A Rapid Transformation

Since putting the curtains up, we became more and more dissatisfied with the browny-grey colour of the dining room walls. We bought a new paint sample in a lighter grey, and also tried the same white that the cladding is painted in (bear in mind we are not neutral people!) and just hated both of them. This room is a problem because in the morning it gets bright sunlight, but for the rest of the day has no direct sunlight, so although not dark, it needs a warm colour to make up for lack of direct light. Because the kitchen was completely tiled before we ripped it out, we'd just painted the dining room in the colour that best complemented the adjacent middle room, which is a gorgeous yellow. But because the three rooms are interlinked, the new colour for the dining room walls had to go with what was already there. Well I finally had the obvious idea of painting it the same colour as the kitchen, and its been a roaring success!Its gone from a room I didn't particularly enjoy spending time in, to a vibrant, smile inducing space in perfect harmony with its adjacent rooms and really enjoyable to sit and eat in (or to sit and write a blog post in!).

Unfortunately, because of the shape of this back area of the house, its hard to get a good angle which encompasses the whole space, and I also took these photos while Noah was having his nap, so they are rather rushed, but you get the general idea. Oh, I also have only put one curtain back up because, due to my perfectionist tendancies, I can't bear to look at the other one hanging there and awkwardly rumpling because it's slightly too long! It will be reinstated when I've taken it up.

 View from the middle room

From the kitchen (try to ignore the stripy high chair!)

 Our old Ikea shelves which I painted with acrylic eggshell to tie in with the cladding and kitchen shelves. They're not finished yet - the top shelf needs some things added.

 Nigella Lawson spoons set

 Photos on the ledge. 

We're currently deciding what to do with this wall. We don't want to hang pictures again and make another disaster, and I quite like the photos just sitting on the ledge, but Marno still prefers the idea of putting photos, though not the current ones, up. We'd do a uniform wall using the same frames, two parallel rows of six frames if we do do it.

 Close up of the ledge
 

 Shelves detail

I got this absolutely gorgeous card in Nest Vintage Living in Cardiff. I won't link because I'm sure I've mentioned it before. Its by Sally Swannell, and she has the most gorgeous selection of her prints as greetings cards. I had to but this as it just made me feel happy and warm inside. Everything about this print just says warmth, love and contentment. I'm hoping to get a pretty frame for it at some point. What a fab and cheap way of bringing art into your home - just buy it as a card (though this image is printed on high quality card, so you have to be a bit choosy).

Have a beautiful weekend; the weather's meant to be gorgeous here!

xxx Sam

Pants Party!

I was trying and trying to come up with an innovative title for this post, but this one stood out the most for me, so I just want with the simple and obvious choice. Last weekend I went to a pants party!

Well ok, actually that wasn't exactly it, and and it was by no means limited to pants. It was a very old friend of mine's hen do, and she chose as her Saturday activity to do a Vintage Knicker Making Party, arranged by my lovely, also old friend, Carly (who's blog I've just discovered here). We collected in a room at the Tobacco Factory in Southville, Bristol; an absolutely fantastic location for any workshop of this sort. The room was large, bright and airy, with ample space for ladies and sewing machines.

The lady with the headscarf in a 50s housewife style was one of the teachers (not sure if that's quite the right word - sounds like we were at school). All three of the teachers were fab, friendly and helpful.

We basically were given a choice of loads of gorgeous fabrics from which to cut our knicker pattern. They were cottons, not your usual stretchy jersey kind of fabric. Then we drew around the template and cut out our pattern, sewed the gusset together, including a little jersey cotton for the gusset, chose our elastic to complement (or not!) our fabric, sewed it on and sewed the side seams, et voila - 21 pairs of knickers!

Me in action
I'm astonished they managed to get 21 people to make pants in such a short space of time, especially with such a vast range of experience. Some people hadn't done any sewing since school, and I didn't see one pair of knickers that wasn't at the least a very good effort. Everyone was really imaginative. I also couldn't believe we had to sew elastic, since although lots of people may have sewed before, sewing elastic onto a piece of fabric is not necessarily something they will have done. I only did it in the last couple of years.

Many embellishments were made

A small group of pants

A large group of pants

 

My pants

Well I'm pleased to report that my pants fit perfectly, thank you very much. What a totally fab idea and fun way to spend a morning. Also, it was the first time I've left Noah on his own for a whole night and day, which was both liberating but also clarifying, in terms of reminding me who I am now; a mummy to a lovely little boy, who has priority over anything I may wish to spend my time on. This was a very enjoyable treat but I'm certainly happy to wait a while to do the things I want to, when I want to, again (just don't be a little monster tomorrow ok Noah!).

x Sam