Anna Nielsen - New Beginnings

I went to visit my friend a few weeks ago for the first time since we've moved, and she bought us a beautiful house warming gift. It is a limited edition print by an artist based in Ireland, Anna Nielsen. She is known for her distinctive black and white, pen and ink drawings which are normally accompanied by a short story written below. 

The print my friend got us is 'New Beginnings'

Never having to leave after saying “Goodnight”   

“I’ll see you tomorrow” means waking up and you will be there 

Someone to be with - forever - together!

AWOL

A severely squashed finger from a DIY accident, work stress, illness and a couple of weekends away have resulted in not much DIY going on at home. 

I wouldnt recommend squashing the index finger on your dominant hand between two planks of wood. It'll hurt like hell and stop working for weeks. More than four weeks after the accident I still dont have full feeling or movement but we're going to crack on with painting this weekend as we cant stand not having a kitchen any more. 

I also took a lovely trip to Windsor with my family for a weekend

And a trip to Kerry to visit my friend 

Aldi Mini Oven

With our kitchen being ripped out this week and a couple of weeks wait before we get the new one we decided to try the Aldi Mini Oven which was on sale last week. Priced at only £19.99 I thought it was worth a try. 

We tried it out last night for the first time and it worked really well. The initial smell was rather off putting, as it smelt like burning plastic, but once we'd left it to run for 15 minutes with the oven door open, as the instructions suggested, it cooked dinner perfectly. 

Advertised as big enough for 4 slices of bread or a 9 inch pizza it isnt huge, but as it comes with a baking tray the correct size it means you can make maximum use of the space. It was plenty big enough to fit chicken & potatoes for two.

Having spoken to a friend who had a similar mini oven when their regular oven broke, I was worried that the food in the middle of the oven would cook much faster than the rest. However, the food cooked evenly throughout.

Once the kitchen is fitted we will have a hob but we wont have a cooker until the house has been rewired. I can see this little oven coming in really handy. 

Kitchen removal

This weekend we started to remove our current kitchen.

The woodchip is a nightmare! Once removed it became clear that the walls aren't in great condition. Im going to plough on and strip the rest of the kitchen before deciding what to do. Our thinking at the moment is to paint it as planned without worrying too much about the condition of the plaster, as only a minimal amount will be on display once the kitchen units are fitted and the walls tiled.  

Looking at the state of these walls, I almost prefer the green! 

The Office

We havnt done much with the office, as we had to get it set up and running as soon as we moved in. Its probably one of the least offensive of the rooms in the house if you dont look at the carpet. 

The walls are very pale green and the carpet is pillarbox red. 

The union jack cushions were a house warming gift, purchased in Homebase. 

We've got as far as putting a picture up on the wall. This canvas is of a photo Neil took on a road trip in America. Its the front of the Mustang Convertible we'd hired for the drive, taken in the desert. 

Microwave Blackberry Jam

Our garden is empty, apart from some blackberries. The bush is fairly well established, so produced enough for us to make some jam. As we only have half a kitchen at the moment I followed a recipe to make it in the microwave and it worked really well. As well as the blackberries in the garden we picked some locally and ended up making 11 jars! 

• 500g summer fruts

• 500g jam sugar

• Briefly blend the fruit and place in a large microwave-proof bowl with the sugar. Microwave on High for 3 mins, then stir well. Microwave for a further 3 mins on High, stirring after. Finish with a further 2 mins, then pour into warm sterilised jars. Once bottled and cool the jam is ready to eat. Will keep in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months. Keep in the fridge once opened.

Kitchen Update

The cupboards were put in place once the dust had been cleaned up. It has made such a difference with the wall down. The kitchen seems much brighter, and the dining area works much better for us. 

The rest of the wallpaper needs to come down, and the walls painted, ready for the new kitchen in a few weeks. We are also going to look in to moving the boiler, as its not in a great place where it is. 

Stairs

The pictures on the wall are by Chris (Simpsons Artist) from Pictures That I Gone And Done

I think love is something that makes you feel taller than you actually are, like a big shoe, but more beautiful

The only thing that people should follow on a friday... is their heart

If you love something never let it go

We still have to get new carpet for the stairs (and the rest of the house) and new banisters, but removing the red was our main priority and it has made such a huge difference. The hall now feels much brighter, and with the carpet in the hall removed smells much better too. 

Master Bedroom

The master bedroom was painted green (where wasn't painted green?!) and had another smelly carpet. The ceiling had polystyrene tiles, which Neil removed as, as well as being ugly, they are a fire risk.

The walls were painted Dulux Dusted Fondant 'A dusky violet which creates a sense of delicacy and refinement.'

My inspiration for the room came from our recent stay at Gleneagles, where I fell in love with one of the bedrooms. Painted a beautiful dusky purple, with white furniture, bold white photo frames above the bed and a darker purple armchair, the room felt calming and homely. 

My sister came over for a few days during the school holidays and helped to paint the walls. We still need to put skirting board on, replaster the ceiling and pick the flooring before we furnish it. We're not quite to Gleneagle standards yet!

I have purchased the curtains for the room, but they havnt been put up yet as I am having a nightmare with the curtain poles. I bought 3 curtain poles from Dunelm Mill, they were going to be fitted when we got our blinds done, but only one out of 3 of the poles had the correct screws with it. I returned to Dunelm Mill, who gave me more screws. Unfortunately, I still dont have enough! 

The curtains are Meadow Print Mauve eyelet from Tesco £35. 

Kitchen Wall Removal

Im not sure who would think it was a good idea to paint their kitchen bright green, especially coming from such a dark hallway. 

The units were plain white, inoffensive enough, but the layout wasn't great. There was minimal work surface, and some of the cupboards smelt damp. 

One of the first things we wanted to do when we moved in was take down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. Because the dining room is in the far corner of the house, the only door in to it is through the kitchen. This made it feel very claustrophobic and much smaller than it actually was. 

We enlisted the help of a family member, who is a builder, and spent the weekend taking down the wall and removing the larder cupboard.

As you can see from the photo, the woodchip much have been up quite a while to go through so many paint colours and different kitchen cupboards. 

Its a good job we had help with the wall removal, as having never attempted anything like this before, neither of us knew about the giant concrete lintel above the door. 

Once the wall came down and the electrics were exposed, we found a rawl plug straight through the electric cable. It is where the wall unit was attached to the wall. Its a miracle the person who put the wall cabinet up didn't kill themselves. 

The radiator which was in the dining room was removed, and will be relocated to under the window. The walls and floor were tidied up and made good, ready for us to decorate. 

Front Door

The front of the house was uninspiring. The house number sign was the original from when the house was built, and the collection of recycling boxes wasn't the warm welcome we wanted to provide. 

Neil spent hours sanding down the old varnish, and masking the windows. 

We decided on Dulux Weathershield Oxford Blue. After a couple of coats the front door looked much better. The sign was replaced with a blue acrylic door number, and the front door mat was replaced with an Orla Kiely Multi Stem Doormat. 

Blinds

We've been making use of our families and mates rates. This week we had our blinds installed. We went with custom made white venetian blinds in a plastic finish rather than wood for all of the front and side of the house, as we were advised that these are much harder wearing. We opted not to put them at the back, as we're not overlooked. 

Side gate

Despite the low crime rate in the village, the side gate was a concern of ours, as it meant the back of the house was very exposed. Neil was worried about someone breaking in, I was worried about everyone going past seeing my knickers hanging on the washing line! 

The side gate was wider than a standard gate, so R Bill Fencing made a custom gate to fit. 

Priced at £255, the service from Roger was great. He stayed in contact to let us know when he would be coming, turned up on time, cleared up after themselves and even returned afterwards to bring us an extra lock. The wall to the side building wasn't straight, but this wasn't an issue, Roger worked around this. We are really pleased with the results. The house feels much more secure, and we can hang washing out without everyone being able to see!

Entrance table

The half moon table was 99p on eBay. It fits perfectly in the space, and means that the junk left by the front door has been confined to what fits in the one key bowl, and one letter holder. 

The Lucky Black Cat Table Lamp was purchased in Dunelm Mill for £12.99. 

The heart shaped 'Vintage Collection Stone Heart Dish' on the table is also from Dunelm Mill, £5.99. Neil is a nightmare with his keys. He is forever putting them down and forgetting where they are. He could have them in his hand and still spend 10 minutes looking for them, so having a central place to keep them was one of the first things I insisted on. This bowl is the perfect size to dump his keys in and save me getting mad! 

Also on the table we have a little white trug with cut out heart detail on the ends, which we're using for holding letters as they come in, before they get filed or shredded. We're both quite messy people, so this contains the junk to one pile. £15 from Marks and Spencers. 

The final piece on the entrance table is the original watercolour of our wedding invites by Neil Slorance.

The mirror in the hall is a Bevelled Block Frame Mirror from Dunelm Mill, which is on their website at £49.99 but was £24.99 in store.