Tuesday 6 January 2009

the warmth is coming......

as i sit and work at my tiny make shift desk in our bedroom this morning, i can hear the sounds of our sweet pale blue Rayburn having her inners removed!!

joy of joys - the stove man is here........

warmth, hot water and a place to air laundry is in sight - phew.
hopefully i can now clean her up and make her look all pretty again :)
another step in the right direction, another thing to cross off the mammoth list.



another task that has been started is the building of our enormous bookcase..... now as a couple we own A LOT of books - from my Vintage children's collection to Stephen's hundreds of cookery books old and new.
we needed a bookcase that would keep our collection together in one accessible area - the answer for us seemed to be to fill one whole wall in our main living area - this is work in progress.....




i will have the huge task of painting this beast white next week!

i have also started the huge task of re painting all our furniture - most of our pieces are old so have not travelled from one end of the country to the other in a completely graceful fashion..... lots of wonky legs, badly chipped paint and even a few pieces with the dreaded mould - it will take me a very long time to complete all items but i have made a start with the kitchen dresser.
this dresser is not of any great age - it started life as a yucky orange pine number that was given a wonderful overhaul by the lovely lady that supplied me with all my painted furniture to sell when i had my little shop - it was lovingly sanded to remove garish orange varnish and then painted a soft cream.
it arrived at the shop and immediately raised interest amongst my customers - but sadly for them i had also fallen for it so it was dragged from the shop to Artichoke Cottage - here it is dressed for Spring a couple of years ago.



it will now take its place at Sea House in its new lightly distressed white coat - i am hoping that it will not just be used as a dumping ground for dog leads, pony treats and sheep wormers!!

t x

16 comments:

julie said...

its all sounding positive my friend, just thonk a lovely warm rayburn what more could you want at this freezing time, I bet there won't be much free space around it come this evening perhaps you better book yor spot now.

love jules xxx

Unknown said...

Oh I am glad your Rayburn will be going, warmth makes such a difference. I am very envious of your bookcase, it's going to look lovely.

Kitty said...

It's coming on ... it really is. It's probably much easier for us to see than you, living right in the middle of it. The dresser is fabulous. x

Anonymous said...

I agree, dresser is fab and the your rayburn already has me feeling warm""

Primrose Hill said...

Sending you lots of rayburn love, hope she fixes well and keeps you toasty over the next few months. I've spent the last few days pouring over the Rayburn and ESSE brochures, we're hoping to ditch the oil and go completely woodburning when we do the extension this year, fingers crossed!
L x

P.S. Will let you know when we're heading up, probably end of this month or beginning of next, weather dependant! xx

Jane said...

Good luck with your arga hope she is soon keeping you all toasty warm. I love your dresser it is beautiful and so will the bookcase be when finished JAne x

Katie twinkles said...

Thats better isn't it? there is nothing quite so therapeutic as painting things white :-))

Once the Aga is lit and doing her stuff all will be well (and I'll be heading up to find you-make sure it IS lit mind...)

Willow said...

Love the 'wall of books' idea - would like something similar in our house, as I find it very hard to part with books and have far too many!! Stay cosy by the Rayburn!
Willow xx

April said...

looks like things are coming together slowly - stay warm. I love your spring dresser photo - wish I had room for a dresser...

April xx

Anonymous said...

hope you are sitting in front of a toasty rayburn as we speak!

elspeth said...

Hurrah for the toasty Rayburn - hope you are luxuriating in front of it even as I write...
I too am a sucker for a nice dresser and a huge book case. You can't have enough bookshelves in my opinion. One entire wall of my study here is books, half a wall of the sitting room and I'm planning a sort of library going up the walls of the staircase when we put the room upstairs (don't ask me when!)
It's coming together fast now - that is what happened with us. Once you are in and living in it and making it your own space (rather than the builders' - however nice they are, they treat it differently once it is actually your HOME), it really feels different, doesn't it? And with your skills and talents you will have it looking beautiful in no time... Enjoy it! You couldn't deserve it more...
x Elspeth

Emily said...

What a lovely blog you have. A pleasure to find it.

Pipany said...

Now that sounded more like you! Love your dresser. Have two here, one painted and one old pine and they are like friends to me. I think this sort of work will help with the feeling that your home is not so very far away Tracy and just wait till your books are in! xx

mollycupcakes said...

I fell for that dresser, i think i ever asked how much it was lol
We are looking for something like that and seeing yours again as made me want one even more.
Loving the old rayburner, she's so charming. It looks Mabel moo has taken a shine to her also, nice and toastie on those very cold winter nights.
Here's to a fabulous 2009.
Can't wait to see the finished home. And all your beautiful new items for Cupcakes.
Ben bought me a rusty robin from you off of NOTHS for Christmas, she was from the litle cupcakes and i haven't put her away, she will be sitting in the branches of our Spring twigs and staying there until this Christmas, where she will fly back to the Tree.
Sending you lots of warm hugs and love,
Catherine xxx
ps, I am looking forward to my little surprise in the post, you are very sweet.

Anonymous said...

Your postings from the far north are a joy to read and am so pleased to see you back in positive mood.

P x

teacakebiscuit said...

Was I imagining it or did you also have a lovely dresser that was duckegg blue? I'm on a lookout for some sort of dresser for our home too but we've decided not to buy any furniture until we've bought a house...which will hopefully happen in the next few months (unlike others, we're delighted for the credit crunch as finally we can afford something!!).

EEEKS! I can't believe you're finally making a home in Sea House! This is so exciting, all your hard work is finally paying off. You're over the hump now!

Lots of love and warmth to the fur family xox