painting

I've been on a mission. A painting mission. Sometimes I just need to paint. I'll start painting,whether it's whilst cooking the tea,whether I've just come home from work totally exhausted or it's nearly midnight, I suddenly get the urge to paint walls. I find it therapeutic.
Our life-saving, all singing all dancing re-mortgage has fallen through so all my fancy plans are scuppered, we even heard the word 'holiday'mentioned ( ahh 'holiday'..hmm that must be one of those fun jollies we had 12 years ago) and that's down the pan too, I have the bank on my back, the mortgage company on my back and everything has got a bit rubbish again..so what do i do?
I Paint.
First off was stinky Harry's room..A teeny weeny box room a bed length long and not quite a bed wide, like the kitchen why oh why does our late 1920s house have these tiny rooms? Furniture was huge back then..all those cumbersome deco chairs and oak bedroom suites..what was the architect thinking?!
Pete had a friend cut down Harry's ancient (£10 bargain) ex boarding school bed for us and weld it back together so at least we can change the room around, the door wouldn't even open fully before! I unpicked the curtains and made them into roman blinds which look a bit more grown up now, The left overs will be made into cushions or something ,Then I made a Cath Kidston style duvet with some very cheap spotty sale fabric from Laura Ashley which I knew would come in handy one day. It still has that vintagey vibe but is a bit more suitable for a teenager.The remnants from a cowboy bedroom past, tucked away in a cupboard.. and the cowboy cushions haven't yet found themselves shoved under the bed. The nasty cheap 2nd hand chest just needs another lick of paint now. I really wanted to cover it in pages from vintage comics and add a red spotty oilcloth top but I got a very definite 'NO'.
...infact the tiny bit of extra weight of the comics would probably make the drawers collapse, that is just how cheap and nasty they are!(they certainly don't make 'em like they used to)

Awww I don't want the stinky boys to grow up.. in the shower for hours and and these deep voices I don't recognise, coming home from school/college and then disappearing only to return for huge amounts of food and disappear again with the odd mumble. It's scary thing, this adolescence lark.
I find it so hard to let go and allow them to choose their own things, to have their own style and be individual but at the same time you want the house to blend in room to room.Harry does seem to like vintage stuff but George on the other hand, wants his room to look like a Next catalogue. Not really my thing, as think I've said before on this blog.
He came home the other day and I had painted his room completely white..lovely clean, wonderful bright white. Clean bright white with a hint of rugby pitch mud by the same evening....how do they do it?
I want to add a huge Roy Lichtenstein 60s style comic book painting to the vast white wall on one sidebut he wants a Banksy (the hooligan) well I suppose it does have some flowers(!)
I would like him to have a crochet granny blanket and a red spotty beanbag but no, he'd rather have boring beige faux suede and cold feet.The cushions are an ongoing thing,I put them on the bed, he puts them on the floor in my bedroom.( I remember Jane from her blog Posy saying something along those lines with her teenage son and a granny blanket!)
I think I drive them nuts with my decorating obsession,they just humour me and hope I'll scuttle off and paint something else...Silly mummy.
I can't show you how the room looks now all nice and white and painted arranged in a different layout as it's nearly midday and he's still in it, still asleep. Festering like teenage boys do.
It will need fumigating before I venture in and open the blinds/windows and poke the stinky boy with a stick to make him get out of bed.

I have already got in my mind how this room will look when he leaves home, the blue and pink Cath Kidston rug that's in our room, the floral bedcovers and pretty flowery pictures and that modern lamp can go straight away, I have a pretty china one that belonged to my granny, I'm itching, itching to see what it would all look like but know it will be a good few years yet.
Poor George,turfed out onto the streets for the sake of a floral boudoir..hmmm no,now I would never be that mean, turfed onto the streets?..no, we do have a perfectly good shed after all! ;0)

la la land

Isn't it amazing what you can find on Youtube?
This beautiful piece of animation was inspired by an interview with my niece...they are her words but not her voice...I think it's just stunning...

Roll up.. roll up..it's the rest of the show!

Having been so obsessed with the vintage caravans, I realised that the rest of my photos of the Malvern Autumn show where a bit boring and very fuzzy..(a bit like my brain!) I didn't photograph the array of gorgeous doggies,nor the alluring llamas and alpacas, not even the lady who does balancing tricks with her pony but I did take rather a lot of photos of chickens..hmm.. I wonder why! (not that I'm obsessed with chickens or anything of course!)

There were frizzy chickens..MASSIVE chickens..now this chap must have been nearly 3 foot tall!

Chickens that looked like they had huge Afro's and chickens with what looked like fake Santa-beards on..(ooooh that photo will make your eyes squiffy..sorry!)

some were for sale so Pete ushered me away quickly from the pens and onto these lovelies..wooden beach huts and garden rooms..Now that's the green I want my garden gate!(more on that later)

aren't they gorgeous? humongous vegetables...seriously, now why would you want to grow a one-ton pumpkin? or a perfect leek the same size as me?..ok so I'm a bit short but it's still a massive leek! or maybe a cabbage so huge you would need to eat it from a wheelbarrow...(think 'spacehopper' size)

most odd, fascinating, but odd..even odder was the man cutting up his perfect vegetables and putting them in the bin.maybe he was sick of the sight of them or just grumpy cause he didn't win first prize or something...what a waste..he could have made soup!

Anyway,I've been given a garden gate in exchange for making a small roman blind...I've always wanted a gate in a wall..you know, one of those ones you want to know what's behind it and where it leads..it will be a painted pale green gate with a knocker and I was hunting for one the whole day here..then I came across this little one.. I think it fits the bill,looks a bit rusty looking and quite appropriate for a garden entrance..I loved the stall it came from,full of lovely vintagey styled things and cute garden items..even the paper carrier bags are fab and the ration-book flyers! They have an online store if you're interested, which shows their wares far better than my appalling photo!I did get some cheeky union jack paper chains (just like bunting..one of those "It's cheap, I like it and I have to have it" things but I don't know where it's going!)and this handy chalkboard for a reduced price..it was their shop 'welcome' board!which also needs to find its' permanent home, I don't think the stinky boys will see any messages if it's left here on the radiator!
The highlight of the day for me was being able to hold this beautiful chap..meet Merlin..Now I can't remember what type of owl he is but I was very privileged to be able to have him sit on my gloved hand. He's 14 and belongs to a friend of Pete's who could see how mesmerised I was by his beautiful amber eyes (not Pete's friends' eyes..the owls' I might add!!) isn't he stunning?
I have also been very naughty this week..I blame it on the girl hormones, (boys don't argue when girl hormones are to blame) I have had a bit of a spend..
Cute tins..I seem to have a thing for vintage toffee tins at the moment.....particularly ones with cheeky little terriers on..how could I resist that sad little face?

or this one..?He just looks like someone has said "walkies"!

A fire bucket ready for the seasons' promise of open fires,both of us being outdoor workers the fires get lit a bit later here as we don't feel the cold so much! funnily enough all those vintage caravans had one of these too!and some pretty stuff..but I'll save that for another time..
Harry had his op and is wandering around with a distinct 'John Wayne' swagger looking a bit forlorn..bless him.Thanks for all your well wishes.The hospital visit was pretty traumatic for him..more so that his silly mother took a turn for the worse.Of all the times, I really could have done without it that day. I was there for him.Not me!
Pete rushed to the hospital to find one very ill person and one very sore person! (We're both milking it for all it's worth though!...well you have to don't you?)

Have a great weekend x