Autumn styling ....

Despite the feeling Summer had a revival this
past week, Autumn has really made its appearance.

For me the more reason to cosy up my home,

especially my 'new corner' in our living room.

Now all our boys have flown the nest, a very large
dining table wasn't necessary any more. 

At least not all the time, so my husband made me a new one, 

keeping the large tabletop standby when they are all at home.

I do love to make something new from an old piece of furniture.

We already established that the top of our garden table had its
best time, but the iron frame was still good enough as a base for a
new smaller dining table.

We bought some scaffolding wooden boards and
my husband made a new tabletop out of them.

He did exactly the same with the frame of our
garden bench.
With the two new dining chairs we also bought, all this
gives our dining area a whole new atmosphere. 

I'm so very happy with the end result.
Although I have a lovely working space upstairs, this new corner
and my birthday present (a very fast laptop) makes that I hardly use it nowadays.
This is now my favourite (working)spot!

The mirror behind the table is something I never get tired of but I've
added hooks on it, to make room for some (autumnal) displays.
At this point throwing all my good intentions to declutter overboard,
but I just can't help myself.

You can find the Hanging Basket here on our website

I made the little Rosehip Wreath myself, you can see below how ...

The French Linen Table Runner is also available (in two different sizes) at our Shop which you can find here

These are not the only new items on our website, here are the other ones ....

I love this Mini Butler Tray , not only to display Autumn at its best, but also a handy accessory in the kitchen 

Another lovely item for your kitchen is this Wire Iron Egg Basket

And when the nights are drawing in, this Knee-table to have a hot chocolate
 or meal in front of the TV.

In the meantime I enjoy everything the garden still has to offer

You can find the Bellied Jug and Country Diary on our Website

And in anticipation for the real life friends of this one
to make a regular appearance

You can find the Wallsticker Robin here

I also added some items to our Sale
in order to make room for the 'C' word 🙊 

But let's enjoy Autumn first, have a lovely weekend!

Anita
~xo~

My little (outdoors) sanctuary ....

I have expressed my love for Instagram and Pinterest once before with you and the way they are a constant inspiration.
In this case particularly the lovely (most English) ladies I follow on Instagram.

Last summer I saw many pictures passing of vases filled with sown flowers from their own garden. Especially there were the sweet peas where, in some cases, there seemed no end to its heyday.
And not forget to mention the home-grown vegetables on the even more inspiring allotments.
Through all this grew gradually the desire for my own (little) greenhouse in the garden.

I started my research for a little greenhouse and that turned out not such an easy task. After many hours browsing on the net I finally found one with the measurements that would fit perfectly on the spot I had in mind. With the "small" detail we had to collect it on the other side of the country.

Although gardening isn't really his thing I'm so fortunate with my husband, without complaining we drove to the east of the country to collect the kit and once home the even bigger job started.
It turned out to be a real DIY project because there were quite a few adjustments required before it became a solid greenhouse.

Our youngest son felt sorry for his dad so decided to help him and there was , except a few curses, also much laughter.
Love watching these two together, not only father and son but also so best buddies ....

And here the end result of their hard work, so very pleased with it ....

Almost starting to believe that soon I will be able to harvest my first tomatoes ....

And just replanted them as my "tutor" and "date" every Friday night in the person of dear Monty of Gardeners' World told me to do ....

Hopefully flowers from the sweet peas in the making ....

But also a place I love to spend time with everything I need around me ....

Even outside the greenhouse work in progress - hope to get these strawberries in time before the birds do ....

A lovely gift from my husband, a little greenhouse with more sweet peas ....

Sharing almost everything with my sisters I also told them of this new adventure and they followed the whole thing with big interest.
After I had compared ourselves with (you may know) the lovely and at the same time hilarious couple Tom and Barbara from the old seventies television series The Good Life  my sisters couldn't resist to call us by that name. And started to ask when they could have their first home grown meal.
Besides having a sense of humor they are also so thoughtful when it comes to gifts because isn't this cute, this small shovel (also very handy to plant out seedlings) with the inscription dear sis ....

After I had hardened off the sweet peas and planted them in the large flower bed also build by my husband I just couldn't believe my eyes.
Because this is one of the many flower buds I just discovered ....

And ta-da ... my first pick from the garden ....

When you read this I'll be on my way to my beloved England. And I'd better warn you in advance because I'm afraid my next post will be with a whole lot of that beautiful country (and hopefully a garden full of sweet peas!)

Anita
~xo~ 

DIY .... a family affair in this house

I wanted to share the following for a long time with you but there was still something missing .... curtains !

Now they finally hang I can't wait to show you what my husband kept very busy this past Spring.

It all started by buying new covers for my Ektorp sofas you can see here. I bought the sofas several years ago with the Blekinge white covers but wanting something different I decided to go for the also natural but more coloured Risanne natural cover.

Once home I put them on the sofa and it just didn't felt right. What followed next was that within minutes the whole room was turned upside down (by me if that wasn't obvious yet) leaving a gap in the bay window where used to be one of our two sofas ....

I don't understand why I didn't come up with this idea earlier because how perfect a seat would fit in my bay window . Luckily my husband was also enthusiastic being the one who should make it. And like always one thing leads to another, because we also decided to replace the single cabinets for built in on either side of the window.

Quite a project, but what I love about my family is that with this kind of 'adventures' our boys are always supportive. In this case having a son who is in his last year of the Academy of Architecture the design of this idea was quickly outsourced ....

When the design was finished building could begin and eventually took many weekends to complete. In the beginning under 'close supervision' of the designer himself, including testing and drinking coffee. At the end my husband was a bit fed up with the whole project, being busy with it for many weekends. So it was a welcome surprise that our youngest son ( who really isn't into DIY at all) volunteered to give him a hand with the painting.

It was a long project but I'm still so very pleased with the end result and of course very proud of my husband. Beyond the fact that we now have more seats it also makes the space much larger ....

Because the back of the seat is tilted, it's also really comfortable ....

I bought the foam seat cushion at the market where I also found this beautiful fabric to upholster the seat ....

So very pleased how the old dressing table stool that belonged to my mum also found his new destination in my home ....

The door knobs are from Sissy-Boy Homeland ....

The linen curtains AINA are from Ikea and have just the natural look that I was looking for. They also have the perfect curtain rod combination for a bay window for sale with as accessory this corner connector . The beautiful heart shaped garland was a gift from the lovely Kate from Oyster Bridge & Co ....

The warm air of the central heating circulates through vents ....

By the length of the curtain, there was enough left to also make curtains for the side window (even managed to squeeze out a skirt) by using the following gathering tape ....

Since it's finished it has been the centre of birthday celebrations , family gatherings and favourite

chill space of the son who has his own home for over a year now but still spends quite some

time at home .... 

And for me it's my special place in the morning, enjoying the morning sun just like these
two little sheep ....

Now we're on the subject sun .... in spite the arrival of Autumn they forecast an Indian Summer for this upcoming week, enjoy it!

Anita
~xo~

A long friendship gathered around a spring table ....

About a week ago three dear friends came to dinner.
More than thirty-three years ago our friendship began as colleagues. Even though we have, for a long time now, all other jobs we always stayed in touch.

Over the years we shared so much together while we lead different lives. Some of us got married, two started a family, one is still happy single and one friend moved abroad, returned and will leave again this summer for a permanent stay with her husband in France. But these changes will not affect our friendship, the past years already taught us.

Just like our friendship we're very consistent in meeting each other. We meet four times a year at someones home and last week it was my turn to entertain.
Not only I really like to put a menu together but also styling the table is just as enjoyable.

Most of the times I'm inspired by my everyday surroundings as this time by .... the great spring weather we have and nature awakens, resulting in lots of flowering plants.
And believe it or not this cute napkin that I really had to buy the other day .... all signs for a Spring table.

 ,

Because I had bought a small (spring) gift (flower seeds) for everyone I made name cards which I also used as wrapping. To make them I used cotton rag paper , raffia and bits of the napkin ....

Here how it looked on the table ....

The nests I bought years ago at a garden centre now came in handy to create a real
springlike table setting ....

It was also a nice opportunity to try a new recipe and this croissant pastry with scrambled eggs and salmon as entree fitted well with the spring theme ....  

If you want to give it a try you need the following ingredients:

( for 4 people )

  100  gr smoked salmon

    25  gr of butter

     4  slices French pastry

     4  eggs

     4  tablespoons creme or demi creme fraiche

     1  tablespoon fresh chopped dill

     salt and pepper 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Grease the cups with butter. Cover them with a thin layer of pastry.

Whisk the eggs with the cream, salt and pepper. Add the salmon (into small pieces) and dill to the egg mixture and pour on the pastry. About 15 minutes in the oven while occasionally stirring.

If you're going to try the recipe , enjoy your meal!

Have a lovely weekend .... happy Easter. 

Anita xo

Happy (blog) Birthday to me ....

Not only it's my Birthday today but also my first blog anniversary!
Exactly a year ago this "birthday girl" gave herself a (in the meantime very precious)
present , my own blog !

At first really scary and still finding it a bit exciting every time I push the button to publish a new post.
But all in all it was the best thing I have gave myself in years.

Every time I'm so touched by the heartwarming response here, on my Facebookpage and through Instagram. So very pleased that people take the time to leave a comment.

At the same time it's also a little diary because it documents all kind of events and moments who are dear to me.
I hope you will join me for a little trip 'down memory lane' ....


This is where it all started , my first post  Looking back on the past year ....

                                                                           


An emotional event was surely my middle son who bought his first own home. And even the fact that his flat is "just around the corner" it's still the first child which leaves the nest.
It turned out to be such a fun and happy time, decorating his first home together .
You can read more about it over here  Mood board aka Mother board ....

After my return with my family to my beloved England after so many years it soon became clear that it would not be our last visit.
So my husband and I returned the next year resulting in  A little homesick ....

With a son who left home we got more space in our house and a long-cherished wish came true , still so very pleased with  My own (work) space ....

Last Summer I had a lovely day with my eldest son, the one who takes his mum to the museum.
A post filled with all the beauty we saw in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam
A cultural day within the joys of motherhood .... 

And this very lucky mum had the privilege to have had a short family holiday with the presence of all our (grown) boys  Summer holiday ....

It was also a year which I allowed myself a little more time to do the things I most like
DIY .... fruit salad for the birds

And sometimes a bit  Reminiscing ....

But most of all it was about sharing my thoughts and memories with you  A year filled with (most of all sweet) memories .... 

So this year it is again a very nice gift because I never dreamt this a year ago.
Thank you so much for joining me this past year and I hope many returns!

Lots of love,
Anita xo