Knock Knock!

I've been thinking a bit about "The Front Door" - the threshold to the Englishman's home & castle.  It's often somewhat overlooked in design terms (but not with the great "design your front door" options that Yale now offers), but as your front door is the first thing that greets guests, surely it should be as attractive and welcoming as possible?  People often put a Christmas wreath on their front door to decorate it during the festive season, but why stop there?  At ours, we ring the changing seasons with pretty wreaths to reflect the time of year.

Of course, we do have some funny issues with our current "front" door, mostly because we have two, neither of which are at the front of the house..... which causes great confusion to delivery drivers!  So when we get a knock at the door, firstly the dogs go mad barking so we're not sure which door the knock came from, and then we have to chase around the house to find out which door they are at, often tripping over the cat, who has been alarmed by the barking, in the process.  Oh the joys of old houses!

When I was small, I drove my Mum mad (I know this now, but obviously didn't realise it then!) by wanting to tell her my Knock Knock jokes.  My proviso for this display of humour was that I actually had to be standing outside the front door and she had to be inside, so I could "knock knock" on the door with my hand.  We must have spent hours there whilst she patiently listened (and laughed, repeatedly....) to my jokes - thanks for your never ending patience Mum  :)  I can still recall my favourites today  (more years ago than I care to remember.....)

Me (excitedly, aged about 6)            Knock Knock          (both said and actioned!)
Mum (somewhat resignedly)            Who's there?

Me                                                              Henrietta

Mum                                                          Henrietta who?

Me  (giggling)                                       Henrietta worm that was in his apple!

Me (even more excitedly,still 6)      Knock Knock          (ditto as above)
Mum (even more resignedly)           Who's there?

Me                                                                 Ash

Mum (reading a book by now)          Ash who?

Me  (giggling even more)                   Bless you! I didn't mean to make you sneeze!

This scenario could go on for some time, depending on how many I could remember.  My Uncle James (Mum's brother), is a great raconteur and joke teller and was my hero when I was a child.  Every time he visited he would tell me new Knock Knock jokes, and those would go into my then current repertoire - I'm quite surprised that Mum continued to allow James to visit!  I now have a toddler of my own and am just hoping that Mum doesn't recount to him how I used to tell my Knock Knock jokes, otherwise I'll be the one sat on the stairs......

Hopefully, next time there's a knock on the front door, you'll be reminded of this rather than worrying about if it's a cold caller, and it may just make you smile too.

Summer Memories

What's been my favourite memory of this summer?  That's easy, it has to be swimming with my two hounds every day during the heatwave.  It was far too hot to walk them, but I needed to keep them (and me!) fit so we took to the water like ducks and have had a ball!

Summer fun!

I always seem to have loads of stuff to cart down to the beach when we go (dog leads, balls, towels......) so my favourite style of bag is the Tote so I can get everything in and still look chic!

How I kicked my Bad Habit!

Everyone has bad habits - there's the obvious ones like smoking, and eating too much, especially junk food, and then there's mine, which was more mundane, but perhaps just as bad for my health.

I found myself slumped in front of the TV from 6 till bedtime every evening, watching whatever happened to be on (let's face it, with all those TV channels, there's always something to watch, albeit often completely trashy!).  Perhaps the worst was my Soaps addiction - I was glued to Emmerdale and Corrie every evening, even though the former really had nothing to recommend it!!  

So, after a TV-filled Christmas last year, I took stock and decided to make a New Year's resolution that I would only watch those programmes that I really wanted to see.  January 1 came around and I ditched Emmerdale (Corrie has remained, at least if I am around the living room as I do enjoy the humour) and all the other silly reality shows that abound these days.  I mark the programmes I want to watch in the TV listings paper at the weekend and then stick to watching just those programmes that have piqued my interest.

I started reading books again, and, shock horror, talking to my hubby! In the summer, I have been dashing down with the dogs in the evening to take a swim in the sea and have dusted my camera off to start taking photos again.

All it took was a bit of will power, and my life and health have been transformed.  You can do it too!

My Living Room dream design

Living Room 

Cast iron floor lamp, $2,240 / Seletti wall lighting, $62 / Amara zebra rug, $985 / Red wall art, $495 / LSA International floral home decor, $33 / H M metal candlestick, $13 / Eichholtz hollywood chair, $1,410 / Andrew Martin industrial furniture, $1,320 / Portfolio micro fiber sofa

When Heart Home wrote about their Dream Room Blogger competition, I knew it was the perfect opportunity for me to spend the morning designing my perfect living room.  We are in the process of getting planning permission to knock down our (very old, very damp and draughty) house and replace it with a wonderful modern light-filled home.  I simply can't wait for the building to commence and whilst deciding on what rooms we need right now is of utmost importance, a girl need to daydream!

We'll be having polished concrete floors and floor to ceiling windows with white walls, so the living room will be a blank canvas.  I've always dreamed of having a zebra print rug (my maiden name is Stripe so I have a great affinity!) so that was my starting point.  I love the neon art work of Chris Bracey, but probably couldn't afford any of his work, but want something neon on the walls.  Red will bring warmth to the room.  I don't like 3 piece suites or the new trend for extra large sofas with jutting out bits, preferring to have a cosy sofa to curl up on and a variety of other comfy chairs dotted around the room.  I love the curves and finish of this coffee table and want BIG bold modern wall art.

Now, we just have to wait for the JCB to arrive........

Romantic Scotland

Scotland simply oozes romance.  What could be better than walking with your loved one for miles without seeing another soul and then curling up together on the sofa whilst enjoying a local dram?  Whenever we want to get away from it all and just spend some quality time together, we head for Scotland.  And let's face it, it MUST be great because we have a minimum 10 hour drive from Cornwall just to the Borders!  

There are so many wonderful places to stay, whatever your mood.  Our favourite is always to hire a remote cottage with no mobile phone signal, always with a woodburner to keep us toasty warm after long walks and Munro bagging with the dogs.  We curl up in front of the fire after enjoying some hearty Scottish fare for supper (haggis is our favourite - we always buy from the local butchers as they are the best), and spend the evenings just enjoying eachother's company far away from the hubbub of everyday life.

Beautiful remote Croft house

Scotland is so varied - it's not all "Highlands and Islands", the Border country has beautiful rolling hills and the Solway Firth is teeming with wild birds.  The beaches are some of the most stunning in the world and often completely deserted, perfect for long romantic walks.

Enjoying Banff beach

The light in Scotland is very soft which encourages those romantic feelings.  We enjoy sundowners with a difference in Scotland - wrapped up warm under a blanket with a wee dram of malt whisky whilst watching the stunning colours develop in the sky.

Ben Rinnes at sunset

Hunters moon near Dufftown

There are special festivals held throughout the year, and those in the winter months are particularly romantic with lantern promenades through the streets.

Does your romantic dream involve castles?  You won't be disappointed in Scotland - you can stay in one, just visit those still inhabited, or (our favourite), explore the ruins of a former stronghold, where we dream that we are the Lairds.

So what are you waiting for?  It's time to go and explore romantic Scotland!

Enjoy the beautiful, often deserted, roads

All the photographs in this blog post are my own from previous visits to Scotland.

My love of lighting

As a keen photographer, lighting is always at the forefront of my mind - after all, the word photography literally means "drawing with light" from ancient Greek.  A great photograph relies heavily on getting the lighting just right as without that, the subject will be flat and uninteresting, just as a beautifully designed and decorated room would be almost ruined without having fabulous lighting to set it off.

I thought I would try to explain some of the different ways of using light in photography by linking the ideas to lighting that you use in the home.

So, for example, task lighting.  At home, you might use a spotlight to illuminate a particular area where you want to work in the kitchen say.  Similarly, by capturing a shaft of light on a stormy day, you can transform a fairly ordinary photo into one that really stands out.

Wall Spot Light

Enhancing the mood by capturing a shaft of light

Ambient lighting creates the mood, both for the room and the photograph.  Ideally, this should be warm and inviting and is often produced by using a number of lamps around the room creating pockets of diffused light, rather than using one overhead light which tends to produce a rather flat, dull result.  Think of this type of lighting as that which you see at dawn and dusk, when the sun is very low in the sky producing warm diffused light.

Soft ambient light produces warm inviting pictures

Table lamp

Finally, there is accent lighting, which gives texture and focus, adding depth and shade, with shadows in some corners and pools of light in others. An example of this in the home might be plinth lighting in the kitchen, particularly where it captures the rough hewn surface of a beautiful natural stone floor.  Similarly, the sun creates shadows and depth of field, ensuring that your image is not flat and uninteresting to the eye.

Plinth lighting

Add depth with accent lighting

Now, go grab your camera and see if you too can capture the light!

Thanks to LightingMajestic.co.uk for the examples of home lighting that I have used in this blog post.  :)

My Favourite Holiday Memory

When Villa Pia asked for a photo that encapsulates my favourite holiday memory, I spent a very pleasant couple of hours reminiscing about holidays from my own childhood through to adventures in my teens and twenties, to family holidays now.  But what to choose?  Should it be the pic of me playing cricket on the beach with my Dad in the 1960s (he was blessed with 3 girls, but that didn't stop him instilling his love of cricket into us!)? Or how about one from the crazy couple of months I spent backpacking around Europe with my bestie from school in the early 1980s?   Maybe one from our safari honeymoon, enjoying sundowners whilst viewing the extraordinary game?

No, I plumped for this photo as, for me, it encapsulates all that is great about holidays - getting away from real life, having fun and making memories with the kids!  :)