Office makeover

It is a very slow process but I am trying to make my workspace look like an office/studio rather than a back bedroom! Space is at a premium and I need to make the most of the storage I have.

I know lots of people have started to use blackboard paint on furniture - so I've joined the crowd.  The idea is that my storage can also act as my to do list planner!

So here is the before and after:

You may notice a little flash of bubblegum pink. I've painted the insides of the cupboards in a bubblegum pink gloss paint and will soon be decorating them with decoupage.  I wanted to have a nice mix of professional business like and creative goes wild.  I find bright colours really inspirational and uplifting so thought it would be good to make the inside of the cupboards into something fun.

On a recent trip to London I treated myself to a gorgeous selection of door knobs from Anthologie

This is my understated splash of colour for the outside of the cupboard doors.

And they really stand out against the blackboard paint. Each door knob has a different shape, textrue and colour mix. Perfect for indecisive creative types!



The ultimate 500m walk

Spring seems to have sprung in our village and the sun has been encouraging us to venture out. So for today's sneak peak I thought I would share some of the sights on our 500m walk to the allotment. It really is heaven for my little boys.

The majority of our walk is up a lane. We pass a number of traditional stone cottages including the home of our best friends and a lovely lady my son calls Bertie (Betty)! This little stretch of lane often acts as a meeting point as we commonly bump into other villagers going to or from the allotments. A 5min walk often takes a lot longer than planned!

Past the houses we go past a stables, a builder's yard and a garage where they mend racing cars!

Then we go past the field with Terry's rams. Not long till their lambs are born though these handsome fellas don't strike me as anxious expectant fathers!

 Next to the ram's field is this magnificent walnut tree. Heaven knows how old it is but we had a bumper crop of walnuts from it last year. It is technically in the hedgerow so everyone can gather nuts from it. And we do! Most of the village enjoyed collecting some. The nuts are so sweet and taste completely different to those bought from shops. My eldest became quite adept at cracking open the shells.

A little further up and we turn the corner into the allotment. These girls are always crowding round the gate hoping that you are going to bring them some corn!

One of the families we share ownership of the chickens with keeps bees in this apple orchard which is on the allotment site.

Then it's past Terry's fine array of farm machinery....

And finally our walk ends at our allotment. The pictures below are of some of our neighbours plots.

 On a cold frosty morning when it is dark and raining this 500m can seem a very long way to let the chickens out. On a sunny day or glorious summer evening it is absolute magic and the walk can't last long enough.

Lovely ladies

So today's sneak peak is of the lovely group of chickens that we share with 3 other families in the village. These lovely ladies reside in a purpose built (and very secure) mesh enclosed area at the allotments. Each family is responsible for looking after the chickens for a week in rotation. This week it was our turn again.

We have 15 chickens in total now but I'm afraid that in the year the project has been going we have already loved and lost a few. Looking after chickens is not as easy as it looks and we are very much all still novices. It is mostly great fun though and the girls are generally very tolerant of toddlers. My eldest now can safely help me collect the eggs without breaking them and I can catch laying chickens with relative ease. The only ones I can't catch are the white ones (Light Sussex breed) who seem very jumpy.

The whole village has access to the allotment and so can go and visit the chickens. Lots of people tell me they've been up to have a chat to the girls and all the families who have allotments seem to enjoy bringing the children up to look at the chickens.

Our chickens are all hybrids (I think!) which means they lay lots of eggs. Even through the winter months we generally got 6eggs a week. Now spring is on the way the girls are getting serious and so far this week have laid 40 eggs with today and tomorrow still to go.

My absolute favourite thing about looking after the chickens is my early morning walk to let them out. The short walk is great thinking time.  This walk nearly always results in me meeting the local farmer Terry and his two gorgeous dogs. You'll here more of them in future posts but our five minute chats are often the highlight of my day. My five minute morning chat with Terry normally involves him telling me the farm's tasks for the day and perhaps the progress they've already made - information I can then pass on to my little boys when they ask about the various tractors, vehicles and trailers they see and the noises they hear. So this week I know that Terry and Paul (his son) are hoping to start lambing in 10 days time; greatly enjoyed the fruit cake I made for them; drilled 93 acres in one day (we could hear the roar of the farm machinery all day) and are really hoping to get some willow cut down before the lambing.

I'm hoping we will be able to visit the lambs in a month or so when they've all been born. I promise to take pictures if we do!