Living room before and after...

We bought our house 4 1/2 years ago and it was in a state. Apart from an eighties extension it hadn't been touched for 40 years. The thing that we liked about the house was the floor plan, location and the garden (although the garden was knee high like a meadow!)
EVERYTHING on the inside needed changing!

Sadly, whilst researching images of red hair whilst I was summoning the courage to take the plunge with my blond locks a few years ago, my computer got a virus and had to be wiped. I'm pretty sure we've lost all the pictures of how bad it was when we moved in here, unless my husband has them backed up somewhere and he's too busy to look.

I did find the brochure from when we bought the house though, and I found this charming reminder of the living room...

Imagine if you will, aluminium double glazing, oh yes, the kind that creates condensation on the frame when it's cold. Then secondary glazing too so there are no window sills left. All panes of glass were orange with tobacco.
Burgundy brushed nylon curtains on aluminium tracks. The rather dated green carpet I've shared before
The walls and ceiling were peach. Well, they were white with tobacco staining. It was funny, but it never smelt smokey in here, despite all the evidence of heavy smoking. Perhaps because the house had been empty for a year? 
The door, like all the others, was green with tobacco staining too.

We also had a gas fire with a back boiler that was condemned shortly after we moved in. As we needed to redesign the whole central heating layout and get several quotes this meant our first* winter without heat. And it just happened to be the coldest winter since time began. Or something.

It was very similar to this one. Without the glamourous surroundings...

It was removed when the central heating was put in leaving a hole in the wall.
One Sunday morning I went on ebay and spotted our now fireplace which was here in town. The seller described it as stone and it was a 'buy it now' for £30.
I quickly emailed him in a frenzy of excitement to try to clarify it it was 'real stone' or 'stone coloured'. When he hadn't got back to me four minutes later, the suspense was killing me and I bought it, just in case someone else did.
And it was stone! The man had taken it out of a newish house as they wanted a log burner and he just wanted rid of it.He even brought it round for us for free.
I am very jammy. (You can hate me a little!)

Firplace: ebay, crates: flea market and boot sale, mirror: charity shop, wall colour: Dulux York White

We did have to get a new granite hearth as the one that came with it was too long for our chimney breast, but I sold the original one. Probably for £30! Haha!
We also had to get a gas insert and get it all installed which was seven or eight hundred, but that £30 fireplace has to be the best ebay bargain EVER.

We put in new windows after a wooden frame fell out. My husband phoned me  in such a flap as he thought I'd be devastated but I wasn't surprised at all. The windows were rotten and we had penetrating damp upstairs. We actually still do thanks to the astonishingly bad work that was done by our window installers. (I'm talking about you Safestyle UK.) But I'll save that for another post.

New windows meant real windowsills for the first time. Oh the joy!

So here's the before and after, pretty much the same angle.

(demolition?)

Er, forgive the Xmas tree. There is currently a 'spare' dining table in the way...

Dresser: ebay (was pine)

Leather chair: junk shop (it was pink!) Sewing table: facebook local selling page, Cushion: home made

Laura Ashley Stowe curtains: ebay,  Radiators: B&Q, rug: ebay, suite: ebay.Tv stand charity: shop (needs painting...) wicker fishing creel (toys): fleamarket.

Cupboard: ebay, Moppe drawers: boot sale, Lampshade: under construction!

Sofa bed: Ligne Roset, ebay. Not loving the green but we can't change it yet...anyway the cats wreck it. Hence patchwork throw! This is where I blog!

There's also another armchair and a desk behind the door that I've not pictured...

So there we have it. I sill have to paint all the skirting in here and fill some cabling holes. The light is falling off the ceiling and I started building a unit next to the fire and er, stopped again. But this is the most finished room in the house and I'm mighty proud of it and how far we've come.

(* We had two further winters without heat but only when temperatures dipped below freezing and the pipe which comes out of the loft got frozen. (Often!) This has now been fixed and we've had our first winter without the heating cutting out at all! Thank you British Gas for your pipe heating element installation! )

Linking with Ta daa Tuesday at Faith, Hope and Charity Shopping

and Whimsical Perspective: Your style in Pictures

Norah Wellings sailor doll...

I found something really cool today. This little doll:

I got it for 15p in a charity shop in town. I could tell it was old but I didn't know much about Norah Wellings. A short while on the interweb told me that these sailor dolls were made to be sold on the cruise liners before World War 2 and they bore the ships names on their hats.

RMS Carinthia made her maiden voyage in 1925 from Liverpool to New York. She was part of the Cunard White Star Line. She stopped being a cruise liner in 1939 when she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser and was torpedoed and sank the following year with a loss of 4 lives. The fact that the ship took 36 hours to sink probably is the reason only four died I would imagine.

A huge amount of these sailor dolls were made by Norah Wellings who started her working life with Chad Valley before starting her own company with her brother. Some are more valuable than others. I don't know if they score more points if the boat came to a sticky end.

 This one has it's original label and is in very good condition. I would imagine it's worth rather more than 15p. When I find out and sell it, the charity shop will recieve a decent donation. It is a childrens charity after all.

Don't you just love charity shops? You never know what you're going to find and what you can learn. And where else can you get anything for 15p?!!

Linking with Me and My Shadow: Magpie Monday

and Blackbird has Spoken: Op shop show off

French number planter...

Well, I have finally finished the planter.
First of all, the plant that I got for the planter:

...was £18.50 from our market or two for £35.I didn't think this was particularly bargainous until a few days later, we went up to the garden centre for lunch and I saw what they were charging. Theirs were £59! Each! That is a staggering difference! I've noticed before that you can pick up little plants from the market for a fraction of the price at the garden centre but that's incredible.

Hitchin market rocks.

Having said that, this hasn't been a cheap project as even the smallest tin of gloss paint isn't cheap.

It was painstakingly slow as I could only do one coat of paint a day of the primers and the gloss which needed two coats. I decided not to use a reverse stencil technique because of it needing two coats. I'd have had to peel it off whilst the paint was wet to avoid cracking the paint and then reposition it exactly in the same place. Nah.

We blew up a photo of our French house number and used that as the number, rather than trawling through number fonts for a match. I drew it onto the front of the box and painted around it.

I found a Dulux colour that was a good colour match too. Even though I painted in a nice smooth line, the paint bled over the line slightly which gave a slightly fuzzy look. You can really only see that up close though.

So let's look again at the before pictures...

and my inspiration...

  and the after...

 Wehey! A tad smarter. It would of course be much better with a matching blue wooden door...another thing for the endless list of home improvements! One day...

I normally like a bit of symmetry but with the down pipe and its stonking great aluminium cover right by the door, it never really worked having a pair of plants, and this way I think it looks better. Not a dead plant in sight.

But that pipe still needs painting...

Linking with Family Home and Life: Wow us Wednesdays

and Savvy Southern Style: Wow Us Wednesdays

Mothering Sunday

I took a break from the boot sale this morning as it was snowing out. My husband is working in London all weekend so we're going to celebrate mothers day next weekend with lunch out and/or breakfast in bed. At six years old, my daughter can't pull that off on her own.

I did get this lovely card.

 

with a lovely promise inside...

 I will hold her to her promise next weekend! 

March is a bittersweet time. It's the month of my mums birthday, mothers day and is around the time she passed away so she is in my thoughts a lot at this time of year. My first mothers day as a mother was my first without a mother. But I am truly blessed with my little girl. I know she has a special guardian angel watching over her.

 I always get daffodils for mothers day as they were my mums favourites. My daughter cracked me up when she asked me what I'd like and I told her daffodils she said she had actually planned on buying me a stone pheasant!?! Okay...

Wishing you all  a happy mothers day if you are a mother, have a mother or have lost a mother.

Revamping a sewing table...

 Can I just start by saying thank you for all the comments on my last post? It's so nice to share my excitement at my boot sale finds with like minded people. In the days before blogging I used to put things on facebook and I don't think anyone really got it.
It's funny that you can have more in common with people you've not met, than friends sometimes. Yay for blogging!

The planter is coming along far too slowly. As I'm working in oil based paints I can only do a coat a day so I had to start something else in the interim. Paint the skirting boards? Nah!

I picked up this little vintage sewing table a while ago and unlike most things I bring home, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.
Here's the before:

Oopsie! I forgot to take a before shot, so it has a few paint strokes on the bottom! You can't see here but the top has suffered some damage to the finish.

As it's dark wood I wanted to use milk paint, and I'm delighted to tell you that it worked a treat this time. Lots of chipping!
I'll spare you that process as you've seen it before.
I thought I'd share with you the interior refurb.

Eew!

The interior had seen better days. The lid also had an upholstered section.

I ripped it all out.

I kept all the sections and drew round them on clean card.

Then I cut thin wadding the same size as the card and new fabric slightly larger. I used linen (from the boot sale) for the fabric.

The card is in the middle in this photo.

At this point I went to make a cup of tea and returned to find Fat Freddy 'helping' me.

I think he was protesting because I wouldn't give him a second supper. 

I secured the wadding to the card with loops of sellotape, and folded the edges of the fabric around that, glued it and pegged it.

 I mitred the corners and did the same with the other sides.

Once all six pieces are dry I put them all in place with lots of glue. I stuffed the inside with books to hold the edges tightly while the glue dried.

Some braid (charity shop find) finishes off the edges.

All clean!

The lid

I know this hardcore shabby look isn't everyones cup of tea, but no matter how choose to refurb the exterior, you needn't be put off by a dirty looking interior. It's so easy to re-do it.

These old sewing tables are plentiful at the boot sales.
You can also use this same technique to line jewellery boxes. 

I'm really pleased that something finally went to plan and it turned out just the way I wanted it to. Yay!


Linking with Ta dah Tuesday at Faith Hope and Charity Shopping

 Transformed Tuesday at PJH Designs One of a kind & Vintage

 Elizabeth & Co.: Be Inspired

 Knick of Time Tuesday

 Miss Mustard Seeds Furniture Feature Friday

and Funky Junk Interiors SNS

The early bird catches the worm...

It was a 6am start for me as usual this morning. It always feels wrong getting up before the heating comes on and before my daughter is awake.

Want to see what I found?

 

Exciting to me! New paintbrushes £1 each.

 

Large unused fabrics 50p each. Two are Laura Ashley and similar to mine and Little Nells homemade Laura Ashley bridesmaid dresses. 

 

It's just the reverse colourway. I'm the blond above. 

Anyway, I'm making a rag quilt and those fabrics will go into it.

 I got all these vintage darning threads for 50p the lot. I don't believe in darning at all but the packaging is so appealing...

 

...I couldn't just leave them there!

Best of all: this vintage eiderdown! £8. It was all wrapped up in plastic, and the lady wouldn't let me open it to inspect it, but assured me I could bring it back and get a refund if it was holey or stained. (It's not.)

 Thing is, she'd labelled it as a single and it's definitely a double! So it was even more of a bargain. 

                                    Beautiful vibrant colours! Definitely worth getting up early for!

                                          This week in a charity shop I picked up this. £1.50

I might be the last person in the country to read it but honestly! £7.99 for a paperback? Really? I'm out of touch! I thought £1.50 was a bit steep!
 I've heard very mixed reviews so it might be on it's way back to the charity shop pronto, but if it's any good, you might not hear from me for a while...

I've warned the husband!

I've been working on an exciting project that I'll be back to show you soon! Happy Sunday x

Linking with Magpie Monday at Me and my shadow

and Op shop show off at Blackbird has Spoken

Kerb appeal... (or lack of it.)

For about a year now, the front of the house has been decorated with a dead holly bush. Nothing says 'welcome' like a dead plant. The other living holly bush is not looking great either. The flag has been left out since the jubilympics. And someone failed to paint the end of the down pipe. That was before we came. I painted the whole exterior with scaffolding but didn't do the pipes.

With spring finally here I figured it's as good a time as any to tart up the front of the house.
I found this inspirational wooden box at this mornings flea market.
It was £4. That probably means they're £2.50 from Ikea.

 

Well, I say 'box' but it has no bottom. 

That's OK. I'm going to stick a plant in it and I figured there's less chance of it rotting with no base. 

Here's a plant I got at the Friday market:

 

 Very alive!
So here's the plan. Taking inspiration from my French enamel number:

I thought I might paint the bottomless box in the style of a French enamel sign with our house number on it!
Now, this might not be as simple as it sounds. I fear the box has been oiled so I will have to use a high adhesion oil based primer and suitable paints for exteriors.
It could be an epic fail.

But it could just add a little much needed elegance. Cross your fingers for me dear readers!

I'm on a roll...

I'm on a roll of projects not turning out as good as I'd hoped.
First my brothers curtains were not as symmetrical as I had expected.
Then my own simple curtain shortening was anything but.

I thought I'd get on with my Ikea Bekvam step stool and guess what? It's turned into something really uninspiring.

Let me refresh your memories of the step stool as it comes...

I decided to begin with staining it walnut as I wanted to use my milk paint for a bit of hardcore shabby chic, and I like the wood that shows to have a strong contrast with the paint.

So here's the walnut:

 

Already looking better I think as the wood takes on this richer tone. 

Then I mixed up my milk paint and started to paint. Several coats later, NOTHING was happening. Not a single hint of a crack.

I blame the unfinished wood. I hate to waste my milk paint on things that go wrong. It's very expensive, whether you buy it here in the UK or import it yourself from Canada to save some money. I could have used a tester pot of emulsion from Wilkinsons for the same look. Nice smooth paint. I made it really thick and there was no change.

Distressing therefore doesn't look beautifully natural and chippy, just a bit forced.

I was hoping for some of this:

And I ended up with this:

Meh! Nothing special.

Anyway, there are plenty of other ideas on pinterest if you're into colourful, floral, or work that people are actually quite proud of.