Handpainted bird houses.....

Gardening is a fairly new interest to me....I am still learning by my mistakes! Mostly I can keep plants alive now but they don't always grow how I imagined they would. My mother tells me the Latin names and if they like sun or shade etc. Often this doesn't help as my garden is north facing and seems to have a bit of both. She has given me some beautiful books which I love to read but either I can't find the plants in the garden centre or they cost too much. Gradually over time I am getting to know what likes my boggy clay soil which is rock hard in the summer.

 

 I am trying to make my garden into outside rooms decorated with found items...mirrors...painted objects....hanging things and anything else I can make that will withstand the weather...

 

 

I bought this bird house in the pound shop and painted it with acrylic paint....I gave it a coat of varnish and it still looks pretty after two years.....

 

 

The left hand bird house above was in a sale in Sainsburys a year ago....It was already white so I just added a pattern. The right hand one was from our local charity shop which cost £1. It has a nice texture but was painted with a tacky design. Firstly I painted it with left over garden paint which had been used on my bench....then I rubbed a little pale blue acrylic over it to show up the texture. A little bit of pattern on the roof and around the hole added enough extra interest for me. A quick varnish does help protect painted items but they are still affected and weather.  I don't want the pain of putting my things away so they are left to mellow and have been out all winter.

 

Longing to be out in the garden again....x

 

Growing Clematis...

 

I love Clematis....I constructed a trellis from canes lashed together to hopefully form a screen at the top of my garden. The Clematis were planted two years ago.....they grew and grew until they went around the corner of my garden. I had bought the little wire little fences some time before as they were so pretty with gems threaded on the wires. At last I had a use for them and used garden wire to secure them to the fence....to my delight the flowers wove their way between the wire arches...my

 only regret was that I had not bought more....

 

 

 

 

These Clematis were planted at the left side of my shed many years ago, there were a few flowers each year....then suddenly they off they went covering the fence and growning across the shed. I doubled some cotton yarn ( the only string type of thing I could find) and secred it around the shed roof entwining the plant around the yarn. A beautiful garland of flowers hung around my shed all summer long....

 

Flowers make me so happy... x

 

 



Better late than never.....

I am so sorry I have not been on here for months....I had quite a bad accident...I fell down the stairs. 

I am still having physiotherapy and walking in a very strange way. I have been feeling down as normally I am very active. Never mind...I don't want to go into it all, I just thought a brief explanation was due.  I have so many photos to put on and thought I would start more or less where I left off....

 

 

 

 

These pink flowers were amazing all summer into Autumn. I can't remember the name...it was a cutting my mum took from my auntie's garden. She gave it to me last spring when all that could be seen were a couple of inches of stalks. This is probably my favourite plant now. I had to dead head it every day which was a bit of a pain. In the end I sat in the sun with a pair of scissors and a bucket and made the most of a dull job....it just kept flowering and flowering. Mum said I can divide it this spring, I just hope she comes and does it for me as I would probably do something horrid to it!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just hope spring hurries up! x



A very small pretty garden ...

I thought I would show you a few photos of how my garden is changing.... The photo below was taken in the spring...

I moved to this house over nine years ago...I have never really been happy here, mainly because the house is just so small. This is a two bedroom house and I have the smallest room as my son Charlie has more things.. uses his room more...and need a private space to do the things 15 year old boys do. The second bedroom only being big enough to fit in a double bed along the window wall with the headboard and footboard touching the walls from end to end. I have a single wardrobe and bed side cabinet, which in no way have or ever will accomodate my clothes shoes etc. 

The other thing I hated was the garden. It has taken me nine years to get it all fenced and make it private. Originally there was low chicken wire fencing and if you stood at the end of the garden you could see along the whole terrace of six houses. When I moved it the garden was muddy turf and there were no plants. My father dug up the whole garden and laid new turf. My mother showed  me how to plant which I had never done before. After a couple of years the turf had turned to mud again...The soil is heavy clay and the garden flooded...

My father replaced the lower lawn with crazy paving which looked really pretty...but still it flooded. I raised the bottom half up with bags of sand and had a soak-away dug...eventually I covered it in pebbles as the whole thing was messed up and I still got puddles... last year I dug up the grass from the top ...raised it and layed a wooden frame work with slabs and pebbles for drainage...it still flooded!!! So this year I took it all up again ...dug out the pebble areas deeper and dug two big soak-aways which I filled with broken slabs and pebbles. How many bags of stones are in this garden I hate to think..all is I know it has been extremly hard work...hurt my back and cost a lot.

I have four old chairs that my parents gave me and told me off for using in the garden!!! Over the years they have been outside most of the varnish has come off so I am in the process of scraping off the remainder and painting them with wood stain. The one above is in my favourite colour and is for my little sunny decked area at the top of the garden...

Only one half is decked at last years good weather ended before it could be finished...

This is the area where I sit and chill...or try to as I am usually stressed....

 

I had to show you my new flip-flops...pretty aren't they...very cheap from Asda..

 

 I am starting to love my garden.....

I am allowing myself  to endulge in whatever I feel like adding to this little area.....

The fence here is just three large pallets turned on their ends with the underneath facing inwards...I did it this way as it gave me shelves to support the window boxes . The backs are filled in with off cuts of decking and whatever would fill them for privacy...It is arty...peaceful...private...sunny...and totally me.....x

Retro shabby chic ....

This morning it is really lovely outside...The sky is blue, not a cloud in sight, no wind and at it looks like it will be a sunny day at last.

I have been up since 3.30am! I couldn't sleep...things turning around in my head. I have been creeping around so as not to wake Charlie.

 At 5am my cat Bloopy came bounding across the fences so pleased to find me sitting in the garden at an early hour. I gave him his breakfast...then...the naughty cat shot upstairs into Charlie's bedroom. I managed to get him out without waking Charlie and shut him in the sun room where he is now fast asleep on a nice clean ironed cushion cover.

I have had tea and coffee in the garden ...read my favourite blogs...looked at face book...read my emails and felt at a loss as to what I could do that was quiet. So..I decided to show you a few photos that I have been meaning to put on for a couple of months.

This is just a little ornament I picked up at my local charity shop. I am not really into ornaments...mostly as I hate dusting. I couldn't resist this at 49p...it is kind of retro, I like the flowers...

This is a little Ikea chest of draws that I bought about eighteen years ago...it is getting a bit scratched now but I still love it. I painted it fifteen years ago and have not been tempted to re paint it which is unusual for me...

I would say my style is shabby chic, although I like a broad range of vintage, antique, rustic and modern alongside retro, French chic,floral and country. Basically...I think that means I like a bit of everything....

I looked up retro...which implies a vintage at least 15-20 years old...

I looked up vintage...a term used to describe items that are more than 20 years old...

Now I know what i am talking about !

I bought the cats above for Charlie as they look like our cat Bloopy... I found them in the charity shop about three months ago 50p each...

Try as I may I can't get a good photo of these tea towels... My auntie Pat gave them to me as a gift, I just adore them. The top one is actually white with a beautiful embroidered bird on it, far to nice to use as a tea towel. I can imagine them all getting grubby with Charlie around, so they have remained in a draw forgotten until I found this photo. I think I may make the embroidered one into a cushion....

 

My mum gave me this Cath Kidston tin...I opened it with glee...only to find there was nothing in it ! There was a cup and saucer inside that my cousin Sue gave my mum....I got the empty tin!

Well ....I do like the tin...the only Cath Kidston item I own, and it will come in useful for something I guess....

The little tree was a reduced Easter find from Salisbury's...I like it on my decorated telly cabinet along with the cats. I must watch out or I shall end up with clutter again, when I promised myself I would only have useful things....

All of these things are from the charity shop as well....I bought a set of six original unused 70's plates for £2.50 !!! I have four of the little pale blue plates which are from Next and cost me £1...and the spotty mugs were in the end of season sale...half price...25p each...and there were five of them. All the china is new and unused....

I know it is very late....but I had to show you the Easter chocolate my parents gave me... I had moaned on face book that this was the first year in my life that I did not get an Easter egg...then I was given these.....

My auntie Pat...bless her heart...also gave me this cushion as she knows I dream of having a camper van....

How on earth can I slim down when mum and dad come over from France laden with goodies...chocolate...biscuit's...cheese and wine....

It is 7am now...time for kettle on and wake up Charlie with what he loves best

....... A nice cup of tea ......

And another excuse for me to sit in the garden x

Growing strawberries in the garden ...

Hi...so sorry I have not blogged for a while...no excuses really...  just that time just seems to whizz by and I have been very busy.

I thought I would show you some photos of my garden that I took a few weeks ago.I have been meaning to put them on and have more on my camera , I hope to get up to date as every day my garden seems to change.

I didn't buy many plants this year as I have divided older plants ...grown from seed and been given many from my auntie and my mum....

I have never grown from seed before and was unsure of what to do with the seeds my mum collected from her garden. Her instructions were ....scatter them!!! So I did. I was thrilled when they started growing...however... Mum took one look and pulled a face that told me all was not well. Mum said  'They are far to close together...there are far to many...you will have to pull some out'.  Well I haven't pulled any out...I couldn't bare to. I have decided to wait and see what happens!

My Bluebells....





Some Pansies...



 Primroses..

I made this trellis last year by lashing together canes...I was a little surprised that it withstood the winter... I planted  honeysuckle,clematis and Jasmin, which are now winding their way around the canes and obscuring the view .



Clematis...

 Nemesia...

Snapdragons...

 This mirror was made many years ago by my Uncle Mike who is sadly no more with us...I  treasure the mirror and have painted it many times. I thought it would look good at the end of the garden which is my special place. This little area is where is sit and chill...I am letting myself indulge in my favourite colours..it is arty and decorated with found objects. The back fence is made from pallets stood up an end and the decking is also on pallets... 

Forget-me-nots...

Clematis...

This photo is taken from the end of the garden.. Last year I bought a strawberry plant and let it run into other pots until I ended up with eight plants. This year I have put some of the plants into hanging baskets. Apparently the runners will hang down and I will have hanging strawberries..also the slugs can't get to them....

 More clematis...one of my favourite flowers...they are filling up the trellis...

The view up my garden to the sunroom....

I love my little garden...Thank you mum for showing my how to grow flowers x

Painting laminated furniture ..

I first started hand paining furniture many years ago when I moved from Sevenoaks. I was buying a house with a boyfriend who changed his mind and I found myself homeless with my furniture in store and had to stay with my parents in Horam.

 There was not much in the village but there was a secondhand furniture shop where I bought small items and painted them to pass the time and dull the pain of living back with my mum and dad.

 Inquisitive as to what I was doing the shop owner asked to see what I had done, and impressed offered me to have an area of the shop in which to sell my items.

 I moved to a farmhouse in Firle where I had outbuildings to store my furniture which I rag rolled and stencilled as was the fashion at that time

One of the regular customers to the shop in Horam was Roger Daltrey's wife, who bought a couple of my things. At the time I was teaching myself to do marbling and I was invited to Rogers house to look at the work he had been doing. He had marbled his bathroom which was quite beautiful. Sadly he was not there so I did not get to meet him.

I continued to do this for a number of years and also rented part of a shop in Forest Row.

Below is a photo of my television cabinet. It has taken me a while to do this as I have done it between other jobs. I thought I would show you the finished photo first .

I shall never know what induced me to buy this in the first place. I do not like modern furniture let alone fake wood. At the time it seemed like a good idea. I have pondered this for a while, really wanting to get rid of it, but I decided to give it a make over until I find something I fall in love with.

The first thing was to give it a sand over and wash it down with soapy water.

You can buy paint specially for painting laminated wood and I have used it in the past. It chips easily so I have just used self undercoating satin finish water based paint. I did not want to spend any money doing this so I used what I already had. If I was buying the paint I would have used oil based. I always use satin finish as you can touch up the inevitable scratch and re paint woodwork without having to Sand and undercoat. I concentrated on one area at a time and did three coats. 

I wanted to add some colour so I got samples of wallpaper from B&Q and stuck them in the backs of each area using pva glue. If this had been solid wood I would have hand painted the designs.

 I covered the top and bottom of each shelf with paper.

Sorry the photo is not very clear...it is so dark in here today with the rain...

x