Home to me

Home to me is somewhere i can relax and read a book.......i love books and magazines about interiors, gardens and homes......


I love flowers in the home, nothing gives me greater joy than to pick a bunch of fresh flowers out of my garden and bring them inside....they instantly brighten a room, as we come into autumn the hydrangeas are changing colours and i love them like this....the ones above are originally white and this is the colour they change to.....white is my favourite colour in flowers....


These blue hydrangeas also started out as white and now they are blue........isn't nature amazing!!


Collections on my desk.....where do i write may you ask welllll actually i have another desk as well.......i love surrounding myself with unusual objects and things i am attracted to.....i love glass cloches and this one in front has a smaller one inside and inside this one is a birds nest.....


I have collected old china for a number of years in fact this is the first thing i ever started with and i love to put old plates on the wall....


I love birds nests and have a whole collection of them......this one here is made out of branches of an old silver birch tree .... i love the rawness of it.....and the egg i am not sure if that is real.....


I love reflections through mirrors......if you look closely you will see the blue hydrangeas in the mirror.

On the bed is pillows made from old lace and antique lace....some i made myself and some i brought......this is the girlie side of me!!


These two fellows are telling each other a secret.......these bears have been handmade by a bear artist.....i love their size and the way you can get them to show expression.....


My dressing table showing another view of the bed .....there is those reflections in the mirror again.......this is an old oak wing mirrored dressing table and when i brought it the stain was almost black....i stripped it down in our lounge during the evenings because we didn;t have a garage you can imagine my horror when i came in the lounge the next morning and saw all the dust that had settled everywhere!!! we live and we learn!!


My daughters rocking chair......she is now a young adult with a daughter of her own and will soon take this chair to have in her daughters room.....if you look closely you will see on the seat scratches....to me this is history because when she was little she had to actually climb up onto the chair to get on and these scratches are from her shoes, her as a young child is brought all back to me in flashes when i look upon this chair......some would look at this and want to sand it down but to me that is the memories of her life......


The dining room with the baltic pine dresser which has my collection of old and new china and interesting bits and pieces....beside it is a fruit picking ladder made by the husband of my friend whose house i showed you in the beginning.....he made all sorts of furniture and sold it......he was a very clever man.....and is sadly missed by many ...... for his talent and for the wonderful person he was.....


Another view and again those hydrangeas this time they have faded out to white with a hint of green in them......if you leave them in the water until the water is gone they will actually dry and you can use them as dried flowers.....


Yes i collected old baskets and have them above my cabinets in the kitchen....


My newly covered wing chair with a slipcover.....i am so pleased how this turned out.....behind it is a old school cupboard which would have been used in a class room to hold the school books, it even has a number on it written in white paint...... it is one of my favourite pieces of furniture....

Here is an extract by Alexandra Stoddard from her book called Creating a Beautiful Home.....
Perfection halts the creative process. It is the enemy of spontaneity and serendipity, surely two of the most glorious gifts of life.
There is too much emphasis on nit picking neatness on creating rooms that are nothing more than still lifes, but where is the living taking place?
We may celebrate the daily moments of life when we throw an extra log on a roaring fire, light a scented candle, open a window, move a chair over to the light and sip a glass of chardonnay, prepare a snack, read the paper, or write a letter with a fountain pen, but the soot, the scratches, the crumbs, the ring on the table the mess on the floor, the ink on the chintz, the wrinkles, the work these are all part of the romance of everyday living.

Perfection on the other hand, chills the mystery and leaves us frozen in space. Perfectionists miss it all, i consider myself someone who likes things done right, but a broken glass or a scratch doesn't send me into depression.
A bed can be a beautiful still life when not in use but pillowcases do get wrinkled and yes ripped, my old pine writing desk has several ink stains on the surface, some from my own pens, without these my desk wouldn't have a soul.
It is in fact the untidiness and the clutter of our cozy messes that we make our presence felt and that after all is what homes are all about...

My Heart

Today my heart is heavy and i feel like i need to build a sling for it made out of rope, there are small cracks and chips around the edge which is a sign of pain and suffering it has received, some cracks are deep some are tiny but they show i have lived a life, tiny bits unseen to the naked eye break off all the time and sometimes i want to put an iron cage around it but i think this would make it cold.

I store special things to me away inside its shelves, sometimes i want to open it wide to show all the good things stored inside but i am worried they will be afraid of the red instead of the joy within. I am afraid of being so open to everyone so feel safer knowing it is closed, that way i can show bits of it when i want to. I need to keep it safe and treat it well so cracks do not appear often, I nurture it with loving thoughts and actions.


If it were to break open all the good would come out and the bad would scurry in, some cracks have come close but in time they have healed.


Family have the greatest storage area, it radiates and pumps my heart with strength and love and courage and joy and fulfilment and happiness. Hurt, pain and anger are locked away in a steel box with padlocks and chains.


Today it is heavy, but it aches for people known and unknown, strange that, that it has the power to feel for things outside its control but that shows its compassion, I am hoping tomorrow it will feel lighter and joy will enter once again, it will feel smooth to the touch and glisten with love.....


A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words........unknown

The Love of White, A Bit of Pink and a Thank You

There is something to be said about having a friend that you can share your ideas with, who gets what you are thinking, who you can laugh with and who makes great food, shes a chef ....... and shares your name which can be confusing when someone calls out wendy....... my friend loves white and loves pink..... she had this beautiful cake made by a chef friend for her daughters 18th birthday....... looks too good to cut into i thought....


She has great vision and has rescued this house and made it into something truly beautiful, the above picture was before she worked some magic and made this area outside her bedroom somewhere you would want to enjoy early morning coffee in the sunshine....


And this is how it turned out an amazing difference don;t you think.... that brick planter at the end is on both sides and contains herbs which she uses in her cooking....


This was originally a wall with a window but Wendy saw the potential of adding fold back doors and a terrace where many a good time has been spent....its a great spot for looking back into the garden.....


and of course the indoor outdoor flow from the kitchen to this spot is just what was needed......us kiwis love our outdoor living....


The Shabby Chic lounge which for a little while had the dining table in while the kitchen was being done..... lovely pink floral and velvet cushions and a lounge suite that you sink into and instantly feel at home.....i think this is what i love best about Wendys house is that it is in fact a home and one you can relax in and enjoy...


The new kitchen complete with the table and bench, i love the mix of old and new, the white washed floorboards, the chandelier....



Another view of the kitchen, i love the use of the butlers sink and her collection of wooden ware above the pantry, the floating pink flowers in the vase on the table......


A view from the front of the house....where Wendy has grown a lavender hedge and planted old fashioned roses......in pink and white of course!!


The unsuite and laundry newly renovated in a small space that was once a very tiny, unattractive laundry area........again a smaller butlers sink and wire ware which is also loved...


Where you really want to spend your time in the sun......a great spot which before the addition of doors and the terrace was wasted...


The main bathroom which includes a claw foot bath and a shower not shown in this picture and again those butlers sinks....


A collection of chintz china and other bits and pieces... wendy has many gorgeous pieces of pink and white and blue and white china....


The front of the house and a really sunny spot in the mornings......doors that open off the lounge and if its too windy you can sit in the snug at the end.....
I have known wendy for well over 10 years now, we have seen each others children grow up and have always shared our love of decorating, magazines, gardens and much more.....now she lives about four hours from us but we do get to see her often because she lives where we visit my mother in law......it is always special to be able to spend time with her......

I would also like to take this opportunity when talking about white houses to give a big thank you to Maria of Dreamy Whites who has helped me enormously in getting this blog started.....i have a lot yet to learn but without her help i would not be able to be where i am ....... please visit her blog it is truly inspiration and delightful to read and look at....... Dreamywhites.blogspot.com

A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.........Unknown

The Love of a Garden

The days sun has gone down and with a quiet calmness amongst the cool of the afternoon i have been planting my pots with violas, snapdragons and parsley, the brick garden has received stock and petunias in my favourite colour of white as i love the lush look of white against the cool greens.



Autumn will soon be upon us and the leaves will start to fall with all their colours of reds and browns and golds......no white to be seen until the spring flowers appear once again....


How good it feels to have dirt under my nails and to see once that was empty full and alive again, the house beckons, dust has settled yet again, there is a book i need to finish reading, ironing to be done and tea to get ready, but still i am in the garden.


Even though the quietness of the house has affected me lately and i have felt a bit lonely, amongst the garden, the plants, the birds and the soil, the quietness is music to my ears as i lose myself completely in the task at hand, starting something new!


It is indeed the journey to get there that is all consuming and exciting and not necessarily the end result, although i do look upon that with a sense of wonder and achievement.


Not forgetting nature also needs to be looked after i have fulled the dry bird bath with water, my ever present sparrow scurries away just out of sight, everyday i see it amongst the garden sorting through the soil for a fat worm, sorting and sifting for that hidden treasure...


How i love the bird life the trees bring, how grateful i am for them and i feel guilty having to put snail bait amongst my new gems, and i hope i am forgiven for not wanting my plants to be food for another...



Tomorrow i will throw bread to the birds to make up for my sins.....Tomorrow i wonder what it will bring to soothe my soul and awaken my senses...



Maybe the sun will come out so the plants will lift their heads to feel its warmth ......... the wind may toss them to and thro, perhaps it will rain and they will drink it up even before it hits the ground....



There just might be a surprise that pops up!!! The garden is an ever changing thing of beauty and it is here that I find the peace I seek....

Mail art and Story Telling

I have always loved writing letters from a very young age, at one stage i was writing to over 100 penpals.....i loved that connection with people and loved the writing as much as the receiving.......as much as i love the instant reply the internet allows now there is still something special about going to the letterbox and instantly seeing someones handwriting that you recognize and the anticipation as you bring it on inside, make a coffee or tea and sit with letter in hand and read the words......the joy of a handwritten letter is the fact that you can sit down and read it anywhere, you can actually hold it in your hands, hear the paper rattle as you look at each page....sometimes it has a wonderful aroma about it.....sometimes little bits of glitter and stars may fall upon my lap.......or a dried leaf......or a business card of a must see new place.....

For several years now a friend and i have written nearly every week and we have always collaged our envelopes as per the pictures i show you.....it is always signed by The ....... Envelope Company...usually something to do with the picture on the front....the back of the letters are always collaged as well..

At one stage my husband worked in our local post office and they always got excited when one of the letters came through and would stop to have a look, we have had these letters delivered to us with messages attached from the postie telling us how receiving one of these letters in the mail room had really made their day.......my friend even in the end wrote messages on the envelopes for the posties as we knew some of them by name.....



My friends husband who built that beautiful house i showed you some time ago was a commercial artist and sometimes he sent me very ornate envelopes as the one above.......sometimes we had stories going to a theme where he would be a cowboy in jail and asked me to send a file so he could get out.....of course i made a cardboard cutout of a cake and inserted a nail file!!!........we had so much fun with our mail ..........on a trip to England he sent me a letter which was supposedly from the Queens palace and he was staying there........i wrote back in very primitive handwriting as the very poor caretaker of his estate and told him all that was going on in my child like writing.......sadly he has passed away but i treasure those envelopes and mail from him because to me they are works of art......the postie even writing that she wished she got mail like that.......much better than bills any day!!



My friend and i continue to write and yes we still do the envelopes.... it has been many years now and we feel that even if we didn't address the envelopes they would find their way to us.....i have now started writing to another lady who is housebound and she tells me that i bring the world to her door because i include in the envelope articles from all sorts of things, brochures, jokes, quotes, positive words and poems i have written for her......remember my first entry when i said they may forget what you said but they won;t forget how you made them feel......and if i can brighten someones day by finding one of these mail art letters in their mail box then it makes me feel very good indeed....


But words are things, and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.....
Lord Byron, Don Juan 1819

Words of Wisdom

Today i am going to leave you a poem written by Veronica Shoffstall which was written in 1971, a time when so much was changing for woman but its words are still relevant today to us all........

After a while you learn the subtle difference
between holding a hand and chaining a soul
And you learn that love doesn't always mean security
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises
And you begin to accept your defeats
with your head up and your eyes ahead
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child
And you learn to build all your roads on today
because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans
and futures have a way of falling down in mid flight
After a while you learn that even sunshine burns
if you get too much
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul
instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers
And you learn that you really can endure
that you really are strong
And you really do have worth
And you learn and you learn
With each goodbye you learn.....