Pillow Ideas

One of the ways I like to change up the look of a room for pennies, besides paint, is throw pillows.  I usually always sew my own pillow covers because it's much cheaper that way.  Even if you find some fabric that is a little on the pricey side per yard, you can always just buy a half a yard to cut the price.  And really, that is all you need anyway.  I like to use plain canvas for the backs of my pillows and the pretty fabric for the front.  That may seem like an obvious thing to do but actually,

 I didn't figure that out till this past year.  :)

Lately, I've been making some small pillow changes in our living room mainly to give it a little more color.  If you follow us on Facebook, you know that we purchased these new bamboo blinds from Lowe's several months ago.  Previously, we had sheers on the windows and I was beginning to hate how they really absorb dirt and dust.  For a family with allergies, that's not so good.  So, we ditched them and purchased the bamboo blinds.  They are the roll-up kind and inexpensive.  

I am so happy with them.  

By far, the question I am asked the most via email is where did we buy our bamboo shades in our kitchen and dining area.  Unfortunately, I don't think they are available any longer.  We bought them about 6 years ago and recently tried to find another set without any luck.

But I like these just as much.

I was so excited to come across this pillow cover at Restoration Hardware ON CLEARANCE a few months ago.  It's a tiny pillow but who cares.  I loved it and it wasn't a budget buster.

The fabric on the pillow behind it came from here.

It was almost $16 per yard but I just bought a half a yard, cutting the price in half.

I love that fabric.com will allow you to buy a half instead of a whole.

So, that's it for now.  Stay tuned for more pillow changes coming up....

Have a great Monday!

Diana

Summing up summer so far...

After the long, long wait, the classrooms finally closed their doors for the last time...for now... The weather gods must have heard our pleas for some summer to match the holiday bearing its name, and suddenly our senses were filled with light. Everybody seemed to be walking around beaming as if in competition with the sun itself, sweating in warm temperatures but without a word of complaint, as if worried that would jinx this rare ray-ed event...

So what have the Swenglish family been occupying themselves with this first glorious week of "freedom"?

Well, quite a bit of...: 

A little bit of...:

(The beautiful walk back from the beach The Cliffs Bay in Wales, with the little river and the castle ruin on the hill top...)

Some of us have spent some time on...:

... others have done more of...:

All of us have done a little bit of...:

 (Canoeing down the river Wye in Wales.)

Oh, and some of us... well, one of us, might just have done a bit more of...:

Some of us even got to say hello to...:

(Stunning sand sculpture exhibition on the beach in Weston-Super-Mare.)

***

And for those of you having spent the past week sleepless, pondering over the fate of my trusty, awfully scruffy rustic wooden bench that had to step aside to make room for the iron lady in the previous blog post...  Well, worry no longer. It has just moved a little north east, ca 8-10 steps from its previous location:

Looking at these images now, I realise they let out small puffs of vaguely autumnal air...

But no, we are not there yet. Let's instead focus for a brief but blissful moment on these biscuits I shamelessly tease you with here. Dear, oh dear. Blogging is definitely a hazardous hobby if one is the slightest bit concerned about the bikini season... I can't remember in which wonderful blog I stumbled upon the recipe for these Nutella biscuits, but I knew the moment I saw it that my nutty fate was sealed!

Bench-lovers, look away now, as I declare the fate of the even more scruffety-scruff-health and safety hazard rustic bench that previously occupied this place. No, I don't think I can be blunt enough to say it out loud. Let's just say it has gone to meet its bench makers...and that it was a very heated goodbye... 

***

Oh, and soon, we'll be doing A LOT of...:

Thank you SO much for visiting my blog and for all the kind, kind comments you leave here.

I read and reread them and store them in my mental goodie jar, 

labelled HAPPINESS.

I hope you are doing A LOT of whatever makes your summer 

just that little bit extra special!

Helena

Orange Glazed Blueberry Scones

With blueberries in abundance right now, not to mention affordable, I've been having fun making some of our favorite summer sweets.  One of those is blueberry scones.  But with the heat of the summer, the last thing I really want to do is roll out dough.  

And sometimes I'm lazy.  

That's why I love this recipe.  

You throw the dough together and drop it in heaps on the baking sheet.  

Simple.  

And no chilling, rolling and cutting dough into triangles.

Let me tell ya, the star here is definitely the orange glaze.  Without it, these are just ordinary scones.  With it, they are really something special.  

Trust me.  

As far as a glaze is concerned, 

you just can't go wrong with melted butter, fresh squeezed orange juice and powdered sugar.  

I could drink it.

You can find the recipe here.

I may or may not have eaten 4 of these just while taking the photos.

Tip:  To make the glaze super easy to drizzle on your scones, as well as super cute, I like to use those plastic cake decorating squeeze bottles available in the cake decorating department of the grocery store.  They're cheap and also perfect for storing your homemade snow cone syrup. 

What are your favorite blueberry recipes?

My benches and I...

We seem to have a special relationship, my garden benches and I...

They put up with my "pimping" and pottering practices without as much as a sigh or a grunt. Same thing when  they see me light up after a decorating brainwave and I rush to get my camera. No rolling of the eyes, no scraping of the feet...

The newest family member in the bench clan looked a little naked at first...

... and I did my best to - at least partially - cover her sensually curved, slender-limbed torso 

(hm, a torso has no limbs, but you know what I mean...)...

...with some cushions in the only fabric that seemed 

appropriate for this delicate lady: vintage-looking florals...

(The bunting also has some "flags" from an old pink shirt, donated to my sewing cupboard by the man in the house when the collar started fraying. Many are the handsome male shirts in the Swenglish Home that have met  the same recycled fate!)

(Click on the image to view the whole image.)

I found the fabric in one of the very few remaining fabric shops in Bath. I asked for vintage floral and they pointed me in the direction of some not-in-the-slightest-vintage viscose. Hm, I thought, I think I need to do what I do best, rummage-rummage-rummage and sniff the air like a bloodhound for what I crave... and there it was, the faint scent of something similar to the idea in my head, coming from the almost hidden-away curtain fabric section upstairs. Sniff-sniff. Yep, that will do, some wannabe vintage florals for a wannabe vintage bench. A happy marriage, it seems. So far.

***

Our home in Landhaus

One of my blog friends in Switzerland mentioned yesterday that she had seen our home in the German magazine Landhaus. This was a complete surprise to me, and I have not yet seen it myself, but to my German readers who may be interested, I think it is in the July/August issue of the magazine. (The Editor-in-Chief has now kindly posted a copy to me, so in a few days I may be able to see it myself...!)

Wishing you all a really, REALLY lovely weekend!
Helena

Open Gardens Part II

I said in my last post that on my stroll around some Open Gardens on Sunday,

 I had encountered a certain summer house 

I simply could not get out of my head...

Now, I think you will understand why...!

I dare say I think this beautiful garden is the wonderful work of someone with 

both a passion for gardens and the skills to make the dream come true.

A garden for all the senses, with "come and explore me" areas, 

olfaction-tingling borders,

an old tree that once was part of an old orchard and which in its 

advancing years is heard whispering "climb me, climb me" as you stroll past it

on your way to discretely stroke the lavender for a calming whiff... 

Large pine cone "bunting" in the old tree - what a lovely idea!

Pots, pots, pots...

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know my weakness for wooden trays, 

particularly weathered ones - yum, yum!

The more vibrant-coloured flower border against the wall, above which you can 

enjoy the gorgeous view across the valley and the hill beyond.

¨

This photo is taken standing with my back to the house. If you turn left just after the small tree on your left, you will be facing the lovely summer house. In the distance, you can see the green house, which rubs shoulders with a lovely vegetable garden.

A stunning garden and one which put more than one idea in my already inundated head... 

Dear, oh dear. 

Now where, 

when and 

how 

can I build myself a summer house like this?!

(Well, the "how" I can work out, it is more the "where" and the "when", accompanied by the "how to convince the rest of the family about its necessity" that will take some pondering...)

Thank you, J and A, for sharing your wonderful garden with us!

Wishing you lovely summer days, whether in a summery house or without!

Helena

Engraved Bread Boards For You

Hey there!  I hope you are all having a good day.

I was so excited after reading the comments on this post because thanks to readers Michelle and Marci, I learned what these were.

My hubby found just these few in a storage shed he bought the contents of. 

 So, because of their help, I was able to purchase a full set.

Which means that now I can engrave my bread boards!  Yay!  I'm so excited about doing this because I think being able to personalize them for you makes them extra special.

I practiced on a few to show you how they look.  The letters punched are 1/4 inch and 

fit the side of the board perfectly.  Engraving will only be done on one side.

Here's a look at how they look on the maple and walnut boards.

I just used the word EAT as an example.  You can have anything put on the boards that you'd like, up to 10 characters.  For FREE.  There will be no extra charge for adding the engraving to the side of the board.

We came across a piece of cherry wood in among all the walnut.  Cherry was my Dad's very favorite wood so I made a board for me in his honor with his name on it. 

 I know he would've loved it.  

It would be fun to have each person's name in the family engraved on a set of mini bread boards.  I'm going to do that for my family boards. 

Click here to order bread boards.  If you are interested in having them engraved, just state what you would like on them in the NOTE TO SELLER box when placing your order.  I can also do numbers, or numbers and letters together, if interested as long as it is 

up to 10 characters TOTAL.

Enjoy your day!

And thank you Michelle and Marci!  :)

Diana

Open Gardens Part I

Just the other day, I drove past some signs on the road, indicating that on the 15th, there would be Open Gardens in a village near us. Now, given the weather we have been having lately (and we have, indeed, been having quite a lot of... weather!), I did not think much more about it, until...

... on Sunday we woke up to the loveliest sun, accompanied by blue skies and lifted spirits...

Green with garden envy, I returned home that afternoon, with a camera full of inspiration and senses filled with floral joy. Six homes had opened their beautiful gardens to the public that day, all to raise money for the work of Julian House, a charity supporting homeless men and women in the Bath area.

The photos in today's blog post are all from one breathtaking house and garden, 

which also enjoys stunning views across the valley. 

One of the lovely things about Open Gardens is that you get to meet the owners and hear them talk about their gardens, the history of it and how they feel about them, which adds a very personal touch to the experience.

That this is a much loved garden is not hard to guess...

One of the most striking features of this garden is a seating area around an old well. Unfortunately, I have not included any photos of it, as there were a number of garden guests relaxing there. Even though I have got the garden owner's permission to feature her stunning garden, I was not sure other guests would be happy to be "blog models" for a day. Maybe next time!

I could have strolled around this floral fairy tale for hours, 

stroking the lavender,

mumbling new ideas to myself,

letting out little sighs of delight...

...but despite its inviting corners and tranquil mood 

lulling me into a very relaxed frame of mind...

(Click on the image if you would like to view it larger.)

...there were more gardens to explore - an opportunity the curious yours truly could not resist... Next time I will share some photos of another glorious garden, whose summer house I cannot seem to get out of my head....!

Thank you so much for letting us share your garden haven for a day, dear J and T!

Helena