TEXTURES IN THE HERB GARDEN

Above - Thyme

The herbs are nearing the end of their growth this year. Autumn is on its way. Cooler weather and less sunlight is not necessary the best conditions for growing but despite this, they still have a beauty.  

Above - Wild Marjoram

We grow sage, thyme, fennel, rosemary, marjoram, parsley, mint and few others in the Summer months.  With the aid of Photoshop, these images show what we are growing at the moment.

 Above - Fennel

Above - Sage

 Above - Oregano

AN OLD FIND

Everything has been stripped out of the kitchen and utility rooms. They are bare except for lots of dust and rubble. 

On the wall that the cooker was in front of, we found this...

Am I the only person to get excited about finding old wallpaper?

  

We believe it's from the 1940's, but would like to find out more information about it.  I've done some investigations myself, and found nothing specific.  If anybody has an idea of who produced it or what age it is, we'd be very interested to know.

Above is a detail of the carrots.

How glum do these fish look?

A closer look at the strawberries in a bowl and below the bowl in relationship to the bottles. I like the way the wooden shelves with chains interlink with each other and the various still life sits on them.

The closest wallpaper (below) similar to ours was found on The Vintage Galaxy . It's described as beautiful antique piece of block printed wallpaper, hand printed dating back to the 1940's. 

The colours, style and printing technique are very similar to one found in our kitchen, obviously the subject is very different. 

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.

2014 WINNER OF THE GREAT INTERIOR DESIGN CHALLENGE

Congratulations Sarah on winning BBC2's final of 'The Great Interior Design Challenge' tonight.

Sarah Moore (41, vintage homeware designer) was one of the 28 amateur interior designers to take part in the show. She wowed us with her unique, always original and very stylish designs. A lot of repairing, a bit of restoring, lots of upcycling of furniture and rooms....a very talented lady. 

I have really loved watching the 12 episodes of this series and have some new insights into interior design.
An inspiration for The Manor House especially as I have some time on my hands now this programme has finished. Can't wait for the next series, if there is one!!!!

INSPIRATION FOR OUR KITCHEN/UTILITY ROOM

I'm a big fan of Paul Massey's restoration and renovations projects.  His style is a bit shabby chic mixed with a muted restrained palette, lots of white, soft browns and grey. It's a combination of aged vintage pieces softened by crisp white... something that I would like to achieve for our house.

The photos below are not from houses that Paul has renovated (well I don't think so) but are very much 'in keeping' with his style.  It is a style that I would like to draw inspiration from for our kitchen/utility room especially the bottom left image.  White walls, grey cabinets, shelves and white Aga....gorgeous.

KITCHEN INSPIRATION

With thoughts of 'doing up' our kitchen and utility room this year, my eyes and mind are drawn to inspiration for it.  

This kitchen is one of those that I am inspired by.  It's from the serial house renovator and photographer Paul Massey's home in Primrose Hill.  His philosophy of restoring, repairing and renovating a building is in keeping with ours.  I much admire his taste and skills.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

PAINTED WHITE PICTURE FRAMES

They're up at last.........

the painted white picture frames......

and proudly hanging in the hall on the landing to the spare room!!!!

These were the frames back in April of this year, waiting patiently for a little restoration, small repair and a new lease of life .  Having bought two of them in France at a brocante and the other two from a souk in Marrakech, I had plans for new glass, paint and some thing to put in them.

  

(above) These are the frames laid out on newspaper on the dining room table. Matt white paint was used, the same as on the walls.  I felt this was important, so that the frames 'melt into the walls' making the image more prominent. The detail on the frames won't be missed by being in white.

What to put in the frames? - well that was easy. My children have hinted that we don't have any photos of them around the house, so the wall in the hall will become a gallery of photos of them over the years.  We will need to buy (or find) some more old frames to complete the whole wall but excited to follow it's progress.  

CONSERVATORY - BEFORE AND AFTER

Conservatory details  - new glass replaced, wood repaired, new stone floor added and inside & outside repainted.

                                      (after)                                                   (before)

     (after)                                                                                                      (before)

      (after)                                                                                                      (before)

       (after)                                                                                                                              (before)

     (after)                                                                                                         (before)

CHARITY DOG WALK

Photos from the charity dog walk....

A great time was had by all including the dogs!!

THE LOUNGE

The Agents photo of the lounge as we found it back in Spring 2008...



The lounge (or drawing room) sits at the front of the house in the Regency part, hence the high ceilings, cornice and large deep sash window.  It over looks the front garden and beyond to the church. Twin French doors lead to the conservatory.

(before/above) A leak from outside had caused severe damage to the large deep skirting boards and window surround.  A local carpenter managed to copy the existing woodwork and replace with new.

(before/above) All four walls were in a terrible state - cracked, lumpy and very bumpy.  Even though we wanted to keep as much of the house as original as possible, it simply wouldn't have worked to just paint them.  We made the decision to have all the walls re-skimmed and re-paint.

(before/above) We took down the book case (at the right-hand-side), so that the fireplace would be the focal point of the room. The original fire surround was in excellent condition, simply painting it was all that was needed. The 70's Baxi burner was removed and the wood burner stove was added for extra warmth in the winter. (after/below)

 

(after/below) The window has secondary double glazing.....very ugly indeed.... in time we hope to restore all the sash windows.

Sanding, repairing, staining and varnishing floorboards; new radiators, updating the fireplace, skimmed walls and re-painting of the room.