Summer dreams.

My little plants are growing like miracle, and I need to plant them out soon.. I just hope weathr would turn warm enough to let them all stay out. it is impossible to carry all in and out every day.
We have bought herb collections, and many type of plants to our little city garden, and I am trying to take everything out of our out side space.

Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley, Sage, or Lavendel ( you can choose)

We already have these giving us summer feeling:

Pink Hortensia

..And weak bushes of Azalea, that I hope turn out like sea of flowers in the end..  I found them left behind by former people living in this house.. and planted them in to nice pot´s. They start to look like real thing again. Little water, and love does miracles.

I love this pink with white lining

 We are still lacking of relaxing space.. place where we can enjoy the sun, and have romantic retreat in the warm summer night, sipping cool wine, and listen music in candle light.. and I found perfect thing!! What do you think about this?!

I can just see us spending whole summer in this..

This would be great place to take a nap during the summer day, or take sun bath.. or just sit with your friends.. or just alone.. oh girl need´s to have dreams.. 
It is too expensive, but I must see if I find it somewhere with reasonable price.. used, or just cheap.
It would fit partly under neath our terrace, and would actually not take too much of a space from our little back yard, and it would "sink in" to it´s place so well. And.. when located little under neath of our terrace, it would be also hidden from neighbours eyes with big bush of :

Bamboo

I think these would make it perfect summer escape..

Little lanterns to burn candles in dark summer night´s
.. these dream lanterns are lovely..  I have one similar, already, but would be fun to get couple of more, and all of them different from each others like these.. all though I would like something that lets little more light out and have glass wall.. but all and all very attractive. I have always been little obsessed with white lanterns. I could use these in winter at Christmas time.. hm... versatile lanterns.. I might have couple.

Oh this type of a feeling would be nice..

I love these.. and light.

I like this idea, not very difficult to exicute actually

If I don´t find my dream canopy day bed from anywhere.. ( with reasonable price, I might think something like this.. Good isnpiration. I just like idea of roof above us because terrace floor above this "hide a way place" has little gaps, where spiders etc. can hide away.. and I want torelax in my little sanctuary and not think them..

Feets ready for summer

I am big believer of foot massage and bathing.. And realized that my feet look horrible.. I have been going on and off to our terrace bare feet ( it has been nice weather) and not really pay attencion to how they look or feel. Then took a fun photo of my toes pointing out and was horrified. My toe nails where yellowish and feets and legs pale, and too much dry skin.. no need to say more.
I walked in to our bathroom and let the hot water run in to bath top, and wanted to have spring fix.
I have tryed to get that yeallow color off but since it it not coming, I better cover it..

This is how you can make great pedicure for your self at home.


1. Take off your old nail polish.
2. Soak your feet´s in warm/hot water. I may put in some seasalt, rose petals, and bath oil, just to make it nice. My big favourite is mandarin foot soak, but I have no idea where to get it, I may need to make it my self. I can post you receipe later on.
3. Scrub your heel with feet scrub, if you don´t have any at home use sugar, or coffee instead. Sugar does less mess. You may use some harder heel scrub if there is lot dead skin cells to remove, but be carefull.
4. Finish cuticles by gently pushing them back and if they have grown too long, you may carefully cut them as well. You need to be carefull not to cut your self too deep, that will hurt, and is not our purpose.
5. Wipe your nails with polish remover to remove oils etc. that can be left from bath water.
6. put on base coat, and let it dry just a little. ( this is most important layer of your nailpolish, it helps color to stay, as well as it prevents your nails to get yellow like mine..)
7. put color, first layer, and let it dry a little, and second. Be carefull not to paint your cuticles. If that happens you may wipe exrta polish off with little coton pad.
8. Top coat is very good to use, it simply leaves nice and shiny look, and your polish lasts longer, as well as you can freshen up your polish simply just adding layer of  top coat is busy. I use always Quick dry, to avoid my beautifull nail polish getting bad.. by me kicking my toe to rug, or just my dog stepping on my toes..
9. Use thick foot balm to moisturaise your feet. they look always nicer when there is no dry flaking skin..

I used lotion that gives just a tiny bit color to my oh so pale complexion.. and I think it looks nice. 

Look what I did!! I think look of my feet improved dramatically.. and I know I wont go back to French Manicure on toe nails for pretty long time.. it looks hideous in photo..

Before.. looking hideous

After, ready for sandals!

Spring

 It is great sunny day AGAIN! I just love climat in UK.
I have planted 2 Atsaleas, and will continut my "gardening" later today..

Basil looks already strong  and it grows in speed of light! 

New type of a desert..

I wanted to have great champagne with my hubby.. putted bottle to Freezer and forgot it there..
Result.. top of the bottle had came out, and frozen Champagne was in huge pile in my just washed freezer ( same morning)and even more still in a bottle..
First, Cry, amusement ( How can I be this stupid.. ) And then trying to think how to use rest of the Champagne well, so that I would not miss a drop.. It was Marilyn Monroe´s favorite drink..

This is what I did.
Collected frozen drink to Vintage glass bowl ( it looked nice) sliced Strawberries to sweeten things a little ( I was quite bitter for my self, destroying great bottle of quality champagne)
And oh it tasted good.. I might not do this desert just very soon again.. I rather drink my Champagne than eat with the spoon.. but I still  liked it.

 

 ...and this is how my desert looked like.

I recommend Champagne from glass, not from plate.. in good company and with strawberries.

Sunny day Sunday

Oh what a spring.
It is my first one in London, and I must say that I really enjoy about it.
I have just done some gardening work today, planted two atsalea´s to our patio, and cleaned all old leaves away after winter.. made couple of stone asseblys on the back yard, and now need to do some internet shopping, since I need  somehthing for a swet pea to climb on as well as I would still ike to put dome weggies to grow!

I am dreaming of getting a tree on our little "garden" and I have gone through some gardening sites..
I am loving thought of Wisteria, or real tree.. and wisteria..
Only Problem is that I must keep them growing all in pott´s if we leave the house, I want to take them with us, and if I grow climber, it must climb a some kind of surface that is movable.. not our stars..

This Black Mulberry would be option. It is not terrible pricey, and it is fruit tree.. wants to grow in full sun.. which he have a plenty.  I should just keep it from growing too big, because.. I must keep it in pot..

I will write more when I know what I ended up finding.. If this house would be ours. there would be no problem.. it would be covered with Wisteria, and all possible flowers. and I would have little Gazebo at the back yard for rainy days, etc. but... I must remember that this is not our permanent solution.. hopefully one day we found house like this and that will be our own little cottage.

Guestroom.. and re thinking

I have already posted something ages ago  about guest room..
Our whole plan was to make a little library room where you can relax and sleep as well.
But... we ended up having so many books that it was impossible to create anything sensible in that sense.. so I thought. My hubby also wanted to have little "working corner" and room really is not very big.
Solution was, 35m  of books on shelves , nice chair to sit on and Working corner.. and it looked like this.

You can see corner of the table on the left corner, it is "the working corner" and it has been working fairly well like this.. but.
We needed to use room for sleeping and there it was.. problem.
I carry the chair away, and put mattress on the floor, and it just looks disgusting.
Nothing what I have thought, and It does not fit in nicely, so when you want to use lavatory behind the room ( for the guests) you need to jump over your own bed.. I mean mattress.
So.. need to make some re thinking.

Working corner will move, to living room so that we can use big computer screen also for watching tv from BBC iplayer ( I love it) and do some computing if needed.. all the wires are anyway in livingroom. It is not going to be as pretty as I thought, not wanting even television in to room to disturb nice "old fashioned atmosphere" but what can I do.

I think I found my solution after all.
Not easy, since book cases are now dark brown wood, and everything else is matched with them.. I would need sofa, so that things still look like relaxing place and little library room, but would still work WELL in sleeping purposes.
Normal sofa would look too bulky and heavy in that small space, so I thought this one from Laura Ashley would be great!

My dream sofa.. Alice single Bed Laura Ashley. 

This would be "airy" enough, and it has double bed option which is really great!
I have lovely Laura Ashley curtains and pillow cases ready, so it is easy to convert the look of the room.

Here is sample from the Laura Ashley Gosford fabric

I found also matching lamp shades from Laura Ashley. I am burning to have them.
I have too really beautiful candle sticks they are Old Vintage Tiffany ones.. I broke shades ( I thought I die when I did so) when we moved here.. and I would so like to use even part of them.. so these shades would actually look nice on them.

Same Gosford guilt as fabric for the curtains

I thought this bedcover would be nice on a sofa when it is used just sofa, and it is neutral  as well.
I find my inner Hyacinth Bucket thinking that Oh I hope no one will sit on it with new dark blue jeans..

I bought this one from Indiska, Swedish company. They have nice stuff.

I think these will create nice and  soft place to take a nap, read a book, or sleep.. or just simply have a little day dream, and listen music. It is important for me that my dearest likes the room as well.
It is also he´s escape place where he can close the door and have a peace and quiet after long day at the office.

I am starting to like it so much that I might want to sleep only in here..

Feel like I need more space

We have huge dinner table down stairs which is just place to collect my painting stuff, and we always eat up in the Kitchen anyway. We love the View to the Thames, and I don´t really think that any of our guest´s  are so "fine" that they would not be able to eat in the Kitchen.
So I might as well get rid of the table and 6 chairs.
I do have something on my mind already.. Baby Grand Piano.
It is my dream. and.. maybe Chesterfield sofa.
I love Gumtree, I have done so many great findings from there, that I might just go and see if I get to be lucky again. Last time I found Victorian drawer  with 10 pounds, and Georgian one with 50 pounds.
So now I need lucky stars again..
I would like to create a place to sit on front of the fire,  lift your feet´s up  cuddle on the sofa with my man and dog.
Grand piano.. Hmmm.. I just need  it if singing and giving lessons.
Fine, normal Piano would do it too, but.. If I happen to find Baby grand, I would rather have that.
If  am ever going to go to a geek somewhere where  they do not have Grand piano, I can always drag mine there, since piano transportation companies are reasonable priced in this country. In Finland they cost fortunes.

Keep your fingers crossed that I find what I wish.

this one is not "oroginal Acustic one" since I doubt that it would survive in our house..

I can already see us sitting on this..