my own Welsh farmhouse... I wish

OK, since I wrote yesterday about moving houses, how about this one for size? This is pretty close to ideal for me: a big-windowed Georgian farmhouse in the middle of nowhere with five bedrooms, outbuildings, greenhouse, five and a half acres of land (eep! I would try taking part in the wonderful thing that is Landshare), only one neighbour, stunning views, and absolutely RIPE for a bit of renovation inside.



Only problem is, it's in South Wales. Like, nowhere near anything useful to us. I think I'd have to pick up the whole place and drop it in North Wales instead.

Just in case you want to see more pictures, I've uploaded the full details from the estate agent (pdf) here (either click, or try right clicking depending on your browser). All images from Profile Homes.

One Hundred Days - no. 62

Feeling a bit unhinged today. The work is piling in again and I think I am about to pop with anxiety. I have deadlines! Lots of them! All this week! Poor me :-)

cabin fever

This is the back of our little house in summer. Today, it looks like spring at last and I was squinting like a freshly awakened hibernator as I walked to the post office this morning. It is beautiful here.

But things are getting worse and worse. I can't shake the desire to leave and start on a new adventure somewhere else, I've got the moving bug so badly. I always knew I'd be a fickle homeowner, especially since the properties we can afford are so SMALL! There simply aren't enough rooms for me to decorate so I suppose I've just gotta move house when I'm done with each one :-) But lord am I fussy when it comes to criteria for a new one! I wonder sometimes as I trawl the estate agents' sites whether I will ever find one that fits the bill. I'm not looking for my dream home - I can't afford that - but I am looking for something exciting to play with.


However, with all that said, I will always love this house - it was our first home, our lucky house. We got married, shared our first Christmas, grew our first proper vegetable garden, threw our first house-warming and tiled our first floor here. It is a special place, especially on a summer evening when we can stand at the end of the garden in the glow of the sunlight and talk nonsense whilst looking out for deer at the edge of the forest. Or sometimes we go out on clear night in the darkest hours to spot the Milky Way, visible despite bright old London to the south. I remember the first time I went out to work on the vegetable patch, on a cold February day with my neighbour's bonfire smoke drifting across the garden. And that March afternoon spent planting seeds in the greenhouse after I'd been let off work for the day. It is blissfully peaceful here, a little patch of happiness. I wonder sometimes if I am right in wanting to move on.

One Hundred Days - no. 61

My mother brings gifts of ginseng. I struggle valiantly. Would much rather have a big mug of builder's tea.

French interior

I came across this stunning French interior via the lovely Head Over Heels blog just now, and I had to write it up. I am smitten. It was bought by an architect and his wife in a state of dilapidation, having seen precious little renovation work since 1900. All the electrics, plumbing and heating had to be replaced and then began the wonderful re-imagining of the interior. It is perhaps a little dark for me, but it is wonderful nevertheless. Those red chairs! The raw walls!

Brighton

In the end we didn't go anywhere in East Anglia, nor indeed anywhere close. We ended up in Brighton. The weather was probably a bit too cold for me (I have the internal heating of a lizard) to be out all day walking on some coastal saltmarsh, so the husband suggested shopping - and I would never object to that. I love this city, even though I've only been a few times - it is like another London only it's more kind of concentrated (you know what I mean?) and, of course, it has a beach! The shopping is fantastic especially in the quirky Lanes and the trendy, studenty North Laine, so after a stroll along the beach we headed into town for a spot of junking (OK, we were distracted for a while by a food fair, some tea and a sausage roll...).

We need more chairs, since we are now down to just three in our house that could be passed off as dining chairs. When we have guests we use the piano stool and our 1920s wooden swivel chair too! So we headed for Pigeon Vintage's shop to enquire about those lovely school chairs that I had my eye on. They were there in the window display, but sadly they had just been sold to a local restaurant (with excellent taste, I might add!) :-( Boo hoo! They were even more beautiful in the flesh - gorgeous blue-green metalwork, little gold Belgian maker's marks on the back... they were so lovely it was sick. But never mind, eh? There will be others!


Other shops we came across included Swag (images above), another beautiful antiques shop with some to-die-for plan chests and French kitchen tables amongst other things.


And then there was my dream shop, Utility. It sells enamelware, embossed notebooks, letterpress stationery, traditional hardware and household products. The shop's name says it all. I would have had the lot! There were other places too, like the amazing Snooper's Paradise, but to talk about it all would probably be boring!

Did I buy anything in the end? Only this little fella (from The North Laine Antiques & Fleamarket), another tin wind-up toy to add to my collection of unloved policemen-type toys. He needs a bit of a clean!


I'll be back later today with another idiot drawing!

One Hundred Days - no. 59, 60

One Hundred Days - no. 58

Some links for the weekend - old friends and old soap

I used to work for the lovely people at 12foot6 and still get their newsletter with updates on their recent work. Yesterday they sent me a link to some ads they have done for the new Puma Phone. I thought it was pretty cool - having worked there for more than two years I can spot who did each ad - it's great to be able to see the hallmarks of each particular artist. I'm almost certain whose hands those are, and that weird chap at the end... well... I won't say who that is.


And the other day I randomly came across this site, Carbolic Soap, which sells exactly that - carbolic soap in all sorts of different forms and formulae. Now I don't have any memories of this stuff, being a child of the 80s when things were changing, and also being Chinese with no family history in England. But I know the smell and I love it. The site probably needs some work to make it more attractive, but if you're looking for traditional household products that are hard to source, or old-fashioned soap for sensitive skin, then this is your place. They sell stuff like Mitchell's shaving soap and a repro dish for it, reproduction washboards, all sorts of interestingly wrapped soaps and lots of household cleaning products. Weird and wonderful. I would certainly have some of these floating around my house just for the pretty packaging.

I'll post up my next drawing later today. Have a great weekend, kids. I am trying to find something interesting to do with the husband in the godforsaken part of the country that we live in (East Anglia) that doesn't involve stately homes, garden tours or activities for Mother's Day. Aaargh!

Trainspotters - vintage and salvage shop

If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, you'll probably know about my industrial/school clock obsession (read about it here, here, here and here). I just came across another source of beautiful vintage industrial clocks. Amusingly named Trainspotters is an architectural salvage and vintage furnishings dealer, specialising in 20th century industrial items and curiosities. I would seriously recommend having a gander over on the website for some stunning furniture, great architectural salvage and some eye-poppingly beautiful posters. It's mostly completely out of my price range, but it never hurts to dream! Here are a few things that caught my eye:

(image above) The first thing I spotted was this giant, copper-cased, 54" diameter, 1920s station clock, which is £8750 +vat. OoOuuuuucchhh! What a monster!


For more a more affordable and much smaller clock, you could choose one of these Czech factory clocks - £165 +vat for a 13" clock.


From Freemason's Hall in London, you can have one of these monumental Art Deco hall stands for £3800 +vat each. Double ouch!


I love the industrial feel of this 1950s steel medicine cabinet, £850 +vat. I like to mix very old furniture with new and mid-century stuff - I think it stops an old house from looking dowdy and adds a quirky, eclectic edge to the decor. It's too easy and a bit boring just to buy a load of antique brown furniture to furnish a period house.

One Hundred Days - no. 57

I'll be back later today with something else. No idea what yet, but we'll see.

One Hundred Days - no. 56

I'm on Twitter!

I know. Not something to be particularly proud of, but I finally caved in and joined up today. Follow me here or click the button in the sidebar.

Welsh farmhouse

I was reading Ill Seen Ill Said yesterday and followed a link to Light Locations, a photographic locations agency, and came across this beautiful Welsh farmhouse. OK so it's pretty much a fantasy home (surely no-one could live like this?), but I loved the austerity and simplicity of the decor, with its palette of greys, faded brights and naturals. Together they create a real sense of calm, of stillness, like a painting. Those old rugs on the floor, and the rough white walls are breathtaking. Now I want to go and buy that farmhouse I've been hankering after! I am so impatient.

I am cautious about buying another dark, small-windowed house like the one we have now, but this house has such sombre and subtle lighting that it creates an almost painterly effect in some of the images. Of course, really skillful photography helps too!





For more amazing houses, including the lovely Deal house that Jane picked out, have a nose around the Light Locations website.