OUR NEW NEPHEW

Here is my new Nephew, William Stanley O'Dell Nicholson born yesterday to my brother Andrew and his wife Lisa.  He weighed in at 7 Pounds and 10 oz.  We are so thrilled to be an Auntie and Uncle again, and Louis is so pleased to have another cousin.  Andrew and Lisa already have twin girls, Jude and Evie who are four in October. William is named after our late Grandfather William Stanley Nicholson who we lost in 1983. He would be so proud of his Great Grandchildren if he were here today - we miss him so much........... Congratulations to my brother and his wife on their new addition and to Jude and Evie who have a new little brother.
Jo xx

Pretty Displays

I have been having great fun since the downstairs has been finished creating little displays. Here are some pictures.  These are my two new 1930's child mannequins (who will be clothed at some time) with my little vintage early 20th century child's wheelbarrow, ready to hold some logs for the wood burner, but we don't want to think about cold weather just yet do we?

 

My vintage child mannequin with a vintage Union Jack flag (bought from the car boot this morning) around her shoulders held together by a gorgeous vintage pin brooch from the 1937 Coronation bought from my friend Julie at The Clothshed.  The idea for the flag on the mannequin was also copied from Julie!! (sorry Julie)   Coincidentally the day I received the pin brooch,  a flag from the 1937 Coronation I had recently purchased also turned up, it is destined to be made into a cushion. The lampshade is one of my hand made efforts.

Vintage flag balls in a cast iron urn (one of a pair)

A vintage 1920's fairy doll (meant to be for Christmas, but I can't bear to put her away) sitting against a vintage 1937 bottle of Moet Champagne.

A 1934 bottle of Veuve Clicquot Champagne (sadly not drinkable)

My two fairy dolls

My vintage 1930's Snow baby (again meant for Christmas, so you will no doubt see him again) sitting in my late Great Grandfathers chair.  I originally come from  High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire , famous for making furniture.  This chair is an original Wycombe chair, and a very treasured possession.

Some of my Winston Churchill memorabilia.  The photograph is an original press photo from the 1920's.  I absolutely adore him.  As you can see I am having fun moving all my bits and bobs around, and creating displays.  I am sure it will all change again.

Hope you all had a great weekend. xx

Finished (sort of) at last

HURRAH!!  The builders have finished.  One very busy day on Friday and they were done. What a relief, we have our cottage back at last.  There is still a long road ahead for us to be completely finished but the bare bones of the rooms are finally done.  We are so thrilled with the results, and I have been enjoying moving everything back in and re-arranging all my bits and bobs.

The old range has come through relatively unscathed, we do need to give it a clean up.  On the hearth is one of a pair of French lanterns that still needs to go up.  The lovely mirror is from Lucy at Corset laced mannequins, a fellow blogger who sells some gorgeous vintage goodies as well as mannequins, both vintage and new.  Here are some more pictures of our new downstairs, even though it is not quite finished.

The view through from the dining room through to the lounge.

The top end of the lounge with my treasured antique pine mirror, and plenty of shabby chic cushions.

Our old pitch pine Victorian linen press that now houses the television and satellite box (which I hate on show)  On the top is a miniature Victorian green house which is another treasured possession.

I have waited ages to be able to use my vintage needlepoint rug, it must have taken someone hours of pain staking work to complete and I love the roses on it.  The design is so intricate and must have needed a great deal of patience.

The bottom end of the lounge that we have made into a sort of study area with the bookcase, and eventually the computer (well I suppose we all have to give in to the 21st century)  Under the dome is my Victorian automaton, a rabbit in a cabbage that dates to around 1890, and was my 40th birthday pressie from hubby!  I have longed for one of these for many years and never thought I would get one, it took Andy ages to track one down for me, and I cried when he gave it to me.

The newly rebuilt fireplace complete with woodburner.

The dining room complete with vintage mannequin, of course.

The dining room, which still needs wall lights, we have some converted Victorian gas lamps on their way from Ireland - rather expensive, and having to be paid off!!  The curtains are also on their way, plain linen and Sarah Hardaker vintage paisley, her fabrics are gorgeous and I fell for the eiderdown style paisley fabric.

Our table and chairs that was an Ebay bargain.

Wouldn't be complete without a Lily Pug asleep on the sofa.  The dogs have been very good considering all this has taken five weeks.  They loved the builders, and enjoyed all the attention.  It has been a long hard slog but we have come through it.  At times we did wonder if it would ever be finished.  We are also extremely skint so it will be bread and pullet for the next few months, and no Ebay!!!!!!!!!!!  How will I cope? I will leave you with some before pictures to show you how ghastly it looked.  

Hope you all had a great weekend, I am off now to collapse in a very ungainly heap!

Jo xx

Village Scarecrow competition

We had a brief respite from the building work at the weekend, it was our village annual Gala and Scarecrow competition.  It was like something from Midsummer murders!!  We all expected to get up on Saturday morning to find a local murdered and dressed as a scarecrow in someone's front garden, such was the level of competition and secrecy surrounding designs.  Our effort was rather pathetic compared to our neighbours (but our excuse is having the builders in).

Ours was Hangman's corner (a recycled effort from Halloween)

Our neighbours did a joint effort, a fantastic pirates galleon called the 'Black Bobby' after Bob, one of our neighbours.  His wife mistakenly painted 'The Black Booby' on the galleon and they had to change it!!  They had three pirate scarecrows, a palm tree, coconuts, a treasure chest and loads of wanted posters up.  They won first prize, and rightly so.

Cap'n Bob of 'The Black Booby, sorry, Bobby' striking a pose reminiscent of Adam and the Ants in the front garden.

Carol and Nicks workmen in their front garden

Marie and Justins' farmyard

The scarecrow kid to the rescue

Hooray, it's Summer at the big house!!

Noddy

As you can see our road had a great time, and we all really enjoyed getting involved.  It really brings everyone together and creates such a lovely atmosphere.  There is talk of the Apollo moon landings next year!!! The gauntlet has been thrown down, watch this space!!!!!!!!!!!

Our cottage complete with vintage Union jack flag and vintage bunting ready for the Gala.  It was a lovely day and the weather was fabulous.

The Fonzie dog on my new (vintage) Edwardian leather sofa.