Stripping!

This week I have been stripping - wallpaper that is! There are several interesting layers of paper revealed under each other. They all look a bit 1930's in style to me but I have really no idea how old they are. The paper has 'Made in England' printed down the side of the roll, which is something you don't see now. Around the skirting board I have discovered a very fetching border of black gloss paint!

A border of leaves and shell like thingies!

Some lovely flowery paper in various shades of brown!

Finally I got down to the plaster! It seems to have some sort of buff coloured paint on it. The house dates back to the 1700's and I think this might be the first layer of paint ever put on this wall so it is pretty old paint! I am going to have a look at heritage paint colours to see if I can identify it, not that I will be painting the walls back to this colour as it is a bit drab - maybe that's what the paint is called - drab. Anyway, they certainly did like their decor gloomy all those years ago!
On this wall the plaster and the paper came away but it has revealed the lath and plaster and some nice oak beams which we have decided to leave exposed and just plaster in between. It would be a shame to cover them up.

Nostalgia Time!

Back in the 1960's my grandparents lived in this house. They ran it as a dairy farm and retired in the 1980's. I often used to visit them and this is me standing on the front step in 1966.

When they died the house stood empty for a while so my brother and I decided to buy it off the family and renovate it. This is me now, standing in exactly the same place with my nephew, Rufus. The door was bricked up in the 1980's but you can see in the brickwork where it has been. The original concrete path still runs along the front of the house. It is my intention to put the door back and get the house back to its original layout.

Scaffolding down!

Finally, the scaffolding on the extension was taken down this week. The brickwork is almost finished. There's just a bit more to do on the other side of the house and then that's it...hooray! You don't know how long I've been waiting to see this scaffolding down. There's going to be some major celebrating and cracking open of the champers with weekend!

The scaffolding has been up around the house for so long I'd almost forgotten what it was like without it!The next job is to point all the old brickwork to match in with the new part and then replace the windows so not much left to do!!!

Around and About the House

I walked around the house and garden today with my camera and just snapped away!
This old chest of drawers was left in the house when we moved in. I painted it, added some new handles and a mirror and now have a lovely dressing table.

This year I have gone for pink geraniums as I think they look quite good with the pale green leaves of the olive tree.

There are a lot of fledglings in the garden at the moment and the sparrows in particular, like to line up on the fence waiting to be fed.

I bought this rhododenron in a sale at Percy Throwers Garden Centre two years ago. It was really cheap in their sale but had no label and was not in flower so I really had no idea what colour it was so took a chance. This year is the first time it has flowered. It was worth waiting for.

My bed!

The washing!

I inherited this old plant pot off my grandmother.

I finally got around to painting another kitchen chair today.

I painted this green chair a couple of years ago and amazingly it matches my new Cath Kidston mixing bow.

Rainy days and Birthdays

It was party time this weekend as it was my nephew's second Birthday. He's really into Thomas the Tank Engine as you can see here, blowing out the candles with mummy on a Thomas the Tank Engine cake in his Thomas the Tank Engine t shirt!

Testing out the new sandpit.

More sand on the patio than in the sand pit!

Sandy socks and shoes.

Time for a bit of cricket. Rain actually didn't stop play for a change!

I decided it would be a good idea to rescue some flowers from the garden that have been battered down by the rain. I don't usually like to pick flowers from the garden as I always think it is a shame when they look so pretty in the borders but as these had practically been flattened by the rain I thought I might as well pick them and at least appreciate them in the house.

More work on the house...

Today we got the roof light fitted into the new roof. It will lighten up the landing which, until now has been really gloomy. We bought a heritage one so that it would be in keeping with the house. There was a big hole in the ceiling for a while but fortunately, the weather has been good so we didnt need to worry!

The one thing I'm looking forward to is to look up through this window at night and see the stars!

My brother checking on the window. As you can see from this photo, we have quite a bit of work to do upstairs. The wall at the end of the landing has been stripped to reveal the original oak beams.

I couldn't resist adding some more of the garden. It really is looking at its prettiest at the moment and in particular, the lupins have gone mad this year.

The foxgloves are looking good now too.

...and the geraniums