Tales from Turkey - Part III

Dear readers,

A warm thank you to you all for visiting my little corner of the blog universe, 

a special welcome to new readers and a big hello to 

old blog friends as well as anonymous readers. 

As I continue to chase my own tail trying to catch up with life, here are a few more photos from my trip to Turkey a few weeks ago. Can you smell the sweet, almost nauseating cloud of water pipe smoke holding your nostrils captive? As fascinated as I was by this exotic environment, it was not long before I felt a need to escape into the streets of Istanbul for some... well, if not fresh, then at least a little less water pipe-infested air.

Even though I am rather pleased Atatürk (the founder of the Turkish republic) ordered a change to the latin alphabet in 1929 (makes it a lot easier to find your way around as a tourist), I find the old Turkish form of the Arabic script incredibly beautiful!

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Now, after having attempted to calm down the hustle and bustle of the Istanbul explosion of impressions with a few black and white photos, I simply have to end this journey on a more colourful note, much truer to how I see Istanbul:

A wall in the Harem at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Are you into colourful mosaics? If so, this is MUST SEE territory! The extraordinary Harem at Topkapi Palace is a jaw-dropping, retina-tickling, mind-boggling visual experience, and made me want to return to the Swenglish home (which felt drearily pale in comparison) with my pockets full of bluey-green mosaics en masse, and transform a room or four...

Hm. Billy the bookshelf from IKEA, or the built-in beauties above? Tough call... 

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As a tourist in this magnificent city, you may want to visit the Blue Mosque on the inside. You may, however, be slightly overwhelmed by the crowds having shared the same idea. If so, do try to make your way to the stunning Rüstem Pasha Mosque next to the spice bazaar, where you are much more likely to experience the calm, the beauty in architectural detail and simply catch your breath in a blue-tiled haven only a few steps away from the bustling bazaar, but a million miles away from it at the same time.

Rüstempaşa Camii, (Rüstem Pasha Mosque), Istanbul

Rüstempaşa Camii, (Rüstem Pasha Mosque), Istanbul

My last postcard to you from Turkey will be a photo I have showed here before. I was hoping to take new ones of the waterfront in Ortaköy, but as I found the mosque undergoing renovation and completely covered in plastic at the moment, it did not offer the most lens-tempting motif... so, recycled from a few years back, some misty magic: 

Ortaköy (Istanbul)

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Last but not least:

Honoured...

Do you remember this photo I took in Castle Combe a little while ago?

What an amazing honour! Johanna, with the blog Johanna kan vissla, 

was inspired by it and decided to paint it (below)! Isn't this gorgous?!

Until soon,

all the best,

Helena

Rustic Pallet Bench

Hey there!  Have a good weekend?  My hubby and I worked on a pallet project together and we had so much fun!  It was just one of those great weekends, you know?  We worked on this and then he surprised me with a special date night.  Something we haven't had time to do in a while so it was extra special.  And then we had a fun family day on Sunday.  Those are the best kinds of weekends.

I'm so glad hubby was there to help.  Those suckers are heavy and it was just plain fun working on something together.  We recently purchased a vintage record player, yes, I said record player, for our outdoor "studio", so we popped on an old Dean Martin album, turned up the volume and got to work.  Fun, I tell ya!  :) Here's what we started with, a pile of free pallets.

And here's how it ended up.....

This was one of those projects where I just kinda planned it as I went along and when we were finished, we just couldn't stop grinning.

Everything we used for this bench was something we already had so it was FREE!  Love that!  I really wanted to use rustic barn hinges on this because we have been collecting them for quite a while, just waiting on the perfect project and this was it.  The detail they add is perfect for this bench.

Hubby came home with those numbers above the ledge.  They are from an old gas station and since Halloween is around the corner, I thought the number 31 would be appropriate and fun.

I can't wait to decorate this area for Christmas!!  Any of you have any pallet projects?  What kinds of projects are you working on?  Would love to hear about 'em, as always!

Have a great day!  Click here to order more bread boards!  I've had several requests for sets of 5 or 6 numbered maple boards.  If interested, message me via Etsy and I will set up a custom order for those.  Thanks!