Time for some fun!!

I cannot believe how long it has been since I blogged, I have been so busy with the move and work. The Olympics did not help either, I was drawn in to watching sports I know nothing about but found compulsive viewing. I have decided to keep my bunting on the blog till after the paraolympics. It really has been a summer to make you feel proud to be British.

Work is really horrible too, I know for many of you the 6 weeks holidays mean fun and lots of it but for me its hell. I feel like or should I say I know I am working on adrenalin at the moment. Its not just the work load that increases at this time of year but the work that goes into turning over a cottage seems to double. I really do not wish to offend any families or stereotype anyone but most (not all) leave the cottages in a filthy mess. It's as if they lose the ability to tidy up after themselves if the children are with them. Do not get me wrong I know my job and what my clients expect from me, but as guests are you also not supposed to show some respect to another persons property. That's my rant over, only 3 weeks to go till some form of normality returns. 

For many years me and hubby had discussed moving to a pretty rural village which we did recently. The one thing the village had to have was a local pub we could walk to. It has, the only problem was when we put the offer in for the house the pub shut its doors and went on the market. Unbelievable, but all is well again the pub was bought and finally re-opened yesterday. Yes we popped in last night as did most of the village it seems too. Great atmosphere hope it remains.

My family and friends and myself included are in training due to me getting us involved in   a race with a difference. Its a assault course race designed by the special forces in Derby. It looks brilliant and dirty, very different from the normal 5k and 10k races I have done. I think the photos say it all really.

I have to say I am training but it is not going great. I am running, cycling and swimming but making slow progress. I think it is due to my physical workload at the moment and the heat, which is 10 times worse when you are suffering with Menopausal flushes!!!!

Next week though is going to be different, I have taken 5 days off work and that also means taking all the holiday homes bedding and towels to the laundrette for them to clean. We are entertaining family and friends for the week. I am so excited, I just want to have some fun, eat and drink plenty and switch off for a few days.

PARTY!!!

My New Home

I am finally back in Blog land. It has been a long month moving house but I think we are finally over the worst. A week after moving in my Hubby was made redundant. He was hoping for this, which is one of the reasons we rushed the house sale through. We knew it would be a lot harder to get a mortgage once he had been made redundant. The timing for everything over the last few months has been perfect really. Tomorrow we hand back the other property and so everything is complete. We are now moving on to the next chapter of our lives.


 I have had a lot of people asking me to put some photos  of the house on the blog as we have redecorated everywhere since moving in. There was no way I could live in a magnolia house, I need colour! So here are a few rooms for now.

This is our Living room which is huge compared to our last one. You can actually walk in a straight line without dodging furniture.

My Kitchen and utility which I love. I kept the same colour theme as the last house as Baby Blue is my favourite colour. We did replace the worktops to wooden ones as we really disliked the original ones. Plus I have a dishwasher for the first time in my life and I love it!!

My Hallway which I think is my favourite.

My Bedroom and my baby dog "Cupcake". She moved in on her own as our other dog passed away suddenly just before we were due to move.

This is my sewing room in the attic. Its huge so we split it. This is my side which is pretty and girly, the photo below is hubby's part of the loft. This is his XBox room hence the military theme. Through the passage is his office. It is an amazing space.

There are other rooms to show you, such as the conservatory which is full of laundry drying at the moment as it doesn't seem to want to stop raining!! That is a really lush room so I will sort them out next time. I shall be back very soon.

Just a quick post to say I am still alive. Loads going on, will hopefully be moving next week. Have bought loads of gorgeous things for the new house. Cannot wait to decorate and put all my things out again. I packed everything up so long ago that I am really starting to miss my pretty things. I just wish it wasn't the weekend of the Jubilee because I am starting to get in the spirit of it now. There are local events going on but I will be too busy with the move.

I am going to collect my new car on Friday. I have wanted this car for about 4 years and the opportunity came for me to finally buy it.

The salesman had it far to easy when I turned up at the showroom. He wanted to know what spec and model and other things like that. I told the guy I really don't care as long as its a Fiat 500 in Blue. She is so cute and will look even cuter outside my new house next week.

Will be back soon promise.

Furniture update

Hi everyone, I know it has been a while but I am back. Since we agreed the sale on our new house 7 weeks ago it has been full on here. I am a very organised person (probably due to time served in the military) so I have been doing as much as I can before the move. This house is horrid to live in now as everything is packed. The living room looks like a storage depot. I have made new curtains ordered new accessories for the house and bought lots of wallpaper and paint. I have taken nearly every piece of furniture down to the lock up for a refurb. The only furniture I am not going to touch is my bedroom as I still kinda like it as it is. I have a few photos which were taken a while ago, there is a lot more furniture down there now so I will get more photos soon.

This is part of the furniture for the conservatory.

This is the furniture for the kitchen and hallway.

I have to say I am so enjoying doing the furniture, just watching it transform is so lovely.

I shall get some more photos of the rest of the furniture. I am waiting on some dark wax arriving so they can be distressed.

I was recently approached by a lovely lady in Australia who asked to do a piece on "Lotte" the caravan ( who has now sold). I was chuffed to bits, there is a big Vintage Caravan following. Down under here is the link  http://lovevintageretro.com/post/20886593282/lotte-the-vintage-caravan

Anna actually edited the photos to make them look better, I need to learn how to do that.

I have also managed to fit a surprise trip in for my Hubby to Rome. It was his 4oth and I wanted to do something special for all the support he has given me over the last 12 months. It was brilliant, we had such a good time and Rome is amazing. We went with some of our best friends and had such a good laugh.

The only bad thing was one of my dogs became ill while we were travelling home. She had a seizure while my daughter was looking after her. It was awful, you just want to be at home my pets are like my children. She has been checked since by a vet who says we have to wait to see if it happens again before we do anything else. She has been fine so far so fingers crossed.

This is a sneaky photo my hubby got in the departure lounge in Rome. Its a photo of Paloma Faith who was on our flight. She was actually in economy too and sat a few seats in front of us, did not expect that.

I shall be back soon as I do have lots more too share but its work in progress.

Getting there slowly

I feel very lucky to have a few hours this morning before work to myself to write a blog post. Things are so hectic here but progress is being made. The big re-decoration of  the house has started, the worst room the living room which was Cranberry is nearly finished (2 to 3 coats). It has been a case of  case of clearing one corner painting it moving everything back them clearing another. I can only describe the process as similar to a puzzle. The one which you have to move an object from one corner to another by moving lots of other pieces to get there. I have done quite a bit of packing too. I have also started the re vamp of some of my furniture. For a while now I have started to dislike my mexican pine pieces. It was great 11 years ago but everything changes eventually. The move has given me the push to transform several pieces to a shabby chic apperance. Thankfully we have the lock up where the pieces are now be stored and worked on. They are all being painted in chalk paints which is so lovely to work with. Some items will be distressed others left, it depends on which room they are going into in the new house. I will have some photos later.

There are fabric, wallpaper and paint swatches all over the place as I am hoping to have a few weeks before we move in to redecorate the new house. The only annoying thing is I cannot find a cranberry wallpaper that I totally love so I will probably have to paint the wall again, which is fine as it will still look gorgeous and cosy. The house is not a new house but a builder has completely gutted it to a very high standard so all we now have to do is making it cosmetically pleasing. After living in married quarters for most of my married life this is so much fun. We still have a few more months to go but I feel like I still have so much to do. 

Its is my first anniversary of blogging and I have to say I am still so surprised how well the blog has been recieved. It has totally exceeded my expectations. I have really enjoyed getting to meet lots of other bloggers who I find very inspiring too. Here is to another fab blogging year.

"Lotte" the Vintage Caravan

"Lotte" the vintage caravan is now ready. I have waited to take some pics while the sun was shining  but that's not happening any time soon. I do not think the photos do her any justice, the weather is horrible. We are taking her off at the weekend to get some decent photos, these are just a preview. She is it brilliant condition and is a lot bigger than the previous caravans. She has 2 double beds so will make a great family caravan. We are hoping to have "Lola" the other caravan ready in about 6 weeks. She will look very different but she is still really pretty.

She is a lovely lemon colour inside and out.

As a sewing beginner I am really chuffed with all the upholstery.

Can you imagine waking up each morning to such a bright cheerful cosy caravan.

There is so much going on here besides the caravans. I am so stressed and tired. We decided to look at buying a house later on this year. We then went and found one the second day of looking. We now have sale agreed and the stress associated with the impending move. The other problem, actually there are 2 problems the first being my work load increases now till Oct as it's holiday season. Its really not the best time to move house. The other is the military house I currently live in has to look like it did when I moved in ten years ago. I have painted every room, it now has to all go back to being magnolia. It also has to be cleaned to pass a white glove inspection. I have not got the energy for any of it. I just want to go to sleep and wake up in my new house and everything has been sorted out. the next 4 months are going to be a bitch.

OMG I forgot there is some good news, its my first year anniversary tomorrow since diagnosis. That is definitely something to celebrate as is buying a house. Unfortunately I do not have the energy to celebrate anything right now. I can make up for it in the summer where I will open some fizz in my new gorgeous garden.

Hello, I know it has been a while and I apologise for that. To be honest this is just a quick update to say I am hoping to be able to show you photos at the end of this week of "Lotte" our latest vintage caravan. She is so close to being ready. She is so pretty and bright but its been hard doing the make over in the winter. Its been so cold in the lock up that it has been hard to get motivated. I have done the upholstery and curtains myself with just a little bit of a tutorial from my mum. There are tons of scatter cushions as I got a bit carried away and of course lots of bunting. We have met our deadline which was to have her ready before Easter so we are happy. "Lola" is coming along too and should be ready for May hopefully, she is really going to be pretty. The fabrics and the flooring are probably my favourite so far. 

This is the fun bit now when I can put everything together and see the end result. So I shall hopefully be back at the weekend with lots of photos. 

My new linen cupboard.

I have for many years wanted a linen cupboard and now I have one. I do have a problem with selling any piece of furniture that I give a new lease of life too, I have now done it again.  Remember this cupboard I bought from the 1930's,

well this is it now.

I need to sort out the locks on both cupboards but apart from that its done.