Doors chosen but which handles?

I have wanted this door since I first saw it advertised in a magazine.  It sums up the sort of house I want to live in and maybe, just maybe, by having this front door our old house will start to feel more cottagey than dated bungalow!  We don't have the lovely oak porch but we will have some larch cladding on the walls either side of the door. 

We've chosen the Dordogne style for our interior doors.  We were debating whether to paint them or not but have decided to leave them natural oak and will just wax or oil them to try to keep the natural colour.  Since deciding on these I keep seeing them everywhere! I thought I was being so unique but obviously not!

We'll have two glass versions of this door too.  One into the new dining room which is a very dark room as light will only get in from the kitchen window at the far end of the room.  We will also have our inner porch door with glass to let in as much daylight as we can into the hallway.  I do love these doors!

The only thing we have yet to choose is the door handles.  What a dilemma!  I quite like the idea of having door knobs but I seem to be alone with that option. Chrome or brushed steel? Backplate or not? Who would have thought there were so many decisions to make.

Fun at the beach

Yesterday we took our little boy to the beach for the first time.  Well, the first time since he could walk on his own in the sand and he loved it!

We got all wrapped up in our waterproofs, hats, scarves and wellie boots ready for our adventure. 

I can't wait until the weather gets a bit better and we will be down at the beach all the time.  We are so lucky to have this so nearby.

Ewan would have stayed there all day if we let him.  He actually screamed when we had to leave!  By that time though his mittens were all covered in sand and his waterproof suit was being tested to its limits!  What fun we had though.

Learning to sew with Jo!

I have spent a lovely day with my good friends Jo and Julia, both of whom I used to work with.  Jo invited us to her house for a sewing tutorial and lunch! It was a great idea as we got to have a good old chat, lovely lunch and learn how to make this lovely pincushion.

It is a little mini topiary tree and was great fun to make even with my limited sewing skills.  Jo had to help me out with a few tricky bits! Too much talking and not enough concentrating on the sewing perhaps!

I got to choose fabrics from Jo's vast (and I mean Vast!) collection of scraps.  That in itself was a thrill and I would have been happy rummaging through the scraps all day.  I had to choose 8 segments for my tree and then sew them around paper templates.  I then went about sewing them all together to make my tree top. Next task was to make a felt pot filled with rice and stuffing (not the food type, the wadding type!).  And here it is the finished result.  The trunk is green felt covering a straw with pipe cleaners inside it to give stability to the tree.

This close up shows off my not so great sewing but I am very pleased with it for a first attempt.  The joy of creating something so pretty on a rainy Saturday afternoon really lifted my spirits.  For loads more crafting loveliness check out Jo's blog - Bearpaw.  You can also see the cute little house pincushion which Julia made and there is a full tutorial if you fancy having a go yourself.  Have a lovely weekend!

Michelle