Quilted Cushion

My Mum asked me to recover an old cushion for her. she is decorating the spare room in blues & cream/white tones and wanted the new cover to match this scheme. After looking through my old copies of Love Patchwork magazine she selected the most complicated patchwork cushion design in there for her new cover!

The fabrics were all ones I already had. The patchwork design itselt was complicated, and I'll admit that I couldn't see how it was all going to come together when I was laying it out, but I followed the step by step instructions and slowly the design emerged!

I'm really thrilled with the end result, and more importantly so is Mum!

Recovered Cushions

When I was little we had these big floor cushions in the house that my Mum got from Habitat in the 1970s. When I moved out she gave them to me and I've moved them with me to each house I've lived in. Recently I finally admitted they were on their last legs - both had rips in them & the stuffing coming out, repaired with gaffer tape!

I recovered both cushions with a gorgeous dark blue fabric printed with bugs that I got in Ikea. Once I'd covered them the rest of the cushions in that corner looked scruffy, so of course I had to recover them too! 

The last cushion I made a patchwork cover for and embroidered it with boats, reflecting the fact that both Ash & I are kelpie children from a seaside town. Once of the boats has an A for Ash, one has a B for Becky and one is HMS Bubbs for Bronwyn - cheesy but cute!

Bathroom Makeover

Shelf unit from Ikea

Our bathroom makeover was finally finished this weekend. Last year when we returned from holiday in Italy we came home to a wreaked bathroom - the ceiling had fallen in due to water damage - nightmare!

Canvas print made from my original photo of St Ives

The original bathroom was a hideous peach colour. Once we'd replaced the ceiling and painted it white the rest of the bathroom needed freshening up too. We used tile paint to create a fresh white high gloss finish, and went for plain white on the walls as well. 

The blue mosaic laminate flooring came from B&Q.

The white drawer unit provides storage for towels and toiletries. It was an unfinished wood Rast chest of drawers from Ikea. I painted it in the left over white wall paint & replaced the handles to make it look a bit more vintage. 

Home Tour - Bedroom

Chest of drawers on left: Glastonbury Reclamation Yard. Chest of drawers on right: Charity shop. Shelving unit & baskets: Ikea

Bedframe: Homebase. Curtains: Dunelm Mill. Bedside chest: antique, from Notting Hill market. Bedside cabinet: antique, from a house clearance in Cornwall. Carved hands on wall: market in Morocco. Klimt canvas: Dunelm Mill

I know bedrooms are usually where people really go in for matching fabrics & patterns, but I'm not a 'matching' person, so while mine has a lot of florals going on, none of them match.

When I first bought my house this room was painted bright orange. As in 'you've been tangoed' orange - the least restful colour ever! It took several coats of white paint to cover that monstrosity! I then painted the accent wall in my favourite colour green, the paint came from the Crown 'Fashion for Walls' range.

Watercolour: Steve Broadway. Coatpegs used as jewellery storage: Ikea. Lamp: TKMaxx. Ceramic orchid plate: Dartington Cider Press Centre 

The wallpaper was a later addition again. I love the 'boudoir' look of the bedrooms in National Trust houses, particularly Castle Drogo, so I knew I wanted to add a floral paper to the room, and I looked for ages for one with birds on it as well. This wallpaper came from B&Q, and I love it so much I have it up in the hallway too.

Lamp from B&Q. Book from The Shire!

Lamp: Ikea. Love canvas: Dunelm Mill. Flower lights: Covent Garden market. Knitted rabbit hot beanie bag: present. Antique embroidered cloth: Glastonbury Reclamation Yard

Jewellery case: Matalan. Green ceramic ornaments: handmade by Jennie Scott. Vintage handbag: Glastonbury Vintage shop. Pink artwork by Josie!

Most of the furniture in the room is second hand. Because I wanted dark wooden furniture it was easy to find second hand pieces as it's not 'fashionable' at the moment - all the better for my wallet! The bedframe was new from Homebase, and the slim shelving unit came from Ikea. Everything else was secondhand from charity shops, reclamation yards and ebay.

Blue bedding: Asda. Throw pillows: Dunelm Mill.

The bedding in the photos came from Asda (yes, really!) in the sale, but as I have an obsession with pretty bedding it changes frequently! And despite what Ash thinks, you can never have too many pretty scatter cushions!

these are all either photos we've taken ourselves or cards that Ash has given me over the years that I've framed up

Marilyn mirror: antique, present from Mum. 'Comic' print: picked up in a market in France. Shells print: Tavistock market

Typewriter picture: Ikea. St Ives watercolour: Steve Broadway

Shoes print: Hannah Broadway. Nude ink drawing: by me. Signed Simon Drewe print: Dartington Cider Press Centre

I like grouping pictures together as I have done in this room as I think it makes a great focal point. A lot of these pieces are original artworks I have collected - I've listed the artists under the photos.

Hopefully you like the vintage look of my bedroom, perhaps it's given you some inspiration - lets face it, as the weather keeps chuking rain at us all, bed is the only sensible place to be!

Sunroom

I've wanted to share more photos of my home on my blog for a while, but never seem to be able to keep it tidy for long enough to take decent photos! I'm finally feeling like my house is nearly how I want it now, so the first room I'm sharing with you is the Sunroom - this is my dining room/craft room/sewing room, and my favourite room in the house, especially in the summer.

This weekend was spent building my new sideboard and dresser unit, and they really finish the room off. It's so nice to have all my fabric & threads & sewing machine all stored away neatly in one room, ready for me to use without having to pull everything out to find what I need! Lets just hope it stays that way....!

The farmhouse table and chest are both antiques, the table I bought myself from a reclamation yard in Glastonbury, the chest my mum bought in Portobello Market when she was in her 20s.

The four chairs were also my mum's - they used to be a hideous tan stain, very similar to Dale Winton's fake tan! I sanded them down & pained them different colours as I don't like things to match too much.

The bench seat also came from a reclamation yard. I've had it for years but recently painted it white & it feels like it has a new lease of life now!

The pottery is a mixture of charity shop finds, proper antiques and gifts from friends.

I hope you enjoyed having a peek around my home!