Welcome home

There's no doubt about it - I'm a homebody. There's nothing better than walking through the front door after a weekend away, a day or even a few hours out. Closing the door behind me. Kicking off my shoes. And being home. I love to travel. I love to be out doing things. But I love coming home at the end of it.

I've been thinking about home and what it means recently as we're on the cusp of owning our own home again. We've been living in a rented apartment for the last 20 months. It was supposed to be temporary but...here we are 20 months later. We moved here looking for a refuge. A place to figure out the next step in our lives. As I'm such a homebody where we did that was important.

Now that - fingers crossed (I have to keep saying that as house buying in the UK is a rocky business) - we're coming to the end of our time here, I've been thinking about our current home and what a fabulous job it's done for us.

We arrived a little battered. A little shell shocked from the unexpected turn our life had taken. Signing the lease was a leap of faith. We had no way of knowing how much we'd come to love living here - the apartment itself, the technicolour sunsets from our huge windows, the area too - and how this little, supposed-to-be-temporary apartment would become a real home. Our lives aren't, and won't be, perfect but we'll leave here stronger, and knowing that we can deal with whatever is on the menu for us next.

This photo sang the warmth and welcome of home for me. It's the beautiful mix of flowers, the hurricane lamps, the light, the open gate. I'm pleased to say that our new home - fingers crossed - has a similar little garden gate and flower-bordered path leading up to the front door. Perhaps that's why this image struck a cord.

I hope you'll come and visit.

x

(Image: Style Me Pretty)

Soul food

When you live in a large, noisy, over-crowded city, views like these are like eating your Mom's roast chicken, curling up on the sofa with the one you love, catching up with a good friend, a massage for your mind.

All taken in the amazing Lake District on a perfect summer weekend.

x

(Images: All PPT)



A little bit of loveliness

Unfortunately been too busy for blogging recently but thought I'd pop in with a little bit of loveliness. 

I'm intrigued by the succulents I'm seeing everywhere at the moment - in florists on the high street, in magazines and online - as I've always loved them. I tend to think of them in weathered terracotta pots on sun-drenched verandahs in hot places. So it's lovely to see them mixed with roses, hydrangeas and delicate freesias (some of my favourite flowers). Guess that's why I was so drawn to this arrangement.

Hope you enjoy this bit of loveliness too.

x

(Image: Style Me Pretty)

Just because...

It's amazing what you find when you go looking. I came across this chair and flower set by chance and immediately swooned. The chair is perfect (I'd be very happy with eight for my dinning room). The lilac roses and the miniature lime hydrangeas are so romantic.

So, because I loved this image and on the off chance there might be more, I went looking for similar chair and flower combinations. More there were and these are my favourites.

The burst of pink and yellow peonies among succulents bring arid surroundings and a rusty chair to life. 

This chair is the perfect no-nonsense canvas for the regal, crown-like protea.





































This could almost be an old milking stool so just right for a country bouquet.

To some, chairs and flowers may seem arbitrary but I loved the idea and was delighted by the images I discovered in no time at all. Simple things can bring such pleasure. 

x

(Images: All Style Me Pretty - 1, 2, 3 & 4)

Great advice for a new week

x

(Image: Shabby Blogs)

The absolute must-have accessory

You can't pick up a fashion magazine without being told that the right accessory can bring any item in your wardrobe right up-to-date. It seems to me there is one accessory that these days no one should be without - an accessory that's always in fashion, that marks you out as someone with imagination and style, but more importantly a conscience, heart and soul.

That accessory is a shopper. Plastic bags - any bag that a store gives you - are way out of fashion. I can't believe there are still stores that give them out and still shoppers who use them.

I've just been browsing some favourite websites and found a great choice of fun, statement-making and even patriotic, if you happen to be English, shoppers for inspiration.

I hope you already have one (or, like me, two or three). If you don't, I hope you'll get one (or two...). And don't leave home without it.

x

(Images: 1 & 4 - Catherine Colebrook 2,3 & 5 Not on the High Street.com, tape generously offered by Pugly Pixel)

A special detail to end the week

It's just a sign for a ballet school. No need for anything special - the signboard says it all.

But why oh why settle for ordinary and functional? Why, when with a little thought, some time and imagination a mere sign can be transformed as this one has.

The ballerina soaring up into the sky captured my attention, made me stop, stare and wonder. And as I walked away with a happier, lighter step made me want to sign up.

It's special details, taking time and care, never settling for ordinary that make life better.

x

(Image: PPT)