Lazy Week, Cosy Afternoons

 

It's been a lazy type of week, my ongoing health problems keep me in most of the time, but this week we did go out on Tuesday to Poulton le Fylde to get Alan measured for a couple of new suits.  He needs to be very smart for work on the occasions when he has to venture into the office or to meetings, working mostly from home means jeans and t-shirts even when on secure line meetings, when visibility with other attendees at the meetings is a personal choice.

Anyway we found parking close to the tailors so I managed the couple of hundred yards walk to the shop, and very handily the carpark we were in was adjacent to a Wetherspoons so it would have been rude not to stop and have a spot of lunch.  We must remember to time the visit to pick up the finished suits with lunchtime ... the meals we both had were very tasty and very well cooked 😃

Yesterday I somehow came across a totally new to me YouTube channel.  Although it is in Russian most of the videos, of which there are only a few at the moment, have English subtitles.  The gentle music and the Summerhouse home that Daryadarcy is creating was absolutely lovely to watch and to relax into.

Although every time her beautiful cat came on the screen Mavis got a little excited.  After a while she settled down to watch with me, cocking her head to one side whenever the cat appeared on screen.

YouTube Link for anyone watching on phone etc.

Click on the photo to have a little watch yourself and you will realise why I found it so enthralling and relaxing.  She has a very similar taste in vintage and also re-using the things that she found when they bought the little summerhouse to me.  I have included the written link for anyone watching on a mobile device.

It was nice to sit and watch yesterday on a gloomy Thursday teatime, and seeing all that pretty china being broken up for the splashback it somehow reminded me that I had yet to unpack my shopping bag full of Beryl ware that was languishing in Alan's spare-room.

I knew I had one of my pretty plates missing!!

Sue xx

So I fell in love with an Ercol sideboard.

I knew I needed some storage in the living room of my new small home, something that would hold the television and hide a multitude of sins to keep the place looking less cluttered  and a low sideboard seemed like a really good idea.  So I started looking around online and found this ... be still my beating heart you are a thing of beauty 💖

This is this years model and a snip at just £3,165.

And this is mine 💖

 I might be splashing the cash a bit at the moment while I'm furnishing my lovely new place, but you all know me and if I can get something just as good and maybe even a little bit more me for a lower price I will, so I visited Vinterior for a browse.   And the photograph above from the website is my new-to-me sideboard a 1960's model ... just like me ... and a snip at just £566.

Here she is lurking in the gloomy light of my hallway here at the flat.

She has been refurbished wonderfully.  

Every bit of wood gleams where it has been cleaned and nourished, and that slide-out and lift-out cutlery tray is going to be so useful for all the bits and pieces that I have been storing in my bureau here at the flat.

Sorry about this strange photo, but as you can see in the sideboard photo this little shelf unit is lying on it's side on top, and with my very sore back I can't pick up anything that weighs more than a feather, so that's how I had to photograph it and then turn the photo instead!!

 I knew I didn't want to furnish my new place with all new furniture so I have had my eyes open for quite a while on Facebook Marketplace looking for suitable bargains and when this little beauty popped up on Saturday for just £35 I knew it had to be mine.

Luckily Alan had time to go and pick it up for me before he left to go down South for work this week.  Steven the guy I bought it from had had this for years, seemingly it was his Great Grandma's and he wanted it to go to a good home ... so it will be going in my kitchen once it is all installed and I have repaired the little bit of damage to the top.

And in other expensive news ... I have now ordered my bed, headboard and mattress and also that gorgeous purple sofa that I showed you a few weeks ago.  It's going to be like waiting for Father Christmas as they all have long lead up times, six weeks for the bedroom stuff and thirteen for the sofa ... gulp!!

Sue xx

Purple Sofas and Patchwork Patios

 

So I've fallen in love with a purple sofa, and I will possibly get a matching footstool.  There's no space for a chair as well but then there's usually only going to be me and a certain little Pug there so we won't need one.  The footstool can be for tired legs, can be a coffee table if I pop a tray on top or can be additional seating if I do get visitors.

I would say little dogs won't be allowed on it ... but that's never worked out in the past, so maybe I'll get a matching fleecy throw for Suky's half of the sofa 😄

The hardcore from the back has all been taken away now, and over the weekend the Indian Stone paving slabs that were taken up from the right-hand side of the garden were laid into position where the mouldy wooden decking used to be.  It's like a patchwork of stone, and once they have all been properly laid with sand and cement all the stone will be pressure washed to make it look nice and clean.  

Wall Up -  Parking for 2 cars with one blocked in by the other.

Wall Down - Parking for 3 cars, all with access to the road.

We thought we might have to use some of the front parking area's flagstones to finish the patio off but we don't need to, in fact there should be some of the smaller sized flagstones from the back to make good the damage in the front where we have taken the little wobbly wall down to open up all of the front garden to the road.  This now gives us space to neatly park three cars off the road with no struggle and no blocking of the pavement. 

 Although it all looks a bit concrete-y and bare at the moment once we are there we will be adding some plants and colour to soften things a bit.  Little steps but all in the right direction, and I have a guy coming to install my two new interior doors on Monday and the electrician to move the TV point from halfway up the wall to my preferred lower position.

I have also made an exciting purchase from a company called  Vinterior which should be arriving in a couple of weeks, I'll show you it as soon as it's here.  If you like vintage and retro furniture and fittings you'll love looking round this site.

Sue xx