Making a house a home

Well, Happy New Year and I hope you had a lovely Christmas break. We certainly did here at Friendly Cottage. After spending a few days down home with my family we raced back, got into our jim-jams and pottered, well, lounged about for a whole week! 

Having flown the nest for work early last July and pretty much returning just before Christmas, I relished being at home so much. Especially as it will be our last peaceful Christmas before baby comes along and causes chaos. God, don't remind me of the potential horror of my wallpaper being drawn on, my old lady plates and tea cups being shaken off the dresser and my sofa cushions & blankies being vomited on! 

It was with luck then that Dara, the editor of our fab Irish Interior Magazine, House & Home, asked to feature Friendly Cottage in the November / December issue when it was just freshly done and before smallie comes long & wrecks it. At least I'll have this lovely feature (snapped by the lovely Paul Sherwood) to look back on proudly. (You can see more online here too)

Although, I suppose it's everyday life that really makes a house a home....so bring it on!

Deck the halls

Thanks to journalist Niall Toner from the Irish Times for including me (along with Mel over at design heaven) in his recent feature on decorating your home for Christmas on a budget. Once again, I'm great at being 'all talk' and have only just got our house blinged up for Christmas this week. I'm totally relishing being at home for the holidays with the fire blazing, the sweet smell of Christmas baking, festive tunes beating out, and fairy lights dazzling. Wishing you a happy Christmas!

Here are my decorating tips from the Times feature:

- Thread some festive ribbon through cute christmas cookie cutters and hang them from kitchen door knobs or hooks.

- Why stop with eating at the table? Edible decorations can be nibbled on anywhere in the house...adorn your nest with fresh cranberry chains, fruit & nut garlands and cheeky gingerbread men.

- Get down and dirty with the kids and have fun making, baking and painting your own bespoke decorations with salt dough. Store them carefully for use next Christmas too.

- Always have a pan of warm mulled wine on the go! The intoxicating smell of spices will waft festive cheer around the house before you even drink it.

- Stock up on festive essential oils like frankincence, orange, cinnamon, pine, clove and juniper to burn around the house (individually or in interesting combinations). Also, use a few drops in homemade cleaning products and air freshners to keep you in the festive mood as you clean.

- Bring childhood memories flooding back and have fun with potato printing your own homemade christmas cards and wrapping paper.

- The best way to instantly fill your home with Christmas cheer is to stick some of your favourite festive tunes on (mine are from Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra) and get baking Christmas goodies while you sing along.

Pom Pom Pretty

As always I'm oozing with Pom Pom love! This time Pom Factor has hit a lampshade once again. I bought these shades really cheaply from Ikea last year to tide us over until I found 'the one' for our hallway. Sadly, like most things I dream of, my exact specification (deep cerise, wide but shallowish drum, with diffuser base) doesn't seem to exist. So I pulled out my vast array of Pom Pom trims and teamed the shades up with these delicious double delights....

Before & After

Blog Watch

So I've been out of touch once again, sorry! I'm still away with work but getting closer to home...this time in the same time zone & country at least! I've been trying to get a second since way back in August to tell you about this, so consider this well-old news! 

Anyway, the lovely & industrious Lorna Sixsmith from Garrendenny Lane Interiors was lovely enough to include me in her feature for 'Munster Interiors'. Lorna has a gorgeous online interiors shop, of which her new website has just gone live recently so well worth checking out. Lorna also manages to juggle running a successful business with raising a family and chasing after sheep on her farm...all of which makes a great read on her blog here too. Thanks Lorna for such a lovely write-up! x

True Blue Baby I Love You

I'm still in love with my new kitchen. Here are some blue things I spied with my little eye recently...

Spotty bowls from Avoca. Blue plates from Ikea in plate rack.

I can't remember where I came across this sweet girl. We haven't quite found a home for her yet so she hangs out in the kitchen with us for now. 

Tea cups on the dresser with a cute knitted tea pot cosy a friend gave me.

Washing-up gloves from Homebase. Very unused looking I might add. I do like my dishwasher. The appliance one rather than the husband one.

 Scales by Typhoon.

Love this bowl's shape and colour, by Sophie Conran. Stack of bowls, baking dishes and colanders on a kitchen shelf.

No Irish kitchen is blessed without the holy Mary water on the dresser. A dear friend gave me one and not sure where I got the other. Probably my mother. I sprinkled the whole house with one of these when we first bought it. The other one helped me find a lost diamond when away with work once. Handy things to bring traveling, Holy Mary waters. Cute bottle from Avoca for homemade drinks.

Currants tin, from an auction house, reused as a utensil pot. Retro clock with cooking timer from ebay.

delicious desserts & old lady lace

the 'before' shot

Here's a little kitchen wall unit we've been working on. We bought it on ebay. It fits perfectly on a wall between two doorways. Mart painted it and put it up while I was away with work in February. It sat empty since then though as I couldn't decide what to keep on it. So I finally gave my pretty dessert glasses pride of place there recently. A sort of shrine to dessert glasses. A reminder to make delicious desserts for pretty glasses whenever possible.  I screwed some cup hooks into the bottom to hang measure spoons and aprons. All partners in the quest for delicious desserts of course.

It couldn't go with out some old ladyifying too and so I picked up a delicate lace trim on a recent haberdashery hunt and glue gunned it on. I think it was all the final straw for poor Martin who looked on in shock asking is there anything in the house for boys?! Sorry Mart. Just remember how good that knickerbocker glory is going to taste though!

No-Sew Lampshade

This is Lolla....She's a lamp with a bit of a history. She was found deserted and lonely in Oxfam Home. She was a cheap old thing really and feeling a bit worthless with a meagre price tag of €18. She's actually a bit of an old bird but you'd never know it since going under the knife with her extreme makeover...Here's her before shot...

I know....hard to imagine this was her in a past life.

Her transformation really was a no-sew operation. The first step was stripping her bare. I then simply ironed interfacing onto the back of my chosen spotty fabric. This helps to stop the edges from fraying and stiffens the fabric a little too. I cut the fabric into 3 centimetre wide strips which were a few centimetres longer than the height of the shade frame. With my trusty glue gun, I glued the bottom of one strip to the bottom of the frame, stretched it up tightly and glued it to the top also. I overlapped the layers as I went as the top of the shade was smaller than the bottom. The glue sets really quickly so this was really quick and easy to do.

I spray painted the stand in white....my favourite refresher colour. And ta da....the first stage is done. She looked so pretty already...I love the way the fabric strips look like a pretty pleated skirt....but I wasn't finished yet...

I still haven't told you about my recent shopping escapades in New York....I'll come back to that....but I got to use some of my finds here already. Some painfully pretty ribbon and my all time favourite trim...pom poms!! Again, no sew...glue gunned on....easy peasy.

Death by Pom-Poms? Yes Please! Pom-Poms make me soooooo happy!

And then a final flourish....these are Lolla's customising accessories. The corsages are simply pinned on so she can change them whenever the mood fancies her.

Spot the Zebra

Before & After

I picked up this chest of drawers in Oxfam home for €50 (was I robbed?!). The one on the left thanks, very funny! What I was really after was a beautiful dressing table. I found lots, but realised they just didn't have enough storage...something I needed more than the glamour of sitting there pretending I was a movie star. Anyhow, I went with my usual Gok Wan clashing and chose black and white zebra stripes for the green flowery wallpaper bedroom. I have those black & white cushions in there already so hopefully you agree it works?!

I painted the whole chest white egg shell first of all. Several coats. And more again. Once dry, I then painstakingly worked out the spaces evenly and masking taped to create the stripes where the black paint would go. Also, I forgot to mention that there was a crack in the top so I figured that if I planted that right on the edge of a black stripe it would be sufficiently hidden. I do know how to make life hard for myself don't you think? Hmmm.

Then I found these cute vintage drawer knobs at the Newmarket Brocante for €15. There was a set of ten (which I needed) although they didn't match. But all the better and they came as a family so I love them. I found the mirror in Gibson Bailey salvage yard. I've kept the yard afloat during the recession so your man gave it to me for free. Thanks Sean! It has a lovely art deco detail at the top which I of course slapped a bit of (purple) paint on. Me and paint eh? It's one of those bevelled mirrors with hangy chain thingys (another obsession I must reveal to you another time). I preferred to leave it sitting on top of the chest though instead of hanging it above. And, ta da...I can be a movie star after all!

Now, as always a woman's work is never done. So i have more plans for this baby. What on earth has she got planned for this already riske chest now I hear you cry? I'll be back. It might be a while!

Green Day

Happy Paddy's day! So, what does the day mean to you? A huge chunk of Irish pride....an even bigger tuft of shamrock...a parade...a sequined green cowboy hat?...hhmmm. a day off work perhaps? or just another excuse to head to the pub? 

Here at Friendly Cottage we're spending the morning at home before heading to the hills (to escape all of the above!). Looking around I'm seeing lots and lots of green...

My junk shop habit can't be kicked, but thank goodness as I found this gorgeous platter last week. 

Some  teensey dishes I bought here in New York.

My green spotty bedlinen find in TK Maxx *Hot Flush & Faint*. 

Old school chair in a bedroom.

The junk shop & polka dot theme continues on the dresser. 

Retro Habitat enamel lampshades thanks to the ebay addiction.

Bedspread from M&S. 

Cookbooks in the yet to be revealed bookcase.

Shabitat again...this time their spindle lamp. 

My comfort blankie & cushion on the couch.

Kitchen cabinet door knob from Lizabeth Dahl.

Green panelling in the kitchen.

Basil pot by Rice. 

My Green Goddess juice....another addiction....
juice 1 large pear, 2 apples, 1 stick of celery, a small piece of ginger and a few handfuls of spinach....uuummm

Spring in my Step

some pretty flowers in our hallway today

It was great to come home to the sweet smell of spring in the air. Doesn't the stretch in the day and the hopeful twinkle of sunshine make life so much better? We're planning outdoor activities for this weekend...ok, so it does involve painting again (thankfully our very embarrassing front of house at last!) but hopefully we're going for a spin on our bikes too. I'm definitely going to enjoy the Spring time as God knows that could be it for the sunshine this year! Hopefully many sunny photos to follow...

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm Home Sweet Home. I'm totally wrecked from working hard....but I had a ball! It feels like I've been away forever though. I've missed my comfort blankie by the fire and forgot I had my swan fur duvet (well, goose down, but swan fur makes me sound more like a princess!), my fluffy, stripy sheets and of course Marty's tender loving arms. there's no place like home....there's no place like home....there's no place like home...

My Old Lady Dresser

Not long now until I head home to the love nest from my stint away with work. I've almost forgotten about all the lovely things we have worked hard on over the last few months at the end of our renovations. I can't wait to have tea and cake on crockery from my pretty dresser which we lovingly adopted and made over.....here are some snaps I have with me on my laptop....

I found this little old lady in a salvage yard many months ago. In fact, when I first found her she was browny beige and her back wasn't in very good shape. When I went back to visit her again and begin proceedings for adoption, I was gutted to hear someone else had bought her! They had in fact already fixed her up and painted her white. But alas, she cunningly didn't fit into their kitchen so we were lucky enough to be able to snap her up! So, with another lick of white paint and a 'team green' makeover to fit in perfectly with our other kitchen cabinets, she was ours to take home sweet home and dress to my dolls house delight...

The life of a Science Lab Stool

Summer is a great time to hit auction houses as 'closed for the holidays' schools have a revamp, chucking out old chairs and desks and other such gorgeous delights for magpies like me to swallow up and reinvent. Last summer I bagged these cutesy stools at a snatch of €10 for the four. They were in an auction in a lot of nineteen and so I didn't bid (I'm not that much of a hardcore hoarder!). Although, when I came back to the auction to pick up some other 'one mans junk, another man's treasure', I asked out of interest who bought them, only to end up meeting the woman who did - she really didn't want them all either and so sold me four. I slung them in our loft (I dare not look up there at what else I have buried away!) until I had time to lovingly attend to them recently, only to find that two were one height and two were another!!! What a shame....they had been stacked and so in my bargain hunters delight I hadn't even noticed! Oh well, it was obviously meant to be that baby bears stayed with Mummy & Daddy!

Anyhow....here are some snaps of the original babies, graffiti and all. Now they have hot pink (spray painted) legs and white washed tops (with graffiti undersides as a reminder of their past life!). They now live happily tucked under our new kitchen counter (which has our cooker nestled in....more about that later).

SURPRISE SURPRISE!

This post is for one very special person in particular - Martin's fairy-godmother! Hey Julie! So, your lovely husband of 31 years today, Steve, has just given you your anniversary gift then? You've opened the card, read your first clue and now come online to see what romantic destination it is he's whisking you off to?! 

Well, we hope this doesn't disappoint but, Surprise Surprise...you're checked into Friendly Cottage here in Ireland for a lovely weekend of R&R, a great catch up and maybe breakfast in bed if you behave (highly unlikely then!)....We can't wait to have you both here. xxx

...Step into a world of comfort, relaxation and cosy cottage hospitality where you will be waited on hand and foot, fed lots of cake and generally be treated like your Royal Highness....your room Ma'am....

Oh, I've come over all Cilla Black!

Sick Week

So we had 'snow week' a few weeks ago and now here at Friendly Cottage we've had 'sick week'. Our medicine chest has been out throughout the week for various snuffles and sniffles. Then a strange thing happened to me that I won't go too into, but basically involved bad facial burnings from Tiger Blam (of all things!), resulting in swellings which made me look like a cross between Mike Tyson & the Elephant Man and took steroids to take down!! No clue where that came from, but all I know is I've had my annual fill of Jeremey Kyle for sure! Marty's mutant wife is just about making it out in public now under hat and scarf but is awaiting facial bits to fall off!

Anyhow, my facial horror story aside, I realised I hadn't shown you our medicine chest above which I bought here (but have seen in Avoca in the meantime). More to the point though is this gorgeous old elastoplast tin which we keep inside the chest. I scored in a car boot sale last summer. Isn't she a cutesy?!

sleeping beauty

Our King & Queen of France bed (as I like to call it!) has finally had it's makeover. We bought this bed on a whim on ebay a couple of years ago and it sailed it's way to Ireland from France (not very easily I might add, but that's another story!). I thought the wood part was off white but when I saw it for real I realised it was a very rich creamy colour. So, it just had to go. Well, not that easily, as first of all we had to get through the guilt of slapping crown white eggshell on top of 70 year old french crackle paint, yikes! Anyhow, we got over it and just did it and are so pleased with the result. No regrets, phew! No doubt some people will quake in their beds at the thought, but she's ours for life and we have to sleep in it. And what a sleeping beauty she is...

painstakingly applying masking tape as close to the edge of the fabric as possible and cleaning any dust and dirt from between the grooves of the wood.

we protected the velvet fabric with lots of pages torn from magazines (it actually looks quite funky like this don't you think?!)

we used a fine artists brush for hard to get to areas. yay, peeling the masking tape away, job done!

And here she is....

P.S. The wall paper is by Cath Kidston. It makes me die every time I see it, I love it & had to fight hard against Mart's 'Transformers' option! Thankfully the old lady one won!

P.P.S. By the way, we didn't brave doing any of our wallpapering ourselves but have the number of the fantastic guy who did - we would definitely highly recommend him as he did an amazing job so let me know if you need the contact.