September Styling the Seasons - Bringing the outside in.......

I can't believe its nearly a month since my last post when I was moaning about Autumn! Don't worry I have got over that now and I promise I won't moan anymore, I mean I can't stop time. Can I? No? 

Anyway I digress, a couple of weeks ago I finally got my hands on some Eucalyptus, I have been looking for some for ages and as I don't live in a big town or have many florists nearby it wasn't as easy as I thought. I don't think I realised how lovely it was and what a great smell it filled the house with. It gave me an idea for my Styling the Seasons post and what September means to me. As Katy and Charlotte asked for this month to include a vintage item I decided to bring some of my vintage fair finds into the styling too. My house is pretty full of nik-nacs anyway so I knew that wouldn't be a problem, I think I have a problem! 

The colours of the foliage in my enamel jug made me think about my last Vernon Ward picture purchase and I think they go really well together, I have lots of old books that I like to use as props and these 2 were found at an antique market in Barcelona. 

After enjoying having the Eucalyptus in the house it made me think about why I don't bring more of the outside in, after all September has mainly been about keeping the garden going and replanting lots of things to keep it pretty. I love our garden and its a shame to not enjoy the lovely plants out there when the weather isn't playing ball. I decided to dress the dining room table for Sunday lunch using some of my pansies and lavender planted in a vintage tin and bucket. I was really pleased with the results and it made me happy to think that although its officially Autumn  I can still enjoy the garden even when its miserable outside. 

I love #stylingtheseasons and you can join in by styling a part of your home to reflect what that month means to you and tagging @lottsandlots and @aptapothecary 

Happy Autumn xx

August Styling the Seasons - Bring back summer......

  August seems to have gone in the blink of an eye this year and while it isn't my favourite month          ( July is! ) I still have a sense of sadness when it is gone. You see I absolutely love the summer - the sun, the time with the kids, holidays, wearing flip flops and faffing around without a care in the world. Now if you live in England and are reading this you will be thinking, but Katie, August was full of rain this year what are you talking about?? Well I still think of it as Summer and the minute we get into September people start talking about Autumn and god forbid Christmas!!! I'm really not an Autumnal kind of person, I hate Halloween, I loath brown and orange together and as for Christmas - well thats another blog!! Just call me Scrooge.

I apologise for my rant! I will get back to the point of my Styling the Seasons post. I am really pleased with my new little reading corner and I wanted to style it up to make the summer stay a bit longer!! When I purchased my cute little blue churn last weekend I knew this would play a part in my post as the blue is just lovely and reminds me of summer. Putting the blue and white together and bringing in the faded roses in my favourite french jug just made me want to go back on holiday and wear flip flops forever!! Lavender just makes me think of France so when I bought the french enamel bucket yesterday I knew I had to plant some up for the house. After a conversation with someone on Instagram about keeping old catalogues I decided to find out all of my old Cath Kidston ones and they are still lovely even though they are 10 years old, proof that good styling never ages. 

I suppose I'm just in denial and I suppose I will be there for a while. So while I look through all of your lovely pictures of open fires and fallen leaves spare a thought for me sat here dreaming of summer days, probably still wearing my shorts, looking at my faded tan! 

Happy Autumn everyone! x

Don't forget you can join in with #stylingtheseasons on your blog or Instagram with the lovely @lottsandlots and @aptapothecary 

Show us what that month means to you.

Pastel French Chic......

Ok, so if you follow me on Instagram or Pinterest you probably know that I have this thing for France. I have always loved it even before I actually went! Our first trip was to Banon in Provence. This was an amazing area but not to everyones taste as quite isolated, I on the other hand fell in love with all that was around me, the colours, the buildings, the people and I have never lost the appreciation for this wonderful country.

Going to France for a family holiday is great and we have done it quite a few times now, we do try to visit somewhere different each time just so we can get a different perspective on the place and see new things. The decision to visit Perpignan and the surrounding areas was purely down to weather! Being close to the border of Spain we hoped that the sun would be in abundance and we weren't disappointed.

The town we stayed at was Argeles Sur Mer, a beautiful big beach, funfairs and cycle tracks meant that we could explore easily. Whilst the Central Plage was lovely it was a little bit tacky. Not my idea of shabby chic french style - I needed shutters!!!! The village at Argeles was much more like it and not so busy, this is where we spent most evenings and we were lucky enough to find a wonderful restaurant La Gamate. I would highly recommend this for excellent fresh food and great prices. The scallops were divine.

I have to admit most of our days were spent around the pool soaking up the sun but we did a trip to the next town of Collioure, a Catalan port. Oh my goodness it was absolutely amazing. The minute the bus pulled up I was out taking photographs of the beautiful buildings. After a little bit more exploring we discovered the castle, the beach and the prettiest winding streets in all the colours of the rainbow and balconies and shutters to die for!!! I was in French amour. The town was a haunt for painters such as Mattise, Picasso and various others who all used Collioure as a source of inspiration for their paintings, its easy to see why.

My only disappointment of the whole holiday was that I didn't buy anything! Not a single thing, I was desperate for a brocante or flea market but to no avail. It seems I will have to return and ensure this time that our accommodation is better placed for spending money!!

I

Au Revoir 

jusqu'à ce que nous nous reverrons

The Linen Shed Heaven........

Its lovely to be back and its even nicer to be back to tell you all about the most amazing B&B that we had the pleasure to stay at a couple of weeks ago.

As it was our first wedding anniversary on the 12th July I was intent on finding somewhere by the sea for us to spend a couple of child free days together.  I scoured the internet for boutique hotels and B&Bs to little avail, either full up, way too expensive or just not very nice really. Just when I thought all hope was gone or the Premier Inn was calling my lovely friend messaged me with a link to the Linen Shed.

Her wedding photographer, Emma Case had recently done the photographs for the Linen Shed's new website and boy did she do a good job. emmacasephotography.com Emma equally has a beautiful website and if you are looking for a unique photographer you should look her up.

So.... because my friend knows exactly the kind of style that I like, the minute I opened up The Linen Shed website I knew we had to stay thelinenshed.com - go on open it up and see what I mean!!

I got straight on the phone to the lovely Vickie and with fingers crossed and a slightly increased heart rate I was amazed that they had one room left. WooooHOOOO! The Bird Room is the smallest room but I didn't care, neither did I care that we would have to share their bathroom as the other two rooms have their own bathrooms, I just wanted to go, I mean how often do you use the bathroom really??

The Linen Shed is in the beautiful village of Boughton under Blean near to Faversham, Kent. This was another reason that I knew we should go, I have never been to Kent and I believe you should always visit new places. The fact that Whitstable was on the doorstep with fab beachhuts and antique shops just sealed the deal!

After weeks of waiting the Friday was finally here and without going into details about nasty roadworks, traffic jams and wee stops we finally got there! Vickie and her husband Graham welcomed us like we were old friends with a glass of wine and a seat on their amazing verandah. Oh my goodness I was in actual heaven. The house is just beautiful, my eyes were in overdrive. The garden with its gypsy caravan and gorgeous bits and pieces and the rooms with their genuine shabby chic feel, original features and lots and lots of lovely things made me want to move in there and then.

Vickie had recommended local restaurants which were brilliant, some of the best food ever but we could have quite easily sat on that verandah all night drinking wine and chatting with the other guests. It was so easy to feel at home and Vickie and Graham are to thank for that

Before I forget, the breakfasts were to die for, we had the choice of lots of different options, including local farm shop bacon and sausage, parmesan scrambled eggs, creamed mushrooms, sourdough bread, I could go on but I am really hungry. Dining with vintage crockery and beautiful surroundings is something that everyone should do.

I can honestly say that we have never stayed anywhere as special, not just because Vickie and Graham have clearly put a lot of time and love into their home but because of the warmth shown to us and how helpful they both were for the whole stay. Vickie's style has got her into magazines and home style books and it is easy to see why but the sense of community which they clearly have in the local area means that they are loved by all. We will be back!!!!

I posted lots of photos on my Instagram which don't come close to Emma's but I hope you enjoy them xx

TOTAL HEAVEN X

July Styling the Seasons - Wedding flowers

With my busy working life it feels like I am only using my blog to play Styling the Seasons at the moment, but I am not complaining because it makes me think about each month carefully and gives me a chance to reflect. For that I am thankful. 

July is an easy one for me now because this is the month in which we got married last year and will remain a month of real fondness. For weeks leading up to the wedding we checked the weather report daily and prayed a lot!!! As you can imagine just from this month in England nothing is guaranteed and it did get a bit nerve racking - yes I know a 'wet knot never slips' and all that but I did not want to be a soggy bride. I had waited 38 years for this day and nothing was going to spoil it! 

I had asked my mum to be my florist and she took her role very seriously. She is a brilliant gardener anyway and her garden always looks fabulous but this was a big ask. Especially when you have such a fussy daughter..... I hate yellow flowers and I needed everything to be white, blues and pinks. As the peony season was over I needed lots of roses, sweet peas, hydrangeas, gypsophlia and delphiniums. My mum did me proud and I made mine and my bridesmaids bouquets on the morning of the wedding. 

All of the table decorations were done my me, my mum and my friend Zoe the night before in the marquee and the outside flowers in containers were done on the morning. 

For my July Styling the Seasons I have tried to recreate the table flowers, obviously not everything is the same but this is a feel of the day. I used lots of different containers, including old apple bottles, milk bottles, jam jars and other things found at car boots. I also styled them on my new favourite cocktail trolly, I mean you can't have a wedding without cocktails! My mum also made our favours which were strawberry and elderflower vodka cocktails, these really went down well on the day!!! I do hope you like it, I have had lots of fun today and memories of that perfect day came fooding back xx

Don't forget you too can join in with #stylingtheseasons with @lottsandlots and @aptapothecary by styling a surface in your home and saying what that month means to you x