Its Taken Forever But Nearly There

I'm talking of course about my house, it hasnt really taken forever but I thought I would share with you one of my treasured possesions, given to me by hubby a few years ago, I'm not sure if you can make it out but the word 'forever' is etched on the marble heart, I love it sooo much!!
Anyway back to the forever house, its a busy week here, we finally had internal doors fitted after removing the 70's style top to bottom bobbly glass style ones when we first got the keys, waaaay too dangerous with 4 boys plus various friends running around the place. Now as you can see the top half is again glass but reassured bloggers it is safety glass...lol! I knowi ts daft but I really love these doors, I havent seen this style before and as I have a thing for tongue and groove they are perfect. I also love the handles, shiny and very heavy, they look beautiful, they came from Handles for Doors and I can definatly recommend their service.

Thursday see's the arrival of French doors and windows for the family room, I originally wanted wood french doors but the quotes were way more than uvpc, so I've been waying up the pros and cons, the house will be warmer and they will be easier to maintain as I know myself and hubby will forget to treat the wood..tut tut. I'm definatly going to have a wood stable door when its time to replace the back door!!

Saturday and Sunday is decking day, as I've had more or less free reign in the house to decorate, I suggested to hubby that he could do so in the garden, he was straight on the blower and had the decking man out within days, so hopefull by Sunday we will be looking pretty much finished apart from the hall and landing which I have no clue what to do.......suggestions greatfully appreicated! There's still bits and bobs left to be tarted up like the boys rooms as we quickly just painted the younger two's bedroom and did wallpaper Max's tiny box room with CK footie paper but thats all we've done in them!

There are two new additions to the living room or I think I might start calling it a parlour....lol.....feels very posh! The first is the bookcase, which was my bargain from a gorgeous shop in Cardiff...Rossiters, its the sister shop of the one in Bath but on a smaller scale. The first floor is heavenly, full of gorgeous goodies and treats and the basement has furniture which is where I found my bargain, but I am a bit dubious as the original price was £1100 and I got it for £185. Now it is beautiful but I doubt very much if the original price was that as I would never pay it even if I had the spondooleys too but at £185 ta very much!!

The second purchase is the mirror, bought from a lovely interiors and gift shop near to me, I thought it was diffrent to the ones I've been seeing in other shops and magazines and the wood frame matches the bookcase so well! Dont know whats going on with the circle thingy in the pic of the mirror!!

Well now I've written war and peace......does anyone else find they have to explain everything, I'm like it when I text too....lol....... Just finished watching Lipstick Jungle, ooooo I'm loving it so much even more than Sex In The City.

Nighty Night.............Claire xx

Have Fun

To everyone going to the Vintage and Handmade Fair tomorrow, have a great time. I only wish I was one of you too!! Claire xx

Awards, thankyou's and bargains!!!

Good evening ladies, I should say men as well but I dont think that there are many of you out there reading my blog.....lol! As you can see I have been awarded the 'Real Persons Award', funny name but I think it means that you are as real as your blog.....which we all seem to be on here! It was given to me by the gorgeous Mel Mel, thankyou hun, I love your 'real blog too'.
I have to award it to 7 lovely bloggers so I award it too,
Lesely - Notes From My Days
Mary - Mary Poppins
Natalie - Summer By The Sea
Alison - Vintage Amethyst
Clairey - Blogging For Brenda ( I need to change this to Nothing Will Go Wrong)
Kathy - My Life and Other Beads, who's been an extremly busy lady at CL fair
Lea - All Things Shabby Chic, although I dont know where she has dissapeared too...lol!

Now this is a very belated thankyou to the lovely Natalie at Summer By The Sea, she very kindly made me this along with a gorgeous yellow heart (which I forgot to take a pic of but it is hanging in my kitchen) and I love it, it goes perfectly in my kitchen, thankyou again, you are so kind, I promise that you do have something on its way, that goes for you to Catherine aka Molly Cupcakes, I honestly have the worst memory ever and I do owe you a huge apology!!


Now onto my bargain, a Greengate king size throw for £40, I purchased mine from Homescence which is the same company as TK Maxx, I had seen the navy blue throw which Mel Mel has got in TK Maxx a week ago, I picked it up and put it back for ages but decided not to get it as I was supposed to be getting christmas pressies ( I ended up purchasing a gorgeous bookcase from Rossiters in Cardiff, its the same store as the one in Bath, and had it for a real bargain, I'll post about it in my next post), of course when I got back home I wished I had purchased it especially after seeing it looking gorgeous in Mels house. A few days later I popped into Homescence and they had the above throw and two smaller navy blue ones, I took hubby back later in the evening and he very kindly bought it for me even though he hates it and was convinced the boys would hate it to, much to his surprise they dived straight under it and have done ever since!!

Finally a piccie of my three taken on Children In Need Friday, it was wacky clothes day in school and they could go as mad as they wanted but this was the closest I could get them to going wacky, they also had odd socks on which isnt hard to do in my house....lol!!

Have a good evening.........Claire xx

Oh To Be a Ladyeeeee in New York!

Did anyone happen to see the Little Britain sketch the other week with Emily singing with Sting....brilliant!! This brings me to the below picture, I love it so much, it goes perfectly in my bedroom. The lady is very Sophia Loren looking, very stylish and of course it has the NY detail in the back ground! It's from BHS af all places, I first saw it a few weeks ago but didnt like the price, plus it had a mark on the frame, a couple of days later my aunty and uncle were in there as there was a 20% weekend, now my aunty is brilliant to go shopping with as she will always get a bargain, they got it down to half price due to the mark on the frame, then when they went to pay, the staff couldnt find the code so used another picture which was cheaper then still gave them 20% off so it was a HUUUGE bargain!! Yippeee!! By the way, my uncle did a brill job on hiding the mark on the frame....thankyou!!
A cosy view of my side of the bed, as I'm the only 'ladyeee' in the house, our bedroom is verly femanine, the wallpaper you can just see in the below pic has gorgeous butterflys over it. We've wallpapered the one wall behind the bed and the chimney breast opposite it, the other two walls are a gorgeous pink. When my 9 year old first saw it, he said, 'poor Steve' (his stepdad)....lol!

Just a few details from the bathroom, I'm not happy with colour blue above the tongue and groove but have yet to find a colour I like, now I've added the below pic, I have to say that the marks on the dado look like dust but honestly its the paint needing another coat!!!

I've now started adding my bits and bobs to the shelves from a previous post!!

Ta ta for now.....claire xx