Colourful Kitchen Storage

So everything is back to normal after an emotional couple of days. The new job is going well - if I little over whelming still - and today was my day at the farm with the cows and chickens. But back on track to the home. Over at Design Sponge they had a great before and after project which I'm really inspired by, check out the post HERE.

Images Courtesy of Design Sponge

I particularly love the kitchen above. The use of bright colours that pop out of the white background looks fantastic. I also think this is a great storage solution idea and a great way to use up old doors or shutters. It would also look great in the bedroom for your bags, scarves and jewellery. Hope that gives you suitable inspiration, it certainly has with me.
xx

A Wedding or a House?

So, a while ago I mentioned that we had some exciting things coming up in our future. One of which was the job, another that is shop related which I will tell you about another time, and a third that I will explain now. This one also explains my mood the other day....

I know I have talked about house hunting before but I'm not sure I have ever explained things fully? My current living situation is just a temporary fix with the parents. My other half and I have been saving up so that we could buy a house. We have managed to save up a nice little nest but both our incomes are quite low, so we were aware that we wouldn't be able to borrow a huge amount from the bank. But our deposit was healthy and we were hoping this would take us a long way.

We decided to have a look at shared ownership schemes. For any that don't know, this is where you buy a percentage of a property and then pay rent for the other percentage. The idea being that you only need a small mortgage but still get on the property ladder. Well we thought we had found the perfect place. It was the only property left on a new development in Frome, the building being a coach house with a 50% shared ownership. We had a look round and we really liked it. We spoke to a mortgage broker and they found a mortgage that was comfortably in our reach and we got a certificate of approval, we applied for the shared ownership and got approved. Everything looked rosy. We reserved the property and told the broker to get the mortgage going, and that's where it all fell down. The mortgage provider turned round and said that they could only give us the mortgage if we put down another 10% deposit, so rather than a 15% deposit (which is what we had) we would need a 25% deposit.

The cost of that extra 10% was basically our wedding budget.

As you can imagine I started to panic a little, so we went and spoke to other mortgage people and got exactly the same answer. So I was faced with the question, a wedding or a house? I know that most of you would think that there was an obvious answer to this. "Buy the house! The wedding is only one day the house is forever" But let me explain a bit further. The budget for our wedding is about £7000 - £8000, which is cheap!! We have already sacrificed a lot of what we wanted to go towards the deposit, and if we used every penny left to get to 25%, we would not have any money left. Not a penny. No money to furnish the new house with a fridge, freezer, washing machine. No money in case the car breaks down. Nothing.

I'm afraid we chose the wedding. We feel that if we save up some more over the next year or two maybe we can start the search again, a new development scheme may be on the go, or our circumstances may have changed so that we are aloud to borrow more.

I still can't help feeling so disappointed in ourselves. I'm embarrassed that I thought it was all do-able. But now we have to search for somewhere to rent, change our mind set and carry on. I guess this was just a practise run. But I'm very sad to not be dreaming of our own home any more. Back to normal posts tomorrow with lots of exciting projects and lovely items for sale.
xx

A Part Timer

I previously mentioned that I potentially had some very exciting things coming up, well I can now fill you in. But first let me give you the background info:

Running your own business is hard. Particularly when it is just you on your own. I spend a lot of time on my own in the workshop and I really miss the stimulation of working in a team. I also have to confess that I have been a bit worried about our cash flow. Although I have my own seperate money for the business I'm not pulling in a wage as of yet for the house-hold, which means my other half has to keep us both going. I have been feeling intensly guilty that so much rests on his shoulders.

I have realised that I probably need to get a part time job, something that would keep me stimulated and also help balance the books. My training in conservation and restoration is a very valuable skill, and I so desperately wanted something in that field.

Well I have managed to get it! I will now be a Conservation Assistant for the National Trust at Stourhead House.

Image sourced from - HERE

This is the house that I will be taking care of along with a team of other Conservation Assistants. The position is perfect; it is close to home, part-time and uses all the skills I currently have. My first day is tomorrow and I am so very happy, excited and nervous rolled into one!
I hope you don't all think I'm a complete sell out? The blog, shop and markets will still be running as normal, I will just look less guilty and worried. I'm hoping that I can achieve the impossible dream of having a perfect work, business and life balance. Wish me luck!
xx

New Item Friday

Hello!
I have some lovely items that have been added to the shop today - make sure you head over to check them out by clicking HERE.

Unfortunately, I have not had a good day. And although I had arranged a non-work day tomorrow to enjoy myself a little, it is now going to be taken up with a huge amount of none Springy Beard paperwork. I will hopefully be able to tell you more soon. I don't mean to be so cryptic, but I feel I need some time to process everything before I fill you all in.

Sigh.
That word seems to sum up my mood.

I do have something very exciting and nerve racking happening on Sunday which should make-up for everything.......but I am so very tired, and it really deserves its own post, so I'll fill you in on that tomorrow.

I hope you all have a gorgeous Friday evening.
xx

Tutorial: Doily Table Runner

I got a little inspired from my own post the other day. I have had a stash of doilies for a while that I have been wandering what to do with - if you remember I did a post all about 'What To Do With Doilies'. By a funny coincidence doilies appeared in my recent post about 'Table Runners'.

Visit the image HERE 

It was this image of a doily table runner that made up my mind. I decided my doilies would become a runner, and this is how I did it.

YOU WILL NEED:

• Doilies
• Pins
• Needle
• Thread

METHOD:

1. First of all make sure that all your doilies are clean and have been ironed flat. Then begin by arranging them on a flat surface to give yourself a layout. Remember a table runner is normally log and thin but have fun and see what happens.

2. Once you are happy with the arrangement pin the doilies together.

3. You then want to start stitching the doilies in their positions. Try to use thread that blends in with the colour of your doilies. I used a simple running stitch and their is a 'How To' HERE.

4. Just keep going until all the doilies have been stitched together and your table runner is complete.

You could also expand this idea - if you had more doilies you could create an entire table cloth or throw for the sofa or bed, or even attach your runner to a simple roman blind. See how useful doilies are!
xx

Doctor Doctor

Some lovely news, one of my items has been featured in a very cool medical related treasury list on etsy.

Visit the treasury list by clicking HERE

I love medical related items. I actually used to work at the Science Museum and I spent a lot of time looking after surgical instruments, prosthetic legs, etc. etc. This treasury list made my heart flutter a little bit as I thought about all the objects I left behind when I moved away from London. I know you shouldn't get too attached to inanimate objects, but the museum's collections were like my babies.........hmmm, a bit worrying........I think I need to get a pet.
xx

Empire Records

A wonderful thing has happened, my love for home and vintage has meshed beautifully with one of my all time favourite movies. Courtesy of Design Sponge we are 'Living In: Empire Records' - check out the full post HERE. Who knew that the 90s would come back in fashion!

All Images Courtesy of Design Sponge

xx