Goodbye house, hello home

 

In a flash - we sold the house and bought a new home. It's much bigger, far grottier and just around the corner. The bones are in place, there's space for a piano and views of the city. A conservatory (currently leaking) to bring in more sun and more walls than we have art - ahem - currently. Everything we already own will come with us and it will be lovely to see where it all lands this time. There are more landings for Darcy to lie down on, and shallower stairs so we don't watch Lily careering down them with our hearts in our mouths (a small dog flying through the air, is not, I repeat not, good for your health). Ed has a 'den' where all the guitars can come out and play and I have an enormous studio at the top of the house. Sounds good to start with. 

I refuse to take my rose tinted glasses off until I absolutely have to deal with - no kitchen, dodgy wiring, holes in walls, a desolate garden, nowhere for the books and half built rooms - did I mention the leaking conservatory?????

Your Home & Garden

 

The lovely people at NZ Your Home & Garden put our house on the cover of their super mag this month. I think Darcy has double in size and the garden has disappeared (temporarily due to vile weather.

Nice. 

Our radiators

I've had lots of lovely emails and queries about our radiators. They really are beautiful and I've managed to find a really great supplier that I use for clients.

So if you're interested just get in touch. They cost between £120 - £325 for the Victorian style shown in black undercoat (plus valves and stays) which I think is a pretty sensational price. They can be painted for an extra £75 each in one of four traditional colours.

 

They make an enormous difference - both from a visual and a functional perspective. What did William Morris say?

Sneak Peek

Thanks Design Sponge. A few more shots that didn't make the cut. Not sure where Mr Darcy was......

Before and after

 

Hall before - not quite before before as the vile blue stinky carpet had already been lifted - oh and made us sick for weeks.... what is that black stuff that seeps out of old carpet?????

After. Please admire my hand sanded and waxed floors, my stripped corbels and please note that the hand rail itself is smoother than a babies bottom and rather a pleasure to hold. This was of course the easiest room.......

hhmmm

Not sure which I'm enjoying more - the new projects we're working on, or the new flowers in the garden........

Is that bad? I'm going with 'balanced'.

A veritable bounty

E says 'what's for dinner?'. I say 'fish, steak, pasta, fish cakes etc etc'. E says 'I'll pick some salad and herbs'. I say 'squeak'.

The bounty soon to be joined by cherries, tomatoes, damsons, figs, apples and pears.........

L says 'I promise THIS apple won't give me a sore tummy'........

Have a lovely weekend.

Finding a happy place!

We've had two photo shoots at the house in the last two weeks - one for a major Brit newspaper and one for an overseas mag. Stressful yes - distracting - yes. Top tip - don't hand sand floors the day before they are due........

It is a little odd to walk around our home knowing that for now - it is finished. Yes the laundry room needs work and the windows need serious tlc, but for now it is done - all our possessions in the right place for us. The nicest thing about it all is realising where I'm happiest at our place. Firstly - the library. The smaller living room which we decided to use to read, watch movies and if the mood takes us, drink a drink or four. There is a lovely grey chesterfield behind the door which I shared this weekend with both dogs (when a labrador puppy is 30kg this is no mean feat) whilst designing some new products. I'm not good at sticking to the 'studio' for this -  unsurprisingly, better work came out of the library.

The other place - well it's that homemade bench under the apple tree. Getting sunshine just about now - it's a very happy scented corner of the garden.

Happiness is

Knowing that this staircase came about from 5 solid days of hard, frustrating physical graft (mine!). There is nothing more pleasant than a hand-waxed handrail to pull you up or help you down - small pleasures.

See below for the before (the actual 'before, before' involved filthy carpet and other unpleasantness)and I couldn't bear to photograph it.

dog love

Two dogs in central London - some say crazy. I think I'll say crazy once Darcy gets to his full size (ahem 20kg at 5 months), so no more dogs added to the family for now. I am however, looking over walls coveting 120 foot gardens and thinking to myself - 'ohh a couple of chickens, a ginger cat, maybe a piggie (kune kune please). For now though, just the dogs. 

So to push the point home how much I love them, we do have dog door jams. It gives me great pleasure to see this little fella every morning. I will draw the line at dog portraits, dog lamps and dog cushions however and I haven't patted him, yet.....

New house - same love

In our new home - our favourite things are still our favourite things - now merged together in a new way that is us and probably still will be in five, ten and twenty years. 

My favourite rickety Georgian table that my mother found for me, Ed's guitar he bought in NZ when we started our life together, his parents 1960's lampbase from their years living in Madrid, my green glass vase - the best birthday present from my sister, Ed's art and finally the bowl from a Ugandan potter that my mother and I found last year. 

So much love and happiness in just one corner of one room.

We bought three beds and two sofas when we moved here, the rest is the culmination of our lives to this point. I think that's what home should be shouldn't it?

 

Small pleasures

 

Quick coffee break. Freshly made coffee, sun comes out, doors are open, daffodils smiling, dogs are snoring. Made me want to giggle. 

Art

Ed and I both love art. We spent most of the weekend 'negotiating' placement... of our respective pieces. I have a fair stash of NZ art (like the Dick Frizzell above). I bought it and carried it on the plane when I came to be with Ed - kind of my gift to us for the start of our lives together. Now it looks down on the dining table in our new/old kitchen and brings much joy. When I went back to see my family last year, we trekked around looking for other pieces that would mean something to both of us. A couple of landscapes, a piece of maori sculpture and of course pottery. I have to say I'm a little chuffed how all of these very kiwi art looks and more importantly feels, in an 1874 house in Peckham Rye. So now I'm looking for just a few more things....

I would like people to be greeted at the front door with this:

 

and when they leave, hopefully they will feel a bit of this:

Available here.

Hump day

If yesterday was a dull day of sanding  and painting ceilings (oh my neck), then today at least is a day of contrasts. 

A swift walk to the local DIY store early this morning uncovered gold – or silver.  Crown silver light bulbs – bulbs that look like they have been dipped in molten metal. They give out the most lovely light, which in turn makes me ridiculously happy - good all round I say. Now no longer produced and running on very short stocks at my local store (I'll never reveal who they are). The purchase felt vaguely illegal, but the happiness of their lovely light will outweigh the niggling sense of not being particularly environmentally friendly. I've recycled work tops and used low voc paint. Am I redeemed?

Back to painting for most of the day, but our old/new sofa should come home this afternoon which means one room may almost be done. When I say almost, I’m ignoring the mammoth job of stripping the windows – why do people paint over windows, gluing them shut? In a big city, you need any air you can get and the biggest windows here are firmly sealed. They are also covered in hideous plastic film. I’m not even going to start on the need for LIGHT. Goethe has that covered.

A brief sojourn into the studio to keep working on a particular commission – 6 quilts, then into town hopefully (I am eternally optimistic on timing) to uncover the perfect fabric for lampshades in the living room. If all comes together, then of course time for a drink  with E before we descend underground (I hate the tube on so many levels).

The day will be interspersed with patting the dogs, marveling at how quickly Darcy is growing and staring at the garden – planning. How can I cross Sissinghurst with Charleston, in just under 50 feet...

Oh and there is a lovely chicken that needs to go in the oven...

Image from Sissinghurst in the summer

The winter garden

There isn't much in our garden - the previous owners took most of it with them it seems. However, there is 50 feet or so of it, with a lovely big studio in the middle of it, and if you're in the  northern hemisphere you'll appreciate that it faces south.

We have a willow, which although beautiful, does not belong 10 feet from the house, so it has to go. We have a small (read diddy) fig, and unidentifiable soft fruit tree - again planted too close, and a large apple/plum tree. 

The only hint of colour is the yellow bush coming over the fence from our neighbours garden. A little bleak and about to get bleaker.

I have gardening books and catalogues at the ready and we are both excited about what we will be creating, growing and eating. I keep watching Nigel Slaters 'Simple Suppers' just to grab a glimpse of his paradise. 

Just a bit more paint scraping and then we can change the building gloves for the gardening gloves.