First day at playgroup

This is a rather momentous day for us as Ewan has started playgroup today - off into the big world all on his own!  

He's not the most outgoing little chap so there were a few No Nos when I said I was going home and he would be there on his own but I am sure he will have fun without me.

This is his best smile for the camera!

Now, what shall I do for the next 2 hours??  So far I have made soup and had a cup of tea but there must be better things I could be doing!

Floors, doors and daddy's little helper

Firstly, welcome to my new followers!  I hope you enjoy my blog.

Well, over the weekend we cleared out the dining room and kitchen in preparation for the long awaited flooring to arrive.  As I write, there is a man fitting plywood to the floor ahead of the new flooring being laid tomorrow.  I am beyond excited!  I have been waiting since about October to get the flooring done and finally it will feel like something is finished!

We had a bit of a revelation whilst clearing out the room - to move the table below the skylight.  You know when you think of something and just can't believe you hadn't thought of it before - well, that is exactly what I thought when hubby suggested it.  I also can't believe he thought of it before me!

So, what else did we get up to at the weekend.  Well, hubby was painting the front door and his little helper just had to take his tool box outside and sat happily drilling, hammering and sawing on the path for ages!

You'll see the new larch cladding where our ugly porch used to be.  I am not totally convinced about it yet, but it is meant to weather to a silvery grey which will hopefully be a bit less garish.  It is a vast improvement on the porch that was there and once we paint the front of the house it will all be much lovelier.



By the middle of the week I should be able to show you the new floor... till then,

Have a good week,

Michelle 

Bedroom Inspiration

Things are moving along with the house so my thoughts are turning to how I would like to decorate our new bedroom in the loft, or upstairs, as I keep telling our 2 year old to call it as it is no longer a loft but part of the house!

I seem to be in a grey phase and I love the coastal look of this room.  I think the light is perhaps a bit close to the bed though!

This is my favourite inspirational picture.  It was in Ideal Home magazine over the winter and I just love everything about it.  I love the grey tones, the piles of comfy cozy things on the bed, the vintage hooks on the wall and the luggage rack complete with old suitcase by the window.  I don't think I ever got round to telling the story of rescuing an old suitcase out of a neighbours skip did I? Well, I did exactly that and it is now in our garage waiting for a good use along with a broken table that I also fancied.  I did ask permission before taking them!

This is how our bedroom looked a few weeks ago but things are progressing so not too long till we get the paint brushes out and then get moved in to our new room. 

New kitchen revealed

So finally, here is our (almost) finished kitchen!

The colour is a Dulux Classics and is called Graceful Green.   I am really pleased with it, the photo doesn't do it justice at all.  I keep trying to take a better one but photography clearly isn't my strong point.

We have yet to get the flooring put down as we have decided to wait until the builders are finished tramping through the house.  They are currently converting our loft so it is all go again!

I am so happy with our lovely new kitchen!  Oh, just realised I have put some accessories up since this photo was taken.  I now have my pretty Emma Bridgewater Polka Dot clock up in this wall space.

I can't quite believe that this was our kitchen last year at this time...

Next project ... the loft conversion.

Pop up Shop

This is me with my Phoenix Trading card stand at Blair Castle Horse Trials in Blair Atholl last week.  I had great fun setting up my little shop for 4 days in my tent, sorry, marquee! 

The weather was a real mixture with glorious sunshine one minute then pouring rain the next so I was in my wellies for 4 days! 

I had all my usual cards and bits and bobs and I met some lovely new customers and had a lot of comments about how lovely my stall looked.  I love to make things look pretty so really enjoyed setting up my displays.

I even started selling some Christmas cards and other accessories!  Eek, it's only August!

So, this is what has been keeping me busy for the last few weeks.  Now that I am home I can get back to painting the dining room!

Michelle



New Kitchen

How we started off back in March.

It has gone from this...

 

to this...



We are nearly finished our new kitchen extension, hurrah!! The builders finished off yesterday and now it is up to us to get all the painting done.  More on that another day!

Here is a sneaky peek at the kitchen as it looked this morning.  Once it is painted and floored I will let you see it in all it's glory! 

It is so much better than I hoped it would be and has made a huge difference to the house, making it feel so so much bigger already.

We opted for Ikea units and I think they look good.  I especially like the tiles which we deliberated over for a long time but am so glad that we took the plunge and chose them.

The tiles are tumbled slate and are all different colours and look very natural.  They go a treat with the paint I have chosen too!



This is the old kitchen! It does look slightly better now than it did in this photo as it has all been replastered.  We have added a skylight to let more light in which has proved very successful.  The sun comes up this way in the morning and it will be a lovely bright breakfast room.  More to come on this room later as we got a second hand dresser this week which needs a paint makeover. 

Still a lot to do but I feel like we have made a massive amount of progress over the past couple of months.  Must go and do some painting....

A digger in my garden...

Firstly, I am very sorry for not posting for a while but I have been pre-occupied with the work going on at our house.  Anyway...

I had a lovely Mother's Day and was treated to this lovely breakfast.  I wanted to show you the lovely tea for one teapot which my little boy gave me.  (Chosen with a bit of help from Daddy!)  It is perfect as it is all my favourite colours and I just love my cups of tea.

That is Ewan sticking his little finger in my breakast!

You're probably wondering what has been going on in the house?  Well, firstly I want to say thank you for all the advice about door handles v door knobs.  We decided on handles in the end! Mostly due to the fact that there was a better choice available.

All the new doors are now installed and waiting to be varnished.  The whole look of the house is much improved and I am so glad we chose this design. 

You might also notice that the walls are all white now.  In our living room anyway!  We finally stripped off that old wallpaper and painted everything white to freshen it up before we are able to properly decorate.  It is amazing what a difference a coat of white paint can make.

A reminder of how it used to look!

We are delighted that work has finally begun on the extension.  The old sun porch has been torn down and foundations dug out and some bricks laid.  The workmen are putting timber joists in today so we are glad that the weather is still good.

Ewan has been enjoying watching the men at work and particulary liked the digger being in the back garden. 

Work is going well so I will try to get some more photos taken soon and keep you updated!

Thanks for visiting my blog and welcome to my newest followers!
Have a lovely day,
Michelle