Thursday 22 August 2024

A Stormy Old Night

 4.25a.m. and I came downstairs after waking at 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.  My fault for being tired out at 9 o'clock again.  I can hear the wind thrashing the trees around and two wet boy-cats were very glad that I did come down, so they could come back indoors.  Autumn has arrived early it would seem.

The other part of our Dunelm order arrived yesterday.  Tam had cot sheets, a pretty speckledy green plate and a useful container for baby bitsandbobs. I had my wallpaper.  This is it.  We love it.  Tam found it and knew the colour I was planning for the walls in there.  It is a sunny bright south-facing room (guest bedroom) and I like cheerful colours.  Stuff the Magnolia . . .


Tam calls this Arsenic Green. I've been cherishing this page for a couple of years.  This is the tongue and groove panelling we have on the walls throughout upstairs.  Dado rails in the bedrooms mean it is broken up a bit.  The wallpaper will just go below the dado rails, so more painting than papering.  I will take this page  when I go to Aber tomorrow and get the paint scanned and mixed.  I got ridiculously excited when Tam found the wallpaper :)  I know the colours aren't to everyone's taste but tbh, I don't give a damn!  I'm living here after all.


This was the progress the other day.  As you can see, it's going to be a long old job.


I have yet to tackle . . .  SO many wild raspberries in there which will have to come out.


It's the Truck Fest down on the showground this weekend.  Here's a photo I took from the orchard, showing folk getting set up with their weekend accommodation down there. Not my scene, I have to say.


Curtain rings anyone?  As you can see, there was a lot of cleaning and polishing to be done.



You will be glad to hear that I rested yesterday.  I went out for groceries in the morning, as the fridge was looking very bare and I needed some Treats as well.  I also did some family history on Keith's Manchester roots, whilst I still have Ancestry.  My membership ends 6th September. I found some more Non-Conformists (no great surprise) - Primitive Methodists again.  Some of his Yorkshire folk were PMs too.  I think that mindset was passed on to Keith as I can truly say he was non-conformist with the way he lived his life and good for him say I.  My lot seem to have been biddable Anglicans . . .

Audible keep giving me unbeatable offers (half price for 3 or 4 months), but I have enough books to go on with for the moment so have resisted that.

After lunch I had a nap on the sofa - fell straight into a deep sleep for 3/4 hour, and then watched racing and did a little x-stitch on the Clover Fairy, now that I have bound the edges of the Aida fabric in blanket stitch.  I managed half of Vera before I had to go to bed.  Now I am paying the price for going up so early.


Santana is the only tree with more than a couple of apples on, but they are getting well established and growing tall. 

Well, will I get to sleep now?  We shall see . . .


26 comments:

  1. I love your wallpaper! Strong and bold, it will be stunning with the Arsenic Green paint {maybe I'd call it Absinthe Green?} Do hope you'll share photos, your proposed design sounds amazing. I'm not a fan of wishy washy, I like bold.
    You have reminded me that I have three rolls of Famous Grouse wallpaper I won in a competition. Rather handsome stuff, but then again, at £150 per roll it would be! Should try and sell it.
    We could have phoned and had a chat, these odd sleeping hours make strange bedfellows! Not that we are strange, lol.

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    1. Perhaps Absinthe is nearer the mark. Anyway, it will look splendid in there. I will have to tone down to a more hint-of-a-tint green in the small en-suite.

      Well done on winning that Famous Grouse wallpaper. Blimey - they know what to charge don't they? Yes, time to sell it if you aren't going to use it. I must remind Tam about the vintage rolls she has in the attic . . .

      I noticed another friend was awake and on Facebook. She was widowed not that long ago and she is still struggling with the loss of her husband.


      ybb

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  2. p.s. it was blowy during the night, wasn't it?

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  3. Fantastic combination. You would pay an interior designer a fortune to come up with that! In my opinion homes are for living in and should reflect the taste of the folk who live there. I like looking at houses for sale on line and many interiors are just pale, bland, scantily furnished spaces, devoid of of any personality or originality. No doubt very saleable, but oh so boring!!!

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    1. Hah - perhaps when the kids come to sell it they may have "comments" from viewings but I always look at it from the viewpoint you can change the decor, but you can't change the room dimensions or where the house is in the landscape.

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  4. It was a wild and windy night last night, but I managed to sleep through most of it. That wallpaper is beautiful and you know I'm going to say how much I love that shade of green don't you. They will go so well together. It's your house and your choices, and they are beautiful ones.

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    1. I always worry that the gigantic pine tree up on the slope will come visiting, but that said, it has a big girth and is unlikely to. I knew you'd like the green. Can't wait to cover up the turquoisey blue below the dado rail, which isn't to my taste.

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  5. I wondered what was going on at the showground the other day when I passed. It was windy here as well and I hope the awing on my Caravan down there is OK, I'll know when we go back again next week. You were up, our dog had me up twice with a dodgy tummy

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    1. Now you know. Not for me, I have to say - but I know lots of people like looking at the huge gleaming lorries and seeing the ones with gigantic wheels doing stunts in the main ring. Hope your dog is better soon.

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  6. Those curtain rings look great, hope they sell well for you. Even on your less busy days you make me look like a sloth 😀😉
    Alison in Wales x

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    1. I've always been a busy bee. Always have too many ideas on the go and not enough time.

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  7. Definitely stuff Magnolia!!

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    1. And white. My late ma-in-law had every room white in her house when she moved near Keith's brother. It was because of her failing eyesight I think, but just looked so bleak and hospitalised.

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    2. My house is entirely white, I can't imagine painting the walls a color. White perfectly captures the sunlight reflecting off the ocean. I also don't have lots of walls, large windows, and the other walls have doors etc. But I admire color in the right context of a house that it suits.

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  8. The wallpaper is truly elegant. How satisfying it must be to have ability to design fabric or wallpaper with blossoms and foliage that look so realistic.
    My favorite green paint is an apple green--I've used it on several refinished furniture projects, can envision it on wainscoting. I recall seeing the illustration in your magazine on a fb page dealing with English interiors. Its a bit too vivid for me as a wall color. I would have it in a slightly 'toned down' shade for walls and then the full blown color for cushions or such. That's just me. There are paint colors to suit every personality and taste. [I'm thinking of Kate Jackson's Last Homely House--hot pink and lime green everywhere!]

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    1. It does look a bit intense and ideally I want it a shade or so lighter.

      Kate Jackson certainly likes a clash of colours but knowing how grey everywhere can be indoors come winter, perhaps it just cheers her up! Either that or she's channelling Kaffe Fassett! I picked up one of his books in Booth's the other day and all the quilts jangled my nerves. Yours are a lot more restful and easy on the eye.

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  9. You and Tam really have a talent for choosing beautiful bold wallpaper and paint colors. The new wallpaper is gorgeous. I call the green ''apple green", love it!
    My mother coped with suddenly solo living and lack of order by being [too rigid!] on a definite schedule. In bed at 11, up at 7, nap at 3, dinner at 6, and so on. Whether she wanted to do that or not. The change was a lot from our childhood upbringing of no bedtimes and no getting up times except for school. We were all and still are very much night owls.
    PS Mom drank a few cups of coffee after dinner to help stay awake til 11 PM.

    lizzy

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    1. Well, I get a colour in my head and she finds the accompanying wallpaper to set it off. There is a shade of blue in this green which didn't show up so well in the photo. I want it perhaps a shade paler.

      My routines have gone to pot! All the time Keith was so ill I was waking around 3 a.m. and it's hard to break that habit I guess.

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    2. I can imagine how difficult everything is right now. The rest of my mom's advice was ''Do NOT get up when you wake up in the night. Your body needs rest even if you do not sleep. Going to the bathroom is ok, but then back to bed. You can lie there and read but it's better if you close your eyes and let thoughts flow."

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    3. Well, if I stayed in bed and let my thoughts flow right now, I would be overwhelmed with memories of Keith dieing and I don't want to go there, especially in the middle of the night. I've always given it half an hour or so an if it's obvious I'm too awake to sleep, I come downstairs.

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  10. Gorgeous wallpaper! It will look stunning with the paint color. You have been working hard on clearing the hill, and it looks like there's a lot more to do. Exhausting work. I hope you get more rest.

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    1. I do it a bit at a time. Gone are the 8 hour gardening days I used to put in at Ynyswen! Yet that is what this garden needs - all that side of it is so overgrown. Ah well, a bit at a time - when it has stopped raining.

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  11. Ohhh, I love that colour of green. So very cheery.

    God bless.

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    1. I like colours that speak to me. That one has.

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  12. It’s been wild here too, strong gusts, I’ve quite enjoyed them. I adore that green paint, absolutely adore it x Danette

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  13. Oh yes, I love that shade of green; one of my all time favs and I have several tops I wear in that color ! I am still searching for a handbag that color, lol. Nice wallpaper too ! Dawn P. Albany, GA USA

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