Coastal Xmas Decorations

The countdown to Christmas has started and today Mr P and I are at our lovely home by the sea to spend some time relaxing before the stresses of Christmas take over.

First things first and we took Nellie  for a  walk on the beach;

Back home time to start with the Christmas decorations, not the traditional holly and baubles type but in keeping with the house; white and coastal, fairy lights and candles and lots of red ribbon.: -

And my table arrangement, a twig tree with white hearts and shells

Happy days, enjoy your Xmas preparations.

Best wishes Pauline x

Decided to start blogging again and another room finished

 Well for those who have been following my blog you may have been wondering why there have been no updates recently well Mr P has still been very busy painting etc and I have taken loads of photos but somehow they have not made it onto the computer.
I think I kinda lost my way with this blog, I have been following a few others and they seem so professional that I felt my little blog was slightly boring and very amateurish.  Anyway I've decided to persevere even it is only for my own interest.
Also the last couple of weeks have been busy preparing for 'Lissy off to Nottingham Uni, I am glad to report that she has survived freshers week and enjoying this new expereince.

Anyway back to 'home by the sea', the middle bedroom is now finished. Sometimes when I have a blank canvas (ok a white painted room)  I need  something to inspire me;   for this room in was these 'bunting voile panels',

These were bought from John Lewis, I wish I could say that I made them.  But I did have to adapt them, so a chance to get the sewing machine (or ziggy zagger) out.

I find it very therapeutic using a sewing machine, maybe its the technical skills required,
winding the bobbin, setting the tension,  threading the machine ....

 or it may be that I like to keep my thread and ribbons in Jo Malone boxes and my sewing bits in Cath Kidston bags,

Whatever the reason I spent an enjoyable hour sewing heading tab onto the voile, nothing more adventurous than that, and Nellie kept an eye on the proceedings.

And the finished look,

The room before:

And now

Best wishes Pauline x

Keep Calm And Eat Cake !

This week has officially been cake eating week,

It started at Bill's www.bills-website.co.uk , a lovely place to eat in Lewes, West Sussex; which is also a lovely place to visit if you like browsing in antique/vintage shops.

Here we had Lamingtons - a traditional Australian sponge cake dipped in chocolate and then covered in coconut; at Bill's they dip them in raspberry sauce and then coconut; served warm with vanilla ice-cream. Delicious

Bill's Restaurant - add it to your list of places to try

Cake again the following evening, eaten whilst at a very fun party as my very special  friend 

and  her husband celebrated their 50th birthdays.  Cup cakes, Yum.

The following day a little bit of shopping in Chichester, again another lovely place to visit.  Coffee and cake at 

the Swallow Bakery www.swallowbakery.com

Their choice of cupcakes is endless

Mine was the carrot cake, so good!

One would think that was enough cake for most but no; the following evening we had a family gathering for our niece Santina not only to wish her Happy 21st Birthday at the end of this month but also to wish her good luck as she is off to Siberia for 4 months as part of her degree course studying Russian - best of luck.

Santina kitted out for Siberia

Lovely cousins

To top that, this morning my darling  niece Tasha brought round homemade orange and poppy seed cake!

So it was cake for breakfast; needless to say I haven't been near the scales !

Tomorrow I'm off for afternoon tea at the Goring Hotel, it would be rude to refuse the cake.

Best wishes 

Pauline 

Celebrations

Work at 'home by the sea' has been put on hold this week, we have had some serious celebrations.

It started with a 'mums and daughters' night out, there is something quite fun and special about partying with your daughter.  It was actually to celebrate a mum's birthday (age undisclosed).

We went to fab restaurant in Frith St, called Little Italy.

The food was good and the drinks weren't too bad either!

We sang Happy Birthday to the birthday lady

The 'mums' all looking very happy

and the 'girls' just looking gorgeous whilst having a photo with some very pleasant policemen

We all had a good boogy 

arrived home in the early hours feeling fine and then woke feeling not quite so fine. How does that happen?

Thursday morning was Results Day, a very happy day for us.  Lissy was accepted at Nottingham Univesity and she achieved fantastic results - an A* in Spanish !!  

I was one very proud mother

The following morning the girls had their own celebrations, off they went to V festival , 2 small cars jam packed with tents, sleeping bags, hunter wellies, food and some suspicious looking bottles !

Oh such happy days xx

The first 'before and after'

Happy birthday to our niece and  brother in law who are both celebrating their birthdays today.  Love and best wishes to you both.

Welcome to my first 'before and after'.  Although Mr P and myself  have been very hard at work there is still much to be done.  Most rooms are still in that inbetween stage but I am happy to say that the guest room is now complete.

Before :  this was taken on moving in day,

And this was taken today 

I am really happy with final look although it still needs some finishing touches,

but it has the key features; painted furniture

white stuff

a beachy feel

and dotty fabric

What do you think ?

Today we have been working hard on the garden so hopefully there should be some before and after shots coming soon.  

Happy days   Pauline x