by Helen | Jul 20, 2020 | Lifestyle
Although I grew in the semi-rural North East of England, it’s been a long time since I’ve lived in a house and looked out of the windows and seen fields. The move to Manchester in 1985 lasted until we left in 2017. Thirty two years of city living – and suddenly in Match 2017 we found ourselves in our stone house in the Istrian hills. And, we’ve not looked back. We realised pretty quickly, because we had to start making contacts and navigating our way through a whole new life, that although the nearest supermarket was about 20 kms away, it took more or less the same time to get to it as it could to drive from our house in West Didsbury to Sainsbury’s in Cheadle. But this journey now takes us through medieval towns and past vineyards and to the Adriatic coast. Not the A34…
so, three years on, how’s country life?
Well, it is pretty amazing. We have four distinct seasons now, as opposed to Manchester seasons which largely merged into one. Spring is wonderful here – a switch really does flick. The pattern seems to be a couple of weeks of heavy and sustained rain in April and then all of a sudden, the greenery explodes. By June, Spring gives way to the hot, mostly dry, Summer. Although, we do get intense downpours, accompanied by ferocious thunderstorms – but these are usually gone as quickly as they arrive. Early harvesting happens here – we’ve just had a week of real country activity in the fields next to our house. Combine harvesters arriving first thing and hay bales in place by early evening. The landscape changes a lot in the summer as local farmers make the most of the glorious weather conditions. The weather starts to markedly cool down towards the end of October, but we can still have days when we eat outside. It’s always a sad sight when the greenery begins to drop – but we do a have couple of weeks, when nature puts on a real show of colour, as the reds and oranges take hold. Winter can be cold and damp and wet – but it can also be pretty spectacular. Days and days of bright blue skies and sunshine. And, perhaps what I like the most and expected the least, snow. Deep, deep snow. Making the house look like very Alpine. The added bonus of woodburning stoves makes our house in the country very special at this time of year.
spring
summer
autumn
winter
So, country living. From being city dwellers, with every convenience on our West Didsbury doorsteps, we seem to have adapted pretty well. Although if our current plans come to fruition, we may be moving back to the city. That’s what our nearest town is called by some people around here – although with a population at the last census of 850, we don’t think we’ll be feeling too overcrowded and hemmed in…
by Helen | May 27, 2020 | Renovation
For the first time this year, we made the trip to Pula. Normally, we’d by now, be making fairly regular trips to the airport to pick up and drop off visitors, but this is no normal year. Our first trip, done with a bit of trepidation, was to Bauhaus and Pevex, our equivalents of B&Q, to purchase the garden shed, paint, plants and assorted garden accessories. We paid a fair bit more than we were expecting to, but just thought sheds here might be more expensive than back in the UK – and as we didn’t want to add to the cost with paying for delivery (approx 70 euros), it was monkey-gripped onto the top of the car and driven back. On unwrapping it, we realised why it was more expensive than we had anticipated – it wasn’t a shed, like the ones we’ve had previously. This was desribed as a Dutch Log Cabin and the wood was clearly much, much better quality. Being a very impatient person, I didn;t like the fact it had to be unwrapped and all of the panels and wood laid out, to acclimatise, for two days! However, I was persuaded that we do this right. So, progress has been much slower than I anticipated, but we’re getting there.
First job, once the wood had acclimatised, was to seal the slats which would form the floor, with a moisture proof sealant. Luckily, the weekend was quite hot, so drying was rapid.
The idea had been to position the shed at the far end of the concrete patio, facing the new kitchen window. But, as soon as we placed down the floor to assess the size, we remembered that this part of the garden is on the long to-do list. When it rains heavily, water pools in this area, and we need to drill in drain holes, so we decided against this position, opting for the right hand side instead.
The wall which we’ve been considering for ages, is no longer going to be a wall. We thought we’d made a decision and were going to go for a boundary wall made of those geometric patterned blocks, which everyone had in their gardens in the ’70s. Much as we do love this idea, we decided that if we are going to sell the house, this kind of wall might not be to everyone’s tastes and so we’ve decided that with a few more potted bamboos we can create a thick natural wall – which we can then take away with us, eventually.
By Sunday evening, we’d managed to get this far – but are back on it again today. Once the roof has been installed and the door fixed, all gaps will be caulked before undercoating and top-coating. And then – accessorising…
by Helen | May 19, 2020 | Renovation
The garden area at the front of the house has not really been renovated, as such. It’s certainly been tidied up and areas of it do look a whole lot better, but apart from the addition of garden furniture and potted plants, that’s about it. But, as we’ll be going nowhere very far this summer apart from the garden, we’ve decided that a mini-makeover is in order. At the weekend, we repotted and relocated plants, created a potting table for tthe tomato seedlings and generally did a big clear up. We’ve decided that we’re going for a shed, but this will be customised and shabby-chiced up so that it looks a bit more rustic and vintage style. Along these lines…
I’ve also finally discovered a shop nearby which sells all sorts of wonderful things, that so far I’ve not been easily able to source – old terracotta pots, old industrial and farming bits and pieces, spades, wheelbarrows, watering cans. The kind of stuff that people here would just discard once they’d become redundant, but which I need for our garden. Like they say, one person’s rubbish is another’s treasure. So I’m going to spend a nice day, at the end of this week, hunting out some accessories for the garden, along these lines…
Image : Mari Potter // Unsplash
Image : Annie Spratt // Unsplash
Image : Annie Spratt // Unsplash
Image : Jørgen Håland // Unsplash
Image : Annie Spratt // Unsplash
Image : Lou Ashley // Unsplash
Image : Alex Blajan // Unsplash
Image : Sue Hughes // Unsplash
Image : Philip Moore // Unsplash
The weather is looking particularly summer-like this coming weekend, so I’m by the end of it, we have a rustic shed, painted in a pretty pastel, with a table and chairs outside, meaning that we can treat ourselves to an early evening cocktail…
by Helen | May 6, 2020 | Lifestyle
We’ve been getting very good at using nearly everything we buy food-wise, and reducing our waste massively, and raiding the back of the cupboards for forgotten tins and packets. Most of the meals we’ve been making recently have been proper lockdown larder efforts, using generally what we have. When we do go the supermarket now, we plan ahead and often buy things which we would have considered luxuries in the past, meaning that if we don’t have all of the ingredients in, we have most and can usually find a substitute. This was once such meal this week.
The leeks were quite old and looked a bit ropey and past their best. Previously, I might have looked at them and decided they were too old and binned them. But this time, they were trimmed and a few layers peeled away – plus I kept the ends and these are sitting in water, sprouting, almost ready to planted up. Equally with the packet of smoked salmon – it was bang on its use-by date, by rather than thinking I’d get chronic food poisoning, I decided to be very brave and risk it 😉 I’ve also started buying mascapone cheese to use in sauces, rather than cream, so had a fresh tub of this in the fridge. And, as we always have pasta and white wine, we were good to go…
what you’ll need
- Tagliatelle
- Olive oil
- Sliced leeks
- White wine
- Dried chilli flakes
- Small tub of mascarpone cheese
- Smoked salmon, cut into slices
what you’ll need to do
It couldn’t be simpler. Sautee the chopped leeks in the olive oil, until soft and then add the tub of mascarpone cheese and a glass of white wine. Meanwhile, cook the tagliatelle. Add a pinch of chilli flakes (and black pepper, according to taste). Simmer gently, until the the tagliatelle is cooked. Add the chopped smoked salmon to the cheesy, winey leek sauce and stir. Drain the tagliatelle and add to the sauce. Serve immediately.
The leek mixture is gorgeous once the cheese and wines and chilli flakes have been added. I didn’t add any additional salt as once the smoked salmon was added, for our taste, that provided sufficient saltiness.
A really quick & easy dinner dish, packed full of flavours.
by Helen | May 6, 2020 | Lifestyle
Like the rest of the world, we’ve been living the Covid-19 lockdown, here in Istria, since March 17th. This was the day the country offically started staying at home, although we were feeling the effects before this date. Being so close to northern Italy, we were directly impacted pretty early on. We often travel to Trieste to do supermarket shopping, but when things started getting very serious in Italy, we stopped doing this. We were due to fly to Berlin in early March, but again, we decided against going, especially as the flights were from Treviso. And it’s just as well we didn’t go, as lockdown in Italy came in fully during the time we would have been away, meaning we could potentially have been stranded in Treviso.
From mid-March, schools, bars, restaurants, hairdressers, sporting facilities, theatres etc and shops deemed to be “non-essential”, closed. Everything literally stopped overnight. Supermarkets were still open, but we cut down on the trips out to them. Before restrictions became even tighter, we did a couple of “big shops” – but, it was immediately clear that people here, were taking things very, very seriously. Social distancing was absolutely respected, many people were already wearing masks, numbers allowed in to the supermarket were limited, and hand sanistisers and gloves were all readily available. Staff were all wearing masks and gloves, and the till area was wiped down after every customer. While all of this was happening in Istria, we watched aghast, at the slow response by the government in the UK, and listened to friends and family telling us that it mostly seemed to be like “business as normal”.
Things happened very quickly in Croatia, as the government responded with speed. By Monday 23rd May, travel restrictions had been introduced. To travel outside of your own municipality you needed a permit – this was quite a simple process and our neighbour helped us with the translation side of things and the permit was emailed back quickly. But, you had to state exact day of travel and purpose and ensure that you took the permit with you as police roadblocks were in place. By the following week, this had become even stricter as only one member of the household was allowed to travel. It was decided that I wouldn’t be that person, as unchecked, my shopping would have consisted of “treats” only 😉 This continued for two weeks, with the local administrative body doing the permits, but as lockdown continued, by mid-April, we had to apply for e-permits which were handled by a higher authority. Again, it was a relatively easy process, but it was becoming very clear that the situation was extremely serious.
so, how’s lockdown life been in istria?
In many ways, not a great deal has changed for us personally. Over the last seven or so weeks, we’ve only left the house to go to the supermarket and to have the cars MOTd. Unlike in the UK, there’s no deferring these annual tests and we had to do both cars last week. We were a bit wary at the thought of being out & about, but as we’ve come to realise, people follow the rules here. There’s no flouting and everything is done by the book. So, it wasn’t anywhere near as risky as we feared – social distancing once outside of the car, one car at a time, hand sanitisers, perspex barriers. And, to be honest, it was nice to be out of the house and actually see other human beings!
Our house is in a small village, up in the hills in northern Istria. Most of the properties are owned by people who live abroad, so until March/April time, we don’t tend to see a lot of people. Most restaurants around here, don’t re-open until late March/early April, so we live a pretty self-sufficient life anyway, meaning that lockdown hasn’t been a total shock. We’re in regular touch with family and friends and we’ve kept our website design clients, so always have contact with people. Now that we have fixed line broadband, we’ve also got UK TV, so can keep up to date and keep abreast of what’s going on.
We’re lucky that we’ve been able to use lockdown time very productively. We completed the purchase, just the week before lockdown, of the little property and additional land behind the main house. As our builder can’t come round to make it safe, we’re chugging along doing what we can to tidy it up. New boundaries have also been established and lodged at the Land Registry, so we’re making plans to fence off the whole house, front and back, to give us more privacy.
Lots of smaller jobs, which have been on a long list, for a long time, are being ticked off. Painting jobs are being tackled. A bit of decoupage has been going on, transforming a couple of doors and some shelving…
The window sills in the new kitchen have finally been tiled and grouted – a job which was always put off as it inevitably involved the tile cutter, but both windows have been done and they do look great. I also managed to get my “window shelf” – something I’ve been hankering after for while, since spotting something on Pinterest. This was much resisted by the shelf-putter-upper because he said we then wouldn’t be able to open the window. Yes, we would – the shelf could just sit on blocks and be lifted off when we wanted to open the window. He now likes the potential of an indoor herb garden…
We’ve also rediscovered our kitchen and are now much more likely to ensure that what we buy, we use. I’ve become less likely to discard fruit and veg which maybe doesn’t look as fresh it did when we bought it, and meals are being cooked from scratch. Bread is being baked & we have vegetables and herbs planted up.
Even though we are lucky enough to still be working from home, we do feel that we have more time to be doing more things for *us*. We’re catching up on films, and series we’ve been meaning to watch but never seem to have got round to. It’s taken us until now to get the brilliance of Peaky Blinders and I’m a bit bereft that we’re onto the last series – but rather than binge watching now, we’re restricting ourselves to two episodes on a Saturday evening. Which is how we know it’s a Saturday.
Earlier this week, we received the news that Istria County has been officially declared Coronavirus free, as no new cases had been reported for the previous 16 days. However, the relaxation of regulations is still measured and controlled. From Monday 11th May, bars and restaurants will be allowed to re-open IF they have outdoor terraces and if social distancing measures can still be maintained. We definitely won’t be rushing off to a local bar or a restaurant, but we are heartened that things like this can start to happen. We are horrified by what we see happening in the UK – and just wish we could transport all family and friends to Istria where it is safe.
So, for us personally, lockdown has been a time for planning and preparing. We know that even though we are in a different country, and a country we are still getting used to, we are very lucky to be here. And, hopefully, one day soon – although goodness knows when that will be – we’ll be able to welcome family and friends to our little slice of paradise, again.
by Helen | May 2, 2020 | Lifestyle
This is another perfect lockdown larder recipe. If you love anchovies, you’ll definitely have a tin or a jar or two of these in your cupboard, and everything else is pretty standard stuff standard stuff which most people will have in. It’s a Nigella Lawson recipe, which I did adapt slightly as I didn;’t have absolutely everything, but it turned out fine.
what you’ll need (serves 4-6 so adapt accordingly)
- 2 large onions
- 2 cloves garlic
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon soft light brown sugar
- 12 anchovies (or 1 x 60g / 2oz can in olive oil)
- 15 grams butter
- tiniest pinch of ground cloves – didn’t have cloves so omitted these
- 1 tablespoon water
- 125 millilitres full fat milk
- 500 grams linguine (bigoli, bucatini, perciatelli or other robust pasta) – just normal, bog-standard dried spaghetti
- 1 bunch freshly chopped fresh flatleaf parsley – no fresh parsley, unfortunately, the one thing I think it could have benefitted from
- Salt & pepper
It’s another very easy recipe. We did follow it to the letter, but I’m sure you could do it even quicker by just mixing the onions, garlic and anchovies into the cooked spaghetti, but the creamy sauce did make all of the difference and elevated it a little from just a pasta dish, to one with a bit of a wow.
what you’ll need to do
- Finely chop the onions & garlic and cook, in a little oil until soft, then add the brown sugar and cook for a further 10 minutes
- Chop the anchovies into very small pieces and add to the onion/garlic mix, until they start to disintegrate, then stir in the butter (and the pinch of ground cloves at this stage), followed by a tablespoonful of water
- When it is all combined, gradually stir in the milk, and when it is a puree, take the pan off the heat
- Cook the spaghetti and when done drain, then tip the anchovy & onion sauce into the pasta, mixing it round so that the strands are coated
- Season according to taste
- Mix the roughly chopped parsley into the pasta, keeping some aside
- Serve in warm bowls and sprinkle the remaining parsley over the top
by Helen | Apr 26, 2020 | Lifestyle
There’s nothing more mouth-watering than a strong baked cheese, served with warm crusty bread. It always seems a very decadent way to eat, but in reality, it’s not – it’s just hot cheese. What makes it decadent is what you do with it, and the kind of cheese you use. I think the stinkier the better – we’ve used some cheeses that are so overpowering, they’ve had to sit outside until we’re ready to bake them. But, a good old fashioned brie or camembert is as good as any, especially as these are so widely available.
how we do our stinky cheese
It’s so simple. The cheese (with rind) is baked in its wooden box – this should ensure no spillage, but just to be on the safe side, you could wrap the box in foil. The oven temperature should be 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4 (fan oven 160C) – no higher. Score across the rind on the top of the cheese and push in sliced garlic (or small cloves) and small sprigs of rosemary. Splash white wine over the top, and if you fancy it with a bit of a kick, add a sprinke of chilli flakes.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, by which time you will have a gooey, oozy cheese, packed full of flavour. My favourite way to eat this is dunking in warm crusty bread, accompanied by a dry, white wine. Super delicious!
by Helen | Apr 23, 2020 | Spain, Travel
Tarifa lies on the Costa de la Luz, across the Strait of Gibraltar facing Morocco, in the province of Cádiz, Andalucia. Located at the southernmost end of the Iberian Peninsula, it is primarily known as one of the world’s most popular destinations for windsports. We took a detour to Tarifa on our way back from Seville to Malaga – and were sorely tempted to take a ferry across to Tangier, as we could actually see the North African city from the beach!
However, we decided that particular trip was for another day, and instead explored this Spanish town which we previously knew very little about.
We didn’t really hold out a lot of hope for Tarifa, as during the journey, the rain lashed down and the sky looked ominous, all the way. However, whether it’s because of its location, and so the weather was blown away, or it has a micro-climate, the day was bright and sunny when we arrived. Albeit, a bit on the breezy side.
The season hadn’t started when we visited, so the expansive beach was almost empty. And, wow – it was windy! It was easy to see why wind-surfing and kite-surfing and a plethora of other beach/wind related sports are so popular here. We spent a good couple of hours walking along the beach and then through the Puerta de Jerez – the only one of four medieval entrances remaining – into the densely packed maze of whitewashed houses and pretty squares that is Tarifa’s old town. Again, it was relatively uncrowded, but the bohemian, chilled vibe we’d read about was certainly in evidence. Surfer shops, shops selling ethnic and North African wares and small tapas bars and restaurants, which often looked nothing from the street, but were clearly very popular, even out of season. A rain shower drove us into one of these restaurants – not the best looking one, and perhaps a bit jaded decor wise, but wow, the food was amazing! Especially the patatas bravas with rocquefort dressing. No photographs, apart from one, as we forgot because once it all arrived we were utterly consumed by the tastiness and inventiveness of the dishes.
by Helen | Apr 22, 2020 | Interiors
Decoupage or découpage is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and other decorative elements. Commonly, an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from purpose-manufactured papers.
Our internal doors are the pretty basic DIY store four panelled ones. They are on the list to replace, but we’ve not got round to bit of the list yet. They have all been painted a very soft pale blue satinwood and new handles have been fitted, so are OK for the time being. However, over a couple of rainy days we were sorting our holiday box – the one where receipts and tickets and maps get chucked at the end of a trip, always with the intention to do something with these memories. Sorting them all on the concrete table in the Well Room, it suddenly came to me – why not use them to decoupage the inside of the downstairs bathroom door?
materials used
In my usual gung-ho way, I just decided that I knew what I needed (listed below), so if you’ve not done this before yourself but fancy giving it a go, perhaps check online in case I missed out something crucial. Although to be fair, I’ve gone on to decoupage other surfaces in the same way, and they’re all fine.
- Paper Maps
- Wallpaper paste
- Scissors
- Small paint brush
- Clear varnish
- Small sponges (one to smooth out any air bubbles and the other to dab away any errant wallpaper paste)
I decided to use just the maps, cut up, as was finding it too fiddly to try and place tickets, receipts etc in a pleasing pattern as they were all different thicknesses and looked too messy. I laid them out on the table first of all, and could see pretty immediately they weren’t going to work, so made the decision to cut up the maps. This made creating a pattern so much easier. I applied the wallpaper paste (and only make up a small quantity as you don’t need a lot) in sections and so was easily able to slide the map pieces to the edges of the door, so there was no messy overhanging. The panels were a bit more tricky, but I quickly realised that by scoring a line in the corner of the piece to be used, I achieved a neat fold. It did quite lot longer than I thought it would, but once all secured in place, it looked as I had wanted it to and so was worth the effort. Because the door is a bathroom door, and so obviously affected by steam and moisture, I applied four coats of clear varnish. It was completed a couple of months ago, and all of the pieces are still firmly secure. No peeling or coming away, so the more coats you can apply, especially in a room like a bathroom, the better.
Our downstairs bathroom is quite small and there isn’t really the space for magazines etc – and to be honest, I couldn’t stand the clutter. So, for those who like a bit of reading matter in the small room, there’s a door full of maps to be explored.
I have since done a bit more decoupage on a few other surfaces and have to say that I definitely found the pages of a book to be the nicest to work with. I would never normally destroy a book, so chose a book that we had a couple of copies of. And one that I thought would get more reading if it was randomly decoupaged on the back of a door…
by Helen | Apr 21, 2020 | Interiors
We’ve never had so much space and shape to play with before, in any of the houses or flats we’ve lived in, and our stone house has proven itself to be a complete source of surprises. Each time we think we’ve finished somewhere, we see something else that could be done. A room in point is the largest bedroom, which has gone through quite a few changes. The initial transformation was very simple – we just painted all of the walls and ceiling white, and woodwork the same soft, very pale blue which runs through the rest of the house. Furniture was bought quickly, out of necessity – although we weren’t unhappy with what we’d bought, we weren’t ecstatic with the choices.
Pretty soon after everything was painted white, we felt that the room still needed something else. The pine floor boards had never been treated and so these were sanded and stained. It turns out that “Walnut”, the colour we were trying to achieve, is not actually walnut here – the first attempt was more of a honey colour and we really disliked it, so bit the bullet and went for “Ebony”, a colour much closer to what we had envisioned.
The wooden bed-frame was also stained, giving us a room that was beginning to get *there*. However, the beams were still in their naked state, and because of the size of the room and the height of the ceiling, it still didn’t feel right. At least we were able to add these funky shades from IKEA – I’ve always liked these, because of the shadows they throw out, but have never had a space large enough to accommodate them. Two of them now hang between the beams – and work really well because of the space around them.
The treating and painting of the beams was definitely one of those jobs we put off, because of the height of them and the fact that once again the room would be in chaos. With hindsight, we really should have tackled them at the beginning, but there was just so much to do, that we decided to revisit them at a later date. They have now – thankfully – been treated for woodworm, caulked, undercoated, primed and top-coated. And, will never be touched by us again – so it’s just as well we love them in their new state.
Because of the ongoing renovation around the house, we’ve regularly found that the bedroom – purely because it has the space – becomes the “overspill” room, where pieces of furniture from elsewhere are moved. This has happened over the winter with our SKARPÖ outdoor armchairs (from IKEA) – although we made the best of disguising them with faux sheepskins and cushions. And, did actually use them. Artwork and plants and rugs soft accessories were also introduced to soften the room.
Then I got into my head that what was missing in the bedroom, was a feature wall. The white was just, well, too white. And scrolling through Pinterest I found I was becoming attracted to dark greens. It did take a little persuasion, but off we headed to Pula to our local B&Q style store (no mean feat as it’s a good three-four round trip) to get the paint mixed. I did really, really, really like the green but there was just something that wasn’t quite right. I couldn’t work out if it was the shade of green we’d chosen. Or whether it didn’t work against the ebony floor and grey beams. But there was something. I did try to surpress it because I knew I wouldn’t be at all popular even hinting at a colour change, so we went with it for a good few months.
But, it was finally broached, and it was agreed that although we did love the green, it wasn’t working in the bedroom. We had to have a colour that would sit well against the dark floor and the grey beams – and so of course, what better than another shade of grey? All of a sudden, the room was starting to work for us, and after three years, we were finally starting to create a room where we could feel completely relaxed.
Over Christmas, back in the UK, we decided that we might as well go for it in terms of finishing the bedroom, once and for all, and purchase the things we needed, which we couldn’t easily get out here. We decided that it was time to change the look of the bedroom furniture, which we’d bought in haste a couple of years earlier, and so chalk paint (in Vintage Duck Egg Blue) and finishing wax was purchased. First job, on our return after Christmas, was the painting of the bed-frame, wardrobe and cabinet – and wow, what a transformation.
And of course, now that everything was tying in colour-wise, that floor couldn’t stay ebony! Luckily, we always have lots of deep, deep navy blue floor paint and this was the next piece of the make-over jigsaw.
All of the upstairs doors in the house are fairly basic wooden panelled doors – the intention has always been to replace these, but so far we’ve not got around to it. I’d recently decoupaged the inside of the downstairs bathroom door, with maps from our travels and decide to spruce up the bedroom door, internally, using the same method. I liked the idea of the pages of a novel – as our copy of “Ulysses” by James Joyce was never going to be read, it was decided that this would be the novel which would be used. And with so many pages, not only was the back of the door done, but also the floating shelf above the bed. Which was then accessorised with faux sprigs of eucalyptus, which were left over from Christmas wrapping. We also had a small woodburner which had never been installed – in cream and black. It had never found a home and we didn’t really like the colours, so a quick spray of grey paint, and it had a new look. And a new home.
Again, because of the height of the room, we knew that the beams could look even better – and so lengths of faux foliage were brought back from England after Christmas. These particular ones were from The Range and are definitely the best ones I’ve seen – they are very realistic garlands with curling tendrils, so do look very realistic. If you do like them and live in the north west of England, please don’t buy them all, as I’m intending to restock on our next visit!
The recess in the bedroom has always had these squares of ivy (from IKEA), again to break up the white. And to help create a little more of a magical feel. A kind of woodland vibe. The beautiful mirror was a gift at Christmas – it was originally black and would have looked fab in this colour in the living room or well room, but I knew that this recess was the perfect place for it. The black however, wasn’t quite right, as it couldn’t really be seen. The gold spray paint was already out, as I’d done the handles on the wardrobe and cabinet, and I knew the mirror would look stunning in this colour. And, it does – a proper sunburst, nestled in the ivy wall. I also couldn’t resist the three green glittery, sequined pigeons, with the long feather tails and golden beaks, spotted in the post Christmas decoration sale in John Lewis. I had no idea where they’d go, but just loved how playful they were – but they look quite beautiful now, perched on the vintage birdcages which have been attached to the side of the wardrobe.
Mustard rugs (Dunelm Stores) and side lamps (Sainsburys) and a trio of gold mirrors (Dunelm Stores) were also brought over from England, and a white bedding set was dyed yellow, to sit against the Eve mattress. One of the best mattresses, ever, btw. The boxes at the bottom of the bed are used to store bedding, but are strong enough to sit enough on. Opposite the bed, we’ve created a lovely space, which is so beautiful in the evenings, when the light is just fading. A perfect corner to while away a little bit of time, in a room which now, *finally* think we are very, very happy with…
