More House Pics

We were up north this weekend for a colleague's wedding and had a great time. On the way there, we stopped off at a show home warehouse and picked up a couple of pieces of furniture.

The first is a stool that we have near the entrance hallway. We ask all our visitors to take their shoes off when they come into the house and have had some funny situations with people hopping around trying to put their shoes back on when they leave. Hence, we thought a stool might come in handy and would also be useful in preventing any injuries!


The second item we bought is a lovely chair on brass castors. This is in the dining room and can be brought out into the living area if we need any extra seating for when guests come over.


It's a pity that the sun wasn't shining when I took these photos of the dining room, but this IS Brrringland after all! However, you can still see how lovely and light the room is.

The kitchen is just off the dining area.


When you guys come over, this is where you'll sleep. I absolutely love the vintage cheval mirror in the corner of the room.


I still haven't bought a new sofa yet, so photos of the living are will have to wait.

Maybe Not Love, But At Least Contentment

This weekend, P and I moved into our new rented house: a lovely three bedroom semi-detached family home. It's less than a mile from where we used to live in the Victorian cottage, but a whole world away.

I have forgotten how wonderful it is to be in a modern house where the building insulation is effective, the shower doesn't have a mind of its own going from hot to cold and hot again all in the space of two seconds and where mold doesn't lurk in every damp and dark corner. We also have two 'pp rooms' in this place, yahooooooo!

It was hard work but we managed to move everything within a day. Although we are not 100% there yet, we are close. We are in a wonderful little cul de sac of about a dozen houses, most of which are inhabited by retirees and families. There are other Asians here too and our immediate neighbour is a lovely lady from Tom Yum Land.

This is the view from our front yard:

On the day we moved, so many of them came out to meet us. We already have a dinner invitation from one of the Fragrant Harbour families two doors down! I'm happy.

Chynna loves it here too. She has had so much attention from everyone and she enjoys tearing round and round the back garden. And yes, this time, we have grass! Plus perfumed rose bushes, my absolute favourite flower.

We still need bits and pieces of furniture and once it's all completed, I will take photos and update the blog.

In the mean time, I have a 'sneak peek' of what is to come. The only room that is finished is the master bedroom. It is in my favourite shabby chic style with whites, creams, light browns and pale greens making it a calm oasis.

This is the view into our room from the hallway:

As there wasn't enough drawer space, I used two white open book shelves that the landlady had left behind for my sweaters, jeans and folded clothes. However, not wanting to leave it open to 'collect dust', I came up with the novel idea of using two of my vintage hand worked lace tableclothes to cover them up. I think it looks really pretty.

White baskets, lace and vintage chandeliers are the order of the day:

Best of all, our room overlooks the back garden:

I can't wait for the rest of the house to be finished. It will be amazing and I think you all will be particularly impressed with the dining room conservatory.

And while I may never love this country, at least in this house, even though we've only been here a few days, it feels like it could be home.