Category: Family life
It’s coming..
Under a week to go till the big commercial day….just enough time to laugh at all the cr*p out there..
(All pics Etsy and Pinterest)
And make a piece of heart shaped toast…
Laters, Kate x
Kitchen Update x
Oh Joy aboundeth! I got home yesterday to see the antique French bookcase sitting in it’s new home for the first time! The builders have done a sublime job incorporating it into the new kitchen..one day it will hold all our crockery and glassware..one day..to say I love it is an understatement. It’s always a dodgy time when you imagine a concept – and you’re pretty sure it’s going to work..but you never know until it’s actually in place. The relief!
The plan is now for all the big units to disappear off to be spray painted whilst the room is decorated and the floor is laid…which has bought on a major paint crisis.
I thought I was blissfully sailing along, all paint decisions for the kitchen made.
Except the spray painters want an RAL number for the colour so they can mix up their own paint with additional hardeners. And I’ve chosen a boutique paint that no-one knows – Madison Grey by Abigail Ahern.
I’m running off now to the paint shop to see if they can help me – the last thing I want to do is to start looking at tester pots again…and of course it’s the big fascinator poker night piss-up party tonight. Always the way…
Laters, Kate x
Bohemian Minimalist?
I’ve been reading Bea Johnson’s book ‘Zero Waste Home’ with interest – it’s fair to say it’s an eye opener. Whilst there’s no doubt she’s taken her chosen style of living to an extreme (her 4 member family produce just one large jar of rubbish a year)..( I confess that’s less than we manage in a day) and despite the fact the book is written for the American market, there’s no denying the hidden gold between the pages…..she genuinely believes that in our fast-paced, modern world we’ve disconnected from the true reality of our commercialism and the consequences of our voracious, unstoppable actions. By shining a light on something as simple as rubbish she aims to change people’s attitudes in a broader, rippling sense..and make a real difference both to the individual and the planet. Impressive ambitions.
The book reminds me of an article I read in the Times by Caitlin Moran where she admitted that as a poor person she was far more creative: No money to buy it equalled make it or fix it. But now with success, she just throws money at the problem…we think because we can have it all, we should have it all. We even deserve to have it all.
Bea thinks differently: She likes to simplify life right down to needs not wants, equalling less hassle, less waste..less stuff.
And that’s where she and I differ. I understand the simplicity of a clutter free, simplified life…but clutter and old stuff are fundamental to my personal lifeblood. All these pics represent interiors I aspire to with their sense of timeless style and soft edges.
A house without books? Soulless.
No artworks and bedspreads?
(All pics Pinterest)
Or knick knacks and beautiful rugs? It would break my little heart.
But I think there are grey areas where we overlap. And I’d really like to explore her world in little steps..doing something different every month. Watch this space…
Laters, Kate x
Le Weekend..
The plan was to get out of the urban bubble and see the sea..so we leapt on a train and headed for a grey, blustery Brighton.
Charlie and his gloves: Is this style, laziness..or a deep understanding of recycling??
Not that the kids cared about the weather..the sea is the sea after all..
It was bracing enough to freeze cheeks and brighten eyes.
Then the boys went to see Arsenal play..Charlie’s first proper match..seventh heaven for him.
So the girls got out the power tools…and played..
The table is our reproduction mahogany dining table that has got damaged over the years. Rather than replace it, I wanted to know if we could sand off the varnish and paint the pedestal leg to transform it into a classic but more rustic/practical piece of furniture. Can mahogany be more like a farmhouse table, happy to take dings and knocks? Not be so ‘precious’ and permanently hidden under a tablecloth? The only way to know was to experiment…
I had my helper with me for a while..but then she got bored and went to clean out her hamsters.
Oh joy! Lesson for mummy: Never assume you’re child’s intelligence. Lesson for Bella…we all have to make mistakes..but please don’t repeat this one again!
(Particularly when due to the building works, this sink represents our kitchen sink. Arggghhhh!)
By the end we looked like 2 orange oompa lumpa’s, but thankfully the table looked fab – I already prefer it…though I have no idea what to do as the next stage….oil? Wax? I know I don’t want the shiny red again..I want to knock back the red if at all possible, but not entirely sure what to do?….any suggestions very gratefully received…
Laters, Kate x
Hats Off…
It’s the trial run today for our termly creative coffee morning for the mum’s in Charlie’s class…we’re making fascinators to be worn at our class party the following week. Cross your fingers – I’ve only ever been a pupil before, never the teacher, hence the need for a few guinea pigs, but I was treated to a class just before Christmas….and found it fascinating…here’s hoping for luscious lilly’s..
The odd rose…or two..
Big bows for those that want..
And just letting imaginations run free…
Pics to follow…
Laters, Kate x
First Step..
There was a brilliant article in the Evening Standard last night about our insatiable appetite for stuff, it described a worker in a plastics factory in China laughing at the crap products being churned out for the international market..only to see the order tripled the following week. It’s all around us..look through a Lakeland catalogue and see some brilliant ideas..but also some entirely superfluous ones, designed just because we think we need them..or (because we always have to show progression) over-engineered designs of something that already worked perfectly fine. But hey, that’s more money for the fat cats economy..particularly when you add in the modern power of build-in-obsolescence..with any luck it’ll break…and we’ll buy it twice!
I’d love to see a move away from vapid accumulation to less is more, quality over substance..and the best changes start at home. The wardrobe is having it’s first attack today…
All nightwear is heading the way of charity or cut up for rags, leaving just two pairs of pajamas and a dressing gown.
It’s a start.
Laters, Kate x
The Sitting Room x
In the normal run of things, you look at a room, decide it needs a spruce and decorate it knowing the context surrounding it. A renovation is slightly different – you tend to think of each room as individuals and forget how they link together. It’s what’s concerning me about our sitting room.
The original choice was for it to be a green as it leads into the garden, merging them together.
And there are some gorgeous greens out there.
But vaguely rational part of brain said ‘it’s leading from dark grey..’
And then I was drawn to blues, deep, dark, inky blues…resist, I thought – stick to leaves and plants. But the pull was there. And kept coming back. So compromise stepped in – use the midnight blue in the cellar where light doesn’t matter. Which seemed like good thinking.
Except I can’t resist the bluey teals that are dominating my Pinterest page.
I laugh that our home might be a cave. But I’m starting to think it really might be…
Laters, Kate x
Progress..
The building work is moving up a gear now, particularly in the cellar. The digging is finished, insulation and underfloor heating is laid and it was all screeded and left to dry over the festivities. Now we’re onto the first fix and finalising plans for the second fix.
It’s an interesting space in terms of design – it’s predominantly a cinema/games room that needs to swallow a lot of ugly storage. But what doesn’t help is that I have a fundamental problem with the general concept of cinema rooms: It seems that the moment the word ‘technology’ is associated with a space it becomes infused with this need for everything cold, chrome, clean and clinical – like the ‘cutting edge technology’ needs to be supported and highlighted by it’s super-duper space-ship-like surroundings..which will probably be out of date in a year. The truth is I’ve yet to find a cinema room on Pinterest I like or want to lounge, Roman-senator-style in.
So it was back to the drawing board and writing a list from all these pictures of the things that actually make a room cosy: A fire, books, rugs, lamplight, dark colours..fluffy dog.
And that’s when the inspiration struck – why not create a false chimney breast for the TV to go on, with a fireplace where the DVD player/set top box/general crap/ can be hidden in the cleverly made fireplace surround? We can’t have a proper fire..
But there are some amazing electric cast iron stoves around..and in the summer it means you can have the glow without the heat!
It’s a work in progress, but the plan is to have significant 75 cm depth mega cupboards with sliding doors across the back with the boiler and water tank under the stairs. As you come down the stairs, the first cupboard you see will be low level holding games and a vintage dollshouse. Then there will be full height open bookcases either side of the chimney breast and all the way to the end of the wall. The chimney breast will come out 40 cm and hide all the cabling from the TV. The fireplace will be slightly lower than normal to help with eyelines to the screen, and the DVD etc will be housed in the central section of the surround under a fretwork door – which should mean we can use the remote without having to have the door always open (fingers crossed) . The stove will be quietly tucked inside to add ambience, all topped off with a tiled hearth.
May the magic begin!
Laters, Kate x
Best of 2015..
Laters, Kate x
Happy New Year! xxx
But before that..did you have a lovely Christmas?
We did. Ignoring the fact it’s the first fake one ever to grace this house, we even managed a Christmas tree of sorts.
Decorated with everything homemade..
From reindeer dioramas and cotton yoyos,
To felt snowman,
And special handmade gifts.
Then on the big night itself we laid a cunning plan with Bella and Charlie to catch the red man in action. We sneakily stuck a mobile phone to the wardrobe door….and set it to timer…and blow-me-down…(with a little help from capture the magic)…it only went and worked!!
And look what I got in my stocking!
Then it was a quick glass of champagne by the tree before being whisked off to a feast at Auntie Ali’s..in a London black cab. How civilised?
Father, daughter love..
Cousin love.
Fairy love.
(Spot the odd one out) (it’s harder than you think..)
Then to top the festivities off..Charlie lost his first front tooth..it hails a whole new dawn..
Laters, Kate x
Maison Bentley Style 