nightstands...

while my dear husband is painstakingly pointing the walls in our farmhouse here in the heart of france, i thought the nightstands (bedside tables, or, in french...chevets) were tooooo turquoise and needed toning down, big time, to match the soft neutrals of the newly repointed wall.

before...

so, if got my paint out and 'washed' the turquoise with a bit of white.....what is ever better than white ??

white, with a peep of blue underneath, so fresh.
here are the two colours side by side....before on the right and after on the left...

both colours are pretty but to match our 'newly repointed look', the more neutral suits.

here is my 'painting station', i.e. our kitchen !

lewis was, as ever, 'helping' !!

to be honest i think he nodded off. in the background is little zsa zsa on their giant bean bag. she took no interest whatsoever and snoozed throughout the whole thing. 
don't you love it ?!

what have you been up to ?
hope it has been good.
would love you to drop by again soon as i would love to share our renovations progress with you.
whatever you are up to have a great day.
a bientot....

another week, another wall

we are keeping the pace up in our french farmhouse.
after the success of the repointing of the wall above the fireplace we have also really enjoyed having the open fire again. there is nothing like the relaxation sitting in our big chairs looking at the flames.

one of the large logs had a hole in the middle of it and i loved the way the flames peeped through it.

keeping up the renovations momentum, husband has started to repoint an unfinished wall upstairs. it is a laborious business and takes hours. can't wait until it is finished to get the bedroom back in order again !

husband at work...

lewis (our ariegois) 'helping' !

when the wall is finished we plan to paint the rickety floor, freshening and brightening the whole space. all on a shoestring budget - i love it.

i am off now to repaint the bedside cabinets. i painted them a lurid turquoise and want to tone the colour down. will post pics tomorrow.

whether you are working or relaxing today i hope you enjoy every minute of your day. thanks for dropping by. call again soon.
a bientot...

repointing a wall

we are so fortunate to have a beautiful large stone fireplace in our kitchen; it is about 5 feet wide and 4 feet high. 
husband decided to repoint the wall above it (one of many cosmetic jobs outstanding in our farmhouse). 
we were very excited and so cleared the candlesticks, etc off the mantelpiece in preparation.

here it is before the repointing started....

the pipe of the cuisiniere can just be seen in the above photo - more about that in a minute.

the photo above shows a close up of the old narrow french bricks with spaces inbetween needing repointing...and below, work starting...

and half-way through...

later, we took the cuisiniere out and reinstated the open fire with a basket grate. 
just have a look at it now ! 

husband plans to clean and repoint the inside of the fireplace which will be stunning. i will, of course, post photos of that when it is done.

stay cosy and i hope that you will drop by our french farmhouse in the heart of france, for a little more of france romance.

a bientot...

chestnut lane

the autumn leaves are changing colours by the day and are starting to fall making interesting vignettes on the ground.

i set off on a walk along a chemin, grassy path, near our farmhouse that i call chestnut lane.

zsa zsa came too...

she loves her walks.

the ground was crispy with large chataigne, sweet chestnut, leaves and lots of prickly chestnut skins...

 out of which had popped shiny chestnuts.

ivy peeped through the crispy leaves here and there

and now and then there was a splash of citric yellow.

at the end of the lane is a treat of a view...

 and then

we headed home, sweet home.
i hope you have time today to take some time out for a walk, 
wherever you are. 
thanks for reading. i really hope you will follow my blog.
a bientot...




 

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more about the kitchen

our kitchen here in our french farmhouse in the heart of france had been done on a shoestring budget and so the kitchen i had dreamed of wasn't possible. instead it looked a little like an appliance showroom, with a row of appliances. imagine my delight when a friend gave us a big long cupboard she didn't care for. 
the minute i saw it i knew it would be elegant simply painted white. 
isn't it pretty ?

it gives us extra worktop space that we were short on and i can put 'pretties' out on display - in the photo it is sporting our large hen tea cosy.
 
we took the back off the cupboard and store pans, tea towels, laundry liquid and lots of other kitchen essentials - close to hand but hidden from view....genius !...
and it was free, just the cost of a coat of paint. a great weekend project which transformed the room.

i really enjoy pretty items, large or small, which also serve as something really useful, storage etc. it something is a pretty shape imagine it painted white, cream or pearl grey....anything can be transformed with a coat of paint.

what projects have you been up to this weekend ? 
hope you've enjoyed it.
a bientot...





 

kitchen beams & parsley

as i was telling you yesterday, we recently painted our kitchen beams white. 
i took a couple of (clumsy) snaps to give you a wee bit of an idea.

i hung up some of my beloved baskets and blue enamelled pieces, all bought here in france...

...and here is the kitchen window which looks out over the courtyard at the front of our house dressed with white curtain pole and blue and white check curtains. blue and white, my favourite.


meanwhile...

...looking beautiful (next to more blue items !) on the kitchen sink windowsill is parsley, one of our three cats. 
he had just had his breakfast and was having a quiet daydream before heading out to snooze all day in the sunshine. he is very busy.

thanks for dropping by. 
hope that you had time for a quiet daydream or two today.
a bientot...

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painting the cuisine

when we bought our french farmhouse it had lain uninhabited for decades and was literally an empty shell.
despite the fact that my husband had worked really hard sandblasting every inch of wood of the interior of this empty shell, we decided recently to paint the big oak beams on the ceiling of the kitchen to brighten the space.

the dark brown was gloomy and so we chose pure brilliant white for a bright and fresh look. 
it was hard work, here is husband painting like a good thing.

after many hours of work, happily, our little french friend, gilbert, called at apéritif time and enjoyed a beer and admired the beams.

the 'boys' sat by the stove (gilbert is on the left) and had a chat about life; our little friend is quite the philosopher...maybe it is a french thing !

i will post a couple of pics of the fresh white beamed kitchen soon.


whether you are working hard or sitting quietly today, i hope it is a good day for you.
a bientot...

toute seule

for the past few days i have been toute seule, home alone, as my husband went back home for a visit to family and friends. 
i love some time alone, it is so relaxing and good for the soul. 

yesterday morning was a lovely morning, a little grey but mild and still, so i stopped for a petit chocolat chaud on the terrace in the square, served up in a cup and saucer in my favourite colours...a lovely little treat.

i am glad my husband is coming back tonight.
apart from his cheerful company i have also missed his cooking ! 
yes, he is a great cook and loves to get busy in the kitchen making home made soups, stews, gratin dauphinois to name a few.
in winter his favourite appliance is our old french wood fuelled cuisiniere.

this old dame makes the most wonderful baked potatoes

a favourite of ours in autumn, to make up for the fact that we still miss summer but it is cool outside, is a hot salad. 

fill a large bowl with salad leaves, with lots of rocket leaves on top. 
dress with basic vinaigrette laced with lots of ground black pepper and honey - a dressing made by my husband. 
a frequent hot topping that we love is lardons, fried with garlic and chillies....mmm. 

any hot topping will do - a recent wow was strips of beef with fresh ginger.

it is such a pleasure to be cooked for and i am quite spoilt but this evening i will have a special dinner ready for my husband and will make extra efforts to welcome him home. 
on that note, i must go, as i have lots to do !

wishing you a good sunday, whether you are tout seule or with friends and family today.
a bientot.... 

up with the lark

i love mornings, a special part of the day, and this morning i was up with the lark.
when i stepped outside with the dogs....i was amazed to see this incredible sunrise and couldn't wait to share it with you.

what a gift...it was so beautiful and changed by the second...

within a few minutes it was gone, the sun was up and the sky was a tranquil palest blue, giving no hint of the splendour of the sunrise.

in the fields after the sky show all was quiet....

i felt so privileged to have experienced it and hope the pics give you an inkling of it too.

hope your day started increcibly too.
a bientot.....

hearts in our house

we are still in the throes of renovating our farmhouse in the heart of france.
i love interiors but it can be a little frustrating living in dust etc during renovations. 
however, i always get pleasure from seeing my beloved hearts (and there are a lot of them) hanging here and there about the house. 
even in the most unfinished room seeing one of my hearts adorning a door handle or whatever makes me feel good.

 wooden heart hung on the door at the bottom of the stairs

this handsome heart greets us each time we head upstairs through this little old wooden door each night.

cream cotton heart cushion on my favourite chair 

this is my favourite chair; in linen it is such a neutral colour and sits beautifully against the neutrals of the stone walls. 

this little cream cushion sits nicely there.

twig heart

this little twig heart was a gift from my brother. it hangs on the knob of an old cupboard in the kitchen. i love its blue check ribbon.

big heart

this heart is large and chubby, embroidered with 'bonheur' - happiness.

it hangs at the sitting room window where it is clear to see the old windows have not been repelling the torrential rain very well recently !

these are just a few of my many, many hearts around our house.

i must show you more of them sometime soon.

in the meantime, hope your hearts are in a good place.

i really hope you will call again soon.

perhaps you might follow franceromance....i'd like that.

a bientot....

red sky at night...

yesterday evening, after four days of rain, the day ended with a pretty sunset.
pinks, blues and greys filled the sky.

i was really hoping this boded well for today and, lo and behold, the day dawned fresh and bright and we had blue skies and sunshine, hooray.

despite this, we kept the horses raincoats on as there was a chilly wind. 
lewis loved racing between them on his way to dig mole holes !

hope you keeping snug and warm just like the horses. 
keep sunny,
a bientot...

another rainy day in the heart of france

unbelievably, it is another rainy day here - day four.
the skies are changing by the second. i just love the parma grey of the stormy sky, so striking against the stone front of our farmhouse damp with the latest downpour.

the woodburners are lit and we nip out a few times a day with the dogs wrapped up against the elements to return damp and chilly to enjoy my husband's excellent home-made soups.

most recent was pumpkin soup, made creamy with a spoonful or two of creme fraiche, served up in gigantic orange mugs...mmmm.

afterwards, 'chef' enjoyed a little nap, sporting pumpkin coloured socks ! how appropriate.

what to do on a wet sunday ?
i must admit to enjoying spending time on a wet day checking out pinterest.com
it is jam packed full of images to ooh and aah over. 
images which are inspirational and at times so beautiful that they are soothing to look at. love it.

i have some of my photos pinned there too. 
why don't you stop by and check them out ?
keep warm and dry...until i talk to you tomorrow
a bientot...