Bristol Balloon Fiesta

The Balloon Fiesta kicked off this morning and I was treated to this view while en route to work this morning.

Shame the sun wasn't around to give them a good send off.

Ps. The gorgeous Mr T was driving!

Flowers everywhere

Just add sun.

Aaah the weekend at last!

After a gruelling week at work I was extremely happy to see the weekend. Even more so as this weekend marks the start of a week-long hiatus from work. Bliss!

T and I have decided to stay at home rather than jet-set off anywhere. We plan to spend some time relaxing and, weather allowing, fixing up the shed on the allotment before it decides to slide down the hill during the next big gale. Given the fickle weather so far this may not happen. Unfortunately T's holiday doesn't start till Monday so until then I'm footloose and fancy-free.

Saturday morning was spent drinking coffee, reading magazines, and mooching around reclamation yards. I'm lucky, there's a good sized clutch within the city boundaries, although out of habit I tend to visit the same three: Au Temps Perdu, the Reclaimers, and Wessex Reclamation.

Yesterday I broke the mould and also visited Robert Mills Architectural Antiques & Reclamation which has been on my radar for ages, but I'd only ever frequented their website. To be honest, the higher prices and the fact that they tend to specialise in church fittings put me off. This throws up the sort of grand statement pieces that would look completely out of place in our little 1930s terrace.

 

Such as an old church organ perhaps?

 

Or some old stained glass windows? (The photo does not do them justice. They are huge!)

 A bit of Gothic drama?
 

Ah more to scale, but at £450 + VAT (20%) outside of my budget. I could absolutely make one of these though. The Art Deco stained glass panels are common - all ripped out with the drive for UPC double glazed windows. I feel a project coming on.

The place was is a gem and full of beautiful treasure that I could afford so I'll definitely be going back more often.

Came away from all four yards empty handed. I was looking for some glazed double doors to replace these faux-wood moulded monstrosities that sit between the sitting room and dining room.

Stupidly I left the measurements at home. Doh! But, tripped over this little piece of urban graffiti on my travels... made me smile.

Selling secrets

[source: DIY Diva's Secrets for Sale]

When it comes to other people's blogs I'm more of a lurker than an active participant, but when when this request was made it seemed like a good way to give "an ever so tiny little thing" back in return for all that reading pleasure.

PS. When will I ever learn? Probably not in the near future! I'm constantly biting off more than I can chew, head full of (as yet) unrealised ideas, and always gloriously distracted by new projects.

PPS. I'm holding out for the photobook :)

Source: House Beautiful via Driftwood.

Love the feel of this space. Lots of ideas that might work in our garden room (aka 'bloody ice box at the back the house' room).

Wallpaper love

Source: house tour over at Appartment Therapy.

Think the paper is from Graham & Brown...

But then there's these papers by Ferm:

Wilderness


Old News


Feather


Branch

In fact, I've a mental list, as long as my arm, of wall coverings I covet, But, I'm being indecisive as hell which is why our house is white!

Feast

Whilst looking for new culinary treats I tripped over “Not Without Salt” and discovered Cacio e Pepe - a traditional Italian dish of spaghetti, pecorino cheese, butter and freshly ground pepper: “What these three ingredients do in combination with one another creates a full sympathy of flavor with a little orchestra. Salty and nutty, spicy and perfectly buttery. What it lacks in visual appeal it makes up for in savory perfection.” How could you resist that description? Just reading it made me salivate!

Following this recipe, I spent a relaxing Sunday afternoon foraging for the various ingredients we would need, and in the evening T and I cooked up a four-course feast with Cacio e Pepe as the star of the show.

• To drink whilst cooking: homemade Rhubarb Vodka and Fentimans Ginger Beer
• Nibbles: Finocchiona Marini (Italian salami with fennel seeds), green olives with lemon and baguette.
• Cacio e Pepe, and to accompany the main attraction, fennel, cherry tomato and basil salad with olive oil and sherry vinegar dressing. To drink: 2009 Greco di Tufo, 'LoLoggia della Serra', Terredora Campania.
  
• Monte Enebro (an amazing Spanish goats cheese with a dry ash rind) with homemade quince paste.
• Meringue with blackcurrants (from the allotment) and cream.

Ummm... the pasta more than lived up to its promise. Less is definitely more!

PS. Sorry, too distracted to take photos.

Angelica

Source: Laundry etc.

Making good

Shortly after moving into our house we went through each room attacking all manner of hideousness, such as wood chip wallpaper that had been liberally applied throughout the house, electrical trunking on walls, crazy carpet and combos of salmon pink and sap green. But, as often happens, we got side-tracked by boarded up fireplaces in the bedrooms. Perfectly plastered, lovely smooth surfaces and yet we couldn't resist doing this...



Which means we're left with two fireplace-shaped holes in two of the bedrooms that need some serious dressing up. Three years later and we still haven't properly tackled this project. Except a wee bit of temporary window dressing in our main bedroom:



The original tiled fireplaces that would have been in our bedrooms are long gone, but the brick tiled hearths have survived and so will stay. Both fire backs look to be in good nick, so all that appears to be required is a surround. Should be simple, yes? So far all I've managed to do is a bit of research and be fantastically indecisive.

Wandering around local reclamation yards and a cheeky peek around a house for sale on our road reveal that the original fire surround would have probably looked like this...



Not a good look! Although on closer inspection those look like tile transfers (why would you do that?) and the plain cream tile fire is actually quite cute. There's something similiar here.

Like the rest of the house we are trying to choose features that compliment the house's 1930s origins whilst trying not to make it look like a homage to the past. I would love to find a pair of art deco enamel fireplaces... but they seem to be as rare as hen's teeth and just as pricey. So after a good year or so of mooching around the internet and procrastinating I've tripped over these cast iron reproductions being offered up on Ebay:



Right style, right price (less than £90 each) , and I can buy a pair. Please, please, please let them be the right size. Where's that tape measure?

Herb garden eye candy

Wanting to gently tame the front garden stop it being such a haven for bindweed.

Potential ideas/wishlist are:

• Redo path... funds/time not available for this yet so it will have to wait
• Remove paving slabs in main bed and replace with a smaller gravel border similar to the one in the image below
• Dig! Redistrubute the grape hyacinth and lily of the valley which have taken over

Source... not sure where I found this one.

Then with all the minor landscaping done, the fun bit! Choose some new plants. The garden is south-west facing and sheltered. The focus is on kitchen herbs and we already have the usual suspects, i.e. basil, oregano, thyme, lavender, rosemary, mint, sage, etc. So thoughts are:

• Lovage, tarragon, bergamot, borage, chamomile, chives, caraway, dill, coriander, marjoram, meadow sweet, hyssop, lemon balm... ummm is there room for all of them?
  

Also thinking that angelica, wild garlic, chervil, sweet cicely, and comfrey can go in the back, more shady garden.

Garden colour schemes

Source: via Remodelista


Source: via Remodelista




Source: http://roomenvy.files.wordpress.com

iwantoneiwantoneiwantone...

The Hero 365 RC-1 Rain Collector...

Source: www.bau-outdoors.co.uk
Sooo much nicer than those horrible green plastic monsters used to collect sky juice. Can't afford the nearly £400 price ticket... could we make one?!

Hola! Bathroom envy!

Source: Le Boeuf

Loving the way the shower screen folds back flat against the wall when it's not beign used.

BTW way can score a similar screen in B&Q for less than £70 quid.

Under the stairs glory hole

After removing the mish mash of shelving under the stairs to fix a squeaky tread. Need to come up with some sleek, but practical storage to replace...


Source: smart furniture


Source: unknown




Source: www.home-designing.com/2009/10/10-innovative-stair-design-concepts


Here's a fab how-to from Chez Larsson.

Fencing

source: www.gardentrellis.co.uk

Black/dark grey trellis fencing...

Garden riot

We've got a fab back garden, but it's looking really bare at the moment. Stuck with existing landscaping structures (I think?), but thinking that a riot of colour would detract and help soften the look. The challenge? How to create something that looks like the gardens below in a plot that is noth-east facing...








Source: House to Home


Source: www.rosalindcreasy.com


Source: www.gbd.uk.com


Source: www.brightlingdesigns.co.uk