Furniture painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint

First of all I'd like to say a big thank you to all my dear blog friends who take the time to comment and read all my posts.  Your support over the last few months since I started this blog means so much to me - thank you to all of you!  Since some of you live far away here are some photos of the interior of the shop.   I still have a lot to do to get it finished but we're getting there and slowly getting more organised every day!   
 

Arch Top Bookcase painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - Main colour Paris Grey and highlight colour Old White - all pieces painted by moi!!

La Vie en Rose has been open now for 2 weeks!!! I'm happy to report that we've had a great response from all our new customers.   So many people living in the village have called in to wish us well and buy something for good luck, which is very much appreciated.  The lovely Shannen (who owns Diva, the cafe next door) has been calling in to see how we're getting on and Diva's has been supplying me with endless coffee and toasted BLT's!!!  - again hugely appreciated.    

 French Mirror, Grey Urn and Annie Sloan Fabric swatches in background at La Vie en Rose

The new customers seem to love the shop which is a relief!!   There are a lot of 'ooohs' and 'aaaahs' and 'wows' when people walk through the door which is always a good sign!   There is huge interest in the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and everyone loves the colours and the chalky finish on all the painted furniture in the shop, which is fantastic.

I painted all the furniture in the shop myself with the Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and finished them in Annie Sloan wax.  The paint is a dream to work with, it just goes on so easily.   I also found the wax very easy to work with as it's a very soft wax the consistency of soft butter.  You just brush it on and wipe it off with a lint free cloth!

Bookcase painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint - a mix of Louis Blue and Paris Grey.

 Vintage Wardrobe painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (again in my favourite colour at the moment - a mix of Paris Grey and Louis Blue)

I was going to finish this sideboard below in a clear wax but now I think I'll antique it with a little dark wax - what do you think??

 Vintage Sideboard Painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (Main colour a mix of Louis Blue and Paris Grey, highlight colour Old White ).

You know already how much I love mirrors I have one of these in my dining room - now in stock in the shop!

We also have clocks all shapes and sizes.   The large red metal one is huge!

 Clocks at La Vie en Rose

 La Vie en Rose

Hope you enjoyed the little tour of the shop! 

Sharon

xxxxx

Kinsale Farmer's Market

FARMER'S   MARKET   KINSALE

  

I went to a Farmer's Market last week in Kinsale (my local town).  It was a beautiful sunny day and as we've been having A LOT of rain lately, everyone in town was in a good mood and there was a lively atmosphere among the stallholders and customers alike.

The first stall I came to was full of delicious breads and cakes!  The stall is run by the lovely Shannon who I know because she is also the owner of  Diva's Cafe and Diva's Deli in Ballispittle and just happens to be my new neighbour (my new shop is next door to Diva's cafe!).

I LOVE Shannon's cafe and deli - her food and cakes are legendary!  I had the BEST chocolate cake I've ever had in the cafe the other day - truly Divalicious!!   The styling of the cafe and deli is cool and original think 'gently alternative' meets vintage!  If you are in Ballinspittle/Kinsale and looking for somewhere for lunch or some cake and coffee head to Diva's.  Highly recommended!!

Isn't her packaging gorgeous??  I bought some of her rye bread and had it for lunch - yum, scrum!

DIVA

Look at these marshmallow beauties on top and cupcakes on the bottom . . .

 

More deliciousness . . .

Love the blue glass cake stand . . . 

 

Then it was on to this beautiful stand!  Herbs and flowers all beautifully presented, no ugly plastic pots here.  This stall belongs to Cambium a small nursery/garden centre who sell plants and organic gardening supplies.   They are on the road from Ballinspittle to Kinsale.  The lady was lovely and we chatted for a while about plants and markets.  I have to say the plants herbs, veg and flowers were all SO healthy and superbly presented in organic coir pots.  All the plants were reasonably priced too!  Well worth checking out if you're out Kinsale/Ballinspittle way!

CAMBIUM

 

THE CREPE MAN

I didn't actually buy a crepe even though I love them - will get one next week!  but there were people queuing up to order so they must be good!!!

More flowers at the market.  Meant to go back and get this stall's name but ran out of time so will update this next week!

FINDERS INN

The Finders Inn is a restaurant in Nohoval and also have this stall at the Farmer's Market selling a range of food.  I've had their brown bread before - gorgeous.  Haven't tried their soups but I must say they looked good on that table!!

THE CHEESE MAN

For the life of me I cannot remember this man's name!  So sorry, and will write it down next week and update this post.   I wish I could because he was so very nice and gave me lots of nice tasters and I bought some lovely cheese from him (can't remember the name of it either!).  I asked him for Comte (my favourite cheese in the whole world) but he mostly sells Irish cheeses so he recommended something similar and it was GOOD!! I demolished it when I went home with Diva's rye bread!  I have to admit I didn't realise there were so many good Irish cheeses out there, will defo go back for more Irish cheese next week.

Everything was beautifully displayed here as well.

Next stop . . .

THE REAL OLIVE

Olives, tomatoes, pesto mmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . all my favourite things in one place!!

Love all the wooden buckets/holders . . . and so neatly displayed!  I ADORE black olives and these were DIVINE!!!!

There was also an organic pig farm stall called . . . 

HERITAGE FARM

They were packing up to leave as I came along so just got a snap of these jars of lard - I like the labels - "Good Old-Fashioned Lard"! Cute!  Kinsale is a beautiful old town, I really must do a post soon as there is so much to show you. 

Lovely old buildings in the little square.

 

BUSHBY'S

I was really drooling over this stall.  Strawberries and pretty flowers!!!!!  Even the tablecloth was gorgeous!    I got chatting to Lydia the stall owner (lovely lady) and she told me that her parents grow the strawberries and she (Lydia) does the flowers.  I bought a huge bouquet of the white roses and Queen Anne's Lace and lots of other interesting blooms.  They were stunning and SO reasonably priced!!  Amazing value and the arrangement was so pretty and vintage in style - I've never seen flowers or arrangements like them.   Beautiful, pretty, soft, unusual flowers AND scented - just stunning!  I will defo be calling back to Lydia again and this time I will remember to pick up some strawberries.

Isn't Lydia's sign so cute??

So when I got home I took out all my market purchases and they looked so pretty I just had to take some photos before I demolished the lot!

Farmer's Market Kinsale, Co. Cork.


Every Wednesday 10 am - 2.30pm.


Enjoy!!


Sharon
xxxx