Dream Country Chat

THE DEN

A tree + a few bits and pieces + a whole lot of imagination

= A special place, a den.

Idgy's mobile hangs just at the side of the house where I park my car. The postman and others have asked what it is. 'Recycled rubbish and wilderness finds' is her reply.

Idgy can spend hours by this tree. She climbs into the broken gate that leans on the other side of the hedge. The hedge itself then becomes a table top for the imagination.

Is it a ship on a stormy sea with Idgy as the cabin boy? An old bowl, plastic mug, broken sunglasses, the tools of a wild imagination and hours of fun.

I don't suppose she is hanging imaginary washing, oh no, she has adventures not reality.

I sometimes think HQ is my tree den. I spin my imagination as I sit at my desk. What can I make out of this, what can I do with that? Just now I'm  clearing out the loft space and finding all sorts of things I had forgotten about. Fabrics that will become extra hearts for Christmas, some pretty jars that will be filled with fragrant wax as candles, some bits and bobs that I might make into kits. But the box of rag doll bodies has got me stumped. What in heavens name did I buy those for? I must have had some plan for them a few years ago. Now I remember, they were to be 'Scenty Sue' and I would fill their tummies with herbs. Couldn't come up with suitable dress/look for her - plan abandoned. Right now they lie there like the fallen victims of some forgotten war. There is something wierd about trying to come up with a use for all these little bodies. I am determined that they will not get back into the loft, they are dumped on the floor so that I will fall over their box every day and be reminded that I have to come up with some use for them. Any ideas welcome.............

Before I head off to my den for the day I have to confess to you that I am still as useless as ever with computer/typepad etc. I have been replying to your comments directly on to the comments page on the blog. I thought I was replying to you personally and directly. So I guess some of you must think I am a heartless creature who has taken your kind comments and not bothered to reply. Well for once I am not guilty, I am just stupid. Technology and me were never meant to be partners in crime or anything else for that matter. Maybe it's just an age thing, or maybe it's just me......

Karon x

A PRETTY MOMENT

Mr X painted the outside of the house while I was away. He also painted this little rose bush. I think the white spotty-ness looks lovely. This is a single little rose bush that grows at the side of the house all on its own and has been there since we moved in 14 years ago.  I think the white spots add even more character - surely a rare delight to have a speckled rose.

Unfortunately within a matter of hours the rain started pouring down and my poor little rose fell apart completely. Speckled and fleeting, c'est la vie.

Have a great weekend.

Karon x

HAIRY HARRY AND HARROGATE STOCK

Yesterday I had my day planned with ,military precision, but as with the best laid plans of mice , men and of course me, that just didn't work out.

Picture the scene dear reader. I have just done my run and stagger back into house in nasty sweaty state. On route to shower room I g through kitchen, something catches my eye but I carry on. Have shower, return through kitchen and it hits me again. Something is amiss. Oh shit, the windows are all open. Now if you are the sort of idiot that owns a house ferret that lives loose like a cat, this is an A1 alarm call.

Rush upstairs like a gazelle walrus and search my room where he will normally be crashed out on the bed in the morning. No sign of him. Check Idgy's room (resist temptation to shriek and howl at the disgusting mess) not there. Search all of house. PANIC.

See Mr X in garden, he is painting outside of house and is of course doing the kitchen window frames. 'You have left the bloody windows open' I shriek in an admirable impression of angry fishwife. Now being a man he instantly lies and goes on the defensive saying he was there all the time and never left the scene. I (Poirot) know this is a lie as when I scuttled through the kitchen he wasn't in sight.

I am therefore at liberty to lose the plot completely and shout, swear, jump about and generally behave like an overgrown child in panic mode. Idgy joins me in this mission (we work well as a team) and we all search the garden calling for Harry. Situation is not helped by the farmer (not John this time, he is off wearing his spangled jumpsuit and leopard print deer stalker while cutting another field) cutting the field right next door and the noise is terrible.

A very nasty half hour passes as tempers fray, child cries and I swear at Mr X. No sign of Harry. I then hear the bin lorry lumbering down the lane and rush round the house to drag the bin out. Well guess who I find lurking with intent by the bins. No other than Hairy Harry the escapee from the kitchen. Grab Harry in one hand and bin in other. Drag bin to side of lane just as the lorry pulls up. 'You're not putting a dead rat in my lorry' says driver when he sees me.  Go into long story of escaped ferret (not a dead rat at all thank you) and miraculous recovery. Bin men glaze over with boredom and eventually drive off.

Shut kitchen windows and lock the errant Harry in the house. Go back to the calm and rational plans I had made for the day. Now I am sure all out panic and ferret chasing wasn't on the list......

Today's post was meant to be all about the new stock of goodies I have made for Harrogate and just put on the web site. I shall just put in a nice piccie here of the new Cuppa Cosy

and also of the updated Cup Cakes, now available with nicely stamped cards saying, Thank You, With Love, Happy Birthday and Best Wishes.

There are lots of other goodies, but to be honest I am sure you have all lost interest in this post abut half an hour ago.

Off to Harrogate tomorrow so won't be blogging till end of next week.

Karon x

HOME COMFORTS

Yesterday was the photoshoot on the house, here is Douglas in action with his camera snapping away. Note the stove merrily blazing, it was 80 degrees outside and we were sweltering, but hey that's show business for you!

Now l know l have been promising you pix of the spare room for ages, well here it is. I rushed round and took my snaps before we started the shoot. I know this lovely little room will be like a magnet for my junk, so l wanted some pix of it looking as it should.

My new Christmas Tweedy Pies have found a home in this old bird cage hanging above the dressing table.

The curtain is an old crazy quilt that l have had in my fabric stash for years and years, just never had a proper use for it.

Quilts and cushions, it is definately a snuggly room.

Not just pictures on the walls.

And of course a cup cake by the bed.

My spare room - at long last.

Karon x

A HANGING OFFENCE

For anyone who thought there would be fabulous pix of the spare room up here today, l disappoint - come on gals, best will in the world, l still can't work that fast! I can report tho, that the floor to ceiling book case is now a tastefully aged off white like the furniture. You really don't want to hang around in my house just now in case you too become tastefully aged in off white!!

I have even wrestled with the curtain rail. Now how hard could that be to hang. Try using a spirit level next time.  I did think l could visualise a straight line. Obviously l can't. Have since raided my tool drawer and found the spirit level, so that's another little job for today. Moral of the story - just because an object is inanimate and metal (curtain pole) never underestimate it and foolishly assume you are a superior being and can therefore outsmart it, you can't.

what a pretty little scene it was.The photo is of one of the shelves in HQ. It wasn't until l took the photo that l realised It is just one of my prop shelves.

In the true spirit of all mysteries and cliff hanger tv programmes l shall end this post with these words

to be continued......................

Karon  x

PAINT AND RENEW

Next week l have a journalist coming to do an interview for a magazine, on 2nd June the photographer will be doing the photo shoot of the house etc. This has caused a minor panic. Well a spare room panic actually. When the photographer was here for the preliminary shoot a couple of months ago, HQ was out of use and everything stored in my tiny spare room. Of course l blythly promised that l would have a great little spare room for the main photo shoot....................

Well time has passed and everything from spare room found its way back to HQ. I have fairly basked in the thrill of working back in HQ this spring. I have really enjoyed putting my things back together and making it a lovely place to be.

Unfortunately l rather forgot about my plans to improve the spare room. Well last week when l got the call about the interview and photo shoot I fairly sprang into action.

It is a tiny room. In fact in a previous life my spare room was actually the coal shed and it was a lean-to shed at that! There isn't much room for clever furniture manipulation or stuff like that. I had to think fast (not easy), repaint the furniture! The old bed and dressing table and little side table (only furniture in there) are 1930s dark wood. Nothing special, nothing worth keeping really, but the only firniture l have. How to make nasty old dark wood furniture that is too big for tiny room look better, well a couple of tins of Laura Ashley 'Country White' have done the trick.

No l am not showing you a photo of the finished room today. You will have to hang in for another day or two while l finish painting the bookcase today. Have done the furniture. Then went mad and repainted the walls. Had total disaster and had to keep repainting the damn walls again and again. Today l shall finish the bookcase and make a new curtain. Hopefully within the next two days l will have a fab little spare room, l live in hope..............

Karon  x  

AGA SAGA

The Aga - the word is synonymous with living in the country, these huge cooking beasties are something many long to own. This cumbersome, kindly and benevolent giant lurks in many country kitchens, giving warmth and cooking, character and charm. They press your clothing, heat the room, cook the food, dry the logs, warm baby lambs and other small animals (as long as you don't shut the door), dry your herbs, make great toast - the list is endless. Oh and did l mention that they are hot, bloody hot!

Yesterday l had a bit of a run-in with mine. Usually a mild mannered beastie, it decided to get its own back for all the spills, messes and general lack of care on my part, it bit me.

I was making soup (yes l know, hottest day of the year so far and l was making soup) and moving the pot on to the simmering plate. It was a two handled pot so l was sort of juggling the pot and raising the lid on the simmering plate at the same time. You guessed it, slip of the hand holding the lid handle and the heavy cast iron lid crashes downwards. Now it would have been okay if the pot was directly underneith said lid, unfortunately it wasn't. My hand was holding the handle and was in the line of fire.

If l say it was painful that would be an understatement (and l am never known for that!!) oh no, this was eye wateringly, foot stampingly, huge big swear wordingly, burst manfully into tears type total bloody agony.

Try to rush from the kitchen, but my screaching has excited the cats. They too wish to rush from the kitchen (from me) and as we all head for the door at high speed they win the race and l fall flat on my face over big fat Berti. More big sweary words as l hobble out to HQ to get lavender oil for the burn. Grab the bottle and completely forget that it is a big bottle and not wearing one of those dinky little dropper tops. You're ahead of me aren't you - l wear the lavender oil. Approximately £30 worth all over hand, arm and floor. I smell delightful, am extremely upset and the burn cools down a bit.

Clean up the oil slick l have created in HQ. Head back to house. Discover that in all this chaos l have left the pot on the damn aga and that as half the soup slopped out during the incident the rest has now dried up and welded itself merrily to the pot and surrounding hotplate.

Remove pot with caution, close aga and resist overwhelming urge to kick it.

Karon  x

YOU ARE WELCOME

I bought myself some flowers last Thursday  to add a dash of colour to the kitchen. They were rather poor sad looking things, three little bunches reduced to £1 per bunch. With not a great deal of hope l brought them home and  plonked them into my old celery vase. They bloomed beautifully, a total resurecton. Bright, golden trumpets heralding the prospect of Spring to come.

It was £3 well spent, for almost a week we have thoroughly enjoyed their beauty, colour and delightful scent.  Today they look sad again and tomorrow will no doubt be in the compost bin. But what a joy they have been.

Now l have to say l am THRILLED with all your lovely comments on my house. Wow, if l could have you all round for tea and cake l certainly would. Since you liked it so much here are the other views of the rooms (the bit where the camera stood for the first pic!).

You don't come in to a hallway here, just straight into the diningroom. When we moved here over 12 years ago the entire ground floor (apart from the kitchen) were covered in a horrible ancient blue carpet. We lived with this for years until we eventually hauled it all up and found that the kitchen tiles extended into most of the diningroom . This just left a case of adding wood floor to the other end of diningroom and also in the livingroom.

I have always wanted to have floor to ceiling bookshelves. I remember many years ago staying at a friends house in England. She had a solid wall of books and l so admired it. Not just for the reading matter (and lets face it l am seriously addicted to books) but for the whole look and the coziness of it. I was always determined to have this in some form or another. Well my big bookshelves made from recycled builders scaffolding planks is the best l can do.

The old sofa is one with a drop arm so that you can stretch out in total relax mode. When l first saw it, it was the mangiest old brocade thing, however my friend Carrie from Rustique Interiors was on the case and she turned it into this magnificent patchwork beauty.

The other side of the bedroom shows 'Martha' (she had the name long before l called the dog that!) my tailors dummy that stands in the corner swathed in beads and old scarves.

The other side of the kitchen and those trusty daffodils! The sink unit is the only piece of static furniture, everything else is cobbled together from bits and pieces. The welsh dresser you saw in yesterdays pic was from ebay and the Victorian wash stand that l use as a chopping board/prep area was a junk yard find. I had to build a platform for it to stand on as it was a good eight inches too low for working on. The marble top makes it perfect for chopping and also for rolling pastry etc.

So that's it for the house guys, hope you have enjoyed the tour. Nobody gets to see Idgy's room - serious mess area! I still have the tiny spare room to finish off. It is full of all the stuff from HQ. I hope to get everything back out to HQ in March and get the spare room finished then too.

Thanks again for all your lovely comments, it has been lovely having you all at my place. Drop in any time.

Karon  x

COME ON IN.....

 

Since the house is so tidy (or was, until about ten minutes after the photographer left) I decided to rush round taking some snaps myself - just as a reminder of what l really can do in the housework stakes when push comes to shove!

So l thought l would invite you in to my place, to sit down, get comfy and have a chat.

 

The top pic shows the diningroom, aka my work room for the past few months. I had to do a mad strip down of all the wrk stuff to make it look like a diningroom again, was amazed to find the table under all the fabric and paperwork.

My bedroom is the opposite of downstairs in light and airiness. Downstairs is very dark and there really was no point in trying to lighted up the rooms with white paint. The windows are north facing and small for the size of rooms. I decided to go for all out coziness and warmth, so have the deep red in livingroom and warm mustard in diningroom. The bedroom on the other hand is bright and sunny and a total contrast to downstairs.

Just some of the pictures that l spent this weekend hanging.

The mudroom that l painted and slogged over these past few days, so thrilled with this little room now.

And of course the heart of the home, the kitchen.

Karon  x

D.I.Y.ing

I am so tired l could just flop down on my new cushions and sleep for a week! It has been a very busy weekend, and the busyness and stress are all my own making - of course.

Today l have a photographer coming to take some snaps of the house, hopefully for future magazine feature. Now l have known about this for a few weeks.

Over the past few weeks l appear to have forgotten the fact that l have ommitted to paint the wall in mud room where the house was divided last year - very attractive 2 metre patch of tan plaster. There are 4 doors that l hadn't finished (again from last year), a cupboard that l was always going to paint, and of course my bedroom wall, oh and did l mention curtains too.

Well guess what, l did the whole lot this weekend. Started with the bedroom on Friday morning, then on to the wall in mudroom. Enthusiasm had worn out by Friday evening when l had to hit B & Q for yet more paint, and by Saturday evening when the last swipe of the paintbrush took place, l was heartily sick of the whole thing.

Sunday morning and l was aging wood with Briwax and trying to hang a curtain rail on stone wall. Now l bought my own lovely new drill from B & Q on Friday so thought l was armed and ready for action. I even had the right drill bit. What more could l want. Well the right drill for a start. After half an hour of arm breaking drilling and more holes than the mole filled garden, l staggered off my ladder and phoned Colette. Help, l cried, l can't do this. The voice of reason assured me that l could indeed do it and that they would be down later to help.

In the meantime l ran up a pair of curtains for the mud room, hung all my old photographs that have been in storage for years and finished retouching all the bits that l had carelessly painted over (like the door hinges etc) and took Idgy out for a 'Littlest Friends Digigame' hunt. Back by 5pm and Colette and Simon arrive with the biggest drill l have ever seen. Wow this guy meant business. My pock marked wall didn't stand a chance. The curtain rail was up in a flash. So were the extra pictures l couldn't hang due to the fight with the wall.  What joy!

The daring due went a step further by inviting Idgy and me up for dinner at their place. We ended up having a lovely relaxing Sunday eveing with a full roast dinner and great chat. Fell into bed and slept like a log. Now today l just have to clean the place and then pretend that it has always looked like this.

Karon  x