log Cabin Tales - Part One....

As you know I am very lucky to have my own sewing room. However, we only have a little 3 bed semi and so by having my own space it means the boys have to share a room.

Initially this wasn't an issue, they always shared and didn't want their own rooms. In fact up until they were about 10 & 12 they shared a double bed - it started when they were really little, we would go to check on them and they would be sharing the one bunk and so we had to buy a triple sleeper with a double bed on the bottom for them!! 

The spare room was a huge mess so when I started crafting I claimed it as my own which meant that when (typically!!) H and W decided they wanted their own space they had missed the window of opportunity.

We briefly considered moving but to make it worthwhile we would need a B-I-G mortgage and we always maintained we would rather have a smaller house and more money than stretch ourselves for a big/fancy home. Our neighbours raised four girls in their house and so we should be able to manage our two!!

A loft conversion is impossible as the pitch of our roof is so low and so I am super excited to tell you that we have decided to put a log cabin at the bottom of the garden. It'll be my sewing room and also somewhere Mr G can work when he needs a bit of peace (i.e to be able to do conference calls without the kids fighting, dogs barking and parrot squawking in the background!!) This means W will move into the third bedroom and everyone will have their own space.

Our budget is pretty small (about £4000 total) and out of that has to come the complete cabin and concrete base so I was delighted (after a LOT of research) to find the Parijs log cabin by Tuin:

Ignore the nasty orange woodstain - ours will be my favourite duck egg blue....

Our garden was what sold the house to us being approx 75ft long and having four beautiful mature trees at the bottom:

Unfortunately, 3 of the 4 trees are ash and sadly in the last couple of years they have died. 

We rarely use the area under them and have in fact moved the table and chairs (partly due to bird poo!!) onto the grass and so that area is going to be perfect for the cabin:

The trees need to be removed and so some of our budget has to go on tree surgery. I'm sad the trees have died, but they now need to come out cabin or not as they will become dangerous if the weather is stormy.

Our (builder) friend J from my stables is going to lay a concrete base once the trees are out.

To the right if the area was a shed that was full of C-R-A-P and barely has a floor anymore so yesterday Mr G and W set about clearing the area - they made a pile of scrap metal for J; a pile for the tip and last night had a fire with the wood - we ate our dinner by the light of it and toasted marshmallows so now the area is ready for the trees to go:

What a mess - still, it always looks worse before it looks better!!

Those areas of hardstanding have to be broken up, a retaining wall made and then infilled before the concrete is poured to create a perfect level base.

The cabin is 5m x 3.8m and will come to about 30cms before the railway sleeper, but we will still have plenty of garden left:

So, the cabin has been ordered, the tree surgeon booked and work on the retaining wall and concrete base begins on Monday!!

In the next few weeks I'll keep a record here of all the goings on....

Hugs,

S x

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Style At Home Magazine Feature!! It's Out!!

You may remember back in may our house was photographed for Style A Home magazine? Well, im excited to say that we're in the October issue now in the shops!!:

I've had to pinch the above picture of a friends Instagram feed as we haven't seen a copy yet!! We were meant to get a preview copy but it hasn't arrived and despite it being out in some areas, I've just rung all our local shops and no one has it yet!!

I know they've posted this blog address as I've had some new followers and a couple of the lovely messages from people - so if you've found me via the magazine WELCOME!!

Hugs,

S x

 

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Best Friends and The Emerald Isle....

For our holiday this year we made the long journey by car to visit my Best Friend Forever Vicky in County Leitrim, Ireland.

Vicky and Mr G have known each other since they were 2 & 3 years old having grown up on the same estate and I met Vicky when I was 15 and we moved "down south".

Initially, we disliked each other (I thought she was stuck up and she thought I boy mad!!) but Vicky took pity on me when the popular girls started a campaign of bullying and befriended me.

I'm so glad she did as I love her like a sister and we have had some fantastic fun over the years - and I realise despite being in our forties we are still like teenagers when we get together!!

Vicky settled in Ireland about 20 years ago and used to visit home at least once a year so begin with I saw her regularly. Then her parents and two of her sisters followed her over and she stopped coming back over so until I attended her wedding in 2010 I had not seen her for ten years.

Determined to not let it go so long again this year it was decided that our family holiday would be taken in Ireland.

It took 36hrs (including overnight stop in Liverpool) door to door - but oh was it worth it!! Not only is Ireland the home of my BFF, it is just beautiful!!

We stayed in an annexe belonging to friends Martin & Eilish which had the most lovely view which looked different everyday:

On the Sunday, having left our husbands in their respective beds with raging hangovers (they went to the pub on Saturday - Mr G doesn't really drink but found everyone so friendly he couldn't help it - every time he went to the loo two more pints were waiting for him!!) Vicky and I took her beautiful crafts to a little craft fair:

Sunday evening was spent in front of the log burner on Martin & Eilish's patio:

Eilish & I....

Squeezing my Vicky and not wanting to let her go!!

Our visit was all the more special as Vicky is expecting a baby with her lovely husband David:

We have utterly fallen in love with Ireland, the beautiful landscape, slower pace of life and wonderfully generous, hospitable people. We've never been made to feel more at home and welcome.

Our evenings were most often spent tucked on Vicky's cottage crocheting:

In the middle of our stay we travelled south to stay for a night with Vicky's Mum and Dad, Diane and David, who run Ballywarren House - a gorgeous little hotel (when we were kids they had a cottage hotel too and Vicky and I would get into trouble stealing OJ and the expensive couverture chocolate chips by the handful!!)

We took the scenic route south and boy was it worth the extra miles:

The experience was spoiled somewhat by the boys squabbling in the back of the car like a pair of toddlers:

Butter wouldn't melt....

Ballywarren itself is beautiful. My kinda house!! I just love the Georgian double fronted look:

We were there on the 25th anniversary of Mr G and I getting together:

It was really wonderful to see Diane and David again!!:

Inside Ballywarren is the most wonderfully cosy, country house:

Diane is a fantastic cook and following a wonderful dinner we settled into our lovely room for the night:

The next morning we bid our farewells but not before the obligatory photos:

We headed back north to spend a few more days with Vicky before all too soon it was time to return home.

For a week or so after we got home we were seriously tempted to move to Ireland we fell so in love with it. House prices are currently very low and over there we could afford a really large house with several acres of land.

However, I would find it too hard to leave my family (despite having what feels like family over in Ireland) and so it's just a pipe dream!!

Phew, this has been a biiiiiig post!!

Hugs,

S x

 

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Went AWOL There For A While!!....

Hello my lovelies!! It has been almost a month since I last posted on my poor neglected blog so today I am going to do a bit of a round up for you.

Since I last posted we have spent a week in Ireland visiting my BFF Vicky. I met Vicky at school when we were 15 and she has known Mr G virtually their whole lives as they grew up on the same estate:

We forgot the real camera so just inferior phone pics I'm afraid!!

The trip deserves a post of it's own so I'll save the rest of the photos until then.

Three days before we travelled to Ireland we had a bit of a shock. We arrived at the stables to find one of my horses dead in the field :0(

Ironically, at 22 years old he was the youngest of my four and one of the ones that was still fit enough to still be in work so it was a huge shock to find him laid in front of the field shelter lifeless. He was still warm and hadn't been gone long. We think it was a heart attack.

I am consoling myself with the fact that he went quickly, with no illness, in his home with his herd mates.

That's the trouble for we animal lovers, they just don't live long enough and it's heartbreaking when you have to say goodbye....

In more cheery news I finished my ruffled shawl:

It was shamelessly copied inspired by my dear friend Cuckoo at Tales From Cuckoo Land but alas it does not look anything like as fetching on me as it does on the gorgeous Cuckoo - (I've just showed Mr G the pics of Cuckoo in hers and he said "Yeah well she's tiny" - not exactly confidence boosting, eh?!!)

I think I shall keep it for wearing over my nightie when I want to do the full on Victorian thing.

I've also just completed another of my home embroideries - just a sneaky peek here as its yet to go off to its owner:

I'll be back soon to tell you all about the beautiful Emerald Isle....

Hugs,

S x

 

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