Another Visit to the Little French Shop

I had a trip to Norwich this week and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit a favourite shop.

'The Bell Jar' in Norwich... I often feature this lovely shop because I just find it so inspiring.

I loved this set of tables, one had a marble top.

and then outside in the small courtyard.



This chair was in the process of being painted, the owner of the shop paints some of the furniture herself using lots of thin layers of paint which looks like its been scrubbed on with a paintbrush, its then waxed. 

Linking today with Miss Mustard Seed

White Flowers

We have been getting some very dull and rainy days here but yesterday it was dry and the sun was shining  enough for picking some flowers and bringing in doors for Jane's, Flowers in the House party over at SmallButCharming

My garden is pretty wild at the moment what with all the rain and the fact that I scattered some wild seeds about in May, theres a mixture of colours and textures which I am enjoying but have plans to change for a more controlled and structured look for next year.

For today I chose all white flowers, that arn't too damaged by the weather:- Rose 'Iceburg' , white poppy, white Cosmos, white Queen Anne's Lace, the white flower of Fever few and for the greenery, Fennel and Aquilegia seed pods.

With the Poppy, Fennel and Queen Anne's Lace, I put the stems in boiling water for 30 seconds and this seems to stop them wilting straight away and will then last in water a good few days.

A Turquoise Distressed Jewellery Box

This small box in my daughters room was one of the first 'junk' pieces I bought when we first moved into this cottage, I used it as a sewing box and it was one of my daughters favourite things as a child to go through all the draws pulling out bobbins and buttons and bits of old lace.

It's now in her bedroom and she uses it as a jewellery box.

It was previously white but my daughter prefers more colour in her room and wanted something bright, so I painted it turquoise, inspired by my daughters blue flowered ring.

She also wanted it to look like a piece of weathered painted wood.

I mixed my own paint using white satin with a teaspoon of acrylic coeruleum hue blue paint, painted the piece and waited for it to dry and then using a razor blade scraped away all over paying particularly attention to corners and edges.

I liked how the white paint still shows through.

It turned out quite bright but it suits my daughters Bohemian bedroom.

 

I'm linking today with Sarah over at Modern Country Style shes having a Paint Please link party. 

My Bedroom Makeover

The weather here has taken a turn for the worse again here so I thought I would take some time and photograph my bedroom. 

The walls were a blue/white before, the're now white and this has made the room feel fresher and brighter.

The bed skirt the little lace cushion and the crochet throw were all dyed using Dylon Antique Grey, I got the idea from Atlanta Bartlett's book, Pale and Interesting, its such a great way of updating linens, although I found large objects like sheets went patchy but the smaller items dyed really well.

This stripped pine Victorian door which I found recently inspired the look of my bedroom, it fits perfectly.  Initially I intended to paint it white but when it was hung I liked the contrast to the white walls and it reminded me of the rustic prairie interiors I love at the moment:- The Prairie by Rachel Ashwell and Fifi O'Neill's book Romantic Prairie Style.  So I carried on with that theme using things I already had around the house.

I made the pajama bag from material found in my linen stash and again dyed using Dylon Antique Grey but for some reason this turn a lighter shade.

Love this little handmade straw bag I got from a car boot sale for 50p I use it to store magazines.

I found these books when I was out shopping and ran for cover out of the rain into a book shop, the shop smelt of old books and the owner was playing the Beach Boys on the sound system, I spent a lovely half hour in there choosing these, staying dry and enjoying the music :).

This is a stopper for a french perfume bottle.

This tiny stool is the perfect size for this spot, anything else would obstruct the cupboard door and it was found in my shed, I think its an old bar stool, I just took off the eighties pad and cover to reveal a rustic top, I then painted the legs white.

This lovely rose is from my garden and is called 'Iceberg', it has a pleasant delicate scent that's just right for the bedroom.

I wish I had took a before of this old pine wardrobe because it was literally in bits.  This for me was a good thing as living in a small cottage where the stairs are very narrow and turn a sharp corner at the top meant that anything large dosn't fit upstairs, in the past I have had to make do with  built-in units or flat pack furniture, which is not really for me.  So when I saw this in my local junk shop for £50 I knew it was perfect for the bedroom, even though I never actually saw what it looked like till it was slotted together.

and of course always looking for extra storage space the top of the wardrobe is a great place to put the winter bed linen.

The flowered storage box was made using paper from Cabbages and Roses, they have a sale on at the moment and I recently ordered some napkins (£4 to make cushions) and they came wrapped in this, so I glued it onto an old box.



A corner of my room that is used as a desk, dressing table and sewing table.



Linking with:- 

Freckled Laundry, Air your Laundry Friday

My Romantic Home, Show and Tell Friday

My Uncommon Slice of Surburbia, Tuesday Treasures

A Beach Cottage, Good Life Wednesdays

Savvy Southern Style, Wow us Wednesdays