Silk Purse Out Of A Sow's Ear

 Hello lovely readers. You know how I love a little thrifty trick or two. Nearly everything can be upcycled or used in someway by someone, which is why I'm a regular subscriber to Freegle, either posting items or finding things. 

I've been clearing out bits and bobs recently, things that I no longer have a use for, and have been finding good homes for them. All very satisfying.

This very old paraffin heater was not in good condition after being stored in an outhouse for some years, and I almost took it to be recycled. but boy am I glad I didn't.

A very nice couple from a neighbouring county bought it from me to turn into a garden light. They got a friend to blast it clean and I think they said powder paint it. Look at it now, so nice.

Plus I have a little extra money to add to the holiday fund.

The Best Bookshop In The World

 Much Ado Bookshop

I've mentioned my very favourite bookshop before, Much Ado, Alfriston, East Sussex.

If you click on the link at the top there is the most charming film about the shop. You'll feel as though everything is right with the world once you've watched it.

Photowall Opportunity

 Dearest reader, I received a rather lovely email in mid March from a Swedish based wall art company, Photowall. They are the folk who produced my Birth of Venus wall art for my spare bedroom. 

The company manufactures wallpaper, wall art, posters and canvas prints and they have the most amazing selection of images to choose from, 1000s of them, or you can even use your own image. Fantastic, eh?

They are eco friendly too, just the sort of business folk we need more of. All the work is printed to order, so no waste and they reduce their environmental impact by planting over 5,000 trees a year; it's a great business model.

They had contacted me, no idea how they found my little blog, but they wanted to collaborate with me. I think maybe it's the quality of my readers /followers that drew them in, I'm sure you'd agree :-)

I could choose anything from their range in exchange for a mention on my blog. Well as you can imagine as I'd already used them before and was supremely pleased with the quality product and their attention to detail, it was as they say a no brainer. 

As I said in my previous post my master bedroom was in need of a makeover, scheduled to start this Summer, with their kind offer I have made an early start.

I chose a botanical design with a heritage feel as I'm keen to add a bit of character and luxury to the room.

The paper comes ready printed and numbered so there is no headache with pattern matching or indeed getting the design on the wall the right way up! I had 17 drops and they all went up rather smoothly. The quality is brilliant so no tearing as you try and fiddle around light switches etc. With the added bonus that the prints are guaranteed not to fade, which the previous paper I used sadly did. You receive comprehensive hanging instructions with your order, paste and delivery included.

So the room has gone from this

To this

With the feature wall nicely concluded I'm spurred on to select the other new additions to the room. The Laura Ashley lamp bases I love, so I have just ordered new shades from OKA.

I think they will bring a fabulous pop of colour against the raspberry pattern, plus they are hand printed which gives a nice hand made feel to them.

The only other definite in the room at the moment is the wall colour for the other walls, Farrow & Ball No.84 Blue Green. I've got the most enormous sample up in the room to check I'm happy with it before I proceed. I'm collecting fabric samples too for the curtains, these Morris & Co are very rich and beautiful.

Normally when I conceive a room design I have everything planned and purchased before I start, it's been a better process starting with the feature wall and taking more time to consider the other elements in the room.

I will of course keep you up to date with the progress, but I'll leave you with a picture of my little helper, who you would never guess is new to interior design.

The lovely Sarah from photowall has been in touch to say that all you good people can order from them with a 25% discount on ANY product. How nice is that? I hope you will pop over to them and take a look. The discount code is shrimptonandperfect2021, and is valid from 16th April to 20th June, so plenty of time to think about those projects you've been meaning to do, or you could order a gift for a friend.

Eighteenth Century Girl.

 I had intended to show you a few more pictures of my craft room, including the now installed rickety table, but the weather is so gloomy and the light so bad in that room I'll wait a wee while longer.

The light in our largest spare bedroom is a little better, so I thought I would show you my fab wall art. Botticelli's Birth of Venus, the Goddess of love and beauty, born of the sea spray and blown along by the winds of Cyprus. The real painting is of course in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. I have visited her there many times, she is one of my most favourite works of art.

This room was completed a while ago now and I'm still very happy with the look and feel of it. It is quite a deep room so it can easily take a big image and it absolutely lifts the room up to another level. The colours are amazing. I wonder what Botticelli would have thought about his work being so easily and faithfully reproduced and being hung in many, many people's homes. I like to think he would have approved.

I'm not so happy with our bed room. When we moved in here about four years ago I hurriedly decorated it. I recycled some curtains I had made for our previous house and chose a pretty wallpaper which unfortunately has already faded. A lesson learnt about buying the best you can afford and so only buying and in this case only decorating once.

It has an okay look about it but recently I have found myself wanting to upgrade the look and feel of it, to a more luxurious, more period feel, in short something with a bit more charm. Apropos of that I have developed fairly recently a penchant for everything eighteenth century. The seed of which I think was planted with my discovery of the Outlander series of books written by Diana Gabaldon.

In the last few months I have been collecting inspirational images on my bedroom makeover18th century pinterest board. It has helped me percolate my ideas. 

I have already purchased a bloomin enormous oil painting of an eighteenth century garden, which I'm hoping positioned next to our bedroom window, will give the impression of another window to the outside.

My intention was to redecorate the room this Summer, but something rather wonderful and unexpected has happened, which has meant I have the chance to start a bit earlier. 

I will reveal all shortly.