Back to normal
After my wonderful holiday on the Isle of Mull, it's now time to get back to 'normal'. There is washing to be done, a dog to be walked, rooms to be decorated and of course, the house to be kept tidy and meals to be prepared. Whoever said housework wasn't 'real' work, obviously didn't do any!
Yesterday was the first day without rain that we'd had for 4 days - and it was supposed to be the middle of July! So apart from the ever-arduous task of doing shopping, we managed to start painting our bedroom. We went for the same colour as the living room and dining room, a creamy-buttermilk, which is both clean and warm without being stark. On one wall of our bedroom it is red, a bright, vivid red, which is liveable-with because when in bed, you don't see it at all. But it makes that end of the bedroom very dark, so away it must go. For now it'll probably be the same colour as the other four walls, but i can't wait for the time when i can choose a heavenly colour to match our heavenly bedroom :-)
Today, i woke up with a purpose, yet more gardening. In our absence during the holiday, the beds were full of weeds, our lawn was returning to 'jungle' status, and milkweed was everywhere. I first mowed and strimmed the lawn, avoiding the many grasshoppers who have taken refuge in our garden, and all of the spiders, snails and other small crawlies that make our garden such a natural habitat. I also took the time to dig some of the grass-weeds back into the soil, to encourage natural (or green) fertilising. At the moment, apart from the herbs, blackcurrant, peony and roses, the garden consists completely of annuals. This means, that come the end of the season, i'll be covering the beds (carefully as to avoid the plants that i want to keep) in either a heavy mulch of bark chippings or 'weed supressing membrane'. This will get rid of the weeds once and for all, giving a fresh start next spring.
The cottage garden patch is going to be half cottage garden / medicinal and half veg-patch due to the compost heap getting so big it's going to need planning permission and it's own map-reference. Must think 'good compost' thoughts, get it going a bit.
My other task for today is to start painting woodwork (joy). Not something that i like doing in the slightest, but if you had to see bright tourqoise coloured skirting boards, stair ballustrades and door frames, wouldn't you pull your hair out? I could've lived with it for a little longer (ever the procrastinater, me), but we have a visit from my partners' parents soon. It has sort of kick-started me into getting things done. Usually i'd wait until the depths of winter - or at least October - to contemplate such an overhaul, but seeing as the weather has been less than summery, i thought i'd get it done.
I highly recommend avoiding gloss paint with high VOC content (basically the ones that smell very strongly and make you feel woosy), because they always give me a headache and stink the house out for ages. I am using a satin paint, which is low odour, and looks fabulous. Plus, it saves on headaches :-)
Yesterday was the first day without rain that we'd had for 4 days - and it was supposed to be the middle of July! So apart from the ever-arduous task of doing shopping, we managed to start painting our bedroom. We went for the same colour as the living room and dining room, a creamy-buttermilk, which is both clean and warm without being stark. On one wall of our bedroom it is red, a bright, vivid red, which is liveable-with because when in bed, you don't see it at all. But it makes that end of the bedroom very dark, so away it must go. For now it'll probably be the same colour as the other four walls, but i can't wait for the time when i can choose a heavenly colour to match our heavenly bedroom :-)
Today, i woke up with a purpose, yet more gardening. In our absence during the holiday, the beds were full of weeds, our lawn was returning to 'jungle' status, and milkweed was everywhere. I first mowed and strimmed the lawn, avoiding the many grasshoppers who have taken refuge in our garden, and all of the spiders, snails and other small crawlies that make our garden such a natural habitat. I also took the time to dig some of the grass-weeds back into the soil, to encourage natural (or green) fertilising. At the moment, apart from the herbs, blackcurrant, peony and roses, the garden consists completely of annuals. This means, that come the end of the season, i'll be covering the beds (carefully as to avoid the plants that i want to keep) in either a heavy mulch of bark chippings or 'weed supressing membrane'. This will get rid of the weeds once and for all, giving a fresh start next spring.
The cottage garden patch is going to be half cottage garden / medicinal and half veg-patch due to the compost heap getting so big it's going to need planning permission and it's own map-reference. Must think 'good compost' thoughts, get it going a bit.
My other task for today is to start painting woodwork (joy). Not something that i like doing in the slightest, but if you had to see bright tourqoise coloured skirting boards, stair ballustrades and door frames, wouldn't you pull your hair out? I could've lived with it for a little longer (ever the procrastinater, me), but we have a visit from my partners' parents soon. It has sort of kick-started me into getting things done. Usually i'd wait until the depths of winter - or at least October - to contemplate such an overhaul, but seeing as the weather has been less than summery, i thought i'd get it done.
I highly recommend avoiding gloss paint with high VOC content (basically the ones that smell very strongly and make you feel woosy), because they always give me a headache and stink the house out for ages. I am using a satin paint, which is low odour, and looks fabulous. Plus, it saves on headaches :-)
posted by VintagePretty at 9:42 pm
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