Baby its cold outside!

brrrr I'm sooo cold this morning.. dropped the oldest boy off at school and its only a five mins walk.. my hands were like ice when i got home.. i really must get out my winter woollies and start wrapping up... the sun is beautiful though so cant complain.. it could be cold and grey and that's just plain miserable ..

well as the sun is shining i thought i would still put the washing on the line because i do like it to get an airing instead of being kept indoors were i think it just drys hard doesn't it.. towels end up like crisps!!

so as i was hanging out the washing i looked through my french doors and just loved the sunlight that was coming through the front.. it just looks so warm.. so i had to take a picture !!

i do have to go out to the post office but I'm putting it off a bit. just want to snuggle up with my book.. "coming home" by Rosamunde Pilcher ( i love her books they make me feel cosy!) and indulge in a couple of home made biccies and a cuppa..

whilst lying like a cat in this armchair right in the sunlight!!

the baby is pottering around so i think that's what i might do for a bit and then go out into the cold, well it might have warmed up after lunch !!

have a good day all

xx

New House

would you like to have a look at my new house...??

you would... oh good!!

well come through the front door....

perhaps have a look out of the window...

its not the best of houses when you are on a diet as you can eat your roof tiles and window sills!!

haha.. how cute is this.. my mum bought it the other day and thought of me when she saw it..

its a little candle holder..

the thing is i really would love a little house like this but in big real life form!!..

i think my ideal home would be a real cosy little cottage...but then i think it would have to have a big extension built on the back so i could have a huge kitchen with a great big dresser and bubblegum pink aga!!

oh and it would have to be pink with roses around the door...

whats your ideal house.

A corner

i love looking around my house and knowing that most of it has come from charity shops, carboot sales, flea markets and freecycle..

i think it gives me a sense of achievement that its not all out off the same page and that its been recycled, restored.. and re -loved!!...

heres a little corner that pretty much most of it has been thrifted or bought at a lower price!..

just a little corner but a nice snuggly cosy corner.. great for reading this corner is.. the light is just at the right height!!

first off we have my ikea bargain corner armchair.. with lovely thrifted crochet blanket and a cushion from my sister....the chest of drawers was from freecycle, i gave it a farrow and ball cooking apple paint job and added some handles that id got from the carboot

can you see the basket peeping out in the corner..this holds the days paper and any mags/books im reading at the minute!

some charity shop pics and mirrors
the tray was from a car boot and the tray cloth came out of my fave charity shop

my glass decanters which have either come from charity shops or car boots...

my glass cake stand which was a charity shop find and my glass vase from the car boot.. with a fake little rose which was from the charity shop!

the glass photo frame ive had for years

only the lamp and the two little glass dishes are new ( or were new at the time of buying!).. and even they are a few years old now!!..

so there you go. a little cosy corner for a Friday night... !!

mini makeover !!!

well its an extremely mini makeover... when you read all the beautiful blogs out there and you see the talent that people have.. this is a laugh really...

but its recycling and looking a little bit pretty at the same time so here goes!!

take one largish empty coffee jar

shove it in the sink and give it a quick rinse to get all the sticky bits left off the label off the front

take some ribbon that I'm sure your bound to have lying around...

tie it round the jar, add some nice candles.. and voila..


your very own pretty glass candle holder

and then at night pop in a tea light or medium size candle and enjoy the flickering light...

see told you it was a mini makeover..!!

out and about

took the oldest boy to school this morning.. walked back and did a few housewifely chores and then me and the baby went out for lovely walk

the past few days have been simply glorious and it would be a crime to not take advantage of the beautiful autumnal sunshine that we have..

so i donned my comfiest brogues.. put on my new ( well to me anyways .. charity shop number!) favourite floral tea dress




and out we went...

we were out for ages .. about 2 hours, so lovely out there though and apart from one giant tantrum. ( the baby not me!) and that was only because he didn't want to get back in his buggy! we've had a lovely morning.. not rushed it was just a nice leisurely walk..

if you arnt a fan of pics of autumnal trees .. i would look away now as there a few of them coming up!

so back in and I'm just about to eat some homemade soup and some crusty bread...the baby is having a snooze .. think all the fresh air tired him out!..

first off we saw some horses..

this sign made me laugh to myself.. i started imagining robot horses in the field .. ( i am a bit strange though!)

here's the baby with hands behind head being Mr chilled!


notice the old gate posts here only one is in tact but i often wonder what were they the entrance to as now its just trees beyond them..





i love old stone walls and trees along side them.. i always pretend i live in the country side when i walk up here!!

wonder whats up these steps!!???

i love the old Victorian floor tiles

by the duck pond.
i just loved the colour of this tree against the blue sky...
one of my favourite roads.. the houses along here are rather large and grand... and gorgeous!!.
a pile of crispy leaves..love the different colours mixed in we have brown, green a bit of orange and purple!
i love the way the sun is shining through the arch of the trees
through a little seated area

and then back home ... glad i wore my comfiest shoes that was a big walk!

hmmmm soup.. i know 3 slices is pretty bad isn't it.. carb overload and all but i had worked up an appetite!!

i do love this time of year.

The Snowman

last year i found an old bureau in a skip, it was from the 1930's i blogged about it here

http://charl-prettyvintage.blogspot.com/2009/10/skip-find-suprise-and-charity-shop-buys.html

anyway i lived with it for a while as the dark oak but to be honest it just wasn't me. the wood was to dark for me, i found it to be quite ugly ..

so i slapped a bit of classic cream satin wood paint on and it was so bright..so i bought a darker cream ( or so i thought) and this was the same.. so i ended up consulting the farrow and ball paint chart and picked "Clunch".. ( which incidentally is the same tin of paint i used to to paint my new fire place) well it really didn't make any difference.. in fact it came out the same colour ( whereas on the fireplace it is darker.. strange hey!) ..

id taken the handles off and it kinda lived like that for a while. .i really lost interest in this piece of furniture which really isn't like me..

we started to refer to it as the snowman.. because looking at it with its roundness it really does resemble a snowman!!!

especially with the bun feet haha..

anyway last month i bought some glass lookalikey handles from Homebase.. popped them on and i think although it still does look a bit snowman'sh ( we also referred to it as a SMEG fridge and a photocopier!!) it looks much prettier than it did before and the handles do finish it off..

so there you go in the pretty vintage household we don't need to wait for the snow to have our very own snowman!!

By candlelight

the hubbys out, the kids are in bed.. i thought i would have a much needed soak in the bath..

turned the light switch on and the bulb popped.. the only spare bulb i could find was an economy one.. i put it in..urgh.. the light now felt like i was in a cell.. or i was about to be tortured.. i know that economy bulbs are the way forward blah blah..but do they have to be so darn ugly!!

so i lit a few candles instead .. and had a candlelit bath.....

ahhhh bliss it was... the light is so much more forgiving for a start!!.. and every were just feels so cosy..

just thought id show you a couple of pics.. to be honest as usual with my photographing skills every were looks dank and gloomy and not warm and cosy..but it did look nice in real life ... promise!!!

don't you just love my cosy pj's .. they are only Primarks best but they are so soft and lovely and more importantly covered in roses!!.. the hubby says i look like I'm in camouflage when Ive got these on around the house as everywhere is rose inspired isn't it!!

no that is ET in the window.. ( looks quite scary now im looking at it more!... its my hanging heart candle holder!!)




and it was a lovely bath.. wasn't interrupted by children once.. got to read my book in a big bubble bath.. bliss !!!

well almost wordless wednesday

well with my big gob i can hardly go without saying anything can i!?
i really did try and do a wordless post but i cant resist!!

here's a few new additions to the pretty vintage household!

a new light for the landing... well we've only lived here 3.5 yrs and have had a bare bulb on the landing all that time.. urgh i can hear you say..a bare bulb it must have looked like a squat!!

.. i know but i had to wait until i found the light i really wanted. and here it is.. all lit up in its glory!




please ignore the extremely ugly artex ice cream ceiling.. its my bit of retro on the ceiling!.. well i have to tell myself that!.. we bought this from Homebase and its fab.. you don't even need to do any wiring or anything just pop onto the light fitting great stuff!

a lovely little bonbon dish.. I'm trying to build up a bit more of a glass collection for my dressing table.. love the shape of this

my baragainous jacket note that it is a "La redoute" number, i picked it up for 99p.. i only bought it on Monday and Ive already worn it every day.. its come in so handy with the weather having become slightly warmer!
pea green coat not pea green boat!

my mum popped in today with this watering can for me.. isn't it the cutest.. far to nice to be used outside!!!..
we bought this last week it is Edwardian .. and its huge!!..its obviously missing the Pitcher to go with it. so I'll have to pair it up with something else for now

my new birds!!.. i cant seem to be able to a good enough picture of these delightful things .. i bought this on Saturday from a charity shop.. i didn't think it was for sale as it was hanging on the outside of the changing room.. i asked the lady and when she said "oh yes that's £2.99 " i was a little bit more than chuffed to say the least!!!

love my new tins from Wilkinson's.. they were on their own on a shelf it was like they were waiting for me to buy them!!.
this is the top of the biggest tin.. so sweet isn't it

some vintage shot glasses here.. I'm sure we've probably got some vintage tequila lurking at the back of a cupboard..!!!