Monthly Archives: August 2013

The borders are coming along nicely. The cardoons (best pronounced in a Scottish accent) are in bloom and are full of drunk-looking bees, and the buddleia is living up to its common name (butterfly bush). Heaven.

A reclaimed brass door handle and escutcheon for the front door.  It was surprisingly tricky to find a chunky handle but here are my beauties waiting for the joiner (our neighbour) to fit at the same time as draughtproofing in preparation for demolition of the porch.  Naturally they were from Ebay sellers, but they were reasonably priced (£50 and £5) compared with reproductions.  Ebay is my new Pinterest, and luckily we don’t have a van as otherwise we’d be swamped with impulse-bought furniture we don’t need and can’t afford :).

PS N you said you’d painted the front door, can we have a quick snap? x

Okay, so it’s a year since I scrubbed and gave the bathroom a mini makeover. It’s going to be old and tired before I blog it – and I think I was waiting for it to be perfect. This past couple of weeks’ blogging has made me start to appreciate what we’ve got rather than wishing it was better. So here are our efforts.

It’s our main bathroom but on the small side (N, you have the right idea converting a spacious bedroom into a luxurious bath).  We also have a quirky sloped ceiling that accommodates the stairs to the second (or third if you’re American) floor.  And the walls and ceiling are covered in spiky artex.

Mostly this quick fix involved elbow grease, a lick of paint, some new lino, a loo seat and a sealant gun.  I’ve spared you a detailed photo of the stick on plastic bath seal removal; suffice to say it felt like the family of six who lived here had left half their epidermis stuck behind it, and the taps were stuck to the bath with rust.  Our wonderful fixer man fitted a new cheap electric shower and replaced the taps (worn and rusted gold plate) with Screwfix jobs (the ‘C’ has already worn off the basin tap but at the price I paid I’m not surprised). Total cost about £300. It’s still a bugger to clean (textured tiles and limescale) but it doesn’t feel so much like my student house circa 1998!  The vases etc I already had and the picture is wrapping paper from Rockett St George.  Here’s what it looked like before…

N, your bathroom is flippin’ gorgeous, but if I stop saying I can’t wait to have one like it then I hope I can enjoy this one a little more :).  x

We are spending a lot of time outside at the moment. In lieu of a cool outdoor kitchen or decent barbecue we have fired up the camping stove. I love the solid, functional calor gas bottle and cast iron stove even if it wouldn’t win any interiors prizes. Add 6music on my new  80s-style DAB radio, fresh thyme for the risotto, and sunshine (and perhaps a glass of something cold, dry and floral) and I’m very happy indeed.

Finally found a piece of furniture for a nook we’ve been trying to fill for a while – a Nana Smith donation – thanks Nana!
With wedgewood porcelain teapot candle holder, skull candle I’ve had since I was a teenager and refuse to burn, TKMax lamp, charity shop porthole brass mirror and a print we bought from society6.com.
Nx

Patterns, sunshine and a coat rack revamped with leftovers from painting the kitchen cupboards.  Makes me smile every time I potter past to the garden. Ironing board from Wilkos and bag 3 quid from IKEA.