The Haul

Thanks to our lovely, generous guests, not only could we afford to go and stay in a fabulous b&b in Brighton but we also had enough money to do some serious shopping. Our flat, although we've lived in it for over six months now, is still looking a little bare, so the first thing we bought was a ton of artwork, wrapping paper to put in frames and postcards.

One of the things I was most excited about was being able to have a right good rummage through all the flea markets - we don't have anything like that in Portsmouth; the closest we've got is charity shops and old furniture shops that sell sofas with holes in and scratched filing cabinets. As you can imagine, I was in my element in shops that were crammed with shelves jostling with 1970's tableclothes, 50's china and old tin boxes. So much so, that we ended up buying so much that once we got home, the Husband had to put a new shelf up in the lounge to hold it all!

Flea markets well and truly rummaged, the next places I stumbled across that made my pulse really race were two fabric shops nestling in the North Laines. One was called Ditto Fabrics, and offered such patterns and prints that I've only ever dreamed of finding. Retro print hearts! The eiffel tower! A metre of seventies style floral cotton for just £3.99! I was a happy Mrs indeed. The other one was an utter fabric chaos - a veritable maze of materials (none were really to my taste, I'm a bit picky when it comes to fabric quality...) and a cabinet bursting with buttons - I could have happily spent a good hour just picking out buttons, but I had the Husband to think of, so I gathered a good handful and we set off again.

While we were wandering around, we decided we had to buy presents for people, so we came up with wonderful jams for the parents (and a Beano mug for my Dad and a bag of yummy fudge for my Mum), and a lovely wooden, eco-friendly, sustainably-made scooter for the Boy. I have a real thing for wooden toys - they satisfy the traditionalist and the love of eco-friendly in me, as well as being more hard wearing and durable than plastic. The Boy has a LOT of plastic toys, as the lovely wooden ones come at rather a high price, but if money were no object... well, there'd be no garish plastic in his toy box! When we presented it to him after arriving home, he ran towards it excitedly, stood on it and...... waited. Obviously he thought that simply standing on it would make it glide across the room! Fun times ahead with that scooter indeed....

Honeymooning

When trying to decide on what to put on our wedding list, we hit upon the not-so-new idea of actually just asking for donations for our honeymoon rather than presents for the house (after all, who really needs three toasters and a bread maker?). Our wonderful guests gave generously, and we went from having no honeymoon at all, to two nights in Brighton. Hurrah!


We picked our little b&b from a list on the internet, purely on the basis of it's name - Snooze - since I am pretty renowned for curling up like a cat at any available opportunity for a little nap. When we clicked through to the gallery, we knew instantly it was exactly our sort of place - retro furnishings combined with a laid back attitude. We booked it immediately and jumped in the car the next morning, stopping only to shower The Boy with kisses and deposit him with his wonderful Nanny and Gampy.

We whiled away our two days shopping in the endless flea markets and around the lanes, eating in the best cafes and restaurants, wandering along the beach and generally having a lovely relaxing time. Points to note were finding the most amazing fabrics and buttons, having possibly the best meal of my life (excluding the ones my Mum cooks, obviously) at Jamies Italian (yes, THE Jamie, of Oliver fame) and eating the most amazing cooked breakfast in the retro-designed dining room at our b&b. Nom, nom, nom.

Coming Next: My amazing haul of flea market finds, fabric buys, things-for-the-walls and homewares galore.

Married

We had the beautiful weather, we had the wonderful guests, we had the retro suit and the vintage-style dress. The day passed in a blur of friends, family, laughter and happy tears, and it was everything we could have hoped for. Next stop.... honeymoon in Brighton!

Craft Space

Although we moved into our little flat over six months ago, we've still got plenty of decorating and sprucing and organizing and beautifying to do. When we first arrived, my crafty area was a designated corner of the lounge, but when The Boy went from wobbling across the lounge to scaling chairs and sofas, I decided that it might be time for a little change.


And so, the Nearly-Husband kindly put up some shelves in our extra-large hallway, and I turned this into my little creative space. For a while, things were shoved in boxes, and slowly, piles of stuff began to appear on my desk (which will hopefully be replaced with some sort of retro table very soon!) Earlier this week, I decided that the piles of stuff were simply out of control, and something had to be done.

The floral bag on the chair (a Cath Kidston freebie, courtesy of Easy Living magazine!) was actually full of wool, which is why the pink basket looks much fuller in the 'after' picture. A place for everything, and everything in it's place!

It was a fairly quick project, as most of the pictures had been put up, the notice board had been made (that's another post entirely!), and the storage boxes were simply waiting to be filled. It was just a case of putting things in their final homes. And so, without further ado, I present.... my Creative Space. In an ideal world, it's an entire spare room, and the shelves run the length of the walls. But for now, it's a corner in an oversize hall - they do say the best things come in small packages...

Little Sketches

I've been finding my thoughts turning to all of the activities I'd like to be doing during this glorious weather (bicycle rides, park visits, picnics and suchlike), rather than the activities I actually have to do (work, food shopping, wedding details and household chores, bah), and I've been doodling some more in my lovely little Waitrose notebook.


Obviously, just being sketches, these are rather unimpressive, also not helped by the fact that they have been done on lined paper. I'm thinking they might make lovely little postcards... all coloured in with acrylic paint and framed with little retro-design borders. Minus the lines, naturally!

In other news, I found what can only be the best cushion for our house...

We are a real tea-drinking-cuppa-loving household, and even The Boy, aged twenty-months, loves a good old brew (although I have it so strong it looks like tar, while he has it almost all milk with no extra sugar...). The cushion looks marvelously at home on my sofa, which I've decided from looking at this photo, needs a ruddy good straightening up!

Life on the Balcony....and the Windowsill

The balcony is looking ever so lovely these days, and dare I say, rather, well, promising. The runner beans have grown to absolute epic proportions (well, they probably haven't, but in comparison to the size of the balcony, they're pretty big), and the tomatoes have started to flower as well. There are roots and shoots and flowers and blooms, and the whole space is looking just how I pictured it. It's not quite Alys Fowler's Victorian terrace, but I like to think it's the balcony equivalent! I absolutely can't wait for the fruits to start arriving, tomatoes and courgettes, spinach and lettuces, and of course many many runner beans....

Meanwhile, the kitchen windowsill is a hive of activity as well - the basil, oregano and thyme and positively thriving, and I like nothing better than the delicious herb-y smells wafting in on the breeze while I'm making dinner or washing up. Home made pesto, here we come!