Sneak peek!

I'm almost finished my upstairs bathroom!  Nearly there!! Thought I'd give you a little preview. . . more pics soon!

Sharon
xxxx

Guest Post

Good Morning!  Today I have been invited by the lovely Maureen to do a guest post over at Inspired Mrs Stevens.  I love Maureen's blog which is a constant source of inspiration as her posts are always varied and interesting.  At the moment Maureen is running a series called 'Inspired by Spring' which features different bloggers and the things that inspire them at Springtime!  So, please head over to her lovely blog and say hi!  This is my first Guest post - so I'm very excited!!!!  

To get you in the Spring mood, here's a lovely Spring bluebell woods . . .

Craig Denford on Flickr

I LOVE Bluebells . . .

See you over at Maureen's blog!

Sharon
xxxx

Spring Living Room

Welcome to my Living Room!

Come in!  This is the view from the hall.   I did a lot of work out in the garden yesterday but then it started to rain :(   You know what they say - God invented rainy days so that gardeners can get their housework done!!  So, I moved inside and started Spring cleaning.  Yes, I know I'm a bit late with the ole Spring Clean thing but between one thing and another I haven't got round to it!  Anyway, better late than never!!  So, I started on my Living Room and gave it a thorough de-clutter and clean.   Now it's much better!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to get to this room!  I really wanted to give it a little makeover so it feels fresh and Spring-like.   You can check out what the living room looked like when we first moved in and what it looked like at Christmas, by clicking here.  The photos I took at Christmas are so dark but you can make out what's there!   Out went the rug and mismatched photo frames.  I also put my faux fur throw (which I love) away until Autumn.  This room feels so much lighter and airier now.  This is the view into my new office - the making of which you can read by clicking here.  Double doors into office open . . .

. . . and closed . . .

To add a little Spring colour I treated myself to a new hydrangea and zinc metal planter.

I also bought these new cushions for the couch - they were a bargain buy - 7 or 8 euro at Penney's (Primark)!!  The couch is from Ikea.

Love my new hydrangea . . .

The roman blinds are inexpensive ones from Argos . . .

If you read my Easter Sunday post, you'll know that I recently bought a mirror for over my fireplace - problem is it doesn't fit!!! so we have do a job on the fireplace - more about that later!  At the moment, I have this piece of original art which I love which is unusual for me as I generally like more traditional pieces.

The strange beige strip around the hearth is a rubber bumper so that little baba doesn't bump his head!!

 

 

This is my office chair I bring in to the Living room on occasion . . .

 A French candelabra and framed postcard . . .

 I love these French metal round tables - they are so handy and easy to move around the house when you want a change, I have them in this pale French grey and also in black . . .

 

My treasured white marble lamp!

 

 Spring means baby herb plants, I like to have a few around the house - this is rosemary.

 

 
One of the things on my 'to do' list is print and frame lots of photos and create a gallery wall somewhere - I've done three so far - at this rate the wall should be done by about 2020!!!  From left to right - photo number 1 - Niall and myself (hate myself in photos - I'm just not photogenic), photo number 2:  my eldest son Aran on the day of his graduation - isn't he handsome! photo number 3: Niall with our baby Criostoir - I love this photo of Criostoir laughing!!

It's really amazing what a good clean and de-clutter can do to a room.  I actually enjoyed doing it too!  I put on my Amelie CD (from the film Amelie) and flew threw it in no time! 

I really like my new cushions too - love a bargain!

 

Curly metal photo frame . . .

 

 I always have a few books on the coffee table and swap them out from time to time.  On my coffee table at the moment . . .   

Pure Style by Jane Cumberbatch

At Home with White by Atlanta Bartlett

French Home by Josephine Ryan

Farrow & Ball The Art of Colour by Coleman & Addeo

 

And that's it!  Hope you enjoyed the little tour round my living room!  After all the cleaning and de-cluttering I think I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the weekend!  Now, I think a nice cup of tea, my Easter egg -  haven't eaten it yet!  and the film Somethings Gotta Give!  yes - that sounds like the makings of good Saturday evening!  : )

 Enjoy your weekend!

Sharon

xxxx

ps - just reading over this before I hit the publish button!  phew - it's a long post - congratulations if you made it to the end and your reading this : ) 

Easter Sunday

 

Hope you all had a lovely Easter weekend!  We had family staying with us over the weekend and Niall cooked a beautiful Easter Sunday lunch.  I did a post last week on some stunning table settings as I was looking for some ideas.  There were some great ideas that I just didn't get time to try out, like the dyed eggs from the Dreamy Whites blog - definitely going to dye some eggs next year, Maria's are stunning.  As I used tulips on my table last Easter I wanted to try something different but as there were no wild flowers in abundance around my hedges this didn't happen either and of course I ran to the shops at the last minute there was only one bunch of tulips left!  Mental note - next time buy flowers early in the morning!!  the reason my Saturday was thrown out was because I had to collect something I'd ordered a few weeks ago.  It just arrived in time for the weekend . . .   my new French mirror!!!

I was so excited it had arrived I dropped everything and drove to collect it - from a shop that has a very special connection to me.  When I moved back to Ireland from France I set a shop up with my sister, (we sold French style furniture and accessories)  and called it Boulevard Interiors.  After a few years I left and got married and had a baby.  My intention was to open a home and garden store but life had other ideas!  My baby's health was very delicate and the downturn in the economy meant having to shelve my plan, so my dream of having my own home and garden store is still a dream, that I hope, one day, will become a reality!

But I digress - back to Easter and my special delivery, my sister still has Boulevard Interiors, (same name but a new shop in a new premises).   I called in a few weeks ago and when I spotted this beauty in the showroom - I just had to have it!!  The one on display had actually been sold so I had to wait four weeks for this baby to come from France.  I didn't mind - it was worth the wait!  I ADORE it!!  It's actually for my living room but the fireplace has to be sorted out before it can go to it's new home so for the moment it'll have to stay here.   (I also have my eye on another large white mirror for the dining room).   So, to cut a long story short, I kind of ran out of time Saturday to do everything I wanted for my Easter table but it worked out ok. . .

 

The dining chairs are Camargue chairs which is a traditional French farmhouse style chair from the Camargue region in France.  The chairs and the weathered oak table are all by Flamant, a Belgian interiors company.  I went with a plain linen tablecloth (well, it's a linen/cotton mix - easier to iron!!) as it goes well with my pride and joy French dinnerware. 

We set up a little drinks table to the side which looked cute . . .

I just love my French white dinnerware when it's all on the table . . . I kept it simple with all white ware, white linen napkins and Waterford crystal.  For the napkins - I just tied them with string and put a little sprig of rosemary from my garden on top for a little greenery . . .  frilly, frilly china . . .

To add a little sparkle I also used some pewter egg cups and candlesticks . . .

yes, the theme was kind of egg -ey!!




Niall cooked up a storm - I was too busy helping the chef to take any pictures of the starters and mains but things calmed down towards the end and here are the desserts nearly ready to go.  The menu was lovely, for starters we had baked egg in parma ham nests, for the main course we had rack of lamb with a herb crust with minty potatoes and for the finale - Niall's speciality - a trio of desserts - this year it was strawberry shortcake ice-cream, ginger snaps with vanilla cream and a surprise pot!! (all homemade by Niall).

The surprise pot is a becoming a bit of a tradition now . . . take off the lid and . . .

SURPRISE!!!! a little mini egg in a nest of white chocolate shavings on top of a rich chocolate mousse - mmmmm!!!

Isn't the little egg so sweet . . .

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend and enjoyed the break!