Today has been a jolly good day. I...

...admired the foxgloves I planted under torch light last night (Illumination Pink from Thompson & Morgan)

...went all gooey at the sight of my boyfriend Alex and Bootsy cat having a little snuggle

...went antique shopping and spent money I didn't have on things I told Alex we desperately needed (sorry I didn't take any photos of the shops, I forgot in all the excitement! Must do better next time)

...came home and tidied our bombsite of a bedroom whilst Bootsy chilled amongst the tower of clothes

...admired my purchases

vintage lampshade from The Pad, Sheffield

teeny weeny old glass medicine bottle from Heeley Bank Antiques Centre, Sheffield

new mirror from Heeley Bank Antiques Centre

an amazing pair of 70's curtains from The Pad

wicker basket from Heeley Bank Antiques Centre

yet another vintage lampshade from The Pad

50's glasses from Langton's Antiques, Sheffield

...tidied the living room, making space for a little desk/workspace for moi (the little sewing machine is new too, do you think we went a bit mad?!)

...lit some candles

...and now I'm sat at my new little desk with Alex at my left typing merrily away and Bootsy cat to my right dreaming of rolling in soil and supping cat milk, most probably

I hope you're all having a lovely weekend too

Blanket Envy

After the busy weekend I've had all I want to do is snuggle up in a cosy (but beautiful) blanket. One of these little numbers would do quite nicely.

1. Ferm Living Squares Blanket

2. Donna Wilson Rainy Day Large Throw

3. Pia Wallen Cross Blanket

4. IKEA VILMIE RUND Throw

5. HAY Mega Dot Bed Cover

6. Melin Tregwynt Knot Garden Graphite Blanket

Now if someone could just lend me the money to buy myself one then I'd be a very happy lady. No I hear you say? Well a girl can dream can't she. 

Saturday's Rundown (or why I'm so tired)

I am officially exhausted. After quite a few weekends of snow and several months of freezing cold weather, the sun finally came out today from wherever it's been hiding (I'm sure you noticed too) and I must admit I got a bit giddy. After months of feeling sluggish I felt positively energised, so thank you Mr Sunshine. 

Anyway, here's a rundown of what I've been up to today....

I had a wee tidy up of the house and sorted out the kitchen sides. Just putting things on trays and in bowls has made it look a lot tidier me thinks.

I also cut down the indoor hyacinths that were in pots in a previous post as they were looked lopsided and past their best. I put them in vases to cheer them (and me) up. As you can see my amaryllis is also finally flowering so I am officially a very happy lady.

I tidied up the garden, cut back all the plants from last year and finally cleared the mass of leaves from my borders (I know, it's about time!) The borders still need quite a bit of work but they're vastly improved at least.

I planted the dogwood I recently found really cheaply with some ivy that had gone crazy in another pot and some snowdrops which were growing next to our drains, although I liked that the snowdrops were unexpected in their previous spot I felt they really did deserve a nicer home than next to a drain pipe!

I rearranged my pots (who needs a gym when you could just lift terracotta pots instead).

I re-painted the gate and painted the fence at the side of our front borders. The fence needs another coat but already it looks a lot better than it did previously.

I admired my garden, particularly these beauties.

Iris 'Katharine Hodgkin'

Snowdrops growing in my lawn

Sarcococca Confusa

I explored the woods across from my house with my cat Bootsy.

 

 

And now, why I'm curled up on my sofa with a blanket and a cup of tea of course. 

Bedroom Inspiration

Although we moved into our cottage well over a year ago, it still looks like we've just moved in. We still have boxes full of things we want to sell or just simply don't have space for piled up in each room. On top of that all of the rooms look tired and tatty, it didn't help matters that when we got our cat Bootsy he was just a kitten and decided that it would be great fun to scratch and tear at our wallpaper. Basically the house looks nothing like how I want it to and although it's only rented we're lucky that our Landlord is very laid back so we're planning on doing up the house, together with the garden, throughout this year. 

The first room we'll be attempting to tackle is our bedroom. We intended to decorate it last year but as we started to remove the wallpaper we found that the walls were a real mess, so we knew it was going to be a bigger job than we originally imagined. It was close to Christmas so we thought it best to wait until this year so have been left with a bedroom with wallpaper half taken off and mould all up the walls, making it quite a depressing space and not at all relaxing. We'll be decorating soon but in the meantime I have been researching how I'd like the room to look. Whilst perusing the internet I found inspiration at Baixa House Apartments in Lisbon, I love the simplicity of each of the rooms, a complete opposite to my cluttered bedroom, here's a sample of them below.

Don't ask me why but these photos make me giddy with excitement, I especially love the mismatched furniture and lighting, something which we will have to do in our bedroom out of necessity, mainly due to lack of funds. I just hope our bedroom looks half as nice when finished.

The Beauty of Indoor Bulbs

The Living Room fireplace - my harbinger of Spring

I'm afraid I haven't been posting as regularly as I would have liked so far this year. January wasn't a good month; we were without heating for most it, there was a fire next door which spread to our roof, our drains overflowed and our house came close to flooding (my poor neighbour wasn't so lucky), last week our cat Bootsy was very ill and the weather's been terrible so I've not been able to do any real gardening. 

It's not all doom and gloom though, I planted some hyacinth bulbs a few weeks ago which are finally flowering and they are cheering me up no end, that and the daffodils I treated myself to, to remind myself that spring is only around the corner, oh and Monty Don's new series French Gardens of course. 

I bought the bulbs cheaply just after Christmas, here's what they looked like at the start of January...

And now they're out and they're filling my house with their amazing scent, I just love hyacinths...

Hyacinthus ' Anna Marie'

Hyacinthus 'Purple Sensation'

Hyacinthus 'Purple Sensation'

The very appropriately named Hyacinthus 'Blue Giant'

Hyacinthus 'Blue Giant'

I also planted an amaryllis bulb just before Christmas, it took ages to grow (maybe due to our lack our heating, our house was so cold you could see your breath each time you spoke) after a few weeks this is what it looked like...

Amaryllis (I can't remember the name of the bulb!)

And now it's huge! It's so close to flowering, I really am so excited! I bought my grandma a double amaryllis bulb for Christmas, and hers is just looking spectacular, I can't wait for mine to flower too, if only to remind me what bulb I actually bought.

My Amaryllis, looking splendid in a champagne bucket

I did have some hyacinths which I had flowering for Christmas, I grew Jan Bos and their scent was most definitely the best of all I've grown so far. They'd unfortunately sold out of them when I bought my current hyacinth bulbs but here they are in all their glory.

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Jan Bos' 

Hyacinthus orientalis 'Jan Bos'