And mine looks like this...

My creative friend at Hearthwhich has been pondering the benefits of creative spaces this week. This is mine - or rather - it is the most frequently used of mine. I have the bonus of a little outhouse which attempts to be (when it is warm enough) a little studio, but for these cooler months, I have been spending my hours at this desk... and at the dining room table... and on the floor in front of the fire, atempting to complete projects. The wonderful irony is that I found a drawing the other day of my 'ideal workspace' - a little intention that I set last year, whilst battling to find a suitable workspace for my PGCE work. It is nearly identical - how blessed I have been to have found where I am. Add to that synchronicity the fact that I found the desk under a pile of books at the same garage sale as the dining chairs, and that it fits so perfectly into the alcove I had for it...well... it was meant to be.

Blessings abound in my life at the moment. I am reading another of Gill Edwards' books, which is helping me to appreciate just how much abundance there is. I am finding it particularly important on a week like this, when I am struggling to get used to being back at school, and still struggling to find myself living alone. A good and healthy move no doubt, but not without its challenging moments. To be thankful though, is all.

::This week I am thankful for::

The sun shining through the skylights in the morning

The goodnatured children at school

The engagement of my wonderful sister and her wonderful Dan

The space to begin my vegetable patch
The hands that came to help

The nourishing books that I have to read

Blog of the Week: Katy Elliott

Katy Elliott's blog is another favourite of mine. Her posts focus mostly on the renovation of her home in Marblehead, MA, and the inspiration that she is drawing on in the process. This dream-like project as far as I am concerned, and the way in which Katy is approaching it, with a resourceful and creative eye, is to be greatly admired.

Katy's posts focus on particular rooms that she is working on, as well as the sources of ideas that she has gathered through her creative career as an artist and an online editor of interior design magazines. As blogging is increasingly becoming a valuable outlet in my own life, I asked her why she chooses to blog about this enormous project:

 'I love to share information. Majority of the things I've learned in life and work and has been through word of my mouth. I use my blog as means to get the word out about the best craftspeople, products, artists and recipes. The best compliment I can receive is that a reader discovered something through my blog that made their life easier or better. Or hearing an artist sold a whole bunch of work because of my recommendation. Helping other people is the biggest high.'

Keep an eye on Katy's blog. She writes with an honesty and realism that refuses to romanticise the process that she is going through with this beautiful house but still makes it clear what a joy the project truely is.

Spring, Projects, and another wonderful engagement

Way back when, October time I think, I went to a garage sale and picked up two nasty-looking dining chairs. I painted them that very week, but only today did I finish reupholstering them. They now sit proudly around my dining table with some other odds and ends. Rather satisfyingly, the chairs came to a total of £4, the fabric was £2 from a fair in Cirencester, and the paint was the dregs of a pot I had, had for a while. Bargain Chic.

It was definitely the end of the year 11 study camp which left me feeling productive - I really am on hols now! And the sun did help too, of course!

This is where I am going to sit and chat to my friend Ellie, when she returns from a romantic trip to Rome, where her lovely boyfriend has proposed. Congratulations you lovely people! xxx

Sunday

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Moodboards

'At its simplest, a moodboard is a collection of pictures of things you like. It just helps you make sense of all the ideas floating through your head. The trick is not to over-think it. Let your intuition guide you and, as your board takes form, so the unconscious threads that weave together your personal taste will come to the fore.'

I tore the quotation above from a copy of a design magazine about 6 years ago - the title escapes me now. I know that those 'unconscious threads' of personal taste have taken form, but for the last six years I have been keeping scrapbooks of cuttings, paint charts, fabric samples and drawings knowing that they continue to act as a source of inspiration for everything creative that I do. Now that I have the space, these scrapbooks have spread to the any available pinboards and walls too...

Sometimes I just sit and look through the scrapbooks, or sit at my desk gazing at the sumptuous pictures from magazines and newspapers, postcards and advertisements, wondering what it is that makes me so drawn to particular colours and shapes. Occasionally an idea for a project is sparked off by an image, but more often than not I just feel a general sense of appreciation for things which are, simply, pleasing to the eye.

Have you read this? You should read it. I mean it, really. now.

In fact, I haven't read Eat, Pray, Love. I lied. To quite a few people. What I did do however, was listen to it on tape - in my car, my house, my studio, for two blissful weeks between school, chores, trips and food shopping. I wanted to read it, so I went to Bath Central Library to pick it up a few weeks ago but all they had was the audio version. The wonderful thing was that the audio version was read by Elizabeth Gilbert and so the voice on the page came to life and the tone, the expressions, the nuances of the written word were exactly as intended. What a treat!

Now, I am not a successful journalist/novelist, and neither have I just left a marriage, and nor do I live in Manhattan (oh, I wish!) but there are some basic similarities in my 'new chapter' to EG's 'new chapter' (the details of which I will spare you). What is plain to me is that I am in a true period of transition and growth, and that this is firstly, hugely exciting but secondly, absolutely terrifying. Reading books like this helps enormously, and creates a perspective within which the challenges and confusion begin to make sense.

What Elizabeth Gilbert manages to do (and my mum and sister can attest to this as they really have read it since) is to be both firmly rooted in what it is to be human, and confused, and making mistakes, and trying to correct those mistakes (both successfully and unsuccessfully) and searching for answers, and yet, also to be clear about what one really needs. There are successes, and moments of absolute clarity, which are inspiring to read (listen to) and through the voice of someone like Gilbert, those successes suddenly feel within reach.

My Sanctuary

I have been so blessed to have found this house. It is an old miner's cottage which was once a dark one-up, one-down, but which is now a two bedroomed cottage with a large living area, french windows and lots and lots of light. The skylights are coming into their own now that the mornings are brighter and the white walls throughout are chameleon like in the way that they change colour with the light.

Because I am not used to having quite so much space, my bedroom has been rather neglected in the planning and nesting process. It really is a blank canvas, and I am beginning to turn my attentions to the room, with its high ceiling and almost barn-like space. It is really similar to the yoga studio that I go to in design and I want to capitalise on the potential for it to be a really positive space. The house being a rental property I am reluctant (forbidden?) to change the colours of the walls, but am looking at ways of enhancing the peace of the room. I want it to be nourishing.

The throw on my bed was a carboot find, as were the two ex-military base bedside tables. I was thrilled a couple of years ago to find an identical set on sale for £90 in an antiques shop in Clapham, when I spent a mere £8 on mine. Similarly, I picked up the white chest at the bottom of the bed for about a fiver at the Gloucester Green market in Oxford - it was a nasty lilac colour, but is now painted in Laura Ashley's Twine.

I have been scouring my scrapbooks and copies of Living Etc to find inspiration, as well as googling various tags such as 'French bedrooms' and 'sanctuaries'...

Whilst I clearly want a little more comfort than this, I love how earthy the room is, and the eaves reminded me of my room. I thought a few natural items - the pebbles I have collected from beaches, snowdrops from the garden and ceramics - would really add to the vibe. If I could combine this earthiness with the glamour of the room below, I might well be striking the balance I am after....

The results of the last, and expectations of the next, project...

A quiet moment has allowed for a bit of a play with my camera as I potter around for a Saturday morning. The weeks are passing so quickly, and work is as chaotic as ever, but it has been wonderful this week to have some bright mornings and cold but very sunny afternoons. A quiet weekend is proving to be the perfect remedy for all that rushing about.

I ended up steering clear of birds, but the results of the printing course were satisfying. The experience lead mum and I to feel that we needed to go back to the Letterpress asap, now that we have got the hang of it. It was with great regret that we realised my grandfather had been a printer, and yet we had not kept any of his wonderful machines... If only we had known the joy of it!

This quote is from a favourite of mine, Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space, which considers the vital role that architectural spaces have on our psyche; the lino cut, as ever, has such a naturally primitive look to it that I felt it suited the tone of the quote. I was going for a Farrow and Ball-like tone in the ink, I love their earthy tones, and the printer that we worked with was just so patient with us both, that he helped enormously to make the perfect hue.

Next, I will be working on this battered but beautiful glass-fronted cupboard which needs a proper sand, some edges fixed, three new shelves and lots of pretty things inside. It's got potential, but my big question is whether to sand and leave as stripped wood, or to paint a similarly earthy grey to give a sort of Swedish vibe... decisions, decisions...

Enjoy the spring sunshine.

xxx