Colourful inspiration and all new vintage stock!

Well, after weeks of painting - and I must thank Mike for pulling out all the stops and spending what seemed like every waking hour with a paintbrush stuck to his hand! - the Clock House is finally finished! Of course, now comes the dilemma of how to furnish it! Here is my desk chair, which I have repainted - I've also re-covered the seat in a gorgeous and vibrant vintage French fabric - it's providing a welcome splash of colour in the light and bright interior...


A blank canvas...

It makes a very pleasant change to work from somewhere so light and airy - of course I will be adding lots of colour in the form of painted furniture and textiles. But I'm not going to rush. For now, the chair is providing inspiration, acting as food for thought...

The Clock House is certainly going to aid photography during the long dark days ahead! Don't get me wrong, I love our cosy and dark cottage but at this time of year, the small rooms and low ceilings do make photography rather challenging! It has been very cold this week and so my thoughts turned to cosy nights when I was updating the website, this beautiful candlewick bedspread will be a delight to snuggle under during the winter months! This is just one of today's many new additions to the website - I have some really pretty textiles and homewares so do pop along for a browse.

Cosy candlewick...

...and pretty handmade peg bags.

I have some exciting news with regard to the Vintage Home online shop but that will have to wait until next week - now it's back to my list of things to do/buy/make for the Clock House! The list includes putting up curtains, hanging pictures and organising stock. Then there's running the telephone and network cables inside and fitting guttering - guess who gets to play house and who gets to do the latter!!! Our final purchase will be a clock for the dormer - I've yet find one I like but I'm sure I will soon!

Before, I go, I'd like to thank everyone for their comments on my last post. It made me realise how many of our traditional services have been lost, which is a great shame. Here's to living the vintage way as best as possible in a modern world!

Update 29th October: The Vintage Home online shop is on the move! The success of Vintage Home has meant that after only a few months online we've outgrown our current web host and are moving to a new, faster and larger virtual home on the web. To celebrate this, we've some fabulous NEW FEATURES lined up, the shop will double in size and we've a special Christmas gift idea too! So, if the site disappears for a few hours here and there over the next day or so whilst we transfer - don't worry...it's all for the better!

Autumn surprises and the ultimate disguise!

Thanks to our very mild autumn a lot of flowers are still blooming away and providing some glorious colour for the gardens. Here is an old wooden trough I planted up in May, it's doing even better now and is overflowing with fuchsias and impatiens.

This nasturtium found a shady place and is providing a lovely splash of colour in a dull corner.


Have you guessed what it is yet?! Yes, it is a cotoneaster - but it's actually providing a disguise. Believe it or not, underneath this is our coal bunker! As I've yet to see a coal bunker which is pleasing to look at (although I don't doubt there are some out there!) I decided many years ago to allow the cotoneaster to grow over it. It does receive a haircut at this time of year so I can get the coal out of the little door at the front. We had our first delivery of the season last week and the coalman asked the same question he asks every year - have you cut that triffid back?!! It's always a joint effort when he calls - it takes two of us to raise the lid (it's like something out of Thunderbirds!) and hold it there while he empties the coal into the bunker.

Whilst I'm on the subject, that's another thing I love about living the 'vintage way' - people in traditional services and trades are such great characters and go out of their way to help. Our coalman has to come through the house to get to our coal bunker, avoiding all my textiles and vintage bits and pieces on the way and never dropping so much as a sprinkle of coal dust! How's that for service?

Do you still have a service or delivery which you would class as traditional or 'vintage'?

Packed and ready!

As a major distraction to all the painting that we're doing at the moment I thought I would gather together some of the things with which I'll be furnishing the Clock House - when I finally move in! Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy painting - but I cannot wait to get it finished - because of course I did actually paint and furnish the Clock House months and months ago - in my head!! So now I am really keen to get in and play house! Luckily, my other half is pulling out all the stops and has a paintbrush permanently welded to his hand at the moment! Having realised I needed to update the shop and deliver a blog post, I escaped to the house to do just that!

As you can see, I have plenty of storage for stationery, ribbons and general vintage paraphernalia which will find its way into the Clock House over time!

I have a few old oil paintings which will grace the walls too - of course they had to be roses didn't they?!

I'm currently on the lookout for a nice big cupboard (hopefully I will find one ready-painted!!) and an old blanket box, then I can tidy away some of the larger stock items. Plus I will dust down some of my vintage rugs (yes, another obsession - sorry - collection of mine!) to give the studio a homely feel. I certainly have lots of ideas - I'm just short on patience when it comes to painting!

I've added a few items to the website today including this lovely patchwork-effect eiderdown - makes a change from roses doesn't it?! I think I had better get back to the painting now - we're seriously considering a new name for the Clock House - right now the Forth Bridge seems very appropriate!