Brightening a Wet Wednesday

It is cold and wet and grey here today, but my morning was brightened by a parcel.

At the weekend I won a beautiful pair of vintage copper and enamel bowls on eBay

the colours are just glorious, although trying to get good photos on this grey day has proved a challenge

the labels on the back say Handmade by Kareka - Nantucket, Hyannis and Key West

This one is quite large, 11 inches across

Just loving their jewel brightness!

Bessie is taking it easy today, no great desire to be out in the rain, whilst I

finished a cushion I started yesterday

made in lilac and white Toile de Jouy ( Laura Ashley ) and a cheerful red gingham, trimmed with red binding

It is just right for the chair in my kitchen

Having failed to find reasonably priced round cushion pads I made my own very simply using an old sheet, a round tray, and a bag of stuffing. 

Simples!!!

like I did when I made my first round crochet cushion cover

I think Logan likes it

Whilst I was finishing the cushion this morning, a wonderful fresh lemony aroma was wafting around the house.

A visit to From Beyond my Kitchen Window this morning resulted in trying out a simple recipe for making your home smell like a Williams Sonoma store, and having heard of the store but never visited one I was intrigued to try it out!

The recipe is simple, using fresh lemon slices, rosemary sprigs, vanilla extract and water.



Preparing the fresh simple ingredients was therapeutic in itself, cosy in the warm kitchen after a dash to the garden to pick wet sprigs of rosemary as the rain came down, slicing into a fresh juicy lemon, then putting it all in a pan with water and vanilla, then on the stove to simmer and fill the house with its wonderful, zesty aroma.

Pop over here  to read it for yourself!

Enjoy your Wednesday wherever you are!

Painted Furniture

Last week was a busy one in terms of painting furniture, shopping for vintage things for the house and  meeting up with friends, leaving precious little time for a blog post, so once again there has been a lack of posting!

Bessie

and Logan both "helped" in giving a new lease of life to a tired old brown varnished 1940s chest of drawers, now painted and waxed using the marvellous Annie Sloan paints that a new shop in a near by town now supplies - hooray, for I have been wanting to try out these wonder paints for a while now, and although I have a bit of tweaking still to do to get the effect I want, I have not been disappointed!

The chest of drawers is now painted in Paris Grey, a lovely chalky pale blue/grey

I may distress the old brass handles more so you can see more of the brass again,  although I did not like them enough to leave them completely unpainted

I painted another old barley twist table, this time using Country Grey and an antique wax finish

And I just couldn't resist buying this gorgeous dark turquoisy teal colour Provence and using it immediately, so I painted an old brown varnished standard lamp base (bought last year at a boot fair for a few pounds) to give a shot of glorious colour!

in place in the sitting room BEHIND Mr Gs chair so he can't see it!

Still to be waxed so the finished result will probably look a little darker, but it makes me smile every time I see it!

Needless to say poor old Mr (stick-in-the mud!) G is really not too sure about it - it's all too modern and adventurous for him, it having taken a year or two for him to adjust to the idea of even subtle pale painted furniture, this has just blown his mind!

So to ensure a bit of domestic harmony I may use the antique wax which will tone it down a bit - but Bella loves it and so do I !

 

But surely he can't object to this antique French gilded wood lampbase which arrived this morning, won for £4.50 on eBay - being an accountant he'll be sure to appreciate the VFM (value for money) it represents!

And I shall promise not to paint it.

And he seemed to like the new but antique style clock which I found for the kitchen for £6.50

I just blame it all on books like this..........

and the lovely book mentioned in my last post ;)

for giving me ideas..........

And he definitely liked this little antique oak chair I found and oiled using Danish oil

So it's not all disharmony here really




As Logan



and Bessie



can testify......

or maybe would do, were they awake!




Thanks for all your lovely comments on my last post!

Its a dogs life

What the furry babies have been doing

and what I've been doing

finishing off some things

and starting the next lot

Edited to add:

Have just noticed that this is my 100th Post!!! Good Grief, I never expected to write that many!!!

So I can only say a huge THANKYOU to you all for having the patience to read them!!