Before and after chalk painted furniture and guest room

I think I've just about finished redecorating for this winter and now I'm going to get out and start tidying the flower and herb beds! I've been out for precisely one walk this year on a non windy, sunny day, so I'm rather itchy to get out more. I have been exercising once a week in the little gym at my physios, which I think is starting to help a teeny bit. I saw a pain doctor last week and he wants me to start doing balneotherapie (amongst a large list of other things which I doubt they do at my physios, like having mud treatment!). However, they do have a mini pool for that kind of exercise at the physios, but whether they can fit me in for 3 sessions a week I rather doubt it, as they are run off their feet and seem to be seeing multiple patients at the same time. Whatever, in the summer at least I can do those exercises at home. Yes, I still have pain, both from the mesh from the hernia repair and from an on and off over the years tendonitis problem in my thigh, which the pain doctor declared was sciatica; I don't agree but he wasn't the kind of person who listens and liked to talk and shout a lot.

This wasn't meant to be a health update, just to show some piccies of my furniture and guest room now that they are finished! So let's get on with it....

The Before of the pine chest of drawers in the guest room:

After:

I have to say I'm rather chuffed with it - the headboard and then this chest were the first pieces of furniture that I have painted with chalk paint - up to now I've just been practicing on things like picture frames, plant pots and lamp shades. I finished the painted chest in clear wax, then put dark wax in the few nooks and crannies to give an aged look. It doesn't show up so well in my phone photos indoors, but I'm sure you get the picture. 😀

Here's a picture of the wall that I painted, with the furniture mostly back in place. I'm just leaving the mattress out from the headboard until the wax is fully cured, which can take up to a month. This isn't the bed that goes with the bedhead, ours is much higher and once the pillows are in place it will be more or less hidden, but I wanted it painted. I also painted the picture frame above. That is the picture which inspired the autumnal colouring I chose in our last few bedrooms. It's of a ripe wheatfield with wild flowers including poppies in it. Actually I wish it were a bit bigger now as it looks a bit lost here, but heck, it's a guest room and I don't have to look at it every day. 😁

I also painted the lamp shades a few years ago and decorated the bases with thick sisal string. The one thing that is not going to be painted are our cherry coloured bedside tables, which we've had since we lived in London and I love them just as they are. But I think the mix of dark and painted wood looks rather nice. There is a chest at the end of the bed which I'm thinking of painting the same as the other furniture, but sanding back the lid and restaining/varnishing in a cherry wood tint.

Now we're going upstairs to my dressing room. Yes, I have my own dressing room. It was my dream, and we really don't need two guest bedrooms any more, so I chose the smallest bedroom and it was furnished with Ikea's Pax system. Pax is absolutely brilliant as they have so many different choices for the interior organisation, from glass fronted drawers, to pull out shoe racks, to pull out jewellery tray organisers. However I had an old very dark brown chest of drawers in there which came from my mum (when I say old, I mean from the 80s, not antique!!) and whilst I liked it as it was, I also wanted to paint it. I already had a few things in duck egg blue in there and that's the colour I wanted to paint it. Here's a really crappy before pic with a very blurry black cat as well.

And now:

I dry brushed over the Duck Egg with Svenska Blue, which is a very similar colour, and as I didn't have any white wax I did the same effect as with the beige chest of drawers but using Old White paint, watered down, then wiped back so it stuck into the crevices just like wax does. It's not supposed to be all neat and perfect, the look is rustic. Well, that's what I am calling it. 😀 The top didn't look right with the dry brushing though so I just repainted over in Duck Egg. All Annie Sloan Chalk Paints.

The dressing room: I have loads of clothes because my clothing size has changed so many times since having cancer and I'm not throwing anything away! I had to buy more small clothes after having bought large ones and throwing the small ones away (to charity), what with moving and all that. So now I'm banned from getting rid of any clothes anyway 😀 so I need this space!

I took some slightly better photos today, as when I took the ones above the light was too bright coming through the window to get the top without it being totally blown out. I put the light on for these ones and the paint looks a bit more like the colour that it is.

It's not 'staged' 😀 because I want the top to cure before I put the mirror and plant etc back on top, and I left it up on blocks for a few days whilst it was curing.

Spring has definitely sprung here with the wild almond blossom out all over the countryside and K reports the wood anemones are flowering down in a sheltered spot in a valley where he goes for his long walks. I have daffies flowering on the terrace and in fact have had to water all my large pots around the pool terrace as we hardly had any rain in February! I saw a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly about two weeks ago, K saw some on his walk on Sunday and I saw a little blue one in our garden a few days ago. Aaah, I do love my flutterbies and look forward to them finding my nectar bar this year. 💜

Redecorating, home grown citrus and garden birds

Hi everyone! I’ve been quiet of late as I have been down in the basement painting in my spare bedroom. I wanted to brighten up the boring cream walled room, and do something with some of the dull brown pine furniture. 

We inherited a bed head, a tall chest of drawers and a wardrobe from the previous owners, which with the addition of some of our own wooden furniture meant there was a right mix of different wood colours. I decided to start on the bed head and the chest of drawers as they were the most boring pine pieces. But first, I painted the wall behind the bed in Annie Sloan’s new wall paint in ‘Riad Terracotta’. The reason for the bright colour was because all the accessories in this room are lovely autumnal colours from our last bedroom (as we have gone for a completely different colour scheme in our new bedroom for a change).

I had ordered some lovely brass knobs for the furniture as I loathe the basic pine knobs that were on the chest of drawers. But when they arrived, I discovered something surprising. The current knobs weren’t screwed in, but had been glued in from the outside! Cue my wonderful husband to the rescue, who managed to carefully saw them off, then chisel down any remaining bits down flat, then drill holes for my new knobs. The base of the new knobs was smaller and didn’t cover all the marks from sawing the old ones off, but as I was painting the chest of drawers, it didn’t matter. However I am leaving the pine knobs on the wardrobe for now, as I don’t plan on painting that at the moment, if at all. (It has two drawers under the wardrobe part).

The wall behind the bed painted in Annie Sloan 'Riad Terracotta' wall paint: I have been using her chalk paint the last two years but the wall paint is a new product and it went on over a pale wall in three coats. The dark red wall behind the bed in our room took four coats of regular paint (Leroy Merlin's own brand wall paint, Luxens)! I have bought some new paint for the rest of the walls (light cream) but I am in no rush to paint them yet. 

The bedhead has been painted in Annie Sloan chalk paint in 'Versailles', which is a beige with a khaki hint. It was then covered in her clear wax, then distressed with dark wax in the crevices, then another coat of clear wax for added protection. You do have to spend some time buffing it all up when the wax has dried overnight, but when it has dried and cured after a few weeks, it has a lovely feel to it.

You can see some of the shine on the bedhead below, and the darker bits to imitate dirt over the years. 😀

This is two coats of 'Versailles' on the chest of drawers, but since I took this photo I have also distressed it with dark wax, but there aren't too many nooks and crannies on this chest - they are mostly on the side really. I am waxing it with Annie Sloan clear wax to protect it.

It's a good thing the bedroom is big (long and thin) because there isn't much room to move with all the drawers around, not to mention all the Moho bedding which lives in here during the winter!

The Meyer lemon has done really well this year and I am chuffed to have a harvest (especially in the middle of winter!) that I have watched from beautiful perfumed blossom being pollinated by the large dark blue Carpenter Bees, to forming little fruit, to now. There were 11 lemons - we've had one so far. I had a recipe that put grated lemon zest on top of home made veggie soup when serving and it was really good, especially with the interesting taste of Meyer lemon. They are a cross of mandarin with regular lemon, so less acidic, and just, well, different!

Bertie came through the cat flap to see what I was up to.....

... had a sniff, decided it was boring and wandered off. 😀

The stencils on the outdoor pots (see blue pot behind the lemon) have held up fine so far, after two years outside (though under cover during the first winter). I covered them in exterior grade varnish and they seem good as new. I haven’t even brought the pots under cover this winter as the Bidens is still alive so this may be saving us £$€ this summer, not to mention the work planting up! I’ve got the same geraniums in the covered patio as last winter, a bit tatty but still flowering. My potted bulbs from last year are appearing and the crocuses are starting to flower. Spring is on the way. 😁👍

The garden chairs and table were left here for us too, but the chairs are getting a bit old, and my brother went through the fabric of one when he was sitting on it - I just wish I could have seen that! 😃

Keith took some lovely photos of this Coal Tit which appeared around the bird feeders recently, along with another one, and have stayed around since. About time we had some new birds on the feeders!

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Also this picture of a Great Tit with a sunflower seed in its mouth.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

Well, back to the painting and waxing until we get a nice (and hopefully warmer) day, then we'll get out and do something interesting outdoors. Thank goodness January is over though! 👍

 

N.B. In case you don't know, with Annie Sloan's chalk paint, you don't need to sand or prime furniture (or anything else) before painting! It sticks to just about everything, old paint, wood, metal, plastic, fabric and more. It's expensive, but it is so worth the extra expense. Here's the link to her website:  https://www.anniesloan.com/

Le Grand Castelou Reserve near Narbonne

Last week we had a brief warm spell with no wind either, what bliss! So we took advantage one afternoon to go to the coast for a walk.

We had wanted to visit the marshy reserve of Le Grand Castelou for ages. It's situated just south of Narbonne in the Reserve Naturel Régional de la Narbonnaise en Méditerranée on the site of an old wine domaine, with a very handsome old farmhouse and attached barns at the centre. The domaine was also used for other agriculture in the dryer fields over the decades and even rice growing at one point. Nowadays Camargue horses and bulls graze as they are naturally used to wet environments. There are areas which are wilder with expanses of reeds, low growing salt loving plants like samphire, as well as small lagoons. Needless to say this encourages all sorts of wildlife and birds to the different habitats. 

When we arrived there was a light sea breeze but warm enough to not need a jacket, not bad for the end of December! There are two walks here, a smaller 2km walk which goes past the only hide, and a longer 4km walk. Of course, if you are going to the hide as well (and why wouldn't you!) it will be a bit longer as you have to detour. According to the app K uses, we walked 5.6kms. Given I have barely walked much in months I was amazed at myself, though it's all flat, which is perfect!

It's not the easiest place to navigate so I strongly suggest you take a photo of this map opposite the buildings at the start of the walks! We soon realised this so K went back to get this pic. There are paths going off in all directions and many waterways, used to bring fresh water to the agricultural areas, which would otherwise become salt marshes over time if left to nature. 

The first thing we noticed were loads of White Storks flying overhead. They are obviously happy overwintering here rather than flying south to Africa. It seems like more and more birds are staying put these days. We even saw a White Stork in Brittany on a cold Feb or March day about 10 years ago! 

A line of Plane trees. These trees are really common in the Languedoc and there are avenues of Planes between villages as well as growing in the villages and towns. I just love them because they are very majestic and have the most glorious bark. They are often pollarded and provide good shade.

We could see the White Storks in the fields as well, but it wasn't easy trying to take photographs through the reeds. With my SX50 and autofocus, I got lucky, as the camera wants to focus on the reeds in the foreground most of the time.

I was astonished to see this tree with buds and blossoms all over it - in December? I wasn't sure what it was at first, but checked when home and I should have known really. Can you tell what it is?

It's an Ash. I should have known from the 'keys' (seed pods) but the flowers threw me, as well as being in a marshy area. Being beside the Etang de Bages, close to the ocean, this area would be very mild and almost frost free in winter, but it's still ridiculously early to be flowering!

The hide had a good view over this small lagoon, and the hills we see in the distance are the other side of the main lagoon, the Etang de Bages-Sigean.

Nearly all the ducks we could see were Mallards, Pochards and Teal. There's a Pochard on the left in the middle, behind the reeds. In the foreground are mostly Teals.

Sleepy Teals, three handsome males and two females.

We didn't see too many other birds as we walked around, although we were accompanied by the sound of many Cetti's Warblers! We also saw a female Reed Bunting, a Stonechat and some Marsh Harriers. 

Some of the longer walk is along the road, but it's a very quiet road and we didn't see a single car, and only a very few people. We had a lovely view of Mt Canigou from most of the reserve. 

The village of Bages over the other side of the main lagoon.

Looking towards La Nautique, a watersports base and little port, close to Narbonne town. We were happy to see what were in the foreground, Flamingos!

Above on the right and below, a juvenile Flamingo without any pink colouring. Above there's a Grey Heron in the background.

Photo credit: Keith Allen

The next day I got my spring and summer bulbs planted in the new Pollinator Bed - yes I know I am very late doing so but the weather has been so horrible this autumn, and I'm a real fair weather gardener these days. K lent me a hand which helped me to get motivated, and so, obviously, did the mild sunny weather.

I will end by wishing everyone a Happy New Year!