Planning and Plotting

With all the rain recently, I have been planning and plotting J

Our post box is next to the gate. If you read my previous post, you will know that there used to be a letterbox in the front door, but at some time in the past, it was blocked off and a brick ‘thing’ was built onto the back of the wall near the gate. From the outside (the bit the postman sees), it just looks like a slot and a gap in the wall (the gap was so the milkman could leave a crate with the milk in it – in the days when we used to get milk delivered).

From the inside (ie, the garden side), it has a simple door on it, with a bolt that can be locked with a padlock

Open the door and, voilà, you can access the mail

So what am I planning? The door frame is rotten and needs replacing; then the door needs a lick of paint. R made it some while ago and somehow it never got painted. It will of course, be olive green with a cream frame J

I have also had a close look at our finances and realised that we are overspending. Renovating a place the size of this takes a fair bit of cash! So I have been plotting and planning to have a ‘home grown’ business to help pay for it all. There are several ideas that I have started researching, though I have no hard and fast plans on this as yet. So as food for thought, here is am list of potential ideas, any one of which (or more than one) could eventually become my new ‘job’.

Creating themed gift baskets/boxes

Knitting string bags for shopping

Rag dolls (I have some lovely Amish doll patterns I could use – and they are free to use for sale, unlike some commercial patterns)

Aprons – gardening, cooking etc

Plants – herbs, wild flowers, cottage garden plants grown for sale

Sewing dresses for children – and maybe make a matching doll’s dress

Wooden key holders to screw to the wall

Cot duvets/patchwork quilts (small size so less time making them)

Papier mache bowls, perhaps decorated with autumn leaves and varnished

Making bags from fabric

Making cushions and other small household soft furnishings

Upcycle old furniture (done this kind of thing before)

Writing – articles, or write that book I’ve always wanted to write

And last but not least – photography – I love taking photos; just not sure if they will be good enough, so here’s a couple to show to see what you think

A couple taken in Yorkshire last weekend:

 And a couple taken in Italy, last year

Rain, rain, go away

As you might have guessed from the title, we have had a fair (or unfair) bit of rain lately, which means I haven't got on as far as I would like with things around the place. But that said, I haven't been altogether idle either.

On June 20^th, we had some warm and dry weather for a few days. So I set to and repainted my front door. I forgot to take a ‘before’ picture that would have showed why it needed doing. It is only two years since I last painted it, but at some point before we came here, someone had blocked off the letterbox with a rectangular piece of wood and attached it to the door with nails. The nails had rusted and were showing through the paint. The rest just looked tired; not to mention that when I did it last time, I hadn’t been able to find the exact shade of green I wanted, so it had been painted darker than I really liked. Now it looks fresh and welcoming – and is the shade of pale olive green I really like.

The next day I decided the door frame also needed a face lift. I started by washing it, but the dirt was so ingrained, that didn’t make much difference – except there was a bucket full of filthy water to show I had done something! So when it was dry, I repainted that too, in a lovely shade of pale cream.

Above the door is a kind of canopy to keep you dry when fumbling in the rain for your key that you forgot to get out of your bag before you got out of the car!! It hasn’t been painted since we got here and is really showing its age. And as it is blue and white, it really doesn’t go any longer with the olive green and cream door. But it has been a struggle to know quite how to paint it. I think I have decided to paint the bit that holds the supports to the canopy in cream and the matching bit of ‘cornice’ that runs along where the canopy meets the wall, plus the supports themselves. The rest will be painted olive green and if it looks too much, then I can repaint parts of it in cream, such as the four squares within the mouldings.

First though, it needs stripping. Some of it has been done, but there is still some way to go – if the rain ever lets up!

I sanded the bits that have already been stripped and made quite a mess on the top of the steps. To clear it up, I got the hoover out. No idea what the neighbours would have thought if they had seen me hoovering the garden!

 Meanwhile, I weeded the front path  and cleared the moss from the rear path.

Then I started on a brick paved area outside the old shed – that is, the place where the old shed once stood. It is covered in weeds and – the bane of my life – alchemilla mollis, or ladies’ mantle. It was planted by the former owners and no doubt they thought it would make an attractive addition to the garden. But they didn’t stay long enough to see it spread absolutely everywhere – and it’s a real menace to get rid of too.

Anyway, it is between the bricks on the path and the brick paved area. So far, I have cleared the part in front of the gate into the back yard

that's another door needs a lick of paint.

ended with a load of rubbish as well as stuff for the bonfire and compost heap

and made a small start on the paved area itself

The rest obviously is still to clear – some of those nettles are between 4 and 5 feet tall!

And then the rain started and doesn’t seem in any hurry to stop. It’s been four days now almost non-stop! Time for some sunshine, I hope J