If it’s not the actual walls of the house, there’s another special place that’s getting the treatment too
Although we could comfortably move into this Bloomsbury inspired living room, it might be a bit of a squash.
Because this is a dolls house…
A bookcase filled with books and me on the tv at last!
We all have a project or two by the armchair!!
Love this tiny blue and white tea set
Perfect for the French dresser, with a landscape mural on the kitchen wall
Sink and aga and abstract art!
Hand painted Monet table
Distressed painted chair
Just waiting for a guest or two to drop by.
The Bathroom contains the smallest accessories youve ever seen!
His and hers sink
And a rather spectacular toilet !
Even a dressing area.
Next for the paintbrush is this bedroom set
A dressing table for the coolest lady
Complete with enough perfume for any diva..
Looking forward to seeing how the rest of her room and the other bedrooms evolve.
While we wait, there’s always the basement garden to potter in
As with all gardens, this one is still in bud
A seat on the tiny white iron furniture.
Plants and trees and grassy areas framed by a Rousseau inspired backdrop.
The outside of the house will be finished later. Plus the attic room and bedrooms. There is still plenty of detail to add and that is a lot of daylight hours! A half finished tree will still be there on a rainy day!
.
And until the Autumn, it will be real plants that are tended to. The painted ones can mostly wait while the sun is shining.
One of the most inspirational places I went to when I was at school was Charleston Farmhouse. Charleston Farmhouse is a 16th century property in East Sussex that was transformed by the artists Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant and their friends. Visiting the house and garden felt like stepping into something familiar and also new and exciting too.
Typical Bloomsbury Style painted border
As soon as they moved in, Bell and Grant began to paint every surface in the farmhouse, transforming it into a living, breathing work of art. Over the following decades, Charleston became a gathering point for some of the 20th century’s most radical artists, writers and thinkers known collectively as the Bloomsbury group. It is where they lived out their progressive social and artistic ideals.
What would our quirky home inspire? ..
There are touches of Bloomsbury inspiration all over our home. Not least in the hall archway, painted in recognizably chalky colours and patterns.
Blended with our Venetian Inspired Hallway
Of course, not everyone can be a fan..
‘Toys and books’ Italian style on the painted wooden door
A few clues as to what hides behind the door…
Although only for those of a certain size
With a big imagination
Before the sunshine became just too tempting to stay indoors any longer;
as many things as possible got a Spring makeover.
All under the watchful gaze of my trusty companion Mabel
Who approved the new mural by hers and Horace’s dog beds. And the new book at the side of the stairs.
Lastly for today, the upper corridor has had a makeover. A little alcove, home to various pets and bookcases until now, has been framed with a hand painted border, edging a blast of bright turquoise which makes the ‘escape to the chateau wallpaper pop!’
This is one of those little corners that could be overlooked but has come to life and now looks much bigger than it is.
And obviously, one’s treasures have to be put somewhere!
The pink bedroom revamp began with a complete re-painting of the floor. It was (pointing no fingers,) covered in all kinds of hair dye and gunk. So, old fashioned, plain, sanded boards were out of the question. I shall let you into a secret. I may be slightly guilty of reading instructions on things briefly; and then finding out what actually works for me! In this case, my old favourite Cuprinol garden paint was used for the main floorboard colour. It painted smoothly and I did two coats with a strong yacht varnish on top. At the edge of the room was a patch of nasty hardboard planks, covering a gap in the original floor. It really stood out like a sore thumb, and didn’t look nice at all.
This was first primed with a general undercoat, then sectioned out with blue tape, and painted in chalk furniture paint. Each section was then stencilled with a basic design, and hand painted with tiny details. The final stage was to paint the edging by hand and varnish the whole rug which was shaped around the shape in the wall.
The over-sized lamp was a labour of love, but has the Summery Bloomsbury vibe I was after! Again, the lamp base was primed and painted with detailed sections of chalk paint in soft colours, with smaller contrasting details on top. ( And then varnished) Trim and fabrics were sourced on Ebay, and the old nylon fabric cut off the wire frame. Next, a piece of newspaper was used to make a template of a section of the shade and laid on the fabric. (allowing generous seam allowance) These eight sections were machine stitched together to make a kind of ‘dress.’ Once it ‘fitted’ fairly tightly, the shade was stretched over the wire and hand stitched at the top and bottom, pulling it as taught as possible at each point. The trim and bobbles were added with a glue gun .
The old wooden bedside cabinet was found at the recycling centre. It was sanded down and painted in chalk furniture paint with acrylic and chalk paint detail, then varnished. The detail on the drawer picks out shapes barely noticed previously!
All in all this room feels very feminine and light now. Unlike some of the rest of the house which lends itself to more muted colours, this room has a little French charm of its own. Looking out over the garden is a pleasure now, famed by the new duck egg blind and revamped window pelmet, in old french ticking and vintage lace. It has been the perfect winter studio when too cold to be outside.
Paintings over winter have included the three below
Rain
One
Bloom
And in this house, nowhere is safe from the dance of the paintbrushes..
I seem to have met my doppelganger on the bathroom cupboard!
Charmed by a gilded, paint layered wall , coveting midnight adventures inside beautiful prose, lost between the interlaced streets of Old Venice I had never seen but knew in my heart.
And one day I saw it for real. And it was awe inspiring and it made me cry when I left the boat because it was just as it was in the fairy tales and in the otherworld.
Why a place is familiar I don’t have the answer for.
But for now a little Venice lives in our hall…
Using a base of chalk paint, over painted with acrylics, touches of gold, decoupaged with small details, over-painted in areas and even stencilled and printed; the whole piece came together like a giant canvas. From the original thought, the mural took shape and began to grow in size and reality…
and grow
Until it was a whole wall
and crept onto another wall
and grew vines and strange flowers
and after a while it was like it had always been there
The shelves will continue to be tweaked and toyed with
And that’s half the fun!
Harlequins are acrobats are always welcome
Masks or not
And while the music plays,
Something else is going on under the stairs…
A magical feast for the imagination and eyes, for the child in us all, a place for fairytales, vintage toys and favourite old games, best loved children’s books from times past, and dolls houses waiting to be brought to life; inspired by Venetian markets and Victorian Toyshops, a hidden nook under the story stairs awaiting the curious.
Shelves decoupaged in copies of old book covers
A tale of two cities
What’s behind the door?
Circus fabrics and vintage newspaper cuttings line the walls, looked over by Mr Fox
A lifelong project to be added to by the imaginations of any younger guests
A timeless little place
Yesterdays haul at the recycling centre found a tatty metal unidentified thing , possibly part of a discarded garden ornament, a wine rack maybe? Swiftly it was taken to the studio.
Where it was tended to with a little paint, a scrap of wood, and some gorilla glue…
It now has a shelf, decoupaged in earthy textures and patterned papers, finished with a touch of acrylic and varnished
A marvellous and ideally sized new console table .
A week has just disappeared in a determined burst of creative energy .
and time slipped away in a rainbow
Where was my p.a for all those important decisions?!!
Oh well, best put the best foot forward then …
A new knee might be imminent. And it occurred to me, bending might be tricky, and so numerous painting jobs just had to be done…
From dawn ’til dusk, brushes dipped and swirled and layered their marks.
Repainting shabby corners and battered edges, bumped by puppies and boots; upcycling new treasures found in the recycling shop.
A few gaps for sleeping and eating and cooking for big painty days, big projects and big appetites
Awesome Allan did a fabulous job building our new bookcase, making use of an awkward, half landing corner, which I finished in Farrow and Ball’s smoking room green.
Soon after, and not to be outdone, the bannisters got a freshen -up
As did the kitchen, which as you will all understand was a soup of greasy- teenagery-dog and life back splashes, even after just a year.
And to a little detail… An archway in the hall, printed with diamond chalk paint in musky pink and almost black, accented with a smidge of gold. A little bit Tudory but modern too.
For any younger visitors, a newly painted throne, Bloomsbury style. Acrylic and chalk paint , a touch of gold
Now we need someone that can fit…
Upstairs in the shower room, the mirror has taken on a new design. The theme – men’s vintage pyjamas !
Back to the other bathroom and back to Bloomsbury. A little mirrored cabinet, hand painted in shades of soft grey blues and natural tones.
On the landing, an archway between two sections of corridor, using wood paint and acrylic
And a repaint of the treads and woodwork on the stairs
Which have thankfully withstood a thousand paws and claws
An old lamp upcycled with chalk paint, gold leaf, decoupage papers and marabou
While ornaments shuffled about for their next act,
everyone else stood to attention
Tasks are completed. For today. Everything is shiny once more. I’d like to say I’ll put my brushes away, but you know me….
Many years ago, a very young Liz at the Beach Hut, had a Mopsie. Who had a little herb garden at the back of their cottage. In this garden were scents of wild garlic and herbs, mossy stones, exotic ferns poking out of crevices and shady corners where interesting wildflowers and fairies hid. Every visit would find a little girl also hiding there.
The first time we saw this house, it was the secret garden that did it for me. Instantly it felt like home. An old stone wall, probably an outhouse or stable in years gone by when the building was first built 300 years ago, encloses a scruffy little hotch-potch patch, perfect for alpines, a rampant rose and a variety of herbs. It is a place to plonk ourselves in the morning with coffee, and at night with something stronger. It is far from finished, but houses an old Belfast sink and a variety of bird perching- platforms and old lanterns: rich, dense greenery and pops of colour from surprise species of flowers, which suddenly reveal themselves with each new change in the weather. This space is a little sanctuary, welcome to our Mopsie Garden.
Every corner has a little bit of fairytale.
We even have our very own grape vine creeping in from next door!
A perfect spot for tea
Whatever you make it in!
Of course, at this time of year, even on the sunniest of days, our natural instinct is to make plans for Autumn days to come. And ever since we moved into this home, our biggest challenge has been how to create a cosy living space in time for this winter, complete the required damp proofing, and finish all the decorative challenges afterwards.
Living Room
One of the original features was the fireplace, with a pretty nice wood burning fire already there. The doors open out so it feels like an open fire which I prefer on cold winter nights and of course, Christmas Eve.
You will be pleased to note I haven’t zoomed in on the spiders in this window seat, choosing to appreciate it’s merits from afar!!
Frustratingly, almost as soon as painting was allowed, damp proofing began, rendering the space unusable for weeks, with various jobs slotted in as things dried and were cleaned. New dado rails, shelves, some skirting boards, painting, wallpapering, a lot of bleaching and cleaning and a room began to emerge. The floors however, took a lot longer, as the carpet store decided to cancel the order due to stock issues. …… ((((BREATHE)))))))
Cushions were made for the window from Ikea blankets
Max decided the window seat was his!
And finally after our recent travels to Greece.. the carpet fitters arrived! Ahhhh!!! that lovely smell of new carpets! Especially after standing on carpet grippers and chasing moths out with the old ones!
I can’t tell you how long I have coveted my new sofa and how long it has sat in plastic, waiting to be unwrapped!!!
Ta Dah!!
And finally, after what has felt like an absolute age, some of the furniture is starting to find it’s place at last! We actually have a living room!
Things that have been tripping us up look and seem to fit just right. Of course we will jiggle things about..
Change the odd rug or cushion, but that’s half the fun.
At least we can read a book and get a seat. (This one is a love seat for the more amorous guests)
A place to sew or listen to music.
Soooooo looking forward now to a cooler night so we can light a fire!
How long do you think this will be pet free?
A few of the textures, colours and patterns from the living room.
Maybe, one of these days, there might be time for five minutes off?
