Although I must admit, today feels like a Sunday to me, as I've been on leave since Tuesday afternoon; taking some time off to hang out with Tom, catch up on some crafting, and fully recover from the mother of all colds.
I spent Wednesday morning in the local playground with my all-time favourite little boy (the recipient of the Peppa Pig cake and the dinosaur), and still have half a sandpit in my bag as a happy reminder of our outstanding castle-building skills. Wednesday afternoon was spent
I bought the bowler hat in a Brighton antique shop for a pretty reasonable £20, and always had the intention of making it into a light pendant. It took me two years(!) to track down a metal pendant shade small enough to fit inside it and stop the fabric from overheating (Tom refused to make it into a light unless it was "safe"... BOR-ING). I eventually found a cheap shade on Overstock, and even though it wasn't so cheap after the shipping costs were added, making the light has still only cost us a third of what we'd have had to spend to buy a "real" one. A relative bargain, really :)
Yesterday we decided to brave the rain and head to Hastings to wander round the museums and the fantastic Old Town, complete with winding lanes and Ye Olde Shoppes selling everything from ice-cream to vintage suitcases. Hastings is also home to some weird and wonderful sculptures and graffiti; which I attempted to photograph on my rubbish phone camera between showers of rain.
Hastings is also jam-packed with utterly jaw-dropping buildings and, as a serious architecture enthusiast, I was constantly craning my neck to get a better view. We walked past the building below four times and kept saying how much we wanted to buy it and turn it into a beautiful hotel/block of flats/giant house. It was sad to see such a stunning building going to waste.
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| One day, building, you will be mine |
We returned home to find a package from Ikea (hurrah!) and I wasted no time getting stuck into my latest project; making a new curtain for our front door. I know a door curtain sounds like something only old people have but:
1. It helps keep the heat in, which means less money on heating bills, which means more money to spend on cake.
2. Both our front door and the porch door are made entirely of glass- so this is mainly a selfless act to stop the postman becoming traumatised when I'm dancing round the house in my pants.
3. I am an old person.
I made the curtain from this duvet cover, which cost me a total of £12 including delivery; a lot less than the equivalent amount of fabric would have cost, and I still have half the duvet cover left for another project (the pillowcase has been added to my ever-growing collection of mismatched bedding).
The hall is certainly looking more "finished" with these two projects completed- now I just need to print and frame some more of Tom's photos to fill up the gallery wall (although I think that will always be a work-in-progress, with extra frames being put up whenever we fill them), buy a radiator, and sand and paint the stairs. Easy...
I spent today finishing the curtain, and Tom and I baked some cookies the size of our faces. Then we experimented with Halloween-themed food for our impending dinner party. Jelly maggot, anyone?
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| Yes, Tom's apron does say "Cookie"- his Nan embroidered it for him when he was little. Bless :) |
Katie xxx
Light shade looks amazing, brilliant idea. I also need to find that octopus sculpture next time we're in Hastings.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) I really wanted to hang it at head height above our hallway mirror for stupid photo opportunities; but unfortunately we have some exceptionally tall friends who would have most likely become tangled in it.
DeleteThe octopus is down the pedestrianised street off of Old Town High Street, with Fagin's Diner on the corner (down the far end of town towards the Shipwreck Museum). There's also an eel and a seahorse :)
I lived in Hastings for a year a while back, I loved it, especially the old town..
ReplyDeleteI love your bowler hat light shade, very clever x
ReplyDeleteThank you :) x
DeleteSO much coolness in one post! Love the bowler hat shade! Brilliant! Does your husband read 'The Chap' magazine at all? Love the bunting duvet cover- is that current Ikea?????
ReplyDeleteThank you! No he doesn't- he's more a "Mountain Bike Rider" magazine kind of boy :)
DeleteIt is current Ikea- from the children's section :) They actually do curtains too; but I only needed one and the duvet cover was cheaper.
xx
I need to make a door curtain, so they're not for old people at all, I'm thirty something (thirty-twelve)! I'm just waiting to see how high the floor will be, when it comes, before I take the plunge. I fancy a patchwork quilt for extra warmth but worry about the weight on my curtain pole.
ReplyDeleteI was going to make a patchwork one before I saw this fabric. I'm sure if you use cotton fabric it won't be any heavier than the average curtain. Have you seen Vix's curtains on Vintage Vixen? http://vintagevixon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/patchwork-it-baby.html inspiring :)
Deletexx