Home Tour - Part II

We continue our tour today with the kitchen and conservatory. Before we had the conservatory across the back of the house you would have been looking at the kitchen window above the sink and the back door to the left.

In 2007 we splashed out and had a large conservatory/sun room put along the back of the house.

We had wanted the peninsular knocking out and the kitchen to go out into the new extension but due to budget restrictions we kept the kitchen where it was.

What you may not know is along with the photographer magazines send a stylist and she "set up" the house for the shots. In actual fact she didn't make many changes at all but she did move the microwave out of the shot above - it usually sits to the right of the sink. I didn't want to put it back afterwards as it does look much better!!

As usual with us the kitchen was done on a budget - I designed the layout myself and ordered the cabinets online.

The cooker was an eBay bargain, I toyed with the idea of spraying it (duck egg?!!) but it fits in ok. I do detest the stainless splashback though and would one day like to tile it. Incidentally, we never use those Le Crueset pans, another "set up" by the stylist!!

We did have a hood above the cooker but as well as not working it was a grease magnet and also stainless steel so I persuaded Mr G to take it down and put up some open shelves for me (why do men detest putting up shelves so much?)

Now into one of my favourite rooms in the house - the conservatory:

This is the room we spend most of the day in. Mr G works at this end at the dining table - he's a Technical Project Manager and much of the day is spent at the laptop and on conference calls.

Some of the bargains here include the table which cost £10.50 and the chairs £40 (both from eBay). I painted the chairs in mismatched Annie Sloan ice-cream colours. The lamp was given to me out of a friends skip.

The tall cupboard houses the washing machine beneath and the "pantry" (oh how I'd love a real pantry!!) above. I painted the Coca-Cola sign myself.

The sofa is one of my sister's cast offs and came all the way from America - it's seen better days now but is very comfy. We have had three of my Sis's old sofas and now joke that we should go with her to buy to make sure we like it!! She has in fact just ordered the most gorgeous sofas from Laura Ashley so I'll be glad to rehome them for her in a few years!!

I made the cushions and the plates are an assortment from eBay and boot sales. The coffee table was from eBay - the legs are painted in Annie Sloan's Old Ochre.

My favourite spot is the right side of the sofa - it's called "Mummy's Corner" and where you'll find me if I'm not in the sewing room.

The conservatory is home to my dresser. This was one of my Mum's cast offs (I'm lucky in that I have relatives who change their furniture every five minutes!!) and came originally from BeWise of all places. I mixed some Annie Sloan Chalk Paint to make the blue it's painted with and added knobs decoupaged with Cath Kidston.

We have a few heirlooms on here - the rose tea set belonged to Mr G's Grandma; the cutwork plate was my Nanna's and the cruet set belonged to my great Aunt.

The Cath Kidston mugs hung here are, in actual fact, all broken!! The first set I had were duff - developing hairline cracks and all broke within a few months. Cath Kidston replaced them after a bit of a tussle and I glued the salvageable ones as they are still pretty.

Despite the multiple chins I'll include these pics - I like the cats in this one:

And this one where I am chatting away!! I hate having my photo taken but photographer Brett made me feel very at ease.

So there we have the downstairs - small but perfectly formed? I must admit until I saw the photos all together in the pages of the magazine I didn't realise that the colour schemes were so similar in each room - I guess because as you walk around the house you don't see every room side by side as you do in the magazine!!

Next time we'll venture upstairs - but we'll skip the tatty stair carpet!!

Thanks for reading....

Hugs,

S x

(All photos courtesy of Brett Charles Photograpy)

 

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Christmas 2012

I've slipped up somewhat this Christmas as I neglected to take many photos. Partly due to Mr G and I waking up with colds on Christmas Eve and thus we didn't really feel 100% - I was very glad my Mum had offered to host Christmas dinner and I didn't have all of the prep that it usually entails.

This meant we had a quiet Christmas Eve, of pottering about, nipping up to the horses, watching movies and drinking festive hot chocolate (made with real chocolate, double cream and whole milk - delicious!!)

I was excited to open my Instagram Christmas swap - we had all decided to open them Christmas Eve:

How beautifully are they wrapped?

I got such a lovely selection of goodies - my IG friend Claire really spoiled me!!

I was pleased on Christmas Eve when W (aged 12) humoured me enough to put out cider, mince pies and a parsnip (we had no carrots!!) for Father Christmas and Rudolph.

H (aged 14) was having none of it however and I find it sad that he'd rather be on his own in his room than with us :0( - releasing those apron strings is hard....

Come Christmas morning W was raring to go at 7.00am and so we trooped downstairs, all be it sleepily, to see if the big man had been.

W was delighted to receive an iPad:

H got a new graphics card and big new monitor for his PC and Nannie got him a fancy headset:

As part of our bid to prevent H becoming a hermit we have his PC downstairs in a hideaway cupboard so he is at least with us. He chats all the time to his friends whilst playing and so it's not quite as insular as it may sound. I think we have had to realise that teenagers socialise in a different way to how we did when we were kids and a lot of it is via technology.

Mr G spoiled me with an AirPrint printer so I can print from my iPad without having to bother him (I've been having to email whatever I want printing to him and then usually wait an age for him to get around to it!!)

It's white so blends in with my sewing room:

He also got me a big hardback sketch pad; a bottle of Cosmopolitan; some lovely fancy soap and a deer head!! Yep, after all his objections he gave in and got me a little one!!:

Mr G and I repaired back to bed for a couple of hours before it was time to leave to go to my Mum's.

My sister and I had all brought some components of the meal and it all came together to make a delicious dinner after which it was time to open presents:

I got some lovely gifts including:

Kirstie Allsopp houses - the big one (from my Mum) is a biscuit jar and the little one (from MIL) has a notepad inside....

Gorgeous electric kettle (yep, electric!!) from my Mum....

Cath Kidston enamel canisters (also my Mum!!)....

Beautiful table runner handstitched with my favourite lilies by my Mum - gosh showing all these shows just how much she spoiled me....

My sister got me a lovely Pip Studio purse (no picture of that), a CK voucher and this:

Isn't it just fab? So retro!!

MIL also got me some CK goodies, my favourite Badedas bubble bath (she buys me a big one every Christmas and it lasts until about September) and some cash which I have spent on a vintage Art Deco dressing table mirror from eBay - will show it off when it arrives.

So, I was thoroughly spoiled.

Boxing Day Mr G and I spent the whole day in bed, alas not in a good way but in a we-feel-rough-and-the-weather-is-vile kinda way.

Christmas is over once again. I'm looking at the deccies and can't wait to take them down - I usually do it New Years Day and just leave the cards up until Twelfth Night. Not because I'm sick of them per se, but because I think when it's over it's over!!

I must confess that I detest the period from Boxing Day to about March and just can't wait for spring. I wouldn't mind if we had clear, crisp, frozen winters but all this rain is just yuck.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas....

Hugs,

S x

 

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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas....

I have been completely slack again and let the time between posts slip once again, but here I am and I thought I would show you how I have made Shabby Chic Towers look festive this year.

The first thing to go up was the tree, this year I have been a sheep and gone for the very popular red and white theme and (for the first time ever) no obvious tinsel. In actual fact, it does have tinsel, it's just matt green to hide the wires of the lights plus a bit wound round the very centre of the tree to give some depth:

(It looks quite rubbish here)

I got some really lovely new decorations from Wilkinsons and Poundland:

To the right of the tree you can see the fabulous nativity scene that my Mum knitted for me before I could craft - my Stepdad built the stable and I adore it:

We also have a lovely little shop all lit up for Christmas that Mr G's Mum and Dad treated us to last year:

The local garden centre has a massive display of these every year and I was so chuffed to get one!!

Since we had the conservatory built across the back off the house five years ago we have had two trees - although I love, love, love real trees we gave up on them the year we had to chuck one out on Christmas Eve because it was as bald as a coot!!

The second tree is not quite as tasteful as the first:

(Not sure what is going on with that errant branch!!)

I decorated my sticks with decorations I had made from the Cath Kidston Christmas Decorations book:

I'd read some less than flattering reviews of the book and nearly didn't buy it, but I am glad I did because I thoroughly enjoyed making the little felt decorations:

I also knitted some little hearts using this pattern from Ravelry, though I "cheated" and backed each heart with fleece instead of knitting both sides:

Other favourites that are new this year are my little stag and gingerbread house:

I bought two and I shall leave them out all year round, even though they are glittery....

From Poundland, would you believe?!!

So that is how things look here. I still have lots of Christmas shopping to do, but most will be done online although next week we are going to have our traditional outing to Winchester Christmas Market.

It's our 16th wedding anniversary too next week and we also need to make a trip with the boys to the garden centre to choose a bauble each, I do so love our traditions - I'd love to hear about yours?

Hugs,

S x

PS My absence has been in part due to my anxiety which is often bad this time of year, I think probably due to the added stress of Christmas....

 

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Boiling Frogs....

Hello again!! Two posts in two days, blimey!!

Mr G has flown to Geneva for a meeting and I've been bored and lonely so I just wanted to show you a couple of things I finished yesterday.

I made myself a new sign for my girl cave:

I also gave a mirror my Stepdad had given me a makeover - he kindly gave it to me to sell, but yet again I've ended up keeping the thing he's given me to sell on.

It was dark, dingy wood and had a rusty chain so I set about giving it a coat of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Old White and then a layer of Duck Egg. I soaked the chain in some vinegar and then scrubbed it to remove the tarnish and after sanding and distressing I added some gold Rub And Buff:

I love how it's turned out!! Because it was to be hung by the chain, I used an idea I had seen in "Period Homes" magazine (that I buy even though we live in a 1970's semi!!) where you drill a hole, insert a rawl plug and then screw in a drawer pull or knob to use as a hook.

I must tell you what Mr G said after her hung it for me, I was saying how nice it looked and he agreed and then he mused "It's like boiling a frog isn't it?"

"What is?" says I....

"All the shabby chic/vintage/floral decor we now have spread around the whole house, if you'd tried to add it all at once I wouldn't have had any of it. But you kind of sneaked it in, gradually" he said "You couldn't add a frog to boiling water as it would jump out, but put it in cold and gently heat it up and it'll hardly notice what's going on"....

I must admit I laughed my head off at this as it's EXACTLY what I've done!! I started off with a bit of Cath Kidston and shabby chic in the bedroom and then gradually spread it around the rest of the house too!!

"I can't remember what it looked like before it was all shabby chic can you?" I said

"Yeah" Mr G said "It looked crap!!"

I think you could say the assimilation is complete!!

Hugs,

S x


 

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A Bit of TLC For The Kitchen

Hello my lovelies!! How're you doing?

This past week we gave our kitchen work tops a bit of a overhaul. We had the kitchen in nearly five years ago now and I still love it, but the oak butchers block work tops were looking sorry for themselves.

Getting them oiled was all a bit of a rush before they were installed and so they weren't as water resistant as they should have been and had gone all black and mouldy looking round the taps and sink area. No amount of scrubbing would make them look better and it made me dislike the whole kitchen.


I got a quote to have them replaced with some engineered stone or granite -£1800!! The whole kitchen only cost £3500 in the first place.

I lay in bed and suddenly had the idea that perhaps if we sanded them, stained them and varnished them it would hide the damage (I don't know about you but I often have fantastical ideas as I am falling asleep but 9 times out of 10 they are ridiculous in the light of day - this was one of the rare good ideas!!)

I emailed Ronseal and to ask if any of their products would be food safe and they advised me to use their Colron Refined Wood Stain and either Quick Drying or Diamond Hard Varnish.

Once we got to Homebase we saw the sample of the shades and realised that we could perhaps skip the staining part as the varnish came coloured and the Dark Oak in the satin finish (so not too shiny) looked perfect.

We gave the tops a quick sand with 80 grit sandpaper using an orbital sander then went down to 180 grit to give a smooth finish and then slapped on the varnish. We chose the Quick Drying and I'm pleased to report it had virtually no smell and was touch dry in 20 minutes. Two coats was all in took:

How good do they look? I wish had a close up before to show you - you can see it if you zoom in on the pics in this post - not only has it hidden the horrid mouldy looking bits, but the whole surface just looks better, a nicer colour and more nourished (despite oiling it always looked "dry"):

As you can see in the above pic I've been making bunting again!! Mr G is not impressed, but I love it!!:

I used some scraps of Cath Kidston Fabric and sewed it onto the lovely Sass and Belle ribbon the boys bought me for Mothers Day.

Now Mr G and I keep walking in and saying "I can't believe how much better it looks" and "Why didn't we do it before?"!!

In other news I've been feeling a bit under the weather the past couple of weeks or so - I managed to crack my tooth clean in half and had to make a dash to the dentist. She thought she could save it and so filled it with some semi permanent stuff but it has been giving me trouble - feeling ouchy when I eat and I've been having headaches which set my health anxiety off a treat.

It's still not great, I'm going back this week and I think I'll just ask her to whip it out!!

Also, I've finished my first ever crochet blanket and will ta dah it next time!!

Hugs,

S x

 

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More Fugly-To-Fabulous, Cath Kidston Goodies & Other Wafflings....

Hello my gorgeous ladies - are you having a nice bank holiday weekend? As usual the weather is vile but what else is new?

On Friday I finished a pair of bar stools that my Stepdad had given me:

They were plain white and I gave them a coat of Annie Sloan Duck Egg and then had an attempt at hand-painting some cabbage roses on the back before sanding them quite heavily. I need to practice those roses!!

Grandma and Granddad took the boys out on Saturday afternoon and they said they were happy to stay when they returned so Mr G and I could go out on a "date". 

We are so rock and roll though that we decided to go out in the afternoon too - we knew come 7.00pm we would just want our PJ's and the telly!!

So we went to Gun Wharf Quays to see "The Cabin In The Woods" - it was the best time to go as the cinema was virtually empty. The movie was excellent, if you like scary films I highly recommend it to you.

Of course, no trip to Gun Wharf would be complete without a trip to the Cath Kidston outlet - it gets all the end of line/sale stock and there is at least 30% of everything. I got a few goodies:

The cute UJ windmills were from The Works two for £1.00 (but they only had three left!!) I also got some CK lace stripe oilcloth; a photo frame; hankie and a pen tin.

On the way home Mr G bought me tulips (from Lidl!!):

Yesterday we had housework to do (boo hiss) and I took the opportunity to sort out my sewing room which was a tip.

Before:

(Instagram pic!!)

After:

I swapped my old cheapy polka dot vinyl cloth (which I melted with the iron!!) for my fancy Cath Kidston Oilcloth - I've ordered a transparent cutting mat as the green one is all stained and yucky (plus green looks rubbish!!)

In other news, you may have noticed that last week I privately accepted my first ad (for Hunters At Home) in my side bar. Since then my blog has been accepted into the BlogHer Publishing Network which place (pre-approved by me) ads and you get paid a few pence per page view - I wondered what your thoughts on ads on blogs are?

Personally, as long as the blog posts for the most part remain personal and real then I don't mind ads on blogs I visit - what I dislike are blogs which have posts which  are entirely about this product or that service and nothing about the person who writes the blog. 

I love blogs like mine I guess, where you are invited into the authors life to share what *they* have been doing - ads in sidebars don't bother me as long as I love the blog content.

I'd love to know your thoughts, while getting a few bob to buy myself a coffee now and again would be nice, I wouldn't want to alienate my lovely readers....

Hugs,

S x