Topsham, Devon and beautiful furniture

 Just got back from a quick trip to Devon to see family, friends and the sea. And of course a bit of coastal town charity shopping!

 We stayed with family at Topsham where I met Karen from 'The White Approach' at a vintage sale. It was funny, I read her lovely blog http://thewhiteapproach.blogspot.co.uk/ and I know she mentions Topsham sometimes but I was surprised to see her sign up and went to say ''Hello''. That's the first blogger I've met!

These images of painted furniture are from the Topsham Museum which is well worth a visit! I could find space for any of these!

 The sweetest cooker ever.

 I am SO doing this to my stairs some day!

 Funny how these are desirable again.

 I found the most awesome thing in a charity shop down there, which I'll show you another time...
The train passed right by the Reading Festival on the way home and we could see all the tents and stages which was pretty cool. Then sooo many people got on our train, it was standing room only all the way to London and they STANK of urine and beer! Eew! And we had been feeling smug, travelling on the bank holiday morning, we kind of thought we'd have the train to ourselves!

Now I'm having a hyperactive spell and ripping the tiles off the kitchen walls whilst simultaneously painting the ceiling and a wardrobe that's blocking up the dining room.  The mountain of ironing and name label sewing can wait...


Linking up with http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/2012/08/treasure-hunt-thursday-71-highlights.html

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Be back soon...

 

 

On a mini break, before school starts for the kids. I have lots of great pictures to share.

Be back next week!

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Blog I follow: Kasey Buick

Only a few people in my life know that I have a secret dream. My secret dream is to live on Kauai. Okay, I guess it’s not a secret anymore. But seriously, I really do. It’s not something I say casually, like “wouldn’t it be great to live there?” I mean I REALLY want to live there.

 

 

When I came across this blog, Kasey Buick; One Girl Talks, it was if I had stumbled upon someone else that was living MY fantasy life. I was shocked to see someone actually doing what I only dream about every day, and I was sucked right in.

I quickly devoured all her past posts to catch up to speed, and now patiently (tapping fingers on the table) wait for new ones everyday. I talk to my husband about her as if I know her personally, and like we are long lost friends. Me: “You know, Kasey said Anini beach is the best for snorkeling, and yesterday she went jumping of the pier in Hanalei.” Him: “Cool. Who is Kasey?”

Through her blog, I found Kasey to have the best outlook on life, and has a great sense of humor. If you have a love of island life, want to learn more about what to see/do on Kauai or just want a good laugh, I highly encourage you to read her blog.

Kasey and her family moved from Illinoisto Kauai a little over a year ago, after her husband lost his job. They took this scary time in their life and turned it into an opportunity instead. They decided to take that leap of faith, try something new and do something that they probably wouldn’t have ever planned on doing. They decided to move to Kauai for a full year. It’s been over a year now and well, they are still there. If I was in their shoes, I think I’d stay too.

My family and I have been to Kauaionly twice but since the very first time we went, both my husband and I fell in love with this island. We have been to Maui, Jamaica, Mexico, and other warm beach destinations but there was just something different about Kauai. I can’t quite put my finger on it on why it’s so different but I crave to go back all the time! I can’t tell you how many times my husband and I sit and talk about how we could pull it off to move there but sadly, we never come up with a good way to do it. One of my dear friends, Kristin also shares the same Kauai passion as I. We often joke about jumping on a plane and just doing it, no thinking, just do it. As we joke, I don’t think even she knows how badly I wish I could.Or maybe she feels the same.

Coming from a person that lives in the same town as where I was born, {cough- 40 years ago-cough}I SO admire people that can pack up and move somewhere like this and follow their dreams without concrete plans. If you asked me 5-10 years ago, if I would ever move away from my extended family and friends, to move away from the only hometown I’ve ever known, I probably would’ve laughed nervously and said no.

Now that I am getting older (ugh), maybe I am getting wiser to the idea that we really only do have one life to live here on earth and we should be really living it the way we dream of.

However, I feel my feet have been planted here so long, it’s tough to make them jump from my dream to reality or vice a versa. So while I wiggle my feet from this cement that I’ve created, I will temporarily enjoy living vicariously through Kasey and her family’s journey. So keep living the dream Buick family and thank you for sharing your journey with us. Maybe I'll see you on the beach someday.

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More fifties fake French furniture...

 This 1950's wardrobe from the Walnut Cabinet works was the find of the week. It's in the more rare walnut veneer finish and came from ebay. Quite often the matching wardrobes to this type of furniture are quite boxy looking but I'm loving this with it's curved top. It was £50.
 

This is the applied moulding near the top.

And the cute feet!

Unfortunately, despite being described as being in good condition, it has these whacking great scratches down one side. And of course it's the side you see the most of. Darn it, I'll just have to paint it! (who am I trying to kid?)

And it matches very well with my vintage chests of drawers at least in shape. If they're all painted the same you wouldn't know they're not a set hopefully.

And the matching bedside table, although in a different room. I'm already tempted to re paint this... I did it in a hurry and I don't love it. I was going for a seventeenth century French look in here with French furniture and toile de jouy .... 

Unfortunately my six year old daughter has her own passions and more unfortunately they are 'Disney Princesses' so the other view of the room is blighted by the damn creatures for now. But at least I have managed to keep the room a pink free zone! Cruel mother that I am!
The wardrobe will stay as is for now as it took me ages to build it, clean it and remove the old one. But I would LOVE to try something like this http://www.abitowhimsy.com/2012/08/fabulous-french-armoire.html

This lady is seriously talented! Okay, my 'armoire' isn't quite as stunning as hers is but I can have a go.
Sorry all my writing is tiny, I had big trouble getting the text where I wanted it so I did it all as captions. I have no idea what I'm doing half the time...



Delighted to be linking up with Treasure Hunt Thursday at  http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
although I haven't painted it yet. Hopefully that's okay. I hunted it.

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Design Star All Star Winner

On last night's finale of the HGTV Design Star All Stars, the final three designers had to design a shipping container, and it's outside little deck area. They had to have a sleeping area, sitting area and a place where they could eat.

I have to say this was the best designing from all three designers so far on this episode. I thought all three did a great job tonight.

Here is what they had to work with.

 

 

 

This is Hilari's container.

 



I thought her idea of the planter boxes on the porch was great, the screen to divide the sitting area and the bed was also a great choice. The only thing I wasn't crazy about was the paint color.
And is that a Graypants pendant light I see?

Here is Tom's space.

Tom's space was pretty cool on the show last night, however it doesn't look as well in photos. But I love how he makes all his spaces look curated over time, even though he had only two days to put this together. He really styles things very well. And his sketches above are always my favorite. I am amazed when someone has this talent to just freehand stuff like this, while I can only do stick figures.

Here is Leslie's container.

 

 

Leslie's room was the one I liked the most for she designed it to be like a beach cabin bunkie and I am drawn to anything "beachy".
Her idea of putting in a murphy bed was great and as well as putting chalkboard for the back of it when it is upright was also well thinking. Overall, it was a very fun space.

And the first winner of Design Star All Stars......

Leslie!

I thought for sure it would be Tom or Hilari but I guess I am not very good at guessing these things.
Who did you think would win? Which container was your favorite?

All pictures were from HGTV.com and if you missed the show you can watch it online, here.

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Showing Some Love Today

 Not sure about you but I am constantly redoing rooms or imagining different furniture in my house in my mind ALL THE TIME. Especially every season when the new home decor catalogs start coming in the mail with new stuff. I imagine changing my house decor with each season. Wouldn't that be nice?

While I don't think I can stop imagining different designs for my house, or stop decorating in my mind, I do know I need to be grateful for what I have. I am so lucky to have a roof over my head, and I am lucky to have what I have.

So, today I thought I'd show my house some love today, and show off things that I love about my home. There are many things I hate and things I want to change, but today I will bite my tongue and say only positive things about my house.

I love my new entry rug. It makes me happy when opening the front door.

I like my black doors, and I love my new boxwood wreaths. (Hopefully people don't mistake them for Christmas wreaths)



I love fresh flowers in the home, and I love this orchid in my bathroom. I will try to keep it alive.

I LOVE my new windows (though they are not completed all the way). I love that I can now open windows on this side of the house, and I can not even explain how much better it is temperature wise in this house now with these new windows. Heaven.

I really like our dark wood beams in our kitchen and family room.

 I like how our curved stairs in our house give it some character.

I like our shutter-type closet doors. I wasn't sure about them when we first moved in, and thought they would end up going but I've grown to love them.

I'm happy with our makeover on the fireplace in our living room (though the inside needs to be painted), and I love the lantern that I got from Target.

And I am very happy with the way the girls' bathroom turned out. Love the planking, the dark tile floor, the white subway tile shower, the colors in the hand towels and the fun yellow shower curtain.



There are more things I love about my home and the things inside, but it's summer and we are in the middle of our remodel with the one side of our house, SO... this is all I could take pictures of that wasn't looking like a tornado. I know bite my tongue... Positive thoughts.

So join me today in trying to put all those things about your home that make you cringe out of your mind and be thankful and grateful for the things that you do have, and enjoy the simple things like fresh flowers, the way the sun shines through your windows, or climbing in bed into clean, soft sheets.

Enjoying the little things can sometimes even make those dings in the wall, dustbunnies in the corner, or dated tile flooring disappear. For awhile anyways...

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