House tour - part 3

Hi remember me?  Probably not as it has been so long since I've been here.  Sorry!  It's been a bit of a manic few months, but I hadn't forgotten about you - honestly!  So, while I get myself back on track a little, here's a little tit bit to keep you going.

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In my last 'House tour' instalment I told you about the big building work in the kitchen, but also mentioned that the other 'heavy' work happened downstairs, in the living/dining rooms.

We didn't want to do away with the wall between these two rooms completely, but we did want the flexibility of being able to use them as one room if we wanted.  So we opted for a doorway between the two rooms. 

Initially I fancied getting some reclaimed doors and to build the doorway around them, but it wasn't quite as easy as it sounds.  In the end, we had bespoke doors made and are very pleased with the result.

We're both keen readers and have lots of books, so it was essential that we had plenty of space to store/display our books.  In fact, for DH it was more than essential (if that is possible!).  The two alcoves either side of the fireplace in the living room were perfect for some bookcases.  We looked at ready-made ones and couldn't quite find what we'd pictured in our heads for a price we could afford and so the 'door man' also built these for us.

So, here is (more or less) how our living room looks now:

And our dining room:

One day we'll have the original French windows in the dining room restored too.  They're far too nice to replace, although we've yet to decide whether or not to have a little balcony or some stairs leading down from them into the back garden (who's idea was it to remove the originals?!?!?).

House tour - part 1

You're all probably sick of hearing about our various renovations at home and after spotting something on another blog, I thought I might show you 'around' a bit and let you see the before and after of our home.  There is still plenty to do and things will probably change again in places, but at least then you'll have an idea of how far we've come and how far we still have to go!

So, to start, some background.

We've been living here for a little over three years now.  It had previously been a family home for about 20 years and we get the impression that the family always struggled to have enough money to invest in the house.  That has had its pros and cons for us.  The pros being that there are some nice original features in the house - bare floor boards, some coving/plaster work, original doors, stained glass, fire places.  The cons have been - out-dated wiring, windows and heating, shoddy work throughout, wear and tear showing its affect.

To follow Julie Andrews'/Maria's example, let's start at the beginning.

We fell for the house as soon as we saw it and could see the potential in it, and thankfully the vendors needed a quick sell, so we jumped at the chance of such a spacious house within our price-range.  We lined up some builders to start work as soon as we completed and moved into temporary accommodation whilst they were hard at work.

They rewired:

Knocked two rooms into one:

Knocked a new door-way between the living room and dining room:

Refashioned the en-suite bathroom:

Fitted a new kitchen:

And filled the garden with rubble:

Creativity and Wellbeing

I was recently reading a post on Tilly and the Buttons that mentioned Stitchlinks. I'd never heard about it and my curiosity was piqued. 

It is a movement that promotes wellbeing through creativity.  Now I've always felt that making something makes me feel better about all sorts of stuff, and since we've had a garden, DH and I also find that an hour pottering in the garden has a brilliantly relaxing affect on you.  It doesn't matter what cr@p you've had to deal with during the day/week, concentrating on weeding, mowing the lawn, sowing (or indeed sewing!) seeds etc is great at making you forget about it all and your mind is free to wander and relax.  Sewing, embroidery, crafts have the same affect on me, so I was thrilled to hear about Stitchlinks and their work.

I've mentioned it here a few times and people who have known me long will know that I regularly travel with my handiwork (eg see Madame Defarge strikes again), which is also advocated by Stitchlinks.  I stitched most of my first commission of 2013 during my daily commute.  And I remember knitting a jade green sweater for myself when I was travelling on the school bus (I had a 'thing' for jade back then and even had a jade coloured camera (which was no good when trying to take discreet photos of someone I fancied!)).  Having taken textiles at GCSE and A-level too, I was often seen carrying odd-shaped parcels to and from school (the classic must have been my soft-sculpture microwave which is still in my parents' attic!).  And in the days before 9/11 I'd even take my needle, thread and Swiss army knife on board planes and stitch my way on holiday - oh how I miss those days!  At least they're not banned from trains and buses :-)

So, if Stitchlinks can help people who feel isolated, suffer from depression etc cope better with day to day life by knitting, stitching, crocheting their way to a happier life - good for them!  I'm all for it and will certainly try to advocate creative activity as a way to 'put life into perspective' again, when things seem to be getting out of hand.

Lists

It's that time of year again.  Summer holidays over and everyone thinking of the 'new year'.  A depressing thought?

Well, not for DH apparently.  He finds it quite exciting (he likes plans!).  As a result, we spent some of the bank holiday weekend planning our autumn ... and that comprised of creating a number of lists!

A list of people we want to see
A list of things we want to do
A list of jobs to organise
A list of jobs in the garden
A list of jobs in the house ...

The list of lists goes on ...

Naturally, in the middle of all these lists, there is a list of projects for me to sew (with one or two extras by me that aren't part of the above listed lists!).   So, here it is (in no particular order) for you to help keep me on track (and check up on me!):

• Tidy kitchen blinds (I know, I made these months ago and still haven't tidied the odds and ends up!)  Hooray, I finally finished them! And I've now also altered them to fit the new windows - happy me!
• Replace spare bedroom curtain linings (thoughtfully shredded by sunlight and cats) - one down, one to go!  Almost there now, just need to finish the pleating and rehang :-)
• Buy living/dining room curtain fabric (a warning - there will be miles of this when I get it as the windows are ridiculously tall) and allow some extra fabric for matching/coordinating cushions
• Make up living/dining room curtains (is there such a thing as a 'life saver' to prevent you drowning in fabric?!) - see above re cushion covers too.  Hooray - finished sewing them, just need to finish hemming them now!
• make new white blouse/tunic for self using Amy Butler Liverpool pattern (as a test piece for making a patterned one for DM and me)
• make apron for MIL from Liberty book I had for Christmas last year (in time for Christmas this year)
• Make bread basket and tea cosy for kitchen out of left over blind fabric
• Start designing anniversary sampler for DS (significant anniversary not for 23 months, so I have a little time!)
• Start designing bicentenary sampler for church (not sure I'll make it for the bicentenary, but certainly to mark it)
• Make/embroider some Christmas decorations as gifts for this Christmas (or maybe just sew some Christmas gifts)
• Order fabric for bedroom curtains (once pole is in place) and make up, also cushion for chaise longue and throw and cushion for bed
• Cover lampshade for bedroom (if we still can't find one we like and can afford!)  We found a lovely one in the Grand Bazaar in Instanbul

OK, let's be honest.  This list is likely to keep me out of mischief until well into 2013 and beyond, but we can but hope!

PS:  I'll try to remember to strike through those I manage to finish as I go along.

There is no rose of such virtue

I know these photos aren't anything to do with sewing or embroidery, or even crafts, but I couldn't resist sharing our beautiful roses with you!

Handel (we think!)

Handel again - this was in the garden when we moved in

Cariad (Welsh for love) - a gift from MIL

I'm cheating here - this is a sneaky peak over the fence to our neighbours' lovely apricot beauty