.Shabbily By The Sea.

Bits And Bobs Part 2

2012-02-03T05:15:00.000-08:00

When we had the doors from the beach cottage dipped and stripped in late Summer we had to take all the old hardware off....well it is now time for them to go be cleaned up ready to go back on and because we have a weekend off we are going to strip off all that old paint....we might be away from the coast but we are still working on building our dream :)....................

We are going to spray them flat black for a bit of a contrast from the all white hallway.....they don't all match but i love that...............

We do not like all the old odd door knobs though and some off them are broken and do not work.........................................

Steve came home with these crackled knobs below yesterday to see if i liked them as much as he did....i love the crackled porcelain but was not sure what they would look like on the doors..................

We tried them against the old locks and i have to say i really love how they look over sized and at £4.99 a pair and we need 7 pairs they are really beach budget friendly :)........what do you think?.....

Although i now was thinking the locks might look better grey? or maybe spray them black and then a little white washing? we shall see............................

The bedside cabinets below are listed online at £750 for the pair .....................

The pair i found in the pictures below cost £95 for the pair on Ebay now all i need are 4 new handles and a little hard work.......................they have really nice beveled mirrors on top...................

The marble tops which were really heavily stained...i fixed this by soaking them in baby sterilizing fluid over night,with marble being porous it soaks it all up and in the morning nice and clean i just need to buff them now with marble wax....................

In the photograph below from the left.......the first filigree is how all the brass was when we bought them,painted in thick gold paint.......the second is with the paint stripped off and the third and fourth after brass cleaner.................

There is a drawer but it is covered in stripper at the moment which is why it is missing from the photograph...the little filigrees above go at the side of each drawer on the corners and you can see on this cabinet the front feet still covered in thick gold paint........

You can see in this picture my wrought iron french bed and sewing box underneath the bedside cabinet ready for a make over and to the right lovely old wide planking boards Steve brought home from work,he had taken them out of a cupboard and they were destined for the skip....oh and totally of topic but a customer gave Steve a huge marble fireplace and Steve tells me it is going to be working in the garden :)

I am going to be painting these bedside cabinets too this weekend..................

XxX

Bits And Bobs part 1

2012-02-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

After playing with my Shabby Chic Soho swatches that were sent to me from my friend Amy at Maison Decor i went on a little crusade to discover all i had in shades of blue......i do have a lot of fabrics in various patterns,a rug,china ware and below as you can see with my swatches are cushions and shades from the Summer place that me and my sister bought :) i kept everything and have had it stored away safely and it has been really lovely to see it all again........we had a thing for Laura Ashley me and my sister....i think i still do as you will soon see.......

Last weekend at the beach cottage the ceiling was up and the water proof backer boards went up in the corner for the shower walls.........

Steve laid the shower tray and started tiling while i had a really good clean up everywhere as things were getting in a bit of a mess here and there and you couldn't move for wood and tools..........

By the end of the day all cut and tiled..........cable and pipe through for the shower unit,i had said in an earlier post that these tiles were £60 as there was just 6 boxes left but i was wrong Steve said it was £90 which i still think is good seen as how we have two or three boxes left........we are not going to the beach cottage this week as the weather forecast is for snow but next time we will be fitting the shower cubicle and shower and planking the walls.....oh and painting that ceiling antique white ;)......

I have had these (i think) pewter handles for a while now....i really love how swirly and ornate they are.......

I was thinking of putting them onto the wardrobe doors below but i think i would need to white wash them over a little....i am not leaving the doors as they are,i am either going to add moldings or paint a pattern on them.....so many decisions to make......

The 'old white' paint on the plank walls in this room i find too perfect and i want to make them more like my planked wall above the fireplace below,maybe using a paler grey and a white.....a little more weathered looking i think for that bleached out beach house look......

The handles are quite large and heavy so would suit the two wardrobe doors......

I wrote about finding some more Laura Ashley wall lights in a charity shop for £7 for the pair in a previous post,well here are two below called 'Lavenham' .....................

Here's one as it was in our Summer place.........they have them in Laura Ashley in the sale at the moment for £45 was £75...................

Steve wants to know if i want them either side of the opening into the sun room below at the other side of the room.....i think yes,do you?...

Talking of lights in the same charity shop a lady had picked up these wall lights below and told me "oh i think they are plastic dear' when she had left i popped them in my basket and i bought them for £9 for the pair and thought i will spray them a different colour when i got home.....when i cleaned them ready for painting i discovered they are solid brass and on the back stamped Laura Ashley (i know,i know) ;)....

They have an extending arm which is really cool and we are going to have them either side of the bow window in the fire place room on the side of two bookcases Steve is going to build........

I saw this one below online today for £419.21 (gulp)..........think i will stick to my charity and junk shops.....................

I was asked by Emma Kate which antique white paint i use because she said it looks lovely,Thank you Emma Kate :) ..............

I use the same one i used at our Summer place, 'colours' by b and q i have used it in all the places we have lived..............

You can use this paint on wood,metal,walls,ceilings,kitchens,bathrooms and it can be scrubbed as its super tough.....it is a really lovely soft white and is good for me as it is low odour water based,i have asthma ;).......................

Oh and i don't think i ever told you but inside our garage is pink and no i didn't do it it was already done.....i was convinced at the viewing it was a sign from above :)......................

I hope me talking about the price of things does not sound bad? I only talk about the prices of the things we are buying to show you can still have beautiful things on a budget and some one reading out there might find it useful and make a first visit to a charity or second hand shop....we always shopped this way growing up so it is second nature to me and i wouldn't have half the things i do if i visited high end shops all the time :)

Part two of bits and bobs tomorrow......

XxX

Piece By Piece

2012-01-31T10:32:00.000-08:00

I always collect what i think of as beautiful or that brings to mind an old memory,sentiment or time,whether it is antique,vintage,old or new,i have no rules, no do's or dont's.....i like to be free of a 'look' so i can hurry home with anything that catches my eye......i am now making over pieces i have collected over the years for our first home 'The Beach Cottage' and today a bedside cabinet and a tea tray are ticked from the list.......

An old dark wood bedside cabinet picked up at a charity shop for £5 some time ago is given a new lease of life with a white chalky primer and a few coats of a home mixed soft aqua paint.........

Revealing the past with chipping and gentle sanding............

A dark wood tray found in the back of a boarded over cupboard at the beach cottage is painted antique white..........we are told everything deserves a second chance....... now this tray will once again serve tea and cakes by the sea...................

Softly aged and now echoing the pattern and shades of my collection of shells...................

A Victorian tea set bought for pounds years ago and my beloved shells my mother collects for me from charity shops,her voice full of joy each time she calls to tell me she has in her hand 'for me' another one........

A candle for light and softness......................

Some books....some are new..........

Some old.......................

A few hours spent making over a £5 bedside cabinet and a found,lost tray........then adding pieces i already have gives me an inexpensive beach bedside cabinet lit by candlelight with tea and a selection of books for a beach cottage guest..........or two...........

I think this would be a nice way to spend some time before bedtime don't you?..

XxX

I am joining Show and tell at blue cricket design

Design In Time

2012-01-27T07:42:00.000-08:00

Amy of the beautiful blog Maison Decor had a giveaway on her blog of Shabby Chic Soho samples and gave everyone the chance to own a piece of Shabby Chic history.

I entered as did many others and the winner was announced,in Amy's words

Without further adieu I am please to announce the winner

of the 25 swatches and 2 hand lettered clothespins are going to

Michelle of Hello Lovely!

Congratulations to Michelle she must have been so happy to read her name.......i continued to read the post and read

And because I saw that many people felt the same way

I did about having a piece of real Shabby Chic
from design icon Rachel Ashwell to call their own,

a few more will get a mini pack of samples!

French Farmhouse 425
Polka Dot Closet
Fractured Fairy Tale
Deb Murphy
Pipigirl
Shabbily by the Sea
Jeanne from Texas
Capers of the Vintage Vixens

Seriously isn't that such a nice thing for Amy to do? well i have sat by the letter box ever since i read my name on Amy's blog:) and today was my lucky day.......

I love her card so beautiful........

Here are my Shabby Chic Soho swatches.....all picked for me by Amy in beautiful coastal colours..... Thank you Amy i love them!........i am taking them with me today to the beach cottage........

Along with my Shabby Chic books.........for inspiration while looking around our beach cottage which is a blank canvas.........

I now have swatches too :) ................they go with my beach bag........

Amy's collection when it arrived as she sat and sourced names for all her fabrics Photograph from Maison Decor........

Amy's design office below and how she displayed her swatches.......beautiful right? photograph from Maison Decor...........

My coastal inspiration of Shabby Chic Soho swatches...thank you again Amy x

If you haven't already you should really visit Amy's blog...her home is stunningly beautiful and she is one very talented designer as you will soon see by clicking here Maison Decor

Tell Amy i said "Hi!" and that i am on my way to the beach cottage with my Shabby Chic Soho Samples and books and that i'll be back Sunday.................

Have a beautiful weekend everyone......XxX

Coastal Blues

2012-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Last weekend at the beach cottage we put the new ceiling in what is to be the new bathroom and rolled out pink insulation above,we have used cladding like the ceiling in the hall....well we call it cladding here in the Uk,can i ask my American readers what name you use for it? as i have read on your blogs the words....planking wainscoting and bead board?

I didn't take pictures of the ceiling as it looks a touch sauna-ish with it still being pine but it will be soon painted antique white :)

This weekend we are fitting the shower tray and Steve is tiling the corner walls with faux marble porcelain tiles....a supplier Steve knows had six boxes left of what were originally expensive tiles and asked Steve if he wanted them for ten pounds a box to take them off his hands and thankfully my love said yes and it certainly helps with the beach budget :).....The tiles are nice and large and Steve is going to tile them in a brick pattern.....also known as subway.

This morning i was looking at this jug of dried hydrangea we have in our kitchen and was amazed at how they have kept their colour,i dried these about three years ago and they are still lovely and blue,their are a few pink hydrangea bushes at the beach cottage and i planted two white ones last Summer,i hope to have a garden full of them as i know they thrive at the coast...

A little later on upstairs i was in my sewing and crafting room sorting out boxes of fabrics,laces and trims and came across this Victorian picture of two little angels that i stood on my desk,Steve had bought me it for my birthday in July and although we are moving to the coast in the Summer and i should be packing things away i wanted to display it now....i love the hand painted roses on the glass and the soft blue painted edge.....

I have cards and cards of lace and trims to be sorted out and this card of sea foam velvet trim and satin ribbon really caught my eye today....i am really into sea coastal colours at the moment and everything blue or aqua is jumping out at me and we all know i love pink ;)......

The colours of the ribbon and picture looked lovely together on my desk so i grabbed my camera......

I thought of the blue hydrangea from this morning and fetched the jug from the kitchen.....

A vintage aqua feather from my drawer........

And came up with the vignette below to photograph for my blog instead of tidying and sorting out my room like i should have been :).........

So if you don't hear from me you know i am having too much fun....i mean i am working hard sorting out my bits and bobs ;).....

I can not believe its Thursday tomorrow and then Friday we will be back to the beach cottage....the weeks seem to be flying by....

XxX

Building A Beach Cottage

2012-01-18T14:20:00.000-08:00

Thank you so much for all your comments and emails on my last post,it would seem my imac is now too old to update to google chrome and i am going to need to buy a new one,.....not sure how i am going to pull that one off while building a beach cottage but for now i have switched to Safari browser and everything seems to be working well.

At the far end of the hallway at the beach cottage is a room which was previously a bedroom....well it is soon to be our bathroom and i thought you would like to come on in and have a look around and see what we were up to last weekend........

There was a framed board over what we thought was a hole from where there had been a window in this room.....see the misty window to the right? that was no mist it was ice! on the inside! hope its better weather this weekend.....

Behind the board we found the original window.............

I think its beautiful and the beach cottage must have looked dreamy with windows in this style all matching.......we pulled the board of outside too and smiled when the light came shining in.....we are having a slipper bath in front of these two windows,well in front of two new windows.....

It was really handy too as it opened so we could throw all the old plaster board and wood out of the window....do you like our glamorous out buildings?..........i think i could throw a match from here ;) .......................note to self get a skip!.......

Upstairs you can see Steve,he built a timber frame to hold insulation in on the gable end wall and to hold a window we will be fitting.........new joists too to hold the new floors and ceilings.....................

This will be my room where i will create and blog from with a window over looking the garden...it is a little hard to imagine right now i know but we have it all planned......

The window we uncovered at the start of this post is the large black board to the left of the picture below.... you can see the sun room i posted about here and the door and brown board will become french doors.........my room window will be above in the middle under the eaves and the long thin black board downstairs to the right is the window pictured below....

Which we found hidden in the wall in our bedroom...........i would love this to be a door out on to a rose garden........Cindy you would be really proud i nailed these curtains up ;)............

Looking in from what is going to be the bathroom straight in to our bedroom you can see all the new joists in the bedroom ceiling too and the planked walls from the other side.....where the mirror is against the wall will be our bed.......

Its really strange being able to look straight through the beach cottage........

Well this weekend the planked ceiling will be going up in the bathroom and corner walls so Steve can fit and tile our corner shower so we have some where to get washed and then we can take the old shower and bathroom out of the room it is in now and start to build that in to a washroom.....

I love the beach house below from the movie Practical Magic and this quote “There are some things, after all, that Sally Owens knows for certain: Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”

After i heard that i planted Rosemary by our garden gate that Steve had made last Summer and this was last weekend and it is still growing,i have never been able to grow it inland.
I always take a little sprig back to the city with me to use for cooking...i have planted roses and now i need to plant lavender,i love gardening and can not wait until we move to the beach cottage and i can potter on an Summer evening,that for me will be heaven.

The End XxX

Could i ask you?

2012-01-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sorry to ask but i seem to be having issues with my comments and i am not sure it is working so could i ask all of you can you leave comments on my posts or not? i am having trouble leaving them on yours and i am not sure why?......

if you can not comment an answer here could you twitter comment,facebook comment or email me at shabbilyeverafter@gmail.com?

Thank you XxX

Diary Day

2012-01-16T03:20:00.000-08:00

I quickly wrote down how i felt Sunday morning just as i experienced it to keep a record of my thoughts,i shall call it a diary day........ indulge me in my dreamy romantic ways :)

Early Sunday morning around 4am and i lay awake in bed at the beach cottage.....I can hear the sea......waves are crashing on the shore....she is calling....i open my eyes....it is so cold...i hurry out of bed and pile some kindle wood onto the dying embers in the fireplace...if i'm quick i can save it and i will have flames crackling and the room will be filled with soft yellow light again....its the third time i have jumped out of bed tonight to put coal and logs on the fire.......its our only heat in the beach cottage and it is cold outside.....

I hurry into the kitchen and make tea.......when i return flames are flickering in the grate....i light candles and sit down with the book 'Hers' and start to read.......i would read books over the years and watch films with this scenario but today it was me...i was the girl by the fire wrapped in a blanket with tea and candle light...... no appliances or furniture just me and my love and a few things on the mantle piece.......we are living the old ways when we are here and i think how it could stay this way.........

A thick frost covers the crumbly old beach cottage roof outside.......but inside i am safe and warm...i think of my son back home asleep,my mother,our dogs...they seem so far away with their modern life almost like they are in another time..i think of the ways i love them as the flames flicker and the coals glow........

As i warm my toes by the fire my mind wanders to my thoughts and then i am back to the book....i think of making linen slipcovers for chairs when i return home and how they would look when i bring them here..i mean home to the beach cottage.......i study the lessons the book is teaching me as the fire crackles and the waves crash to shore....my toes are warm and so is my heart......

I look over at Steve sleeping soundly he has worked so hard building our dream...i see our air bed on two layers of wall insulation...stuffed with hot water bottles and it makes me smile our home made bed...i am happy and content....we have jumped in this bed after working hard all day early on an evening to be warm and we have laughed and talked for hours about the beach cottage and our life back home.....nothing disturbs us here....we can just be.....a girl.....a boy........ and a dream.........

All too soon i am on the last page and i sit back with one thought in my head,on page 194 a qoute by Joyce Maynard "A good home must be made,not bought".........'home' i think how i am 'home'...this is our 'home'.........we are making a 'home'..........

I am grateful to have a 'home' and for the ways it is teaching me what is important in life.....on weekends at the beach cottage we have nothing and yet we have seem to have everything............

What would you write in your diary?

The End XxX

Books in my beach bag

2012-01-13T05:37:00.000-08:00

The post lady just arrived with a book i had ordered the other day after reading Amy's design book review here at Maison Decor.... if you have not read Amy's blog you really should pop over and take a peek she is a designer and her home is very beautiful......my text is black and grey best sort that out when i get home :)

The book i chose was 'Hers' by Jacqueline deMontravel isn't that a fabulous name? i just said "Hello i'm Jaqueline deMontravel' it sounds really chic!......... try it? but say the Ja in Jacqueline how you would say the j'a in j'adore ;)

I am really looking forward to reading 'Hers' in about ooohh an hour on my way to the beach cottage....i am also taking 'Shabby Chic Inspirations' and 'Romantic Prairie Style'....... oh and my trusty quilted faded stripey beach bag......

I had a quick flick through 'Hers' and it looks beautiful..........

I need this pink table its lovely......i really like the white of the room and then the pop of the pink table and accessorizes.......

In Shabby Chic Inspirations there is a piece covered in raised china flowers and i thought i have two pieces similar,a footed bowl and an ink well that i laid on the left page to show you........

The ink well flowers are pretty similar....can you imagine writing a letter to a friend by candle light and using a piece like this? so romantic i think......

When i first started my blog we bought a pine dresser top and Steve made a bottom for it to sit on to make a large wall dresser....... i then painted it and this was the result...... after seeing a picture on tumblr.......

I am going to re paint the dresser as i love the colours of the one below and i think it will really work at the beach cottage.....

Steve just told me i have an hour so i better make sure i have my camera in my bag and all my things together.....we are knocking out the room that is going to be our bathroom this week and glazing the internal doors with clear glass....

Have a lovely weekend what ever you are doing and i will see you soon.....

The End XxX

Comment Test

2012-01-11T05:07:00.000-08:00

Our beach last Summer.........

Right comments are back to normal everyone :)

x

Oh So Vintage!

2012-01-10T12:59:00.000-08:00

I loved reading your comments on my last post and i am so glad i wrote from the heart ....thank you all so much for your comments and for joining me on our journey to live in our beach cottage by the sea this Summer :) it feels good to know you now know how much our beach cottage means to us and the background to how we have ended up at this point,she is not just a home she is our dream and we have waited for so long to get her it some times doesn't feel real,almost like someone would come along and tell us there has been a mistake and take her from us.

Our Story did sound sad in places but its real life and i know from reading your blogs i am sadly not alone,we have to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves down,i have been picking my self up for seven years,well this year i am dusting myself down and i know we are going to get the happy ending,when we are at the beach cottage i can feel it.

One thing i forgot to tell you in my last post was how much my sister loved my Steve and how he had all the time in the world for her...thinking back to her looking up at him makes me smile.....ok where was i? ah yes my guest towel.......

I popped over to Oh So Vintage after i had posted my pink wash stand to look through Ruth's linens as they are all very beautiful......i spied a pretty little pink guest towel with the initial G that Ruth said could be for guest.....i thought oooh that's gorgeous and then i though G for Gorgeous and the next thing it was in my basket.

The picture below is from oh so vintage......i love the embroidery and of course the colour pink!.......

I think it will look Gorgeous draped on my pink washstand once a sink and taps are fitted,don't you?

I have added commentluv to my comments section where i will be able to reply to you directly and it will show me and everyone else here the title and a link to your last post so we can all interact a bit more, i hope it shows in this post,fingers crossed.
I also added smileys so you can send me a smile or a wink if you need to :)

update.... i have removed commentluv as a lot of you have said you can not see anywhere to leave comments on this post and it didn't link back to your blogs last post,i am thinking it must do that for Wordpress but not for Blogger,anyhow hopefully my comments will be back to normal on my nest post,you have to try things right?

The End XxX

Our Story

2012-01-10T00:07:00.000-08:00

The beach cottage is our first home that is ours and belongs to us, we bought her for cash and she is run down and tired and needs everything doing to her but that is ok we like a challenge.
we have had things happen over the years that have set us back in life as far as owning our own home...we have been together 18 years this New Years Eve that just passed,i had met him once or twice before and then at midnight at a party he grabbed the tops of my arms in his hands and pulled me towards him at midnight,kissed me and said Happy New Year a firework exploded above and i fell in love..... and we have been together ever since :)

We rented a flat that they called an apartment two floors up in a huge Victorian house and i was so happy living there it was just the most wonderful place to live,we then moved to a tiny stone cottage and then on to a stone detached but none of them were ours,we saved for years and years but with house prices ever rising we thought we would never own our own little dream home....but Steve always promised me a cottage overlooking the sea.....i would smile and think it was a sweet thing to say never imagining it would come true......everyone has a dream and it didn't matter if it never came true we were happy and that's what was important....

Me and my sister had some lovely family holidays growing up at a little seaside town and stayed in little wooden holiday homes with my mum and dad,as adults we would visit the same seaside and get our fix,it was almost that those Summers still existed and we could hop in and out of them and travel through time when we visited,the same chalets we stayed in with mum and dad came up for sale for £5000 and between us we took out a bank loan and bought one,oh it was heaven and mum was so happy,Steve loved it and on our morning walks to the beach we would walk past some little streets with rows of houses over looking the sea and say wow we would love to live there.....i had my last holiday with my sister at the holiday home,it was August and we sat and made jigsaws,the sun was shining, we pushed one and two pence pieces in slot machines,giggled,cuddled,ate lemon top ice creams,paddled in the sea,time had stopped and we were in our Summer again,held in time forever together.

In the October of the same year my sister fell asleep and never woke we were told her heart had been failing for a long time,she was 39 and i was lost and devastated,we sold the holiday home and i never thought i would return to our place by the sea.

A few years passed by and me and Steve visited the old Summer place,the old memories that had last time hurt and burned me came flooding back bitter sweet but in a happier light.
The recession hit and house prices dropped so we started looking on the internet at house prices and even went to look round a few but in our price range they were small and badly laid out often larger homes made into flats.
One day we saw our beach cottage for sale but it was at £80'000 we viewed it with my sisters boy who we have raised the last seven years and now call our son hoping they would accept a lower offer,they didn't and that was that and it stood empty and on the market for another year as no one would offer more knowing the work that needed to be done.....we could do the work ourselves we just needed a chance.....eventually they dropped the price to £62,500 and the keys were ours.

Our beach cottage is on one of those streets with the rows of houses over looking the sea right across the road from our old holiday home, i think about my sister every weekend when we drive past the old holiday home and i like that i have that connection to her and the past.

Steve always said he would buy me a cottage over looking the sea and i think my sister had something to do with us being gifted our beach cottage and it does feel like a gift after 18 years of looking for our own home.

We have a lot to do and it is far from perfect but you know what it is our kind of perfect and if we have to live in one room this Summer we will be there blogging about it while we fix up the rest.

I guess i am typing this today as it has all been on my mind thinking about the past,the present and the future.....

So this is our life and here i am :) x

Pink And The Beach Cottage

2012-01-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

I painted a little pine washstand that we had and set it up to take some pictures last Thursday for a blog post before i left for the beach cottage on Friday,thanks to the ugly spotlights where we live at the moment my pictures came out all bright and shadowy as you can see below....i was really disappointed as you all know it takes time to set up,photograph and upload pictures to make a blog post....i didn't publish that post as i didn't want to look unprofessional with a bunch of shadowy pictures.....i told Steve on his return from work i wish i could take pictures of everything in our beach cottage..........

He said well lets put it in the car and take it to the beach cottage,take your pictures and then we will bring it home.....so i did :) he is really great like that and it just feels right to show you pictures of our furniture in our home and not one that belongs to someone else.

I painted her candy pink and chipped her all over for a soft time worn look,Steve will fit a sink and taps in the top and it will be fitted in our toilet which will be planked walls three quarters of the way up with maybe a little shelf on top.........

She has two towel holders one on either side......

She has lots of curves ..........

and lots of chipped paint..........

Its a shame i didn't take the roses,jug and bowl with me as shown in the shadowy picture below.......oh and i left her at the beach cottage i love that i have something pink there :)

The sun room at the back of our beach cottage is rotten on all three sides but her flat roof is in really good condition and must have been replaced not too long ago.....see the pile of wood to be burned in the background? it keeps growing......the door below is going to be replaced with two plain french style doors and although we would love wood we are too close to the sea so are having white upvc.....

Steve built a new frame inside the sun room making the walls deeper so we can add good insulation to them,this is now fixed to the floor and ceiling beams so the outside walls can be taken down as they are no longer supporting the roof....on the right of the picture below the doors will be as wide as in between the two floor to ceiling beams and to the left you can see one of our six pain mock sash windows that we bought new on Ebay sadly a builder had gone bankrupt and his loss was our gain it saved us a fortune,we will have to cut costs where we can as most of our savings bought our beach cottage for cash but we will get there on our beach budget.....i am just thankful we don't have a mortgage....

at night below when we had finished looking to the left of the room,the two ends of the windows both open out and only the middle is fixed which will give it a real breezy beach look...you can hear the sea in our garden so it will be lovely to fling these open and have drapes blowing in the breeze in the Summer,that's how i imagine it anyway.....

Looking through the old white room below at the new window,i am going to dry paint antique white over the planks in here and chip it all to age it later on......

Outside you can see the old walls and windows have had their day and you can see the new windows hung inside........

Inside looking through from the hall we really like the shape and style of the new windows and it feels like our hard work is starting to come together......

Oh and before i go the sea was just beautiful at the weekend and the sun was shining which i didn't expect for January.......

The End XxX

Beachy bits

2012-01-04T13:50:00.000-08:00

We had picked this corner wall cabinet up a few years ago and it was dark varnished oak and had tiles in the doors with flowers on,it looked awful but it was a nice shape and it is very heavy real wood so it came home with us.
I made a start on making our furniture more greyish white for the beach cottage and first up is the little cabinet......i had to stand it on a chair and wedge a cushion underneath so it would stand up just in case you wonder what is going on underneath.....

I painted two coats of heavy white primer and two coats of old white on top and then heavy sanded back to reveal the white chalky primer underneath,love the little swirl details they didn't really show when the cabinet was dark....i am not sure what to put in the doors as i am not sure which room it will be going in,glass? wire? fabric? we shall see........

I need to pick up some tiny glass handles and i will most likely look online to see what Anthropologie have as they have a fabulous selection,now i am not a regular shopper with them as funds don't allow their prices but when its just a couple of nice handles that will finish off a piece then our budget can stretch and it is a good way to give a made over piece a bit of polish.......

I have also had my head buried in this book.....which has some beautiful cottages and ideas in....

This one too............. sigh i love that floor........

About ten years ago we had a little weekend seaside cabin that me and my sister owned,after she had died i sold it as i couldn't bare to go back without her....i look through old pictures of me and her together when i am feeling melancholy and i found this one below.......wow doesn't it look just like my hallway at the beach cottage? it really surprised me and Steve how we had made it look the same again as it wasn't our plan to...well to be honest we have never had a plan we just do what we think as we get to the next bit :) and when we have had a plan i change our minds......the curtains were a soft blue chambray cotton from Ikea and see the Laura Ashley Lavenham wall light? yes i will never forget the name because i had to work hard to pay £60 for that wall light ten years ago and you know in a charity shop this summer i found three for £7 with not a mark on them,yes i did buy them and you may well see all four pop up at the beach cottage,yes four there was no way i was leaving the one pictured below behind ;) me and my sister really loved how it gave the place a touch of glamour and sparkle so it had to go with me........i think they now could do with a makeover too.......

I have updated 'Shabbily a place in time' pictured below today too Shabbily A Place In Time

I wish the wind would stop howling it is really messing with my Summer beach cottage mood :)

The End XxX

White Washed

2012-01-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

On weekends when we leave for the Beach Cottage i always make sure i have my bag full of books with me as the Cottage is a building site and i need something pretty to look at on an evening after a days work to inspire me....my collection of books ranges from French country to shabby chic,some recently printed and some not so new,i buy on trend books but do not decorate on trend,i like to instead pick pieces out from many different era's and styles of books that i find pleasing to the eye and mix them all together.

I change the books in my bag week to week but i always have a few favourite's that always come with me.....

One such book is 'Victoria,At Home With White' i have had this for a few years now and out of all the books i own i am always drawn to the softness of this one and would recommend it to anyone who loves white soft dreamy lacey decor.........

I love the chippy mantle and the soft sepia tones on the left page in this picture below....

But Oh my.... look to the right.... a wall whitewashed over layers of paint,straw hats from long ago,a weathered old lantern and pink peonies is to me oh so soft and beautiful.......

The hallway below in our beach cottage is at the moment painted in a soft antique white and is a blank canvas,i really love how light and bright it is and want to keep this Summer feeling as we walk in the door when we live here.
I will be painting furniture we already have in shades of white and grey and painting the walls mainly antique white through out the cottage to achieve this........

In the book you will find touches of colour here and there and i especially like the hat and sail boat in the picture below along with the lace edging on the shelves ,a little beach and a little boudoir......

I was looking through some old pictures and found this one of a white sail boat from last Summer taken from the cliff top at the end of our Avenue...it was one of those hot Summer days you know when everything is hazy and light and you can not take a clear picture no matter how you try as what you see is what you get......well i would like the beach cottage to have that hazy softness.....

I can happily say that this year we are moving to the Beach Cottage and i am happy you my friends will be sharing the journey with me.....we have a lot of work to do between now and then and i know it won't be plain sailing making a move from the city to the coast but when your heart has always been at the coast surely it will be happy you will join it?.........but is it going to be everything we hope it's going to be?........Yes!......... how do i know this to be true?...........because life as my Mum says is what you make it....

Thank you so much for listening to my thoughts on my blog makeover and for your as always kind comments and inspiring words.......

The End XxX

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T12:09:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone who stops by Shabbily By The Sea the happiest of New Years and that your days be filled with love and laughter through out 2012.....

May your dreams come true and may you find times of peace to quietly reflect on what is truly important to you and not others......

May you have strength and determination and within you the confidence this year to try or do anything that your heart has desired but has yet fulfilled.....

Most of all i wish you Love......Happy New Year!

The End XxX

Beach to Boudoir

2011-12-29T16:41:00.000-08:00

I have felt a little lost with the look of my Blog for a while now,it has not represented what i have felt i am all about so i have changed the layout and softened the whole look....i still have my pink with my blog title and matching cursor stars and i can have my pictures nice and large which i like as i was spoiled by Steve with a Canon g12 for my birthday earlier in the year.

I am also now on Twitter,i think you can show a day to day side there and interact more which i am looking forward to and you can join me by clicking on the Twitter logo on the left of my page....

When reading the words 'Shabbily By The Sea' most people would expect a coastal blog,thing is we still live inland and are not moving to our beach cottage until the Summer 2012 and this really frustrates me as i want to go now and blog about our life at the beach as well as the things i create,well in a few days we will be able to say we are moving to the coast THIS year! and then my blog will be very much more coastal as that is where i am my happiest and feel myself.
We have lots of plans for a vegetable garden and an outdoor fireplace,this is after we have finished the beach cottage,it will be a kind of on going story of our dream home and the life we want to live.

I was talking to Steve last night about how i felt there are two sides to my blog,one side being the white,pale rose and beach cottage and the other the pink boudoir feathery side and how i thought they didn't mix as most coastal blogs are just coastal and themed and i have a love of pink and vintage.

It is easy as a blogger to find an area that is popular and run with it but i don't want to have a blog where i can only post a certain style or theme,you can soon trap yourself and i want to be free to post what makes me happy or something i have created or a place we have visited....

one side of me will paint and distress a fireplace and dress it simple.......

and the other pink side will dress a Christmas tree in pink shabby roses.......

After talking to Steve for ages and explaining how i felt about my blog he said "well you are beach and boudoir and things in between" light bulb moment! i loved it Steve had brought my blog together for me and for the first time to me my blog made sense.........

I popped this vignette together so from left to right........

Shabbily By The Sea can now be 'From Beach to Boudoir and everything in between'

Thank You Steve XxX

See you on Twitter?

The End XxX

Lace Baubles

2011-12-23T12:59:00.000-08:00

The lovely Niki from Nostalgia At The Stone House had taken this picture below and posted it on her other blog Nostalgia At The Stone House-My Creations which is a beautiful archive of all her handmade creations.......i had seen these lace baubles and cooed over how beautiful they were to Steve telling him how i wished they were mine.......

When the postman handed me a box yesterday i was a little puzzled as i had not been expecting anything,well when i opened the box and looked under the tissue the beautiful lace baubles i had seen on Niki's blog were sat sparkling right before my very eyes,i actually cried because i was so touched and it really has made my Christmas special,thank you Niki so very much for such a lovely thought and gift that i will treasure always xxx

Inside was a postcard and the pretty picture was taken from Niki's Nostalgia Calenders and it stars on the month of October,we had chatted about the calender during our emails and we had both declared it was our favorite,so sweet of her to remember and to add to my already wonderful gift....i began finding a home for my lace baubles.....

It was hard to fit them on my Christmas tree as it was so full so i hung them from the chandelier and they looked lovely sparkling with my pale pink 1920's feather boa........

I have a tray of glasses waiting to be glamoured with glitter and greenery before our guests arrive Christmas Eve so i popped them in my pink wine glasses........

Squeezed them on my Christmas tree,how gorgeous do they look? they look so old and Victorian i am in love......

I thought they would look beautiful on an all white tree and then i remembered the faux German feather tree i had bought last year and searched high and low in the attic until i found it.......

Draped in lace with a feather top all soft in white how pretty would this be in our bedroom.....

For Niki.....
Fair be your days that come and go,
I write these lines to let you know
That greetings fond and wishes true
Dear heart,all these i wish for you.

taken from a postcard of good cheer,1900.

Tonight i will dream of Christmas Eve and a White Christmas just like dreamers do....thanking Niki for making one of my wishes come true......

Sweet Dreams for me and sweet dreams for you too,
If my wish came true then i pray your wish will too.

The End XxX

Shabby Rose Christmas Tree

2011-12-19T12:48:00.000-08:00

All covered in snow and pale pink roses our shabby rose Christmas tree.......

Real trees are so expensive this year so we decide on a faux snow flocked tree,she will look so pretty next year at the beach cottage....

I used faux roses and rose garlands i have from around the home and glass baubles,ribbons,crystals and lights from years gone by.......

Christmas Rose this Christmas Morn
Methinks i hear thee softly say
"In Bethlehem a Child was born
Who bled to take my thorn away!"
Hence musing thus through Earthly bowers
Oh,let us look from them to those
Where shines the King~the flower of flowers~
The great~the one true CHRISTMAS ROSE!

~From a Christmas postcard 1884~

Christmas Heart

Winter skies and Christmas Eve is upon us.......' A Merry Christmas to one and all!'

Oh please snow for Christmas

Snowy branches with velvet and gold

Remember Squinting your eyes as a child?

A Christmas Cottage

A Faux Christmas tree makes it a little more friendly for a certain someone's little paws.......

A pair of glass swans with feather headdresses sit at the top for a touch of glamour......

Is it time for Christmas?.........i think so.........

A sweet poem for you my dear readers..........

Good night,dear little dreamers,
May visions fair and bright
Of Santa Claus and Christmas
Bring joy to you this night;
May angels guard your slumbers
Till the dawn of light.

Charles L.Hutchins,1916

The End XxX

I am joining White Wednesday At Faded Charm

Shabbily A Place In Time

2011-12-14T12:59:00.000-08:00

Pom Pom and i would love to welcome you to our new old home 'Shabbily'.....

You can visit any time you wish by clicking on the picture of us on the right in the sidebar and follow our journey as we renovate and furnish our home which we simply call 'Shabbily' our very own place in time....

The End XxX

Beach Cottage Update

2011-12-06T02:20:00.000-08:00

Update of the beach cottage after some requests in comments and email....

We are doing all the work ourselves on weekends and we are happy with how it is taking shape although we still have a lot of work to do.

There was a brown wood fence around the garden when we first arrived and i quickly painted it white and then we added the rose arch this Summer and i cleared the garden and trimmed the hedges....

Steve made a gate and hand cut all the palins to transform it into a picket fence,it stops our little dogs getting out and makes the house look a little prettier until we have the outside shingled and new windows,as you can see we don't have one window that matches at the moment.....

The hallway was disgusting and covered in nicotine....it looked like this......

Everything was torn out and it now looks like this......

We are going to be fitting new floor boards on top of the old ones and painting the floors throughout white once we have finished and then we will fit the skirting boards too......below the old door covered in nicotine........

They have been dipped and stripped and are now hung and primed white,so much better,they are not perfect but i like the knocked corners and bumps here and there...we are having clear glass cut for them as the old glass was patterned,i dream of hanging lace up at each one.....

Looking into the old white room with it's walls now painted in Eau de ciel...the Sunroom beyond is the next room to be tackled and insulated,it's south facing and happily lives up to it's name.....

A little porch at one end of the hallway was removed....

To reveal this space,it must have been built for warmth as the house has no central heating....well my love is a Gas engineer so all that will change soon......you can see the space we gained at the side of the door on the left of the picture it makes the doorway look more central and not squashed into the corner.....

We are not keeping this front doorway and decided to block it up as we have two front doors......

A pretty little cast iron fireplace was given to us and after we scraped all the old paint off and repainted it white we built a false wall and cut a hole for the fireplace,it is just stood until the floors are fitted.....so much nicer than that old door way i think,the bedroom door on the left will be our bathroom and the shower room door on the right will become our washroom......

We were amazed how much detail there was hiding underneath the thick layers of paint,i am going to fill the grate with conch shells......

The fireplace as it was originally.........

After we knocked everything down,it was so satisfying!

Last weekend as it is now with its paneled wall and exposed brick wall and timber ceiling......

I painted the Mantel and paneling over and over until i was happy with how it looked and then sanded and chipped it all over...the rest of the room is full of tools and has our airbed in the middle but i didn't want to scare you with reality so we will just look at the candles and say ahhhhhh ;).......

I love candle light it makes white walls look like it has just snowed........

I found this Arthur Wood flower bowl in a local charity shop for £3.00 and it's huge, i can't wait to fill it with flowers from my cottage garden.......

I really like the fire when all the ash is piled underneath like an old Victorian period drama but Steve always cleans it up :) after working all day it had piled nicely as we just walk in and out throwing logs on to keep us warm and i quickly snapped this picture......

I can't believe i am showing you this but welcome to my Boudoir or bedroom as some people call them ;) every room we have done so far has looked like this at first so i am not fazed but oh dear its not pretty is it?.........you can see the scaffolding outside the window......

So there we have the Beach Cottage so far......

I will be back with pretty pictures of our Christmas tree and my sewing room....

The End XxX

Sew Happy

2011-11-29T07:38:00.000-08:00

I have been sewing and thought you would like to see what i have been making....i also have pictures of those dusky pink light shades finished and some hand made presents i have sent to blogging friends.

I really enjoy sitting down and choosing all the bits and pieces for what i am about to make and seeing what works together....sewing makes me really happy and i can honestly sit with a needle and thread for hours on end.

I love this Rose pink velvet ribbon and insertion lace is always pretty......

1930's lingerie fabric covered in roses and snow white lace.............

Which made this lady a new petticoat after she arrived with a torn one and full of holes........

Pretty in pink and back to her former glory.......

So pretty and so cozy now the dark nights are here and i really like how the rose fabric looks with the lamp light........

The dusky pink lamp shades as i found them.......

Now with hand made ribbon roses,trims and old glass beaded fringing....... i have photographed them on two different lamps as i am not sure where they are going to go once we have moved to the beach cottage,i will wrap them up and pop them away for next year.....

Shades really soften the light in a room and give a lovely vintage glow...

A close up below for Ann who wanted to see my ribbon roses...............pretty glass bead fringing sparkling in the light....Boudoir Glamour.......

Mid to late 1800's antique Mer-boys French Empire linen weave fabric in soft aged raspberry red,soft pink and cream made into a display pillow for a blogging friend who i hope to meet one day (i can't say who she is in this post as she might be reading)........

This lady sews all year long making beautiful items for us all to enjoy so i thought it would be a nice surprise for someone to sew for her.........

I added lace,vintage crystals from an old necklace and a rhinestone button and beaded his tail with tiny glass beads........

I made a fabric conch shell to add to the Mer-boy theme..........

The little memories purse from my last post is posted and is on its way to the really lovely........

Sandy from My Shabby Streamside Studio

Here she is outside her dreamy white Victorian cottage,pop over and check out her 'Vintage Video' on the link above you can see her cottage in the snow and decorated for Christmas it truly is Heaven on Earth.....

I would also like to welcome all new Friends to Shabbily by the sea and thank you for following and subscribing,i love to hear from you and then visit your blogs so leave me a comment and i'll pop on over......

The End XxX

Linking to.......
Whats it wednesday

A Memories Purse

2011-11-25T07:26:00.000-08:00

To help someone is a marvelous gift to give and can mean the world to the person you are helping whether the favor be big or small.....in gratitude i made a purse of Winter white.......

Lawn cotton, broderie anglaise and Lace stitched together from petticoats and dresses of Summers gone by....the lace loop to go over her wrist as she tip toes over her stream is a little tattered and torn just the way she likes her treasures.......a lace bow to tie and hold the things that are dear to her.......

She lives in a beautiful dreamy world of soft white but will always have a place for the blush of her love the Rose.....tucked in a lace pocket are tiny English dried roses for a sweet reminder of Summer......

Inside a tied bundle of old lace and a vintage bobbin of cotton to remind her of all the things she has created in white with her own hands that have brought joy to so many......

On the opposite page sits a carved wooden button of a Viola a beautiful wild flower to keep close her love of her wild flowers while they are sleeping through the Winter....a tiny white shell from a 'Sandy' beach......a crystal bead to remind her of the chandelier hanging over her bed in her studio and two button's from France,one is mother of pearl and the other is glass to show her love of shabby french decor....

In the center is a soft page made from an old faded quilt..........

Inside the pretty washed out pale blue pattern on the quilting will bring memories of her toile wall paper she hung in her pretty china cabinet and white paper roses for happy memories of winning Noel's giveaway......

Old pearl stamens that glisten and shine like her holiday decor.....needles sew she can create...Pins to attach her beloved poetry and a safety pin to attach her thoughts to her haven from the outside world while she is away....

A purse full of memories all in white for a dear girl.......

Made with love and sent in friendship x.........

The End xxx

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T10:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our American friends across the sea,i hope your day is filled with love and happiness!

We don't have Thanksgiving here in the Uk but i did reflect earlier on what i am thankful for and along with usual it has to be my mum,our friendship,the lessons she has taught me and her life...mum was diagnosed with ovarian cancer ten years ago and had surgery and chemotherapy....a week after her surgery to remove the tumor a blood clot that traveled from the operation hit her brain and she had a stroke and couldn't speak,she has had two knee replacements and has high blood pressure,diabetes and a few other things ;) but nothing can keep her down for long and i can still call her everyday and see her every week and for that i am thankful.

Mum can now speak and walk by the way :)

This is my mum at Castle Howard in the rose garden all in pink with her Tinkerbell handbag on her knee,she believes in fairies ;) i can't believe she will be 70 next year....

My mum is a fighter,she is strong and has faith in God and she always tells me i am just like her,i don't feel it but mums are always right.

She has been the best friend to me over the years and is always there to help me and give me advice....to go shopping with and to laugh a lot with.

I Love you Mum so very much XxX

The End xxx

Bits And Bobs

2011-11-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

The pictures i had questioned in my last post were kindly answered by the lovely Niki from Nostalgia At The Stone house and it turns out the boudoir in question belongs to a fabulous lady called Virginia Bates who is draped in the doorway of her shop called 'Virginia' isn't it gorgeous?

Niki told me i would LOVE Virginia's style and she was right! her shop is beautiful just look at all the beautiful treasures in the picture below and the swagged ceiling is stunning,i could live very happily in this picture and can you imagine getting up for work knowing you were going to be swanning around in a boudoir all day?

Yes i am totally in love with Virginia's style and thank you so much Niki for answering my plea x

I was happy to see the post lady too today as she brought me a package with two lovely point d'espirit lace panels with their original tags that i won on Ebay for £10.50 for the beach cottage.....

So much cheaper than some of the high end stores who are selling lace panels,they will need a good soak in some vanish as they have storage fold marks in them but i love how they look and how they soften a window.......

I picked up six shades while over at the coast at half term to make over and i loved these two dusky pink ones and thought they would be pretty trimmed up in boudoir glamour style.....

The little cabinet above is a Victorian medicine cabinet and on the top are three little rabbits i picked up while abroad on holiday,i fell in love with their little front feet and their chippy paint......

Stitching ruffled lace around the top.......

Two Edwardian dress cuffs trailing down.........

Making ribbon roses with vintage pink ribbon from France.......i really liked them as they look on the picture below but i have added trims and roses and will be adding more pictures of them finished soon.

I wanted to show you this bolero cape also from Ebay it is new with tags and it was only £11.50,the tag says £65 originally.....i think it is really pretty and it looks lovely with my wedding dress.......

Wonderful detail and covered in sequins and beads,it is amazing what you can find on Ebay and how little you can pick up really nice things for......

I am in love with this inspiring picture of a Chanel dress below,oh how i love sparkle and glamour......

Well i need to go finish packing now as it's off to the coast tonight and while i'm painting the doors i will be wearing overalls....i wonder if you can get them covered in lace and sequins?........

I would like to ask my readers if they are interested in seeing progress pictures of the beach cottage as we go along? i would love to take full room shots with furnishings but it is not at that stage at the moment i'm afraid but we have done a lot of work since my last pictures.....i am also thinking of changing my blog name back to 'Shabbily Ever After' as i really do miss it and the initials do spell SEA so it would still work for when we are living at the coast nest Summer,what do you think?

Have a lovely shabbily weekend!

The End XxX

Friends and a Boudior

2011-11-11T06:34:00.000-08:00

I have spent most of this week hugging my dear sweet little friend 'Pom Pom' as i have not felt on top of the world and although i have started projects feeling unwell has drained my creativity and i ended up playing with fabrics and trims for hours on end only to finish with lots of pretty pieces in a heap but nothing sewn together....it was time to give in and sleep......

Beatrix Rose Pom Pom Potter

Affectionately i call her 'Mummy's little peeper' as every time i move she peeps to see where i am going......

Peeping

It is lovely to have a best friend keeping an eye on you when you are not yourself but not so good if you are eating anything like an apple or crisps....

Sweet Beautiful Girl

This next week shall be a better one and i will finish my projects and get to share them with you and a day at the beach cottage tomorrow should have me back on track!

I found the two pictures below online with no links to where they originally came from and i would love to know who it belongs to as i would love to see the rest of the house,do any of my dear readers know? are they from a book? or a blog?

I had sent the pictures to Christie from Chateau De Fleurs as i know from Pintrest she would love these rooms.......i have had these pictures on my desktop forever and not once did i see they were of the same room but Christie did straight away! Thank you Christie x

The shades on the chandelier,the bed and lace swagged pelmet with shell and swagged flowers,the ribbon work bed spread and lace cushion,the white fireplace,the soft glowing wall lights,the mirror and the piled high dressing table with draped roses,oh my! if you get to choose an image for heaven this surely will be mine.......

I adore everything about this room especially the lamp shade on the floor to the right of the picture below and a pink chaise longue covered in pretty pillows,do you like the roses trailing over the drapes?

It is cold here today in England and i think it is time to get out the feather duvets for the chilly nights we are having and order some logs for the fire,i am still waiting for my Creating Vintage Charm magazine to arrive as it can take up to two weeks to arrive from America,i will pop it on my blog as soon as it arrives for you to see,

Have a lovely shabbily weekend xxx

The End

Creating Vintage Charm

2011-11-01T04:41:00.000-07:00

I arrived home at the weekend from a lovely week at the beach cottage to an email from the lovely Sonia Crouse of Creating Vintage Charm magazine telling me that my artwork and story 'The Little White Swan' had been published in the Fall issue of her beautiful magazine,i am absolutely over the moon and would like to Thank Sonia and everyone at Creating Vintage Charm from the bottom of my creative finger tips!
It really is a honor to be in such a beautiful magazine and I can't wait to receive my copy and read all the loveliness inside......

I have to tell you that if you love the beach as much as i do you would just love the Summer 2011 issue as it is packed full of gorgeous beachy inspiration,look at the cover below,how beautiful is that table setting? i had this issue with me at the beach cottage last week and i think i read it a hundred times,you can back order the Summer issue here .....

Here is a peek of what you will find inside the Summer 2011 issue......

Creating Vintage Charm is shipped worldwide and you can order your Fall 2011 issue here

I am working on something pretty which i will be sharing with you as soon as i have finished this week xxx

My Belle Epoque Hat

2011-10-14T05:40:00.000-07:00

In the movie Cheri Michelle Pfeiffer wears the most Beautiful hats of the Belle Epoque era,i adore this movie as it is visually stunning and i recently discovered the era which i love and always gravitate towards has the most beautiful title of 'Belle Epoque'.........it is so true that you can learn something new every day isn't it?......

The Belle Époque or La Belle Époque (French pronunciation: [bɛlepɔk]; French for "Beautiful Era") was a period in European social history that began during the late 19th century and lasted until World War I.

After watching the movie again this week i decided to make my own hat in the style of 'Belle Epoque'

I started with an old straw hat that i sprayed heirloom white.......

I rummaged through hat boxes and drawers in my sewing room searching for soft old lawn cottons,vintage polka dot bridal veil,feather plumes,laces,vintage millinery carnation flowers each with a soft touch of aqua in their centers.....

Large hats of this era were known as The Merry Widow Hat after the famous operetta of the time starring Lily Elsie pictured above.....

I didn't want to use glue as i know it can yellow and spoil fabrics after time so i set to stitching and ruffling by hand,adding and taking away as i went,soft ruffles and flouncy lace all coming together and making my heart light.....

When i had finished i placed my hat on our chandelier...imagining it was Belle Epoque Paris and a crowd had just shouted 'Happy New Year' and a glamorous lady threw her hat up in the air only for it to land on a chandelier draped in a 1930's soft pink feather stole.........

I told Steve i would love to wear it one day and he said 'i hope you do! it's beautiful ' i smiled and thought to myself maybe with my wedding dress? i would love that!

It is a little bridal looking is it not?

I shall have to gaze at the stars and dream a while...........

I love how all the fabrics blend softly together in a soft matt sepia........

I shall name my hat 'Cheri' after the movie that inspired me to create it......

Have you seen the movie Cheri? did you enjoy it?.....do you love the era....the hats....the dresses...bags....shoes.....furniture and soft furnishings as much as i do?

La Belle Époque mmmmm such a dreamy name................

The End XxX

Linking to.....

Show And Tell Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

White Wednesday

Sea Sunrise

2011-10-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

26th September 2011
It's early morning at the beach cottage and i awake to see our room flooded with pinkish orange light,Steve is sleeping and i hurry myself into my clothes,there is no time for breakfast or a drink,i tie my hair up on top of my head,grab my camera and tip toe to the cliff top,the air is warm,i pass by caravans with windows open and i see curtains gently blowing in the breeze,it had been a warm night.........i am thankful to see the sun just coming up over the sea......

I sit quietly alone on the grass and watch the sun turn everything orange as it begins its rise including a gull that passes in front of me........i change my camera to record and begin to film........

I love that i can show you more than just a picture,please press play below..............

I stay a while day dreaming..........praying........thinking.........watching.........
just being....

Before i return to the beach cottage for a days work i make a wish that i will be here in the early morning watching the sunrise and finding it just as beautiful when i am eighty years old.

3rd October 2011

I wake up earlier this weekend and hurry to the door but i am a little scared as it is so dark outside but i can not resist my love for the sea, i make my way quickly down the garden path,through the gate,past the picket fence and across the grass to the cliff top,it is beautiful and i want to stay but when i turn around the Avenue is so dark,i quickly take a picture and run back to the cottage......

I tell Steve how beautiful it is and that i was too scared to stay as it is so dark outside,he tells me to have a drink and go in five minutes when it is lighter,he snuggles up and falls back asleep as i drink my strawberry tea and watch the garden from the window,it starts to get a little lighter and i am on my way once more.......

The colours in the sky are breath taking and i wonder where the waves are? the sea is still like a huge lake with just a gentle rippling at the shore,the sounds of birds screeching above and below is oh so beautiful.......

I sit quietly and watch in high definition on the biggest wide screen i have ever seen........

On to the sea ever!
On to the sea!
There and there only
My stream can be free;
There,where the heaven
Just kisses the Earth,
There it will find a more glorious birth.

reo.J.M.Neale D.D

I may be a day dreamer and a romantic but when i feel what i feel and i see what i see i wouldn't have me any other way,

I am thankful for our weekends by the sea,

The End xXx

Nostalgia At The Stone House

2011-10-06T06:48:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia At The Stone House is a very beautiful Blog that belongs to a lovely lady called Niki,over my years of blogging i have had the pleasure of buying a few hand crafted and vintage items from Niki's online shop.....

I would like to thank Niki for all the beautiful pictures she has posted on her blog since 2006 and all the lovely words she has written to go with them,i as i know lots of others have enjoyed and looked forward to each and every post,Thank you Niki x

The next rainy day go to Niki's blog and put on some old vintage music,pour a cup of tea (pj's are optional) turn the lights down and go back to 2006,start reading and enjoy all the vintage beauty that is Nostalgia At The Stone House.

First in line for 'Nostalgia At MY House' is this vintage photo album which lives inside a cupboard at the side of the bed,it looks lovely when the room is dark and the lamp light is glowing....

Niki had kindly started off the collection of old postcards.....

I have added more but i have a long way to go until it will be full of roses......

My lovely little spoolly doll,i love how Niki has decorated her hair with flowers and a velvet bow.....

She watches over my dressing table below,all Niki's hand crafted items have specially selected vintage fabrics and trims so they have a one off unique look and style of their own......

I adore this sweet bridal cushion,Niki had this on one of her blog posts and it was sat in the window of her pretty shop,i quickly emailed her and asked if it could possibly be mine and Niki said yes and popped it in the post,i always double click the pictures of her shop now and scan the shelves for something small enough to post :)......

I have it displayed on my shelf opposite my bed so i see it as soon as i wake up,is it just me who has a tea pot in the bedroom?.................

Niki's work is of the highest quality and you can see here how the lace,fabric and picture just blend perfectly to make a real treat for the eyes,you are getting hours of work and talent when you make a purchase from this very clever lady....

This quilted bag my mum bought for me when we decided we were getting married... update: we are not married,a beach cottage or a wedding? you know which we chose ;)) as soon as funds allow....

I keep this book titled 'Bridal Bouquet' bought by my mum inside my bag.....

Along with this jewelery and yes i might wear all of it in one go :)..........

My stunning calendar from 2010,this was July my birthday month in pretty pink,everything you see in the pictures of the calendar's are from Niki's personnel collection's,sigh too much prettiness for my eyes......

Britt my big rag doll who loves to show of her bloomers......

I am going to display Britt with this vintage seascape picture and the picture from August 2010 calendar in the guest room at the beach cottage,she is dressed in perfect nautical colours....
Bloomers again!.....

This is a picture of Niki's shop in Shepton Mallet which i am going to visit one day and run around grabbing everything i can and spending money like a crazy woman...ahem i mean to meet Niki and walk around the shop in an orderly fashion picking up some Nostalgia to take home with me,isn't the shop just beautiful?

Do you have Nostalgia at your house? if so what is your favourite piece?

If not you can visit Niki at Nostalgia At The Stone House ..........

Opening Hours:
	Monday	CLOSED
	Tuesday	9:30am to 4pm
	Wednesday	CLOSED
	Thursday	9:30am to 4pm
	Friday	9:30am to 4pm
	Saturday	9:30am to 4pm Closed 8th October
	Sunday	CLOSED
Address:
No.1 Market Place Shepton Mallet Somerset BA4 5AZ UK

XxX

The Little White Swan

2011-09-29T08:32:00.000-07:00

The story begins with a hat box.....

A pile of beautiful old satin fabrics and vintage trims that have been saved for that something special....

And the little white swan who has lived in a Limoges dish with her friend the feather ever since i trimmed her with ribbon and pretty flowers.....

Poor little white swan had been promised a home for so long,i set to work cutting and pleating fabrics,stitching trims,adding brooches and ribbons,the lid was padded so little white swan would be comfy in her new home...i sat her on top with her friend the feather....little white swan looked sad and i asked her what was wrong? "it's only a pretend hatbox" she said with a little tear in her eye......i picked up my thread and began to sew anything pretty within my reach together......

Little white swan looked into the box and asked "What is it?"..."its a sweet little hat fit for a princess" i told her.....

I showed her how i had made it to be displayed on top of the hat box so it could be admired by everyone who passed by and now they would know that it was a real hat box.....

"It's beautiful" said little white swan as she flapped her wings and landed on top of the sweet little hat......

"Are you happy little white swan?" i asked her.....

"It's a little bit crowded up here" she replied......

She flew back to her Limoges dish and her friend the feather stood tall and arched himself above her,he told little white swan that he would be her sail and they would travel the ocean's until they found a home together.......

"Wait!" i cried "i have an idea".....

I placed the little hat upon my pretty stone girl while little white swan and feather looked on,we all decided it looked lovely against the grey of the stone and that is where it should stay.....

I hung a rose chandelier from an old frame next to her to see how it would display....while i was busy little white swan and feather quickly flew back on to the hat box and snuggled down together.....

There was so much more room without the little hat and all its flowers and little white swan was so happy to be with her friend the feather on a soft satin bed......

The story ends with the stone girl wearing her hat of finery and the little white swan and her dear friend the feather laid on a hat box made with satin and trim all held in time in a picture that could have been taken a hundred years ago......

THE END XxX

Linking to
Time Travel Thursday

Show And Tell Friday

Inspiration Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

Picture Book And Roses

2011-09-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to win this lovely old book published 1910-1912 with its deep rose coloured cover on Ebay for £1.04...along with my dried roses from the garden i give you 'Every Woman's Encyclopedia' ....

The seller had added a few pictures of inside to their listing but nothing could prepare for me the vast information of these times gone by and beautiful images i was to find inside.......

Think of this book as original Blogging where you would learn how to hand make beautiful crafts,the latest fashions,hairstyles and see pictures of beautiful and amazing things you didn't see at home....

It reads that Marie Antoinette's dressmaker described her as possessing a dazzling fair complexion,in which the tints of the earliest summer roses are blended:large,prominent eyes of azure blue:a forehead crowned with luxuriant fair hair,her figure shapely,her neck and bust perfect,her hands beautiful,her legs and feet worthy of the Venus de Medici's....imagine a young lady reading that statement in 1910.......

How to make 'Home-made coiffure decorations' to wear with the latest hair styles.....

I love this picture of Lady Angela Forbes...One of the beautiful daughters of the late Earl of Rosslyn and sister of the Countess of Warwick.A keen sportswoman and a brilliant member of society.Lady Angela has recently opened a florist's shop in George Street,Portman Square......i can't help thinking of Downton Abbey looking at her portrait and so i wish i could see her flower shop.....

Such a beautiful little girl,The Honorable Victoria Bruce,daughter of Lord Balfour of Burleigh from the painting titled 'A Little Lady Of Quality' 'by Mrs.Waller....

Dried roses to hold onto Summer as the dark nights creep in......wrapped in a vintage crochet edged doily and fastened with an old brooch...

A Favour by E.Blair Leighton...A lady over looking the sea is about to throw a rose to the gentleman below,he holds out his hat to catch the favour or token of love.....

'Roses Of Summer By ShabbilyByTheSea.......

Mrs Norton,one of the brilliant and dazzling granddaughters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan,her beauty was enhanced by her lovely eyes and by her manner of using them,she had a habit of letting her long eyelashes drop when talking and was a past- mistress in all emotional expressions......such a wonderful picture......

'On Ruffled Linen' By ShabbilyByTheSea'..........

A gift from my beautiful Mother.......

My Grand Mother's........

Borrowed from a beautiful cushion i have handmade by Niki at Nostalgia At The Stonehouse

'The Brooch Rose' By ShabbilyByTheSea'......

'A Purse Full Of Roses By ShabbilyByTheSea'.........

Tones of soft cranberry,pale pinks and deep rose......

Gather the rose of love whilst yet is time,Edmund Spencer...........

I have dear Edmund.....i have......

The End x

I have joined.......

Vintage Thingie Thursday

Creative Things Thursday

Show and Tell Friday

A Day Dream

2011-09-07T02:24:00.000-07:00

I walk by the river....my lavender parasol protecting me from falling rain.....smells of autumn in the air.....my ballet shoes damp from the long wet grass....

I look across the water at a pretty cottage and see a dove cote hiding behind a tree...i would like to take of my ballet shoes and hold them in one hand while i gather my dress in the other and tip toe through the water and run up to the front door calling "i'm home!"......but i don't live here and i'm not in a film....but it would seem once again i'm in a day dream......

I walk on happy in my day dream across pretty meadows...my ankles now wet and my dress is heavy as it swishes against the long wet grass....i arrive at a bridge and lean over to look into the rushing water...it thunders past and takes your senses as you hear nothing but its mighty roar...i gaze up to see a beautiful cottage nestled between two larger ones in the distance and i'm in love.......

I imagine a girl opening the gate and skipping through the long grass with a basket of clothes to wash in the river below....this is my day dream so i decide the girl will be me....i carry on across the bridge wanting to get closer to my pretty cottage....

What a Beautiful chimney....i think of logs crackling and the freshly washed clothes drying by the fireside.......

The water thunders under the bridge....i hurry to the other side as i can see something written on the wall......

Emma?...........

Oh i see.....Emma..........she has picked flowers from the meadows and is on her way home......

I watch as she crosses an old bridge with its worn stones under foot towards my cottage......

She opens the gate and walks up to the door......I look one last time at her pretty cottage before i make my way home...it is beautiful i think to myself and its not like i can't walk past now and again and day dream is it?

The End x

The Rustic Rabbit

2011-09-04T06:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we visited in my opinion the most beautiful shop in Grassington and i have wanted to ask if i could take pictures to show you for ever,well i finally asked and was granted permission to show you all inside......

It has the most beautiful name The Rustic Rabbit and you often see gentlemen outside waiting for their wives who are in heaven in this pretty shop.....

Lets go inside...i love the staircase and the white washed floorboards,it has the feel of a cosy home rather than a shop and they always play wonderful music too....

Lets go upstairs,do you see anything you like?

A closer look?.......

Oh look Sir Clarence is waiting to show us all the beautiful things upstairs,when he's not busy at the shop or sleeping near the till he writes his own blog you will find his blog underneath the pink delivery van on the right hand side of The Rustic Rabbit......

I did take one of the velvet roses displayed here on the top shelf to the left home with me, it is very beautiful and i also couldn't resist a lavender coloured parasol....

Sweet little coat hangers on the drawers......

Love all the glassware up in the window over looking the market square.....

We both really loved this piece with mirror and hangers.......

Stunning candle holder in the window and a cute rustic rabbit,i adore the cake stand with wire top and little bird......

Back downstairs and more shelves full of gorgeous,pretty things,i have never walked out of this shop without a bag full of prettiness,they really do have the best taste......

This room at the back was fantastic,so much to choose from.....

Do you see the man through the window on the left of the doorway? poor guy still waiting for his wife

Oops! that guy is my Steve!!!...i best go now,

I hope you enjoyed the tour and if you are in the Yorkshire Dales be sure to make the journey to:-

The Rustic Rabbit
23 Main Street
Grassington

Telephone 01756 752272

Or visit them right now at The Rustic Rabbit

A big Thank You! to The Rustic Rabbit for letting me take pictures for this post x
XxX

A Jar Of Roses

2011-09-01T05:25:00.000-07:00

Happy September Everyone!

In my last post i had said "i could hardly wait come June to smell the rose called 'spirit of freedom' well i decide i could not wait until next June to see them again either....
I gathered together a large glass jar and a bowl of salt.......small baby roses and some large........i tied a length of old lace around the lid and began my dreamy half an hour as 'Strauss waltz" played softly.......

I picked the small baby rose petals and added them to the bowl of salt.......

Poured the salt and petals into the large glass jar and stirred together with a wooden spoon wrapped in old lace.....

Placed the 'spirit of freedom' roses around the glass jar on top of the petal salt......

With the wooden spoon wrapped in old lace stood in the middle............

Good night sweet roses,now i will see you always............

Little petals look like they are resting in snow or sugar.............

So pretty....so simple......and so happy,
XxX

I am joining in Feathered Nest Friday

and Show And Tell Friday

Vintage Amethyst Part two

2011-08-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your lovely comments on my last post and a big welcome to new friends...we had a little make over at 'Shabbily By The Sea' this morning...with the chill in the air and the darker nights closing in we needed a little pink to warm things up a little around here and a new header picture with some of my favourite pieces.......

The 'Vintage Style Glass Dishes arrived with my wall organiser and i thought i would stage a few wedding vignette's....they are lovely and deep,so perfect for church candles,i filled mine with fresh rose petals first,they go perfect with my vintage cake stand and the sweet little musical bride was bought for me by my lovely Mum......

I added a sweet roses china plate to one and stood a vintage roses jug on top...then filled with napkins,wouldn't this look lovely on a table at a wedding?....

Before pictures of bridal jewels by candle light?......

The ruffled rose in the glass dish above next to the candle is David Austin 'Cottage Rose and the beautiful blousy roses on the table are David Austin 'Spirit Of Freedom'....i adore both....although i can hardly wait come June to smell 'Spirit Of Freedom' again.....

I love this vintage cheese dish so very much it is covered in roses and lily of the valley...it will be sitting on my wedding table for sure.....

I love,love,love this Victorian vase dripping in jewels and so wish i could paint roses like that,don't you?......

Looking at these pictures makes me very happy that i ordered these glass dishes as they go perfectly with everything i already have......

I found these vintage aurora borealis earings in a charity shop and they go perfect with my dress as it is covered in them...i couldn't resist putting them in the roses but then they do look oh so pretty.....

The Vintage Style Glass dish can be found here Vintage Amethyst

Thank you again Alison XxX

Vintage Amethyst part one

2011-08-27T04:41:00.000-07:00

The lovely Alison at Vintage Amethyst had a super offer for us girls in the Uk to have free postage and packing over the weekend and i snapped her arm of with some pretty things i have had my eye on for a while.....first was this 'Vintage Style Wall Organiser'.......It will be hung on the wall of the cottage in my sewing room....

It has lots of storage spaces with cute little name plates which i am going to make little cards for.....the 'divine twine' and velvet Raffit ribbons are from Donna Flower i just love her name by the way.....

Such a handy place to store my pretties and bits and bobs for inspiration....

Or to place items for a particular project i am working on,instead of having everything all over my desk......

It also has a very handy draw.....i have placed cards of vintage trims and embroidery silks in mine........

You can see from the picture above of the draw that it has a lovely aged texture and lots of worn paint which i adore...it really is a lovely piece and i am so happy i ordered one.......

Want one?....need one.......gotta have one?......... go here Vintage Amethyst

Thank you again Alison XxX

Birthday day out

2011-07-26T02:59:00.000-07:00

I had a special birthday this month and i don't mind everyone knowing i am 40 :-)) i know myself better and have more confidence now than in my 20's,i can say no now when i want to say no instead of saying yes and then being mad with myself after lol,i can choose my friends and family,people who are good for me and who are positive,happy and want nothing from me other than friendship and love,i can craft all day long and have roses on my dress and bags and furnishings and i don't get called old fashioned lol,yes i like 40 it works me,my friend surprised me with this pretty pink cake she had made....

We picked my mum up in the car and she had the most beautiful flowers for me...i popped them in water and we started our journey out for the day....

We drove through pretty villages and said to each other "i would live there" " ooohh i love that one"......

We stopped the car to get out and enjoy the beauty of flower filled meadows,so pretty.....

Peeked over garden walls...isn't this stunning?....

Finally we arrived at the lavender farm...we love this place and visit every summer....

We walked around the gardens breathing in the heady scent of lavender filled air and rested on the many benches and enjoyed the beautiful views....

Listened to the buzzing of the bee's as they collected their pollen......

Popped inside and enjoyed lavender shortbread with lavender ice cream......

and sipped lavender tea,oh so English ;-)).....

We brought home lavender mint.....

and banana mint too.....

It was the most perfect birthday day out and we all slept really well after all that lavender,

XxX

Dreams and Peace

2011-07-15T01:20:00.000-07:00

The keys for the beach cottage were in our hands nearly a year ago now and we set to and painted the existing fence cream with blue tops and tidied the garden up just to make things look a little better.....we dreamed one day of a white arch with roses all around and a picket fence with a cute little gate......well last weekend we were at the beach cottage that dream started to become a reality....tonight we will be fixing the picket fence and white washing and measuring for a gate to be made.....you can see my rose propped up at the left side waiting to be planted....

I don't want to bore you all with pictures of inside the house so come on lets go for a walk,mum always says that 'a change is better than a rest'....can you feel the warmth of the sun on your skin? do you need to put your sunglasses on? maybe some sun tan lotion? i will wait for you my dear friends although my legs want to carry me as fast as they can to the sea................

Can you smell the fresh air and hear the gulls calling "the sea,the sea"?..........

What are you thinking as we stand here watching the waves crash on the shore? maybe bills,errands?family troubles? things that can daily pull us down? i hop skip and jump from the beach cottage to this special place every weekend about five or six o'clock in the morning and i look out to sea and i stop my whirlwind city life and i pray,i breathe in,i breathe out,i am thankful for my life,i send prayers and quite messages of hope and love to my sweet family and my dear friends,i blow kisses to loved ones who are no longer with us......

I reconnect with myself and i am reminded of what is important and what really matters in life,i am at peace and ready to start work on the beach cottage....

Where do you reconnect? i would love to know?

xxx

Old White At The Beach Cottage

2011-06-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hows everyone?

..............Enjoying June?

............................Looking forward to the promise of summer?

So is it just me or does Farrow and Ball "old white" not look white at all? more greenish grey,not that i don't love it just an odd name for a paint that doesn't look white...well i painted all the wood work ' old white' and primed the Cupboard doors.....looking good isn't it? if you click on the picture below you can see the cladding on the ceiling,i really love it.....right lets go through the door into the hall......

Ermmmmmm attractive? no i think not lol.........the glass paned door had been built to create a tiny porch area...we knocked and smashed it all down and it looks so much bigger.....

All the walls were removed along with skirting,dado rail,in fact everything was removed right back to the frame, right lets go back in the room and look inside the cupboard which now thanks to my guy is all sparkling new,so much nicer don't you think?......see i painted the ceiling?......i love that he fitted skirting board and coving inside the cupboard with out me even asking,hes a keeper for sure.......

A shopping break at TK Maxx resulted in a beautiful thick linen rosey table cloth and i loved the colours of these fluffy,soft face cloths together.....all packed away in our bottom drawer.....the chair they are pictured on was a steal on Ebay for sixty pounds i have seen them for way over a hundred,love me some Ebay!

Back to the beach cottage,the room now painted in the other direction and the trees now nice and green......skirting board ready to go on although we are laying new floor boards on top of the old ones so we can have a nice layer of insulation in between to keep our energy bills nice and low,so it may be a while,or not? you never know with us lol......

Looking down the hall from the kitchen door way,if you were to turn left at the end you would be in the old white room and if you turned right you would be where the paned glass door was...it opens up into a triangle at the end,are you still with me? good,the door you can just see on the left right at the front of the picture would go into the fireplace room and the door to the right is a water closet and i am taking the picture from the kitchen door way......all these walls are now removed and if we......

Walk down to the end of the hallway and turn around woohoo check out all that timber baby! and imagine it white washed and the door stripped,oh i'm in love and can not wait until we have finished and can start painting the hallway white,it looks so much taller......See the door on left water closet...door in front kitchen and door to the right fireplace room..yeah with me? you will soon know your way around here.......

Oh and the lamp from my last post,well its now stripped and is waiting its respray,turned out a lot of the pieces are shiny copper as you can see below from the piece in the middle bottom of the picture,it must have been painted to look like tole ware at one time as the leaves were green and the flowers a dusky pink....

See you all real soon,

XxX

Candelabras and Roses

2011-06-08T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have had real trouble trying to upload pictures to Blogger these last few weeks,but tonight it has worked and i can post once more.

I have had two candelabras for a few years now and they had a really bad rust,aged paint effect that may have photographed better than they looked in real life....i have started sorting through things and getting a lot of things up to scratch during the week ready for when we move to the beach cottage next year....

After a coat of dark antique gold i lightly sprayed them with heirloom white and then buffed them off with some rub 'n' buff in antique gold,i also added some crystal drops i had spare and felt they looked pretty enough to stand on the mantle piece in the city for now...i had bought a Victorian vase on Ebay for ten pounds last week and thought i would fill it with roses and ladies mantle from the garden.....

I loved the shape of the vase,it looks like a wave has hit from behind and splashed up into the air....

I also loved the hand painted flowers and the gold gilt...the smell from the roses in the room is so beautiful.....if you double click on the picture below and look at the rose bud at the bottom right that looks like it has fern wrapped around it is called Chapeau De Napoleon and was introduced in 1827,it really is beautiful and if you see one buy one you will just adore it.....

We also found this standard lamp at the weekend that was originally a Victorian oil lamp stand,i have stripped most of the paint off as it had a really messy paint job that covered up most of the details on the flowers and leaves.....

I have the fabric ready to re-cover the shade too,tonight Steve and our youngest son are staying by the sea and myself and our eldest son are watching a movie and ordering a pizza after i have finished this post and had a quick soak in the bath,

I have lots to post over the next few days now that Blogger is working again,

XxX

Last Weekend.....

2011-05-20T04:17:00.000-07:00

We locked the door on Shabbilybythesea last weekend and headed back to the city....the room we have been so busy in looked like this when we left,this is the view in the opposite direction and you can see it follows into a sun room which will soon have french doors into the garden.......

This weekend we will be busy painting in here.....i will also be painting the fireplace top to bottom in a delicious paint named 'slipper satin'......Steve added deep architrave to the cupboard doors and paneled the wall above i think he is doing an amazing job........

I planted a David Austin rose by my front door last weekend called 'James Galway' it is said it has a delicious old rose sent mmmmmmm.....

It will look like this when it flowers by my front door......

Makes me think of the movie Cheri......

I had a little treat this week too from the lovely Alison at vintage amethyst,she has in her beautiful shop this very pretty mini bunting and at £4.50 how you can you say no?

I pinned it onto the shelf of pretties above my table so i can see it as i blog,if you would like some pop on over to Vintage Amethyst

It looks so pretty while i am blogging,

Have a wonderful weekend girls! see you on Monday,

Love Kristina XxX

Home Sweet Home.......

2011-05-19T03:41:00.000-07:00

Some weeks later we arrived home Friday night to discover Shabbilybythesea had been well looked after by our feathered guests who had returned this year to live and raise their young with us once again.....i think she very much approves of Steve's taller chimney.........(click on any picture for a better view)

The sun rose over the sea next morning and the fire was stoked while we sat enjoying a bacon sandwich and a nice cup of tea before the days work began......

The happy couple kept a close eye on us all day as they gathered twigs to finish their home,as we cut wood outside it almost felt like a race to see who would finish first.....

Planks were cut and primed for a paneled wall above the fireplace,this has since been fitted and will be painted this coming weekend......

There was a hive of activity in the room which i had posted in my last post,as you can see from the picture it is looking very different.....

I hear we are in for a heat wave of a weekend....fingers crossed eh girls?

Love Kristina xXx

Day Dreaming

2011-03-11T04:38:00.000-08:00

If day dreaming became reality i would have the blues.....

I would bid on this vintage corner suite that has about nine hours left on Ebay currently at £350......

and should i win i would paint the legs like this....

I would also buy this dress priced at $225 from blue velvet vintage,isn't it divine?

The best things in life are free...yes that includes dreams! did you forget to dream today?

Love Kristina XxX

2011-02-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Its simply tonight in the UK and i am sat here typing...

its not really any different to any other night...apart from i was just looking at the girl above my bed in her Mothers heels with a rose in her hair and was transported back to my Mum and Dads landing some time in the 1970's i was looking up and thinking she is so pretty and i love her sparkly shoes and feather cape.....my mum gave me this picture along with a matching young boy dressed up in his Fathers clothes that you can see at the end of this post,they were hung on my parents landing....

Growing up we had as many did hard times and our parents struggled to make ends meet....my parents would be given old furniture that no one else wanted and my dad who trained as a carpenter would restore these chosen pieces to their former glory,we had beautiful old sideboards with the drawers lined in old velvet just like in the old movies that we would watch,mum was a seamstress and would make our clothes and beautiful cushions from scraps....we had a chicken and a duck,rabbits,pigeons,doves,a dog,a few cats here and there,dad even dug us a swimming pool in the back garden and lined it with plastic,we had an old metal wendy house with lace curtains, an apple tree and vegetables growing in rows,a green house filled with salad and grapes,we would spend the summer holidays playing in our garden completely unaware of how mum and dad worried and struggled to make ends meet.....

the old sofa in the back room that would pull out into a bed we would spend afternoons laid under blankets with the curtains drawn watching Doris Day and Marilyn Monroe sparkle and shine,it was all so pretty and glamorous.....

Sometimes i find the harsh reality of life a little too much,am i sensitive? yes i am very,sometimes too much, a lot of things going on in the world today bring me easily to tears....i think that is why i sit here reading your blogs in a delicious land of make believe and friendship,a place where we can make everything pretty and glamorous and lose ourselves and forget about bills and illness and loss of loved ones....

I am blessed with a wonderful Mother and partner,my boys and friends who i call Sisters and they all believe in make believe and i feel lucky to be anchored to them in the storm which can be life....above his side of the bed is the boy with his bowler hat city shoes and umbrella and underneath sleeps my guy who runs his business and is kind and goes out of his way for his customers who often become his friends and on the other side is a girl in sparkly shoes with a rose in her hair and underneath sleeps a girl who has old shelves no one wanted that she painted just like her mother did and hung them on the wall,they are filled with old china some pieces chipped or cracked that no one wanted....she arranges them with china cups and perfume,the things she loves and that remind her of home...In her wardrobe she has sparkly shoes and roses to wear in her hair on her Wedding day,
My Mum and Dad gave me everything...simply the power to dream and live in make believe and i love them for the selfless way they raised us,the lessons they taught us and who knew that Blogger would come along and let me makes friends with you and your own worlds of make believe?

my mum is coming in the morning and i am cutting and coloring her hair..i think i might let her read this post.....she knows i get it but i just need to make sure,

Sleep well,

Love Kristina XxX

Fire 'part two'

2011-02-26T14:15:00.000-08:00

The following weekend the concrete hearth was nice and dry so on went the tiles......it was shockingly colder than the week before and i worked with a hot water bottle stuffed down my overalls.....

Later as i under coated the wall the rapid set tile adhesive was dry enough to put the fireplace together..... we quickly built the fire and threw on a match...ahhhhhhhh heavenly we had heat and i was so happy i was finishing under coating right by the fire side........

Trying out our Victorian fender which fit perfectly..i don't really like brass unless its old and knocked a bit like this piece...we bought this about sixteen years ago when we lived in an old Victorian house that had been made into apartments...who knew it would fit our fire place all that time later?

I scrubbed the room and then placed our blow up bed right in front of the fire and this is the view from my pillow....oh my it was so cozy and romantic,it was like being in an old film....

Sunday morning at seven o'clock i walked to the top of the hill to look over the sea as i always do....hot water bottle in one hand and a nice cup of tea in the other...... it was freezing as i looked out to sea i thought i saw a seal...click on this picture and look to the right...see the surfer? brrrrrrrrrrrr!

Back at the house i wrapped up and headed into the back garden...i moved the gravel late last year and dug a flower bed....it was lovely to see snowdrops and daffodils peeping through...it must have been a flower border at one time as the bulbs run right around the back garden...

Off i went with my box hedge's one after the other,i think these will be so pretty when they are clipped into a small hedge with roses on one side and the gravel on the other......

He dug a border line across the back of the garden and i followed planting box hedge...i love how it has defined the gravel,see the flowering cherry tree in the middle of the gravel? it was on its last legs but a good prune last year and some feed have resulted in buds...next week i am going to dig a circle around it and plant a circle of box hedge,i would have done it this weekend but my fingers were numb...in between the trees to the right of the picture i have planted dark green holly bushes which will give us a nice private lush hedge....you have to use your imagination here girls as i know its not very inspiring at the moment.....

It is really nice to work in the house but we need to have a little break from the big picture and spend some time in the garden too... next weekend we are fitting the ceiling in the room with the fireplace which is going to be wood tongue and groove,cladding? bead board? that kind of thing and i have another two kitchen cupboard doors to remove for dipping and stripping,

Fingers crossed its warmer so i can potter in the garden.....

"If winter comes,can Spring be far behind?"

percy bysshe shelley (1792-1822), 'Ode to the West Wind'

The End XxX

Fire 'part one'

2011-02-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Oh my what a weekend!

He told me to remove the old lime grout with a chisel,i think? you know when your not really listening? anyhow with a chisel i was getting scratched and knocked so i went out to the garage and found this old hand fork which worked perfectly and no scratching and bumping,he laughed and i smiled sweetly.....

Then i had to clean up and re-point the whole wall.....

We lined the chimney.....i had to pull it down inside...

While he pushed it down the chimney he re-built the week before outside.....

When in place he built the chimney and popped a pot on,i love the little ledge he built it looks really sweet and adds a bit of character.....

Woohoo i finished my wall and we had to decide how big we wanted the hearth....."wall to wall please" i said.....

For this curvy baby to sit on.....

Then we chose which tiles we would use for the hearth...we have more than we needed but they were on offer for £60 so we bought the whole pile.....

Love all the little holes they look so time worn almost like the tide has washed over them......

Oh did i mention it was freezing cold and we have no heating?

Love Kristina XxX

Vintage Valentine

2011-02-11T04:12:00.000-08:00

A Vintage Valentine question i put together using glass,shells,buttons,pearls in shades of white to sweetly send to Sandy HERE for her to use in her first 'Vintage Video'

Love Kristina XxX

A Hearth Is The Heart Of The Home

2011-02-08T02:19:00.000-08:00

This is how the main room walls and fireplace looked.....

I loved this old mirrored dresser back.....

and he loved this old Victorian mantle piece........

and together we made this......

There are lovely beveled edged mirrors to go in and once fitted it will be painted in white and chipped and crackled to a nice weathered finish....the cast iron back panel was a steal on Ebay...we had seen the same one for £695 new and i won this one for £150 and the owners had used it for display only.

We removed all the walls in the main room over the weekend and dry lined them,between the houses is a double brick wall well after my eyes saw this i knew it was staying,can you imagine it cleaned and painted soft white? i sure can i think it will make a really nice feature,so this next week we have to line the chimney and build the hearth for the fireplace,

Its all go and we are loving it,

Love Kristina XxX

Beauty

2011-01-31T05:16:00.000-08:00

When we think of beauty it is easy to think of material things but how beautiful is it to see this young man who it says in the comments is NOT a trained dancer...take to a stage in front of his peers to perform a dance with his girlfriend....

I adore them and 'wow' just thinking how special and how much this must of meant to her....now that is real beauty!

Love Kristina XxX

Something Blue?

2011-01-28T00:48:00.000-08:00

I never imagined i would look for knitwear for my Wedding day until.....

Doesn't it look stunning?

Love Kristina XxX

Bright And Breezy

2011-01-24T09:43:00.000-08:00

I changed my layout and background today...i need bright and breezy right now,uncomplicated,simple and i like it....for the first time i think i really honestly can say i like the look of my Blog...

*image steven meisel*

After standing on my head for what seems like forever i feel i am ready to stand up and take charge of this year before it runs away with me and this is my start...so here's to living in the here and now,

Love Kristina XxX

Happy New Year!

2011-01-03T04:58:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Blogettes,

At last we have blue skies and the roses are still blooming in our garden.........

I learned last year that you don't have to be related to someone to call them family,as we get older people sadly pass on and things change but there are people sent in to our lives for us to have that same special bond with...we just have to keep our hearts and our eyes open,

I hope 2011 is full of love and blessings for you and your loved ones and that you always feel the warmth of friendship,love and happiness this year,

Love Kristina XxX

Baby Harris

2010-11-26T02:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

Here he is...Baby Harris weighing 5.5lbs perfect in every way,Mummy and `Daddy over the moon...the three of them together at last..their whole life ahead of them....

Melts your heart doesn't he? i am in love with this baby and we haven't even met yet....he is sleeping in Australia but soon as Mummy is able to fly.....

Thank you to everyone who prayed to keep Harris safe and who followed his story,it meant so much to his Mummy and Daddy and to me.... you girls are amazing...thank you xxx

White Wednesday

2010-11-24T02:08:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

I'm joining in White Wednesday over at Faded Charm its her 75th White Wednesday!

Dear little White Pom Pom back then,a sweet adorable little puppy,who just loved to sleep the whole day through......

And now all grown up and Mummy's little shadow,wherever i go she go's too.....

I love you PomPom you melted my heart and changed my life....
Diamonds are not this girls best friend,
Love Kristina x

Something's gotta give!

2010-11-13T05:00:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

Have you seen the movie Something's Gotta Give? i have watched it so many times you wouldn't believe or would you? maybe you snuggle up and think ah what the heck! i'll watch it one more time there's nothing else on,like i do? i even collected a pocket full of white pebbles from the beach and i am waiting for him to pick me a black one...

Well watching again i noticed the...(ok you can start laughing now...if not you soon will be) gable end of the Something's Gotta Give house has these corbel things in a row underneath the attic window......

And we have them on ours? oh and the pebbles too haha (who's laughing?) awwwww look at our dream Beach Cottage...reality can be harsh can it not? (click on picture for a better laugh)

you can also see my neighbors sparkly new roof to the right of the picture and just below the hedge that i severely cut back last week,the huge pile of branches from cutting the garden down will come in handy once the fireplace is fitted....the board against the side of the house used to be the sun room floor but it was a bit manky so we had to tear it out and that is when the window flew out to the right of the door that is now boarded up...we have never laughed so hard,honestly it was like a comedy sketch.....(we don't slam anything around here now just in case something else drops off)
So my question to you is....would you cedar shingle the whole house like the Something's gotta give house and paint the corbels and edging white? we really want to go with cedar shingles as they are really insulating and they look great,do any of you have them on your home?

The tide was really far out and the beach looked huge...not bad for a November day...

Until Later x

2010-11-05T06:32:00.000-07:00

Hey Blogettes,

This is our main room with a pretty bow window,are you thinking window seat? ...if you were to look here it would be the window to the right of the picture.....outside i cut the hedge right back as it was too wide and the fence beyond painted and a flower border dug over and prepared for roses.....

If you follow the wall around from the left of the window above you would come to the fireplace in the corner..i love that the chimney is a corner and with the house being south facing we get sun shining on the fireplace all morning....

The fire place in the picture above has now been removed and tomorrow the chimney stack is to be built a little taller....

The seagulls laughing above our cottage last week...fingers crossed the sky will be blue again this weekend.....

The sky at night on the way back last weekend was so beautiful it filled my heart with joy.....

Hopefully i can post some pictures tomorrow of how the fire place is coming along and a few projects i have been up to,

Until later x

Photo Shoot!

2010-10-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Blogettes,

You know how a trip to T.K.Maxx to buy a picture frame and that's all....honestly!....you promise... never ends up quite being just that? oh i thought so you too.....yes i can see you nodding and some of you are blushing too.....

.....Well i spied one of these....and round the corner another....

They are for the Beach Cottage,yes they will look fab,promise you i told him...Well after some paint and age wax i decided to do a Shabbily By The Sea photo shoot.....i love how they turned out....

The shell above has tiny holes drilled because it used to be above my sisters crib
when she was a baby...dad made it into a night light and had drilled some holes
In it to let the bulb heat out....mum said it is beautiful lit as it shines a soft pink....

I picked the noticeboard up over the summer for The Beach Cottage....

I love him in his straw hat.....i wonder if he will keep the starfish?

We are up early and of to the Sea in the morning...oldies will be playing as we drive homeward bound again......

I wonder if he will make my sisters shell back into a lamp for me? i don't know why i wonder because he loves making my dreams come true.....

Have a lovely weekend,

keep your dreams close to your heart,

Until Later X

Kitchen before

2010-10-08T03:33:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Blogettes,

While at the Beach Cottage we have looked at a flat wall hanging alone in the kitchen above where there is a cooker point(well ok i have been obsessed with it)......after much talk he decided to go investigate above in the attic (to shut me up)....there was no hole from above (hmmmm? i thought) so me and mum decided that because he was so busy building up the bow window and pointing the wall that we should be nice and save him a job and tear down the wall ourselves (well something like that hehe)

Here is what we found (imagine me and mum jumping up and down and squealing while son looks on confused shaking his head) mum is it cupboards? is it? is it? i squealed....

He comes in and laughs at my face which is beaming and tells us we need to use a stanley knife to cut the edge at the top so the ceiling doesn't come down....we try and are not strong enough so we whack it off with a chisel and a hammer as we don't want to disturb him from his important jobs(no one is stealing our glory!)

After hacking,sweeping and giggling we ended up with six cupboard doors and lots of storage...we talk about how it will look great when we strip it back and paint it...about little crystal knobs........then as we are looking my heart nearly stops! there is hard board on the doors (click for bigger picture)

We very carefully pull off the hard board and start jumping and squealing again (easily pleased me and mum)

So this weekend my mother and i will be stripping in the kitchen....(your minds honestly)

We are also removing (whacking) those blue tiles off the wall and hopefully if we can get the plaster off the wall and it looks good enough we might paint the brick a soft white.....so i am imaging the cupboards soft white with aqua panels,chipped and aged....a brick wall in soft white with a large mantel mirror hanging over a retro oven and lace swagged over the little window and a small chandelier smack in the middle of it......best get over there and get whacking hadn't we?

Until later x

Our Beach Cottage

2010-10-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

Good Evening Blogettes,

I have popped in to post a picture of our Beach Cottage for you all to see....she is under a blanket of snow just as we saw her on the day we viewed her,click on the picture for a bigger view,

She needs a lot of work doing to her and i will admit it rocked me at first how much but i am on board now and its full steam ahead.

The exterior walls will be covered in white ship lap to give her that lovely Cape Cod effect and under and above the bow windows will be cedar shingles and i really want some old stained glass to put up in those adorable little attic windows...it may take a while as we are doing everything ourselves..it was always our dream to live by the sea and to buy a tumbled down cottage...guess our dream came true,

Until Later x

Cherubs and Kindness..

2010-10-06T06:59:00.001-07:00

Good Morning Blogettes,

We have the most wonderful neighbors at the Beach Cottage,many are retired and are living life to the full and they inspire you to live for the moment...

....a lovely lady who i get on very well with called Barbara invited me over to look around her Beach cottage and garden....she has the most beautiful aged stone table and benches with a bowl of sea shells on top in her secluded courtyard...

I am going to ask her if i can snap a picture to show you next summer when her garden is in full bloom,i could see myself sat there enjoying a bottle of wine and chatting with Barbara on a warm summer evening...

in her garden she has ornaments and shells every where and on a lovely aged wrought iron shelf sat these beautiful cherubs holding a shell....i was oohing and ahhhing and Barbara was laughing and insisted i have it as i liked it so much,

I placed a tea light candle inside the shell...isn't it beautiful?

I was really touched by her kindness and as i know she is planting a rose garden i am going to buy her a rose bush as a surprise,

Here are some close ups so you can see how the sea breeze has weathered and aged to shabbily heaven
Click on pics for close ups....oh before i forget Barbara calls the Avenue 'Paradise' don't you love that ?

Update: the seller of the cast iron fire panel is up for courier,fingers crossed!

Until Later x

2010-10-06T06:50:00.000-07:00

Grey Gardens?
Good Morning Blogettes,

Well it would seem we have purchased Grey Gardens? ok not exactly but close! Welcome to our new blog which will be all about renovation and decor and one day our transition from city life to a coastal town,

Image below is Grey Gardens and not our new home,

I am working on a few projects today which i will of course share with you as soon as i have finished,i also need to check Ebay to see if the seller of the the ornate cast iron fire back panel will courier the little beauty to me?

Until later x

2010-10-05T01:35:00.000-07:00

Hey Blogettes,

I have merged my new blog to replace shabbily ever after to make it easier for you and me.
I am so sorry i have been AWOL for most of this year...life has had some changes this year and not all of them good ones,well with out dwelling i am back and i believe stronger and happier than i was before.

Love Kristina XxX

Inspired!

2010-05-05T04:15:00.001-07:00

Hey Blogettes,

Hope you are all well and enjoying the spring,ah green leaves are unfurling everywhere.....i love it!

Seems Audrey is still inspiring? and not just me!...... isn't she divine?................
While out on a shopping trip with my lovely Mum yesterday i had to treat myself to some Cherie! i read in a magazine it was designed with french rose gardens in mind....SOLD! along with the advert i was Cheried in no time!
I know it is aimed at a younger girl but you see she is still inside me and refuses to leave haha! so i had to indulge her did i not?

He loved my new fragrance and my son noticed too.....oh i have just sprayed some more!

XxX

Happy Birthday Dear!

2010-05-04T00:55:00.000-07:00

Dear Audrey,

Beautiful inside and beautiful out! beautifully spoken and beautifully poised!

Singing Moon River,that look or a sigh......
You became a role model and a part of my life,thank you!

I adore you dear... Happy Birthday with kisses and wishes!

Kristina XxX

Look who's here?

2010-04-22T07:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Blogettes,

My friend had her scan today and look what they found! a beautiful baby with a very strong heart beat! are you proud? can you believe what you have done?
Can you see all of your prayers holding this precious little bundle tightly in place?

We can not thank you enough for your prayers Blogettes! you are earth bound angels and very special women to bless and prayer for my friend and her baby.

May you all be blessed now and always,

LIFE IS GOOD,GOD IS GOOD AND PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED!

Love and light to you all,

Your friend Kristina XxX

Please help me

2010-04-15T02:04:00.001-07:00

Dear sweet Blogettes,

Friends from around the world, kindred spirits, beautiful women i have never met, who dream and create and inspire me and who are a big part of my world, i need and beg for your help......

I have a beautiful,wonderful friend who is carrying the most beautiful precious child inside her,my friend was hurt and suffered badly when her last two pregnancies ended and i know a lot of you unfortunately will know her pain or know A woman who has........

I need and beg for your help.......

I would like as many of you as i can get to hold a special prayer for my friend and her unborn beautiful baby,i want to create a world wide safety net made of love to hold this little precious bundle in place until it is time for my friend to look up on the face of her beloved child.

I know my friend is worried and scared and it hurts me deeply to see her this way i need to comfort and help her.

Would you say a prayer for baby and be a part of the love net?

Would you post prayers and well wishes here for her?

would you copy and post this on your blog?

even just for a day?

Thank you so much for reading Blogettes

Love and kisses Auntie Kristina XxX

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T00:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter Blogettes!Oh how wonderful it would be to take a nap in a duck egg blue egg with flowers in your hair this Easter?

Love Kristina XxX

2010-01-21T00:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

Bbbbrrr!!! its cold here this morning......
But no time for that......
I thought i would show you a bigger picture of head office..... oh ok the corner of my bedroom that i blog from ,you can just see my screen in the right hand corner.

Do you like my lamp? i bought the rose wreath for £5 in the sale from an online shop (i know another £5 bargain,i do spend more the £5 sometimes hehe ) and wasn't sure were to put it so i ended up popping it there so it wouldn't get damaged...i decided i liked it so i added some faux leaves to the stem of the lamp and fixed it in place with Grandma's sparkly brooch,the pictures on the wall are by Strevens and i have seen the small one on Ebay at the moment,they really are pretty!
Zooming in to the bride and groom i picked up in a charity shop (no not for £5 ) i love the colors of their outfits and how they are gazing at each other.... the girl on the right with the poodle was my Grandma's and i have adored forever,i actually used to take that poor little poodle in the bath when i was little and throw it up in the air,then splash!!! can you imagine? my mum must have loved me! she finally let me have her a few years ago,well gave in after i begged for about ten years hehe. Click on her picture and look at her face and blushed cheeks she is such a cutie!
The pink brooch was bought by mum for me for Christmas and i love the rhinestone buttons laid there as they sparkle when i turn on the lamp.

Its really cosy come night time.

So know you know were i sit and what i see while looking at your beautiful Blogs.

Love And Kisses Kristina XxX

Mirror Make Over!

2010-01-20T05:19:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

It has been so cold here in the UK and with schools closed the festivities carried on in our house,eating all the scrummy Christmas food that was left in the cupboards,watching movies with the fire crackling... it was heavenly spending time relaxing with family and because of the snow (thank you) no where to go and nothing to do.

Now all that is over i really wish i was sat here on the end of my deck next to my little pond listening to the water babble with some sewing to while away the hours.......it won't be long now though will it girls?
I was looking through my pictures and found this mirror i picked up last year for £5 and the make over i had done on it,so here it is as i found it...... click on any pic for a better view
Undercoated and two coats of F and B Slipper satin white.....
Then with raised moldings picked out in antique white.......
For £5 and a few hours work with paint i had left over i was a very happy Blogette!

Have you made anything over lately?

I would just like to say a big thank you to all 56 of you for following my little blog and reading my ramblings, i am really shocked there are so many of you!

Lots Of Love Kristina XxX

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:43:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

A New Year filled with hopes and dreams and ambitions......
I wish for you all peace, love, happiness and friendship!

Lets make it the best one yet!

Love a tipsy champagne filled Kristina XxX

Oh Santa!

2009-12-23T09:46:00.000-08:00

Oh Santa,

I have been such a good girl this year........do you see how good i am to sit with feathers in my hair while mummy took my picture to send to you?
I'm waiting for you Santa...i have my very old Victorian dress on and a lace flower in my hair with pearls and lace ribbons and i didn't nibble any of it....honest!
Oh please hurry Santa!

Love Baby Beatrix 1 year and 2 months old XxX

Getting Closer!

2009-12-20T04:39:00.000-08:00

Hey Bloggettes,

Getting closer now into the twentys!
Snow all around it is so dreamy!
The fire burning bright and candles are glowing....

Love Kristina XxX

Getting Ready For Christmas!

2009-12-19T08:58:00.000-08:00

Hey Bloggettes,

Ooooooh! time is running out and soon friends and family will gather here in front of a roaring fire......
Time to get the wood in and the holly and berries picked........
Bbbbbrrrrrr!!!! we shall need it as jack frost is making pretty pictures on our shed windows.....
You three girls best get back inside before dusk you have done enough singing for one day....
Wrap up warm Bloggettes and maybe a little nip of brandy before bedtime ? purely to keep warm of course hehe!

Kisses Kristina XxX

PS the Judy Garland track playing was my sweet big sisters favorite...... she would play it over and over and it would always make her cry,she is in my thoughts a lot at this time of year x

Rule Britt

2009-11-20T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Blogettes,

We are feeling very patriotic today at ShabbilyEverAfter.

Early this morning Mr Postie knocked on our door and safely delivered Britt to our door, she had travelled over night from Niki's at www.nostalgia-stonehouse.co.uk

I have wished for one of Niki's beautiful dolls for going on two years but as you know they sell very quickly,well yesterday was my chance and Britt was definitely worth the wait!

We made her feel right at home straight away...she relaxed in her chair with plumped cushions and showed us her lovely bloomers and boots,we were very impressed!

She then showed us how she looked in her lovely vintage straw hat!

We then left her to settle in listening to Vera Lynn as she was tired after her long journey.

The picture below is from Niki's shop as i had seen her looking for a new home yesterday.

The quality of Niki's work is excellent and i am over the moon,Thank You Niki x

Goodbye for now Blogettes Love Kristina XxX

2009-06-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

Hey Bloggettes,
During the heat wave we have had here in the UK i have not been able to stop myself painting...it is the perfect drying weather and it is so nice to be outside in the fresh air,well fresh unless your using Farrow And Ball paint,i love the finish and the colors but oh lord it is sooooooo strong........

A dirty mirrored shelf from a junk shop.....

A tarnished silver plated cream jug from a junk shop....

Some roses from our garden.......

A dash of Farrow And Ball in Old White gives you....... a fitting throne for the Queen of flowers

Have a wonderful day Bloggettes
Love Kristina XxX

Joules Roses

2009-02-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Hey Bloggettes,
Do any of you have the spring Joules catalogue? if not you should take a peek online...the colors are so cheery and bright and lots of roses, i have already ordered a few essentials,well essential to me ;-)

Happy Valentines Day to you all!
Love And Kisses Kristina XxX

Lullaby

2009-01-21T02:41:00.000-08:00

Hush-a-bye

Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry, go to sleep you little baby.
When you wake you shall have all the pretty little horses.
Dapples and greys, pintos and bays, all the pretty little horses.

Way down yonder, in the meadow,
Poor little baby cryin, mama;
Birds and the butterflies flutter round his eyes,
Poor little baby cryin’ mama.

Hush-a-bye, don’t you cry, go to sleep you little baby.
When you wake you shall have all the pretty little horses.
Dapples and greys, pintos and bays, all the pretty little horses.

Some days Bloggettes my heart just aches.....but in the most wonderful nostalgic way.

Click on Beatrix and see her favorite book

2008-12-23T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Bloggettes,
I want to wish you all the most wonderful christmas and pray it will be filled with love, laughter, family and friendship from our home to yours.
This year we have gone for a blue theme in our conservatory and i love how it looks so chilly....the beautiful christmas cake was made for us by my very best friend and it tastes divine

Who is this in the baby blue scarf on the table???????? SHE IS MY WONDERFUL DAUGHTER AND CHRISTMAS PRESENT FROM STEVE...CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? She is the cutest little puppy and i love her so much..she is only 13 weeks old and this will be her first christmas...we are having a party tonight so i have to go cook now and try and look glam by 7 tonight EEEEKKKKK!!!!!!
Steve is outside on the back porch preparing the fire and we have a tree out there so it should be lovely spending christmas eve outside tonight.
Happy Christmas Eve Bloggettes! Love And Kisses Kristina XxX

Weekend

2008-09-30T03:55:00.000-07:00

Hey Bloggettes,

Hasn't the weather changed in the little ol UK? brrrrr and wet wet wet,but the weekend was excellent.........girls i thought the summer had arrived oh yes summer skirt and top......gorgeous sunshine woo hoo off we went to our local garden center where we saw these baskets....two for £12, great price so we bought four to brighten up the views from the windows,don't you think the colors are cute?

On the way home we popped into the farm shop for some goodies...... mmmm yummy,the grapes where so sweet!
Now my Grandma Sweet Bj would be proud of her adopted Grand Daughter.....cos lookie what the goodies from the farm shop turned into hehe.....two pictures Grandma so you can see it from the top and the side,should i cut you a slice Grandma or should we go halves lol?
If you think you can stand it Grandma click on the cake for a bigger picture lol mmmmmm
Last but not least,this is Martha who has come to live with us,isn't she pretty? nicky at the vintage magpie makes these lavender filled rabbits and if you haven't seen them you should pop over to her shop and take a peek,there are plenty to choose from and the larger rabbits are just gorgeous, i'm sure one will be making its way to our home soon.

In my next post i will show you what we have been up to this weekend,Steve has built something amazing and i have started to make over a wicker sofa and chairs.

'i'm on my way over to yours now girls......so pop on some nice dreamy old music and put the kettle on....i'll bring the cake...see you soon.

Love Kristina XxX

They Love MY Blog???

2008-08-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

Honestly???? you do??...Kristina runs around the room screaming "THEY LOVE MY BLOG!" hehe oooh thank you so much Louise and carol,what a lovely feeling and what lovely friends i have xxx....i love your blogs too girls.
My mantle piece is getting rather full now, something else to dust hehe

I have no idea how to link on this Mac of mine so if anyone can help me out i would be very grateful indeed,to get to Carol and Louise's blog in the mean time you can click on my last posts comments and find them at Katherine's Dream and Louise@home is where the heart is.
Thank you again girls love and hugs Kristina XxX

I have chosen the following Bloggettes for this lovely award.....drum roll please......

Louise... The Pink Front Gate

Sweet BJ my blog grandma and friend.....Sweet Nothings

Michele....Cowboys and Custard

Of course Carol......Katherines Dream

And Louise..... Home Is Where The Heart Is

Lucy...Lucy Bloom

Jacki...Little Casa

Love Kristina XxX

A Chill In The Air

2008-08-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

"Run Max....Run! "
Today there was a smell of changing seasons outside in the garden at ShabbilyEverAfter.... Max and i could smell the cool autumn chill in the air and the scent of a neighboring log fire drifting sweetly across our land.
Soon leaves will fall and winds will blow and thoughts of firesides and eiderdowns will run dreamily through my head.....have you felt the nip in the air on a morning in your corner of the world Bloggettes?
XxX

Rain Rain Go Away!

2008-07-11T23:32:00.000-07:00

Rain rain go away come back another day.....when will it ever stop? the lawn has not had a hair cut for two weeks because it just will not stop and i am running in and out in between showers to dead head the flowers....oh for a glimmer of sun.
In my last post i posted a picture of a secret garden,well unfortunately it is not ours it belongs to a beautiful house called Burton Agnes Hall that we had visited on a rainy day.
Burton Agnes Hall is a Lovely Elizabethan House filled with treasures collected by the family over a period of 400 years and a history going back to Norman times, it is to be found off the A166 road about 35 miles east from York City.

Roger de Stuteville first built his Norman manor house on the site in 1173 this would have been rather austere and gloomy. The hall is thought to be named after Rogers daughter Agnes, and parts including including the original vaulted chamber and the Great Hall still form contrasting features of the current house today.

Sir Henry Griffiths sumptuously decorated new home was constructed at the beginning of the 17th century by the celebrated Robert Smithson a Master Mason to Queen Elizabeth I. The house passed to down to the Boynton family in 1654, and later in 1989 was inherited by Simon Cunliffe-Lister (aged 12 ) and managed for him by his mother Susan, the daughter of Viscount William Whitelaw. The Hall is renowned for it's plasterwork ceilings, skilled wood carvings, Persian carpets and impressionist paintings In all this time the house has never been sold on the open market, only inherited.

A tragic legend that bears telling, is that during the Halls construction, Anne one of Sir Henry Griffiths daughters was attacked by robbers and subsequently died. On her deathbed she told her sisters she would be unable to rest in peace unless they promised to preserve some part of her in the beautiful new Hall that she would never now occupy. Subsequent to her burial in the churchyard, ghostly noises began to disturb her family, so they reluctantly decided to comply with her wishes and her skull was incorporated into the fabric of the house, whence peace returned.

The old walled garden was redeveloped in 1990 as a 'new Elizabethan Garden' with herbaceous borders, the scented garden, herbs and a collection of shrub roses, also giant board games to play in colourful gardens plus a maze.
Click on the pictures for a bigger view.

The little girl in the fountain lives in the walled garden and i just fell in love with her,if you ever get the chance to visit it really is worth it.
I could imagine Atonement being filmed here or some lovely period drama it really has fantastic grounds and water features.
I have tried to upload these pictures about ten times over the week with no success has any one else had trouble uploading?
Have a lovely weekend hopefully with a little sun (fingers crossed)
XxX