Apologies for these chaotic spread but those trendy modern general shops make things old school-y difficult and I am rubbish with Photoshop.
Anyway, my dream list this week is all about the garden (yes, I know, I know, enough with that blooming garden!), I desperately need pot brushes, sweeping brushes, a sieve, a thermometer and a small Haws watering can. The rest is not that necessary but still would be lovely.
Everything comes from Labour&Wait, Objects of Use and Haws.
One thing all our rental places lacked was the personal touch, we simply couldn’t be bothered and the places weren’t exactly right. Now, having our own little abode is different and having a child made us slightly more sentimental. The only problem we couldn’t figure out was how do we make the modern colour photos look good. So we decided on the old black and white photos instead, our ancestors, some we have no idea who they were but still lovingly picked from the stashes of old photos at our parents’ homes.
The second part of the project were the frames, we didn’t want any old shop bought frames, we wanted something more interesting, and inexpensive too. It took us several months to collect the frames from charity shops and car boot sales and once we had a decent amount they got sanded, primed and painted in black gloss.
The idea is to build up the collection, this is just a start, there are so many pictures we love and want to look at every day.
Here are the simple steps in pictures:
A week of heat and the slugs are gone, my dahlias finally started to get stronger and fingers crossed I will have some bold flowers soon.
In the non-sluggy news hubby started to rebuild the shed and it will be beautiful, once it’s finished I will share some photos of before and after. Dreaming of some nice Farrow&Ball colour for the exterior.
When the old shed came down we discovered few old metal posters and are pondering how to use them in the garden, fence art or table top perhaps…
The bug was of course helping at all times mainly by getting in a way and trying to sneak off with tools.
The late summer crops are getting there, we are enjoying beetroots and rocket at the moment are are awaiting beans, tomatoes and apples. The apple tree has got less fruit than last year, much less in fact but the apples look healthier and the whole tree happier. I am relieved that I won’t have to process vats of the fruit every day.
The flowers are loving the sun, part of the hollyhocks survived the snail army, calendulas are invincible and the wonderful verbena has grown really tall. The bees are in a borage and lavender heaven – if you want to attract wildlife than get some of these flowers and add lots of yellow ones, I reckon we need a bee hive!
Another visit to Petersham Nurseries, this time with my mother-in-law. Another plant on my wish list and few purchased irises for next year (half price, score). Another lunch and cake consumed, flourless chocolate cake in fact which fast became my favourite next to the orange and almond.
The only difference is that this time I concentrated on interiors and I wanted to leave with half of the shop, I would just have to flog the little mite on a black market. After closer inspection I realised, just as I did with the garden accessories, that much of the stuff can be purchased in car boot sales and antique markets, these beautiful quilts and linens can be brought from exotic holidays and old cupboards can be worked on. This place gives me so much inspiration no magazine or website can ever do. They really can style anything to look good, especially flowers, they made me fall for dahlias and showed me how any flower will look good in a pot or vase if grouped.
Long live shabby chic!
These 19C plates stole my heart, I just love the colour and pattern.
Current shabby chic finds to be worked on:
zinc water tank in the loft
slate mantelpiece found on a skip
kitchen shelf from a charity shop
old planter
and I really want to try making these cement pots. PS Do you Pinterest? I love it!
To indulge my inner gardening nerd I made sure to go and see some allotments as a part of the NGS scheme. The closest to us are Paddock Allotments in Raynes Park, there are about 150 little gardens and each one is completely different. There are the organised ones with straight lines of beautiful veg, there are cages full of berries, tall structures supporting beans, English gardens, old granny gardens where the shed actually looks like a tiny house, tall potato trenches, and many more.
I was impressed with the clear lack of slug damage but people use pellets which I don’t like the idea of and even organic ones scare me in case Freddie decides to explore. One of the plot owners told me that crushed egg shells do the job pretty well, they feel like glass and slugs stay away. Everyone growing courgettes had decent sized fruit on the plants, I can’t even grow French beans, slugs eat the flowers! And I have learned that lettuce has got to be covered with netting, too late though, pigeons ate my whole crop already.
We have one of those water tanks but have to get it out of the loft, it will be a task and a half. These carrots looked very happy.
Warning, a bit of gardening geekery!
There were many creative ways of using old pallets and general recycling ideas if you’d like to see.
Icing on the cake? Buying plants for 25p at the end of it.
The list of baby books I want for Freddie is growing fast but the boy is only interested in few at the moment. His favorites are The Guffalo, The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Green Eggs and Ham read by his Daddy. We have also an ongoing love for the Caterpillar, Polar Bear and Micky in The Night Kitchen as well as new interest in Where the Wild Things Are. He is also very much into all sort of balloons in The Lowly Worm, a book I adore.
So this is planning ahead, we have many many years of reading to come and here are some top picks.
Would love to hear if there are any books you could recommend for toddlers?
I got Freddie’s bug and was not very chirpy this weekend. Hubby got stuck in the garden doing some ground work after taking the little mite out for the whole morning. Bliss to be in bed and read till 3pm. Afterward we headed to one of the open garden events, actually it was open allotments and I was really looking forward to it. We got some super cheap plants including a money plant for my new old plant pot.
I craved fresh food and chillies, lots of them. This melon and feta salad is one of my summer favorites.
I harvested a lot of mizuna for Vietnamese salad and some roses for the house, they smell heavenly.
My mother in law sent us this wonderful book, Victorian Kitchen Garden, and I found the corresponding BBC programme (must be from mid 80s) on YouTube, a new obsession. At the moment high on my list: forcing pots, hot beds and growing melons. Also small Victorian cold frames.
I am also reading a book on foraging but after looking carefully I still cannot find anything other than brambles and elder flowers.
I can’t believe it is already July, it certainly doesn’t feel like July, where is the sun and blue skies? What’s with the greyness and rain? Well, we have to do something so here are our plans and things we did so far if you’d like to know.
The garden update: hollyhocks have opened, I am so proud of this giant, I grew it from a tiny seed and this one is the only survivor of slug wars 2011; more hollyhocks have been planted this year and are all doing well. French beans are climbing beautifully and have the lovliest red flowers, unfortunately following Monty Don’s advise of putting some seeds directly in the soil didn’t work, they came up nice and fast but got nibbled on by the chief enemy.
We did some shopping and got ourselves a smart watering can, it was a great find and cost only £24 at Garsons Farm as opposed to £40 for an old battered thing from Petersham or A French Life. We also visited the local car boot sale and brought home this very nice planter and a jug for the garden at a whopping total of £5.
Charity shop crawl resulted in this great indoor plant pot and Monica Dickens’ One Pair of Feet. I must admit I hardly ever go to charity shops anymore, they are so expensive especially in the crockery department, thanks Mary Portas!
We baked mini banana breads and Freddie had them with ‘milk’ in an egg cup.
Of course we had our monthly visit to Petersham Nurseries for some cake and drooled over plants and accessories but came home empty-handed. I will go back for some succulents for my new plant pot though.
Beauty genius cream – Neal’s Yard Wild Rose Beauty Balm. Since I weaned Freddie completely back in April the hormones went absolutely berserk and I struggled with painful outbreaks. One day I stopped by the shop and was given a couple of samples, miracle happened, it took about four nights and my skin was back to normal.
Plans: Catching Picasso at Tate Britain before it ends on the 15th, maybe also getting to see British Design at V&A and Munch at Tate Modern; watching Moonrise Kingdom; visiting Chelsea Physics Garden; visiting NGS’s allotments this weekend; reading some Alexander McCall Smith; lots of DIY.
Have you got any exciting plans this month? I need some inspiration so please share!
Last week we went for a walk to Fishpond Woods, it turned out to be a place where you’d expect to meet Gruffalo.
Freddie indulged in running up and down hills and ramps shouting like a medieval warrior.
I am really rubbish with Hipstamatic, the lenses keep flipping and I have no idea how to change them!
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