BACK TO THE BOOKS !

That's the wallpaper books! I sent for some samples of the wallpapers we liked for the hall. Well to say I was stunned is probably correct, when the samples arrived it turns out that the lovely bright flowers on the wallpapers are ENORMOUS! and I am not kidding ! To say big is an understatement!

When I checked the wallpaper roll size it was 68.6cms when a roll is normally only 52cm which shows just how big the pattern is! Which is a shame as I did love those colours.

So it's back to the search for a wallpaper! The paper is only going to be used in a couple of places but we need to know what we'll use as the rest of the walls will be in a plain colour chosen from the colours in the paper.

We both love this paper but it's restrictive in which colour we'd be able to chose for the other walls! But I do love it!

We like this wallpaper because it gives us a few colours to chose from and it's nice and bright with a good mix of colour.

I like this one too but don't really want to have to paint the other walls green or for that matter yellow.

I should have known it was too good to be true when we found the other wallpaper that's turned out too big! We'd settled on the wallpaper for the bathroom and cloakroom really quickly, saw something fell in love , done deal! So now lots of wavering back and forth!

I'll have to go look through some books in an interiors shop and see if something leaps out!

Who knew it could be so hard to find wallpaper!!


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Please send in your doll shelf photo's , all welcome.

IT'S ALL COMING ALONG NICELY !

Hello! Yes still here working away at the home improvements! Our lovely plumber has finished fitting the new bathroom ! And this morning I had a lovely shower in there! Bliss!
Now although he's finished the bathroom , we have to wait for the plasterer to come  to re-plaster the walls of the old bathroom, now separate utility and cloakroom.

Of course he cannot get here until next Tuesday, so a couple of days wait but this will at least mean we can have time to take a breath and clean up. Once the plasterer's been Paul will tile the floors in both rooms and then the plumber can return to refit the downstairs toilet and basin.

So loads still to do but already looking so much better. Now I will share a photo of the new units in the new bathroom but save the rest until all's finished.

We did make a small slip up and had asked for the units to start against the wall, so that's where the plumber placed them. Then home I come and say " it's too close to the wall!" we'd not, which is totally unlike us, thought to check exactly where the toilet would actually be! And found that if you sat on the seat you felt too close to the wall ! We nearly just said , well does it matter but then decided  yes it did! We needed it moved at least four inches to the right or we'd land up in a month or so wishing we'd asked to have it moved instead of just settling for where it was.So when the plumber came the next morning Paul had to tell him we needed the whole lot moved four to five inches to the right! Luckily he'd left nine inches between our new tall towel radiator so that could stay where it was.

You can just catch a glimpse of the corner of the shower in the photo.

The towel radiator is still wrapped as Paul needs to be able to move it to decorate and then the plumber will come back and fill it.

Even in it's un-decorated state I love it, it's so spacious compared to our old room.

So we'll be stripping the rest of the paper from the walls, then fitting skirting and other bits and bobs, then painting and wallpapering , ready for the flooring.
Funnily enough I though this room would land up being finished last as the cloakroom downstairs is so much smaller , so quicker to do , but totally forgot that the plaster would need to dry out before anything could be done to it. So looks like the bathroom will get the attention first.

So It's nearly OCTOBER!!!! and therefore time for the doll shelf photo's! So please send in those very interesting and lovely photo's so that we can all have a look at whats filling peoples doll shelves for the month.
It's the first on Saturday, so please send them as soon as possible.


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SUNDAY CATCH UP.

Another week's whizzed round and we are now going into the last week of September ! Not sure how I feel about how the weeks just seem to be disappearing at an alarming rate ! So we'll move on...

Tricia asked in the comments on the last post as to whether I'd be showing the other picture we bought in Sussex. So here it is.

Try as I might I could not manage to take a photo without the reflection in the glass! Anyway, both Paul and I loved this on sight. The artist Andrew Redden used to live in Rye but now lives near Tunbridge Wells.

Here's another try at getting no refection, although this time the flash's gone off. These are my colours, blues and greens with a nice vibrant feel.

We knew this would be perfect for our hallway once it's all finished and so we went back and bought it. The picture is painted to be like those station posters of the 30's to 50's encouraging people to use the railways to travel. This is a print. We purchased it in Rye Pottery another lovely place where I could have spent a small fortune on piece's of gorgeous pottery.

Funnily enough once I got back into work and saw the new five pound note, I thought a great match for the colours I seem to be favouring at present. We also seem to be having a slant towards the 20's to 40's feel to what we are doing in the house, which was built in 1926.

One of the things happening with all this change is that I seem to be having to find places to store furniture which is either no longer needed or no longer as a place !

These are the latest no homers, the bathroom cupboard, the smallest bedroom antique bedside cupboard and a small narrow bookcase.

At present  since starting this I now have the following sitting about needing re-homing.

A large Linen style Cupboard, in two parts.
A large pine bookcase ( Sold)
A small pine cupboard
A tall narrow bookcase, above
A antique bedside pot cupboard, above
A pine bathroom or storage cupboard, above.
An old dark wood blanket box.
A small non pine bookcase
Two long wooden cd units
one wide wooden dvd unit
Two large unpainted radiator covers
One small white painted radiator cover
A Habitat small antique sofa ( will come back into house once a space found)

This is bottom of linen cupboard

and this is top.

 Cd and dvd units.

small bookcase, non wood.

Old wooden blanket box.

The last few photo's were taken by Paul on his mobile, so I need to wait until we are finished with the work in the next couple of weeks before I can take some better photo's and put them up for sale.

This week we were discussing colour's and paper for the hallway. I found a paper which we both liked .It's called Simi and comes in three colourways all of which I like but two of which I prefer.

This is grey pearl colourway.

This is Opal colourway, Paul's preferred choice.I like this one too.

and this is Aegean, my preferred colourway but Paul's says it looks like bedroom paper! We will probably go for the middle one but each time I see this one I just love it's vibrancy and it goes with my new picture! Not that counts for much.Now before you all think,  all that pattern in the hallway !, we will be using the paper in just a couple of places but will be picking up one of the colours in the paper chosen for the rest of the walls. We've ordered some samples of all three and discussion will commence once they arrive. But feel free to give an opinion if you'd like.

Now on the doll front a miracle has occurred! After two and a  half years, I do not lie, my little darling doll that I ordered from a US Artist has arrived ! When I went on her waiting list back in April 2014 it was supposed to be ten months wait. Now I don't know why it should have taken so long but I'll never join her waiting list again, which is a shame as I would have like another one.
 Anyway here she is , no name or clothes yet, but sweet all the same.Name suggestions welcome :)

a brown eyed blonde lass.

So far she has some boots and a pair of tights! I may have to knit her a sweater dress, so she can come out of her box and meet everyone. I seem to be having a small doll buying spree at the moment but since they are not Sasha's I'll leave their details to my Dolly dreaming blog.
I have also finished a blanket this week, which I found in a bag when having to move everything for the plumber, it only needed a couple of rows to complete so I did that one evening.

So now it can be put away safely until needed.

I sold another doll ,whose gone off to a new home in Australia but not managed to do much else on the selling on front. The Chat n Snap is approaching fast, so will need to jump on that once October gets here.

Well I need to go take some photo's of  Sasha's and Gregors for the blog and then there's loads of sorting out and house work to do...... I may actually try doing some of it!

Enjoy the week ahead, I hope the weathers lovely for everyone.



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THE INNER CHILD AND INTERNATIONAL RABBIT DAY

There is no escaping the inner child, well in my case at least! While we were away in East Sussex , we looked in lots of art galleries. Something I love to do ever since wandering the Tate Gallery and others as a child.
I can always find something I like unless it's pure 'modern' three lines on a canvas called wilderness or some such! Then I think as no doubt most do, I could do that and charge a fortune! lol

But I do love art and if able  would have a home full of it. One of the problems with knocking down walls is you are taking away a place to hang a picture or six!

Anyway when going round galleries etc , you can come across pictures you'd love to buy and such was the case on our trip this year. There was one ltd ed print we saw that we when back to get on the day before we came home. It seems to sum up our current style choice for our decor and in my case I just love the colours used.

But also on my second visit to Rye I found an artist who spoke to my inner child, the part of me that's not grown up and still likes books for children and toys and dolls etc.
There was a watercolour that I would have liked to have bought but that would have meant I could not buy the picture we'd gone back for , as original water colours are not cheap and I may buy it later, if still available. But when I saw this numbered copy of one of her paintings well I just had to have it!

I just love this picture and could not pass it by.

Potter's ice cream van, often licked but never beaten !

I love the rabbit , Potter?, doing his accounts while waiting for a customer. I went back to buy this picture and my daughter Courtney came with me and we stood looking through all the prints available and there was another which she preferred due to the detail so wants a person to do! Why buy them both!

So we also have...

Stanley's Ice Cream Van !

Stanley's famous Lemon Ices plus you can get a Hot Dog !

Is the seagull giving Stanley an order? or are they discussing the days events?  Can we get close enough to listen in?

Funnily enough when I started to do this post I remembered seeing an email I'd been sent from Belle and Boo and went back to check it and it appears that today , 24th September , is the International day of the Rabbit! and here are two Rabbits selling their ices , Potter and Stanley, so perfect timing!

I have to say I do love my inner child, she likes such wonderful childish things! But now I have to find somewhere to put them once they are framed.


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THE WORK GOES ON...

Since I was not working today I was given the task of removing the tiles from the old bathroom,
not an easy job to start with but once you get a few off , it's easier to get at the rest.

This bathroom was as is, when we moved in, because I hated that it was so small we never did anything to it , apart from buy a new shower curtain every so often. I could never commit to what to do, have it refitted, move it upstairs, change from a bath to just a shower!
Then I'd go away to stay in an hotel or rented holiday cottage and the bathroom would always be bigger than mine at home and I'd start to size it up as to could I do this  or that with mine?

It's taken us this long to finally decide to move it upstairs and lose a bedroom for a while.

So progress is being made and the tiles are coming off.

So glad to see them gone and looking forward to the room being divided and re-plastered.

At lunch time Paul and myself were discussing what colour to paint the hallway and arguing over colours ! This is normal for us , although we have pretty much the same taste, we'll argue until one of us finds something the other likes and then we'll work with that until we both agree. I have to say that Paul is an angle and if I don't like the colour that goes up will adjust it until I do! In our last house a large Edwardian semi there was a lovely coved edge on the ceiling and I decided I wanted the part between painted green, well three different shades of green later Paul finally said on the forth one , this was it! Luckily it was :)

We have some lovely tiles for the floor in both rooms but will not be tiling the walls. I have never been a fan of completely tiled bathrooms etc as I like to be able to change the colour or style and if it's completely tiles you are stuck ten years down the line with that colour and design unless you pay a fortune to have the tiles chipped off and changed.But that's me others like all tiled bathroom, I do myself when I see them but prefer for myself to have the option of change!
That's me cannot sit still on the decorating front!


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I CANNOT BELIEVE IT!

Do you remember this room I began trying to clear way back last year ?

Full of my doll things !

 Organised... not!

This was back in 2015 , it was improved on and boxes bought and some things sold and tidied but still full to over flowing!

Well finally it was a case of it's all got to be moved NOW!

EMPTY! I've been robbed? ..... No but the new bathroom is about to be put into what was my doll storage room , so everything as  been moved elsewhere !

The other side of the room and the door! The last time it looked like this they were laying the new carpet a few months after we moved in , over eleven years ago.

I'd love to say that I've sold loads of things and it all now fits into a few large boxes and they are tucked away in a corner ready for use! However I have sold quite a few things but the bulk and I so mean bulk of it is now scattered round the house and in my Sasha Studio!
So still much to do in the less is more department!


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IF.... YOU CAN

If you can stand while all about you things look crooked
then mum can do no wrong !

If you can watch as people stare and whisper
but still join in her song

If you can wait and not grow tired of waiting
while she places you here and there

If you can do all this and still smile
then you must really care

DJ Owen




What do you mean RK?  It was me!  DJO ! Okay Okay it was not me but Rudyard Kipling's Poem IF that Ragnor quotes while standing in Rudyard's garden at his house Batemans .
And that bench is on a hill!it is......


A wonderful inspiring place to visit and so below I have put his wonderful poem.


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IF

IF you can keep your head while all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
but make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait but not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating
And yet don't look to good,nor talk to wise:


If you can dream- and not make dreams your master;
if you can think - but not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life for, broken
And stoop and build'em up with worn out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch -and -toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the will that says to  them:  ' Hold On!

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings , nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more- your'll be a Man,  my son !

By Rudyard Kipling












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ON THE WAY HOME

we stopped at a National Trust house.

A small country residence

The home of a world famous writer.This was his study.

a writer whose books have been made into films.

a little Oast house gift shop in the garden

Looking down from the vegetable garden over the orchard to the house.The house was lovely and homely and just like George Bernard Shaw's house, which is just down the road from where we live, it made me feel that I should be spending my days writing!
So lets have a little game :)

Ragnor is going to give you a hint as to who owned this house.

" If you can dream -and not make dreams your master "

" If you can think and not make thoughts your aim "

" If you can fill the unforgiving minute , With sixty seconds worth of distance run"


So if you know the answer of who lived here, just add the initials of the person to a comment and one more line from the poem Ragnor's , quoting  ( out of order ) from.


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EAST SUSSEX CONTINUES

We found ourselves looking out for things that might suit our new refurbishment , which was fun. It's always nice to have a reason to spend some money! lol

The house we stayed in was beautifully decorated and the owner definitely had an eye for design and putting the right thing in the right place.

This was the little sun room/dinning room.

one of the bedrooms.

They also had a Cairn terrier which is the same family as the Westie, so it was lovely seeing this collection of Westie, Scottie and Cairn pictures in the hallway.

Rye is full of lovely old buildings.

I loved this window. Mermaid Street in Rye is the most photographed but trying to get photo's without people in was hard!

another window

Finally looking back up part of Mermaid street.

and looking down.

We went to Dover castle ! The place is massive! It takes one hour to walk round the castle outer walls!.

That's the lower walls you can just make out in this photo.

Three floors of medieval splendour!

You can watch the ferries coming in from the roof!

Down in the heart of the castle the kitchens.

Where furry creatures probably held sway !

A 1000 year old Saxon church within the castle grounds, it's the building having work done on it.

It's run by English Heritage and although expensive to get in ( we are members ) it's a good long day of interest, apart from the Castle, Church, Military museum, medieval underground tunnels there are also wartime underground tunnels which you re taken on a guided tour, both the hospital level and the other levels.

Well worth a visit if you are ever in the area.

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