All sorts of things grow in my bathroom!

Mildew, cobwebs........no trees!

In my bathroom a miracle has occurred! A tree has grown! It's taken a while of course, they grow from acorns don't you know! The summer was full of stunning weddings, Chris excelled himself with baking two wedding cakes! I have spent the summer gardening, and preparing for my new job which I started in September. I have of course neglected to record and share any of my little projects, jam, harvest time, table plans, printing, set building. Last time I wrote I'd visited Charleston with my friend Helen Tovey. This is the next stage in my bathroom madness! And although my bathroom is still mdf hell it's getting there!

The tree was drawn in dry wipe pen then painted in tile paint. Tile paint is the worst product I have ever come across in my life! It just does not work at all! Do not use it. After 3 dreadful, drippy, yucky coats of tile paint I switched tack and used exterior gloss for metal as recommended in my hardware store. 

I then completed detail in acrylic and covered it in 3 coats of yacht varnish, I don't know how log it will last! Probably just as long as it takes for Chris to get totally sick of it and re tile! Not long then!



Next will be to mosaic the floor! Am I cracking up.....get it.....cracking up......mosaic.......oh well never mind!

A tribute to Vanessa Bell

Painting Furniture

I hate my bathroom! I mean really despise it! It's white plastic, lino covered and horrible! For this reason my beloved husband is planning on it being his next DIY mission, after he finishes the beautiful kitchen that is. Over the royal wedding weekend I went with my dear friend Helen to the stunning Charleston House, centre of the Bloomsbury Group and Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell's family home. An artists' house that is full of life and love, a truly restful place that feeds your creative imagination. It's just outside Lewes and we went on a lovely sunny Sunday, the carrot cake is not to be missed! The decor of their home is truly inspiring and I came home full of beans ready to paint everything and anything! Perhaps because Chris is planning to rip out the bathroom soon he told me to go crazy and enjoy it! Helen looked a little skeptical, the Charleston look is a little eccentric in it's ways and possibly not entirely suitable for my 60s build flat! Undeterred however I got stuck in!

Firstly I primed the white plastic cupboards with PVA or undercoat if you'd prefer. Then I painted the furniture with 3 coats of bathroom paint. 

I pencilled in my design and then with some white acrylic paint I painted free hand. You could use stencils but the Charleston look is a little lopsided and faded so I chose to go with this feeling!

This is when I really started to worry that my bathroom now looked like a crazy person lived in the cupboard!

I kept with it and painted the second layer in dark grey acrylic.

Following this I applied 2 coats of Yacht varnish

I do not love my bathroom yet! I think the tiles need painting and that new taps would suit the style better, I also want to create a mosaic on the floor. However I'm pleased with the quirky results and think it's on it's way!
Dressed with jugs and brica-brac I now have my own little piece of Charleston interpreted by me.

Elderflower Cordial

900g/ 2lb caster sugar

30g citric acid

1 lemon

1 orange

10 large elderflower heads, washed and drained

Elderflower is so beautiful and grows absolutely everywhere, so access is easy. My ma lives in Tulse hill in London and made a huge batch, so whether you live in the city or the country it is blooming everywhere. I picked mine from my back garden and I can't tell you how wonderful the scent of the basket was . It's so easy to make cordial and it can be used in lots of ways, in champagne, lager, on yoghurt, in salad dressing or as a marinade on a fruit salad.

1) Put the sugar in a large heatproof bucket and add 600ml/1 pint of boiling water. Stir until dissolved and add citric acid. It can be quite hard to track down citric acid, it should be available from all chemists and brewing shops but it often sells out at this time of year. Chemists can only order in so much as naughty folk use it to cut drugs so don't be suprised if you get the odd askew glance as your desperately trying to track it down!

2) Grate the rind of a lemon and orange and add to mix, then slice the fruit and add that too. Put in the elderflower heads until they're submerged. Cover and allow to stand overnight or for around 12 hours. The sweet heady smell will completely dominate your house.  Strain through muslin and bottle. Ensure your bottles are thoroughly cleaned and bottles are sterilised by placing them in the oven at 100 degrees for 15 mins, soak the caps in boiling water.

Enjoy! It's a lovely gift too so make a big batch and hand it out to your friends.

Easter Fun! Blowing eggs

Blowing eggs for rainy day fun and Easter decorations

This Easter holiday my beautiful nieces came for a visit with my sister in law and her husband. Although the weathers been glorious we were not bestowed with the warmest of temperatures but we entertained ourselves in truly seasonal fashion with egg hunts, egg painting and baking hot cross buns. Chris threw down the gauntlet and challenged everyone to an egg painting contest! The challenge had been set so I prepared the eggs for the following day. Firstly you need some ordinary eggs, in this case supplied by Marilyn, Clivetta and Wilson. Make a hole with a pin in both ends, if you see a small freckle this usually means there's a flaw in the shell and it's easier to get the pin in.

Make one of the holes slightly larger by wiggling the pin about. Poke a a cocktail stick inside and whoosh it about to break the yoke. Now for the gross part! Blow into the small hole to push all the gunk out.

Give them a rinse and leave them to dry over night.

You can decorate them anyway you like, I got a table of stuff out; paints, glitter, sequins, tissue paper etc.

It was very fun and some people eggselled themselves, they were just eggsellent creations, the whole thing was very eggciting! My brother in law especially created an amazing footballer Eggar Davids with dreads and everything!

Making my mark

There is a brilliant wood reclamation yard behind the art school in Brighton called the wood store. My lovely husband has been converting our soulless kitchen into something much more beautiful using the amazing trunk slices they sell relatively cheaply. 

The piece we bought had beautiful bark which we kept as the edge of our new work surface. Chris sanded it down and oiled it with danish oil, he added this splash back today and let me make my own mark! Like a naughty child I carved our name in the wood just like in those old desks we used to have in primary school. Chris then oiled it to bring out the colour. It's a little messy but I sliced the main incision straight down then carved in as neatly as I could on either side at an angle. Everyone should carve their name in wood I feel like it will last forever, a time capsule to the future!