We've been shot!

Today was the day the photographer came to do the magazine shoot. Since last Monday I have been sanding, painting, scrubbing and dusting to make our home look as nice as I could. I should have taken some 'before' pics as the transformation has been quite considerable in the spare room. Before it was a drab old space full of books odd bits of carpet on a black floor with splodges of paint and plaster, with no character and probably quite depressing to stay in, now it looks like this.....

Four coats of floor paint after a lot of scraping and I am really pleased with it. I love painted floorboards. The curtains I bought from Liz (the washerwoman) and they are fab 50s ones and there was enough at the bottom to cut off and cover the lloyd loom stool/box.

I recovered the lampshades with some vintage fabric and the beds look good even if they dont match.

This bedside table was a car boot find, I just love the vintage fabric under the glass, the little green clock is an old friend and has a sweet little tick tock.

There's that car boot find mirror again, it looks so nice here that I don't think I can part with it now! See the bag under the towel rail, Gertie (treutmade) made it for me and there is a baby matching bag inside, thank you Gertie I really love it.

I have been buying the little china brooches to sell but have now started collecting them myself as they are so pretty. The old chocolate box was an ebay bargain.

A small old suitcase has become home for some childhood toys. Some have been passed down from older siblings and stayed with me. Poor old Ted at the back on the left is bald from my brothers playing barbers with him and has blue spots from an attack of ink measles from my sister!

Our sitting room mantle, I have started amassing small glass bottles for some reason!

Kitchen, same old same old!

The dinning room looking unusually tidy as its mostly used as a dumping ground for things I cannot find a home for.

Our bedroom.

A nice place to sit and relax out front but only when the sun has gone, otherwise too hot for me!

It was a fun day and the photographer's photos looked absolutely amazing, made our house look so much nicer than it really is, cant wait to see them in print.

And Midge, well after a hard day posing in nearly every shot she was tired out and enjoyed a snooze on her favourite chair.

House Sitting

I have left our lovely corner of Cornwall this week to house sit for my brother and his wife in equally as lovely North Devon. They live in a gorgeous old farmhouse with lots of land around it where they have sheep, they used to have some cattle as well but lost them to T.B. I am here to look after the Red Setter in the picture, Boo, and the very spoilt cat Tom who adopted them some years ago and has them totally wrapped around his little claw! I also go and give the sheep some treats in the morning and am trying to outwit them so as not to get mugged as I come through the gate, some are very tame and nearly trample you as soon as they see the bucket. Chickens need feeding too but it doesnt take long to get round them all with Boo taking herself off for a run round the fields finishing every day with a dip in the water trough, then the day is my own and with only me to think about I am enjoying a relaxing time.

I can sit outside and enjoy the garden. Caroline is a true gardener and the garden round the house is a joy.
She has a little greenhouse in its own little vegetable plot with topiary cats guarding the gate all beautifully laid out.
Its a shame I dont eat lettuce as there are lots of lovely ones ready to eat, but I do enjoy the strawberries

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There are even morning visitors, I think they are eyeing up the juicy specimens growing down near the fence.

But as you can imagine I have not been able to stop myself getting out and about seeing if there are any vintage treasures around! And of course there are! On Sunday I found a great boot sale near Barnstaple, on Monday I found a treasure trove on the way home from Liz's house (see below) and yesterday went to Bideford and found a lot more, all that is worrying me now is how its all going to fit in the car as it was full when I got here as I bought lots of projects to get on with.

As I said I went to see Liz The Washerwoman on Monday to see all her dolls houses and I had a wonderful day, thankyou so much Liz it was lovely to see you and all your treasures and have a good chat.

I would have loved to have taken this home with me.

In a smallish room off the lounge Liz has managed to cram a large number of wonderful dolls houses which are all furnished with period bits and bobs. I can see how it has taken her around twenty years to amass all this stuff, true dedication! But it is all, oh so wonderful, I was in miniature heaven! I took loads of photos but am having the devil of a job uploading today so this is a much shorter post than I intended.

Just look at the little girl in this bedroom, such a sweet little outfit and the little lamb on wheels....

And (sigh) this little chap nearly made it into my pocket, but not quite!

I will show you some of my vintage finds next time as no more photos will load on this post.

Hall makeover

This weekend I spent most of the time giving the hallway a much needed makeover. With the magazine photo shoot looming at the end of the month we need to crack on and redecorate most of the house! Its not until you start painting that you realise just how scruffy and grubby everything has become! I still have to paint the woodwork but I am happy with the way its turned out. The blue paint was given to me by my brother who had it for their bedroom but decided it was not right so I got a free large tin of paint, I love the colour and will probably use it in the bathroom too. Thanks Neil!

We went for a seaside theme, one because we live near the sea and two because we have a lot of seasidey stuff! I love my stuffed seagull.

Little shelf for seaside finds and one of our boats, lovely little basket a present from Christine and some Lawrence Henry fish.

Beautiful old school posters finish it off nicely.

The light outside this afternoon was amazing! After a very rainy morning the clouds whisked away and the sun came out with a golden glow over everything. I just had to take some photos out of the sitting room window.

Bought some flowers for the garden this morning.

And picked a few out of the garden for the house.

New arrangement in the kitchen corner.

Here are the gorgeous paper chest and old peg doll I got at Shepton, will probably sell the chest in a bit, but enjoying it for a while.

She sits so comfortably in the old toy chair.