ROCKING CHAIR

Can you help me out with a dilemma...

do I paint this rocking chair in a dark grey or leave it as it is?

THE COMMON FOXGLOVE

The common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is one of my favourite flowers and suits an English country garden so well with it's grace and elegance.  It's stems are tall and stately, thrive in light shade and are known to attract bumblebees to the garden.

  

It's immaculate tubular flowers hang either side of the green stem, inside are tinged with speckled dots. They come in a variety of colours from purple, pinks through to white.

The foxglove's in our garden are in abundance this year. Conditions under an apple tree are favourable. There is adequate light and moisture. Foxgloves are biennial, producing flowers its second year. We have planted them two years running to have them next year as well, in the meantime, we must enjoy these ones this year.

 

APPLES, APPLES AND MORE APPLES

Apples galore........we've so many falling in the orchard.

There's more than we need unfortunately.  Some we use for stewed apples to add with our breakfast cereal. 

Some are made into simple Crumbles or delicious apple cakes and lots are collected in a basket for neighbours to use.

 The rest are left under the trees to be recycled by the insects and birds.

LIGHTING FOR KITCHEN

The kitchen renovations have begun...... and already there's so much dust, rumble and decisions to make. 

One such decision, is the lighting that will go over the island.  We've chosen to have two pendant lights, that will illuminate the area designated for sitting at. 

I saw these inspirational ideas on Remodelista - old kitchen utensils transformed into light fixtures.  I'm not sure if any of these would be right for our kitchen but love the re-use of something that is no longer needed.

Above: Funnels - Photograph by Christine Bauer.

Above: A Vintage Pendant Lamp Whisk by Etsy seller Modern Artifact Decor of Eugene 

Above: Vintage Jelly Mould Pendant Lights by UK bespoke lamp makers Folly & Glee from Not on the High Street.

These are designed by Baileys Home, made using recycled wine bottles cleverly chopped in half while the other half becomes a tumbler. Great idea.

 

In all honesty, as much as I love all the ideas using something recycled and re-used, we'll probably go for similar to the above - ceramic rise and fall coolie from Baileys Home.

CLOAKROOM TOILET (UPDATE)

Once the renovation of our cloakroom toilet was finished, it was time to decorate it with some interesting 'bits and pieces'.

We found this gorgeous head in one of my favourite shops, Baileys Home.  Their principles are recycle, reuse and repurpose found objects....and that's exactly what we did.  We call him Bailey and he sits on the window shelf in the corner beside a glass jar with twigs in it.

 What could be more simple and perfect?  

CLOAKROOM TOILET (UPDATE)

We had a room called a 'boiler room' when we moved into our house.  It housed the huge monstrosity that heated the house and gave us hot water.  The boiler was very old and on its 'last legs'.  

After numerous call-outs from the plumber, it was decided that we had to replace it with a new and efficient one.  This then lead us onto what to do with the room.  We decided there was enough room to make two rooms from the existing one.  We finalised on a downstairs toilet and cloakroom for coats and shoes.

(above) The boiler room before we renovated it. 

The floor needed raising to add waste pipes for the sink and toilet.  We added a reclaimed pine wooded floor, walls and beams were painted Timeless white, new double glazed wooden window and recycled door with frosted glass as well.  

To keep with tradition and in the style of the house, we chose the sink and toilet from Burlington.  Taps are silver plated from Beaumont and again a traditional shape. The mirror came with us from our old house and fitted in so well with the colour scheme.  My lovely sister gave us the twig heart for a Christmas present.

Stepping back out of the toilet room, there is a door to your left.  This opens into the small but very useful cloakroom which now has the original coat hook that was originally in the house when we moved in. Sanded and painted in white, has given it a new lease of life.

CLOAKROOM HOOK

The Chinese are obsessed with the number eight.  It's associated with prosperity......the more 8's the better.

We have incorporated its auspiciousness into our lives.

A metal hook, originally from a Great British Railway Station waiting-room with the number 8 on it, now upcycled and reused for a towel to hang in our downstairs cloakroom.