Fairy Cottage is born!!! Backyard Transformation Part II

This our brand new log cabin summerhouse 10ft x 10ft. We had the garage torn down and moved our decking just outside our back door to create this space.

Those horrible white peeling fencing walls are now covered by our lap panels. I can't tell you what a difference that made!

So, we moved the decking and added the steps down which used to be just outside the back kitchen stable door. We decided to gravel the area around and will continue to add pots of flowers for the environment.






I made all the curtains myself from leftover bits and pieces of fabric I had. I think the contrasting fabrics add interest.


The idea is that when visitors come over, Simon and I will sleep here and the guests can have our bedroom. Therefore we insulated the walls with loft insulation and covered them in tongue & groove. We also had just enough leftover flooring from our house we had saved and so the floor now has combilay insulation and 1 inch worth of solid wood flooring to keep the heat in.

We really wanted a woodburning stove in here but as we were quoted upwards of £2000 for the job we opted to buy an electric heater that looks like a woodburner from Dunelm for £50. This was by far the most impressive purchase I have made in a long time! It even makes 'crackle sounds'!!

I moved our dryer from the kitchen to this little cottage as it is a condenser dryer and does not require an outside ventilation. I built the 'facade' around it and used muslin cloth to make 'curtains' to hide the front.

Here's the sofa bed. Like all the other furniture in the cottage it was bought pre-loved but well looked after.



OK, my one splurge. I fell in love with the 'Harvest' tea set from Marks & Spenser and have been buying a few pieces on ebay. We just thought it would be nice to have tea or coffee whilst in the cottage, especially on cold winter nights when we just feel like hanging out.

I hope you've enjoyed our new space. We are truly over the moon with it. My mantra for the last couple of years now is 'you've got to make the space work for you' and with a dilapated garage and decking placed in an awkward location, the space wasn't making us happy. Now we have added more living space, and hopefully, value to our home.

The Flowersack Autumn Collection

So when I'm not feverishly making super soft organic cotton flannel hankies for the, well, feverish, I'm making gorgeous dresses for little girls! My alter ego business, Flowersack, is now proudly exhibiting the Autumn Collection for 2009.

I'm very excited about these dresses. I love the patchwork feel to them and mix and matching them up with turtlenecks and tights or leggings would make the little girl in your life the prettiest little pumpkin in the patch!

Flowersack dresses start at only £7.99 and are available on my website, www.flowersack.co.uk or on www.amazon.co.uk.

Watch out for the Christmas Collection arriving in a few short weeks...

Back yard transformation Part 1

If you know anything about Simon or me then you'll know we don't sit around for too long! With the erm, extra time Simon now has on his hands, we decided to move full steam ahead with a project so near and dear to my heart. Yes, we are getting our own 10 ft x 10 ft log cabin installed next week!



The preparation for this has been painful though. First the old white garage that came with the house had to be torn down and removed.



Then the decking we had in the middle of the garden which was covering a square patch of clay-like ground, was moved, yes SLID OVER, to reside just outside our back stable door which comes off the kitchen extension. I must say I am so pleased to have the decking just outside the back door, I just want to be there all the time!



Then, a new fence needed to be erected which Simon and a friend did yesterday.


Next Tuesday the log cabin will appear and then the long white fence to the left hand side will be masked with more lap fencing thus keeping it pretty for us on the inside and keeping the old wooden fencing on the outside for security.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! :D

Ah, nut roast!

Well my goodness, if you've never tried nut roast before, you really are missing out on a treat! Simon, in one of his many talents, pulled this one out of his old vegan days! Yes, he made it himself for me on Sunday and wow! I could eat that from now on instead of roast beef if I ever needed to. If I get enough interest, maybe I could persuade Simon to part with his recipe. :D

What Simon's been up to lately

Hello all. Far from crying in a corner over his redundancy, Simon has dusted off his musical skills and started playing guitar again. He's really good. My poor neighbour, she's so understanding, she says she thinks Simon should go on X Factor, but she does have to hear him EVERY day practicing, as do I. :D

His singing is really good too. I'm really proud of him. Right now the idea is for him to start getting gigs again (he used to play in the 80's) round pubs and clubs as a bit of a Bob Dylan tribute and other artists of the 60's/70's. His version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' is simply stunning!

Aside from that, Simon wants to start working in the horticulture (land based industry). He is currently enrolled in a distance horticultural diploma course which he finds really fascinating and is now volunteering 2 days a week at the RSPB and Nature's World - 2 fine nature reserves nearby. (Obviously he'd prefer paid employment but experience counts for a lot!)(Will keep you posted on this!)

We are both staying positive about his situation. Afterall, they say the one thing in life you can count on is change.

File this under: Just because you can doesn't mean you should

So today I read an article about how experts are soooo close to ridding us all of the 'evil' greenfly (or aphid). Basically they are reading its entire DNA code so that they can find weak spots so that they can design a pesticide to kill them off.

Ok, my first thought was 'oh wow, ok'. Then I thought, wait a minute, ladybirds (ladybugs) eat aphids - and I mean they REALLY eat a lot of them EVERY day. I can even guarantee you that if you had say a rose bush covered in greenfly and you introduced a few ladybirds to the rose bush, in a few days you would not have greenfly!

When are people going to realise the answer to problems in this world is not chemicals? That, nature has provided us with so many solutions that to look to chemical manufacturing is just wrong.

Here is the article: Ridding Greenfly

Less grey, more green!

Yesterday I read an interesting article that stresses the importance of creating green spaces, especially in urbanised areas. One of the points made I felt was really interesting and something I had never given much thought to, but it reminds us that as more and more people are laying concrete in their back gardens to avoid 'grass' etc, that they are taking away what is so vital to all of us - greenery.

I don't want to give everything away from this really interesting article so here is the link: Garden Grabbing Could Cost Lives