Busy in the garden..

I thought I'd show you guys what I was doing yesterday, whilst at the same time marvelling at Mother Nature and her bloody minded determination to do whatever the hell she likes.

Earlier this year my hubby and I noticed that a tree had started to grow in the flower bed under our bay window.. in a place that we HADN'T planted one.

Now our house is surrounded by 80/100ft Pine and Fir trees, and pine needles and pine cones are the bane of my life... We must collect and dispose of literally thousands every year.

But of course they fall in places where we can't see them and this is what happens if you don't pull them up straight away...   They get really quite BIG...

This was the little thing in June this year

And this was yesterday

 Look how much bigger it is in relation to the solar light... it's grown a good 2 feet in 4 months.

We always planned to move it, there are several places in the back where it would be fine.. and I hate to kill living things if I can avoid it.. but we just didn't get around to it this summer.
This week though we've had a lovely run of sunny warm very un October like weather, so I decided yesterday was the day to shift the ruddy thing.
What I hadn't counted on is that our little friend wasn't alone....  see..

One in the bush

Two in the bush

Maybe I should have tried to find the bird in the hand.. since I already had the two in the bush..

These two were growing up through the 'Snowmound' which is the big shrub you can see behind the tree in photo 1.

And I then found yet another one in a different bed further down the front garden...



Yet another fellow growing from a pine cone.

I can understand how the ones in the bay window bed, might prosper.. at least they get full sun.
But this bed is under a huge apple tree, with a thick bushy undergrowth of shrubs.. how on earth did this one get enough light or water not only survive but to thrive like this !!


Anyway, I wasn't about to  tackle this one yesterday.. but we now have 5 trees to find new homes for.
Because when I started digging I found yet another small tree growing next to the very first one.





So where are they going ?.. well there's a scruffy patch of ground, to the side of the house up against the fence which we have been using as a bit of a dumping ground for dirt and debris for a while.
We have had every intention of turning it into a proper bed for some time. That side of the garden is sadly neglected, mostly because you can't see it from the house.. and because it's next to the spot by the garage door where we keep the rubbish bins.

In the background you can see two of our existing Pine trees, and if the survive at all, this is the size our transplanted specimens should grow to. There's also a rather sickly leylandii that we transplanted from another spot about 3 years ago, which only now is finally recovering from the shock.

I confess I didn't think it would take all that long to dig them up.. oh how wrong I was. !!
In the end I managed to dig up just three including the tiny weeny one that I only found when I started on the others.
It was incredible how long and entrenched the roots of all three were..  especially the big one in picture 1. Some of its' roots stretched 4 or 5 feet underground... took me over an hour to dig up.. But that did at least help to loosen the ground, so the second one only took about half an hour, and the little one came out in about 10 mins.

So this is what the space looks like now.. I'll plant some groundcover I think.

I know I could have just taken a sharp spade to the roots and pulled them out much quicker with brute force, but I'd really like them to survive and with the roots they stand a much better chance.

There's still another sapling tucked away in there hidden in the undergrowth.  

You can just about see one of it's lower branches hidden away here..

It will be even harder to get at because its growing through a lot of established plants.. and it's roots will be tangled up in the roots of those..

yeesh !! 

But I'll try and dig that out at the weekend.

By the time I'd finished, the light was fading, so I stuck the saplings into various sized buckets with some earth and I'll  find them a new home in the back also at the weekend..

if the weather holds that is... and then I'll keep you posted.

Hubby said we could use it as our christmas tree.. but it's too small for that.        This year that is !!!!

 Jo xx

My First Place...

I was posting with one of my favourite bloggers Alicia.. the newly Mrs Parsons from Australia the other day and I happened to mention to her that my first flat was just a 17ft by 17ft studio room with a corner cut out for the kitchen... and it got me to thinking.
I bought it back in 1986 when I was 21, for an amount that sounds laughable now.. [20,500 pounds] and I lived there for two years...
It was TINY, but it was my first home and I LOVED it... So I thought I would tell you about it.
It's interesting from a design point of view because I wasn't sure whether my personal style had changed all that much in 20 years...  so I went and dug out some old photos... and this is what I found.

First here's a link to the outside using Google Earth.. to show you what the building looks like.
Hope it works here goes... 76 Rowlands Road ..
Ignore the 'posies' shop link on the left of the photo.. and it's not 110 either which is the designation given to it by Google Earth.. it's # 76 Rowlands Road.. the left half of the big white Edwardian semi, in the centre of the photo, and I had the flat at the rear of the first floor. That's the second floor to the North Americans reading this... since you guys call the first floor what us Brits call the ground floor. One up from the ground anyway.
It was converted into flats in 1982/3 after a fire destroyed the inside of the building..
In a curious coincidence, I was dating one of the firemen who put out that blaze. I even went down to watch for a while.. since fires that big were news in my town back in the day. Three years later I bought one of the flats.. spooky huh ?

Ok.. I'm prattling..

I've done a sketch of the layout.. and just to let you know the kitchen window and the window at the end of the bed face north.. and the ones next to the couch and in the bathroom face west, so the afternoon light was nice.

I'm no artist so I apologise for the scruffy.. but it will give you some idea of how small it was. About the same size as a brand new Vancouver condo actually ;o)

The room itself was 17ft by 17ft, with a kitchen about 6ft by 8ft carved out of one corner.
The bathroom off the hall was about the same size as the kitchen and the hall was about 3 by 5.


Here's a bit of free advice.. don't buy a converted flat anywhere other than the TOP floor... especially if the single girl living upstairs has a squeeky bedframe.. nuff said.



I'll start with the photo of the bathroom because it was the first thing you saw when you opened the front door.

 

YES !! the sanitary ware IS orange. It was a colour called Sun King, which apparently was very popular with blind people back then.
The wall tiling ISN'T tiling either. In the UK we call it 'tiling on a roll', and basically its just a plasticised wallpaper.. although to be fair the area round the bath where I had a shower put in did have proper tiles.
I WAS responsible for the curtain unfortunately.. which if I remember correctly was made from a tablecloth cut in half then frayed round the edges on to make it 'country', The tie backs are just satin ribbon... you have to laugh don't you... arh ! the 1980's how I miss them.
Oh and you can't see it in this pic, but there was carpet on the floor... I know how that freaks you North Americans out.. ;o)




Next we're in the main room itself.
This sofa backed onto the bathroom wall, and this must have been quite early because later I got a slip cover for it. Both came from a Habitat superstore on the Purley Way I remember, which was the first one of it's kind..  Habitat's response to the first UK IKEA opening at Wembley. 

It was a floor model so it was a bargain, and because it was dark if it was marked it didn't show. I think the slip cover, which I bought a year later, cost as much as the Sofa. Another first for Habitat.. slip covers for their couches. Wonder where they got that ikea.. I mean idea. ?
The weeping fig on the right behind the sofa is Bernard. He stayed with me until I moved to Canada in 2002, 15 years after this was taken. I mention it because when I show you the photos of the place I bought next, you will see Bernard again.

I think it's seems I had a more girlie/frilly style when I was younger.. but you have to bear in mind that I had no money, so there are a lot of bits and pieces.
For the entire time I lived here I only have a portable B&W telly... and the TV stand was a painted cardboard box stuffed with newspaper to give it strength.

Next is a turn through 90 degrees.. so this is the west facing wall. You can just see Bernard in the corner.

Interestingly this shows a collage of art and to this day I still like art displayed this way. Back then it helped to give to weight to what was basically just a collection of clip frames with greetings cards and magazine covers in them. I still have most of these.
The curtains were M&S and a soft peach colour.. very fashionable at the time, and matched my duvet cover as I recall.

Just another view to show the wardrobe in relation to the couch.

The slip cover I bought for the couch was also peach.. with a tiny white dot detail.
The huge pine wardrobe was one of the first pieces of 'good' furniture I ever bought.. Made of old church pews, the top was hanging and the base had a huge drawer in it. Fabulous storage. Unfortunately when I moved my next flat had built in wardrobes so I had to sell it.. shame.

Opposite the wardrobe these two pieces are the only furniture I still have from those early days.
The wicker and bamboo cupboard my mum and dad bought at auction for my sister.. and I aquired it later.[ It's on the upstairs landing you can see it here. ]
The pine chest of drawers is my all time favourite purchase. It's circa 1860 and came from a rather nice antique shop in Chichester. These days its doubles as my bedside table, and if I had to pick one thing in the whole house to save from a fire.. apart from people and animals of course, this would be it.

 Just a bit further round and you can see the kitchen door.
I kept my hairdryer on the floor in front of that mirror, and that's where I used to get ready in the morning because the light in the bathroom wasn't good enough.

And yes.. I know that little print on the wall is too high. !
 

  

So here is the kitchen. 3 wall cupboards and 1 corner base unit and 1 drawer. Tiny.

The space under the sink was for a washing machine but I couldn't afford one. It's hard to tell but the flowers on the wall paper were red, which was hot in kitchens at the time.. hence all the red and white accessories. Red handled cutlery, red lid on the kettle, the bin and dish bowl, mugs, tea towels, dish drainer.. all red.

 
I can't understand why I never did anything about those horrid brown flat panel doors and cheap & nasty handles.. couldn't live with them now..

And finally round to the dining area.. just big enough for a cheap little pine table and folding chairs.
You can just about make it out under my gym bag and aerobics gear.. Yes I did aerobics.. everyone did in the 80's.
You can see the kitchen door on the left and the door on the right opens into a big storage cupboard.. usual home of the gym bag. 


So what has changed..?
The overwhelming and ubiquiteous peach was an 80's thing.. I liked it then, but of course I wouldn't have it now. The fussy bits and pieces, the frilly curtains and the twee lighting would no longer find a home at my house.
No more red kitchens or orange bathrooms either.. but again that was partly affordability, and partly fashion.
My taste is MUCH cleaner and more linear now, but also much richer I think.
I will concede though that I still like STUFF... and I will never be accused of being a minimalist.
One thing that hasn't changed though is that I like interiors that are warm and welcoming.. whatever the style or colour scheme. This little flat was certainly that.. and visiting bodies were regularly found strewn about the place in the mornings.. and NO not just male ones.!! ;o)

Jo xx

Pretty Pictures.. of Home.

We've had a very lucky run of the most gorgeous autumnal weather the last couple of weeks, so I thought I'd take advantage and take some pretty shots of the local scenery..

They call British Columbia 'God's Country'.. and whilst I can't promise to have captured that exactly, I think it looks especially gorgeous at this time of the year... even in my photos.

Looking down the estuary from the Comox side.. the seagulls love this sand bank when the tide's in.

View from the top of Mount Washington, our local Ski resort.. It's about 10 miles from us.
You can see the village at the base of the mountain.. and the peak of the Golden Hinde..[about 7,200ft] the highest mountain on the Island off in the distance. Last winter '09/'10 they had a snow base of about 10 metres.. that's 30ft.. !! They had to dig the chair lift out TWICE.
They close just after Easter every year for the marmot breeding season, and then re-open in June/July for the mountain biking and hiking season. This year there was still so much snow left that when they re-opened for the summer they still had 3 ski runs available. First time EVER. This photo was taken at the end of Sept.. and you can still see snow on the ground half way up the mountain.

Just around the corner from us the leaves are starting to turn..

There are a lot of conifers here  

obviously.. it's Pine and Fir central.

But what deciduous trees we do have, turn the
most gorgeous colours.










  






There are vibrant hits of colour all over the estate where we live at the moment They don't last long but while there here it's magical.





 

More lovely colour.

 

This was a pure fluke.. I just happened to be out in the garden.. just look at this sky.. gorgeous.

And finally this last one was taken out at Comox Lake..

Talk about 'Seasons of Mists and mellow fruitfulness'..    

And NO.. it wasn't taken in black & white

 Jo xx

For Halley's Mommy.. another of my favourite places.

I just had a very nice comment from a lady called Halley's Mommey about the green Chinese cabinet that I showed you here .
So I thought I'd tell you a bit more about where it came from.

It comes from a Market called Goat's on the Roof in a tiny place called Coombs just north of Nanaimo on Vancouver Island..
It's an amazing venue that started as a fruit stall on the side of the road in the '70's but which over the years has grown into a huge business selling everything from: 

specialist hard to find imported foodstuffs.. 

   

to Chinese antiques, and all points in between.






 
They have quite simply the most fantastic deli and fresh bakery/patisserie section you have ever seen.. selling smoked salmon, artisan cheeses, 30 different types of freshly made bread, great pies and cakes.. and a dessert called a 'Bee Sting' which is like a fat round chocolate eclaire but with honey flavoured fondant icing and caramel cream inside.
Seriously... my husband would drive the 50 mins to get there from our house JUST for one of those.

There's a whole building dedicated to fresh Island produced fruit and Veg.

A fabulous Garden centre which has plants, pots, fencing and furniture that's quite different from the normal same old, same old that you see everywhere.

We bought a great bluey/green glazed ball for the garden this summer, which they had in all sorts of different sizes and colours.


There's a surf/skate shop with equipment and clothing, a gift shop with hundreds of inexpensive ideas for presents, a dedicated ice cream parlour with about 50 different flavours, a clothing boutique... and next year they'll be launching an Italian restaurant with a huge terrace at the back that looks down into the ravine where the goats hang out in the winter.

On top of all this.. in the area surrounding GOTR other businesses have sprung up to take advantage of the HUGE numbers of customers who flock to the area daily. There are probably 50 or 60 other businesses there now.
There is Fresh fudge making, art galleries, book shops, antique shops, clothing stores, eateries, gift shops... even this summer we noticed.. Helicopter rides !!
There was NOTHING here before. Coombs isn't a town with a high street and shops, this was just the road from Nanaimo north with a petrol station and a post office/general store, and since they built the main Island Highway it's now a road to nowhere.

So if any of you ever holiday on Vancouver Island it is well worth a visit.. and just to let you know all the photos above are courtesy of their website.
 
OK... so to get back to the specific piece of Chinese furniture in question..
Here it is again..

I photographed it last year KNOWING that I loved it and would want it at some point.. but unfortunately when we went home and measured the space for it, it was just a bit too big.
It was the colour I really fell for and I'm not usually a lover of green, but this was just too gorgeous.
We've been back several times and considered different pieces for different spaces, just to try and buy something.. ANYTHING, that colour...

I have a spot on my landing, that I thought might accomodate something.
For for ages was home to the little cabinet that I now plan to paint the same green as 'lovely Chinese cabinet'.
But I had to put that into the mauve bedroom because we recently we've had some 'built ins' installed in our Living Room and I had to find a new home for THIS.

I did say Nikki found her way into lots of my photos.

It's an antique wicker and bamboo cupboard that I 'borrowed' from my sister many many years ago.. but shussh ! I'm sure she won't remember.
So the soon to be painted cupboard got moved into the mauve bedroom and I'm now rather liking THIS piece here and THAT piece there.. so still no place for a Chinese cabinet. :o( .

Then a couple of months ago when hubby and I were having a day out at Coombs we saw this little fellow.

It's smaller than the original piece but that was a good thing because we had this tricky spot in the Dining Room that was causing us trouble.

I know it's not the original much loved green, but it's also a gorgeous saturated colour, and I have just chosen the paint for the Dining Room and its a very pale grey/blue from Benjamin Moore called Harbour Haze... so this is perfect.

It works because its only 11 inches deep but still provides just a touch of extra storage, without encroaching onto the dining space. [The piece I had here before was too deep and made it awkward for the person sitting in the closest chair to sit down.]

Once the new green cupboard and the dining room are painted I'll show you the results.. but in the meantime maybe Halley's Mommy will be able to find something like it near to where she lives.

I hope so. :o)

Jo xx

Doing up the downstairs loo...

After the laundry room makeover [which you haven't seen yet because I can't get it tidy enough to take 'after' photos] the downstairs loo was the next room we finished.
Unfortunately I didn't realise at the time that I was going to write a blog about it, so I don't have any 'during' pictures.

I do have a before photo though... and pretty grim it was too.

It wasn't actually as pink as it looks here.. more mauve.. purple even.

See.. I said it was grim.

All the sanitary ware in the house was 'platinum grey' when we moved in.. which isn't surprising I suppose, since the house was built in 1989...

I was selling New Homes back home in the UK back then, and I can confirm that Platinum Grey and an off white colour called Almond were indeed the most popular sani ware colours back then.

Thankfully White made a long overdue return to popularity in the early '90's.. and the days of Avacado, and Burgundy in the bathroom were banished. Let's hope forever.

Anyway.. it had to go, as did the nasty black tiles all round top.. so we investigated replacing it all.

The loos and sinks [x's 3] were no problem.. but the two showers in the loo & en-suite, and the bath, which is the size of Australia, were going to cost a fortune... and cause enormous disruption.

So onto plan B... we had them sprayed.

Back in the UK, old fashioned Cast Iron baths are very sought after and fashionable. But even though they are still common place they aren't always in great condition, and so bath re-enamelling is widely available.. and not expensive.

My sister had it done in her place a few years back, and the bath & surrounding tiles [which were a rather grubby 'off cream'] looked brand new afterwards.

At the time I remember the chap telling me that ANY flat surface can be covered in the exact same way. Unfortunately here in Western Canada there aren't that many iron baths to re surface, so the only company I could find was in Vancouver... but they were happy to come to the Island.

Both showers and the bath and their associated tiling were finished in 3 days and they even mixed the white to match our new loos and sinks which were Kohler. Little mess, no fuss and less than $2,000 for the lot. Removing and replacing would have been closer to $20,000. Bit of a no brainer really.

I painted the walls [and it took about 4 coats guys !!] Debbie Travis 'Spring Air' , which is also on the walls in the laundry.

The floor.. [which was in all the bathrooms, the laundry AND the kitchen] was next to go.. and once that was done we replaced the loo, the worktop and the sink. 

The lovely granite countertop and the under mount sink are a single unit called the 'Pegasus' from Home Depot that's just $199.. including the backsplash... There are various sizes and colours, and it was less than half the price I was quoted JUST for a custom piece of granite NOT including the sink.

That cute little mother of pearl handbag behind the soap dispenser came from a favourite bed & bath store of mine in Comox called Daduza. [I'll do a feature post on them next week.] I use it to store a lip gloss and tiny scent spritz.

The taps are 'Danze' and came from Canadian Tire.. another bargain, I waited 4 months for them to go on sale, and paid half the usual price.

I'm so cheap... ;o) 

My $49.99 Winners mirror.

We have replaced all the gold and brass fixtures in the house [and there were a lot of them] with white metal.. Every door knob, every light fixture, every tap. This light fixture replaced one of those stripper's dressing room light fixtures with the bare bulbs.

It came from Canadian Tire and the chrome ties in nicely with the chrome accents on the taps and on the loo.

The mirrors in all the bathrooms were bog standard 24 x 36 bevelled frameless ones... very dull

This replacement was another bargain find.. Winners [TK Maxx/Homesense] came up trumps again. I've seen a lot of these mirrors with mirrored frames around and about and they're great in small windowless spaces because the light bounces off them in all directions.

But most of them were between $200 and $300..

The French enamel signs and the polished stone knobs on the vanity are from a cute French country decor shop in Qualicum.

I painted the base of the vanity and the skirting boards Cloud White.. CC40, by Benjamin Moore which you will discover... if you stick with me..  is now all over the house.

After that it was just a case of finding the right accent pieces.

None of the Art pieces are under glass because the moisture from the shower tends to make the paper wrinkle. The towels, candles, bath salts and soap dispenser were collected over time from various sources. Reading this back that it seems as if there was a carefully laid out plan, but there really wasn't. We changed every single thing in this room except the shower door.. and that took some time.

The basic things; floor, spraying, walls and sanitary ware probably took about a year from start to finish, but the dressing has evolved over time. This mirror only went up this year.. [before that I had one from home with a white painted frame in this spot] and there are still changes I'd like to make.

It needs one big piece of art on the wall opposite the loo and sink.

I'm thinking artist's canvas covered in a piece of fabric.. or maybe two pieces of artwork I'm planning to buy from Erin at Yellow Canoe.

I'll let you know how it looks.

Jo xx



Just a quickie.. about Paint...

Now I'm guessing only the Brits will know what I mean by Matchpots.. to the North Americans I think paint Tester pots would be a more familiar term.
To you lassies in Europe I really don't know if you have a slang term for them.. maybe you can tell me ??  but you get the idea.
Regardless of what they're called, we've had them back in the UK for certainly 15 and more likely 20 years. In Canada they are a relatively new innovation.



 Dulux matchpot in 'Garden Party' that I bought in the UK.



That having been said, both the paint itself, AND the marketing/selling of paint are TOTALLY different in the UK.

When I came to Canada 8 years ago I was shocked to find you couldn't just walk into a DIY warehouse and buy a tin of ready mixed paint off the shelf.

In both Canada and the USA paint is not sold ready mixed AT ALL.

You pick the base paint you want [oil or water based] in the finish you want [matt, gloss, satin ] and then they tint it to the colour you want at the counter. They do have this service back in the UK too.. but it's usually for more expensive paint, or for unusual colours.

Now there are advantages to this method to the retailer..
For a start you don't have to stock large quantities of ready mixed paint in hundreds of colours . You also don't have to fret about which ready mixed colours to stock, or about whether new colours will sell or not.

But... you do have to employ more people to do the mixing.. and deal with disgruntled customers when there's a long queue for tinting on a Sat morning.. and of course you can't stock Matchpots.

Here, in Canada at least, this remained true until  about 5 years ago when paint technique guru and native Bristol lass Debbie Travis introduced her own range of paint at Canadian Tire.. [yes Brits I know they spell tyre wrong.. but what can you do..]



Benjamin Moore matchpot in Apple Green..



She introduced a range of matchpots.. but it was still only for selected colours.. probably about 1 in 4 of the full range.

The company who's paint I prefer.. Benjamin Moore, followed suit about a year later and they stock them for EVERY colour..which is fabulous...

  

A bit pricier than back in Old Blighty they cost $4.99 or about 3 quid, and I've probably got a dozen or so of them.. since they are so handy. I use them for painting picture frames and they're great when you just need a small amount for colour blocking, and of course I have lots from just trying to pick a paint colour for something... and there's one I bought to patch a large scuff on the hall wall that the roofers caused last spring.

So this was all fine and dandy until recently, when I was trying to find a colour to paint a small cupboard in the mauve spare bedroom. I'm looking for a sort of dark acid green.. actually I'm trying to copy the colour on this piece of Chinese furniture they have at one of my favourite places Goats on the Roof.

I know I know.. acid green in a mauve room.. !! but it will work I promise.. you'll see when I post the photos.. anyway.. back to my paint quandry. I tried 3 different matchpots, one of which being the Apple Green in the photo above which looked perfect on the paint chart, but I was getting nowhere.

But then I found the perfect colour.. unfortunately not on a paint chart but in a magazine photo. Now I know [ like in the UK ] you can get paint tinted to any colour you like. You take in the sample.. which can be from any source and they scan it on the computer and create a match. BUT.. you then have to buy a whole tin.. so you can't test the colour.

I was sure the colour would be OK though so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a small [pint] tin... so off I popped, with my magazine photo, to the Home Depot.

Now.. The Home Depot [which is the biggest DIY

retailer in North America btw] has been WAY

behind with the whole Matchpots thing. They had

them in the States about a year ago I think..

but we still didn't have them in Canada ... or so I thought..

Seems the main paint brand stocked by the Home Depot.. BEHR was finally doing matchpots.

Not that it did me any good did it since I wanted a specially mixed colour.. ?!!

'Oh no' said the sales lady..'I can match tint a tester pot if you like'.

Well hang on a minute I said.. how much extra is it..?
'Oh it's no extra'  she said..  'All the tester pots are tinted on the spot with the colour you want just like a full sized tin, and they all cost $4.99'.. which is exactly the same as Benjamin Moore.

Well I thought I'd died and gone to heaven.. but the best was yet to come...

Look at the Benjamin Moore tester pot and the BEHR tester pot side by side... HA !! I know where I'll be getting my tester pots from now on...

Heavens.. you're a big fellow aren't you.?

I'll let you know how the cupboard works out..

Jo xx